On behalf of the All Saints' Episcopal Church Vestry and Search Committee, I am pleased to announce that the Vestry, through Bishop Hirschfeld, has issued a Call to the Reverend William (Bill) Petersen and that Rev. Petersen has accepted the Call. Bill was presented to the Vestry with the enthusiastic and unanimous support of the Search Committee. He brings to All Saints a unique background and set of experiences as highlighted in the following paragraphs.

Bill is a blessing who comes to us through an unanticipated pathway.  He is a servant leader nurtured and ordained in the Lutheran tradition and currently serving a Lutheran parish in East Hartford, CT.  The Spirit works in marvelous ways.

With the passage of the "Called to Common Mission" agreement by both the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Episcopalians and Lutherans entered into full communion and agreed that clergy ordained in one tradition could be called and serve as fully authorized rectors and pastors in the other tradition.  Bishop Hazelwood of the New England Synod of the ELCA and Bishop Hirschfeld and Canon Hannah Anderson of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire supported Bill's candidacy to be Rector at All Saints.

Bill is familiar with the Episcopal tradition and with the Prayer Book.  He had Episcopal professors at seminary and counts a number of Episcopal priests as good friends and spiritual companions.  Bill will be coming to All Saints to enter into shared ministry with the congregation of All Saints to extend and enhance its strong traditions as an Episcopal parish.

Bill and his wife, Kay, have deep roots in New Hampshire. The bulk of his professional career prior to entering the ministry was in New Hampshire. Bill had made it known to Bishop Hazelwood that he and Kay wanted to return to New Hampshire, preferably to a small town setting.  It was through Bishop Hazelwood that Bill became aware of our search at All Saints.

Bill graduated from Philadelphia Seminary in 2010.  While at the Seminary, he received the Atonement Preaching Award, among other achievements. His involvement and leadership in the church goes back to his youth. His roles as a lay person included teaching confirmation, leading a capital campaign, being a member of a building committee, and serving as president of a church council (Lutheran version of the vestry). He currently serves as pastor of an ethnically diverse congregation in East Hartford, Connecticut. Bill is also Dean of the Greater Hartford Conference of the New England Synod.  He was elected to this position by his peers. 

Bill's first career was in the hospitality industry. He worked in both food service and hotel management and then became an educator. He taught at Southern New Hampshire University and was dean of the School of Hospitality from 2001 to 2006. While working in New Hampshire, Bill provided service in a number of volunteer capacities, including member of the Chamber of Commerce Regional Marketing Task Force and Tourism Committee, board member of the New Hampshire Philharmonic, chairperson of the State of New Hampshire Advisory Council on Travel and Tourism (a Governor and Executive Council appointment), and board member of the Southern New Hampshire Convention & Visitors Bureau. Bill started Granite State Ambassadors, Inc., and is currently Chairman Emeritus. This organization has been widely recognized for recruiting and training volunteers to provide information to guests who work, live and visit New Hampshire. It has generated $4 million of value via 187,000 hours of volunteer service. In 2003, Bill was the recipient of the Yankee Magazine Barn Raiser Award for Community Service and Leadership.

Bill and Kay are soul mates. Kay is currently the benefits manager of a behavioral health organization in Connecticut. She has also made a significant commitment to the church. She has been a Sunday school teacher and chaired a pastoral search committee. For the past 13 years, she has served on the New England Synod's Candidacy Committee. The Candidacy Committee provides guidance to candidates for the ministry who are in seminary and ultimately recommends candidates to the Bishop for ordination. 

Bill is 51 years old.  He and Kay have been married for 24 years.

We currently expect that Bill will begin his tenure as rector of All Saints on or about August 1st. We will be looking for a time when Bill and Kay can be present at a Sunday service or other appropriate time to meet the congregation prior to August 1st.

The Vestry and Search Committee feel that All Saints is blessed to receive Bill Petersen as our next rector.  We are excited about the future for All Saints-building on our strong tradition of faith and practice that has been established under the leadership of past rectors. We look forward to the bold and exciting new ways that All Saints will further the kingdom of God on earth through the leadership of Rev. Bill Petersen.

Blessings,

Lee White, Senior Warden

Find additional perspectives on Bill through the following online links:

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/bill-petersen/93/339/110

https://www.facebook.com/bill.petersen

http://vicarbill.wordpress.com/

https://twitter.com/pastorbillp