The vestry of Annunication, Vidalia, is pleased to announce the Rev. Denise Vaughn has accepted a call to serve as their rector beginning November 1. She graduated from the University of South Florida in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science. In 1994, she entered the Deacons' Training in the Diocese of Southwest Florida. Ordained a vocational deacon in 1997, Vaughn served three congregations in Charlotte County, Florida until 2005. As a deacon her ministry included recruiting and leading groups to cook and serve at the local Homeless Coalition, and to lead youth groups to participate in Guadalupe Center in Immokalee. She also received training and lead groups in a bereavement care ministry called 'Walking the Mourners Path.' As a deacon, Vaughn coordinated, recruited, and lead 50 short-term missionary teams to the Dominican Republic. She served her Diocese in many ways including as a member of the Commission on Liturgy and Music and as Chair of the Companion Diocese Commission. In 2008, Vaughn received an M.Div. from The Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. On graduation, she was ordained to the priesthood and accepted a call as priest in charge of outreach and pastoral care for the more than 1000-member Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin, Texas. From 2010 to the present, she served as the Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Chillicothe, Missouri. Denise has a brother in Savannah and a daughter and four grandchildren in South Carolina.

The vestry of Calvary, Americus, is pleased to announce the Rev. Jeff Wallace has accepted a call to serve as their rector beginning November 15. He is a 1979 graduate of Lenoir Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Wallace earned an M.Div. from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina in 1984. Ordained a Lutheran Pastor, Wallace served Lutheran churches in Anniston, Alabama; Yoakum, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; and Columbia South Carolina. From 2002 through 2014, Wallace served as Director of Chaplaincy Services for InCare Home Health and Hospice in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In 2007, he was ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in the Diocese of South Carolina. His first ministry in The Episcopal Church was serving a parish that had begun in 2004 with 38 persons who chose to remain with the Episcopal Church after 468 voted to align with the Anglican Mission in America. These 38 leased a vacant building, transformed its appearance, and dedicated its new space and furnishings as a church. He then served as an Associate Rector of Christ the King Waccamaw Episcopal Church on Pawleys Island, South Carolina through 2012. Wallace currently serves as Pastor of St. Peter Lutheran Church, Walburg, Texas. Married to the former Stephanie Jo Stout in 1978, the two have four children ages 25-34. 

The only Black deaconess in the Episcopal Church, teacher and minister in southern Georgia. Anna Ellison Butler Alexander (1865-1947) was born to recently emancipated slaves on Butler Plantation in MacIntosh County, Georgia. She was the first African- American set aside as a deaconess in the Episcopal Church in 1907. She founded Good Shepherd Church in rural Glynn County's Pennick community where she taught children to read-by tradition, from the Book of Common Prayer and the Bible-in a one-room schoolhouse. The school was later expanded to two rooms with a loft where Anna lived. She ministered in Pennick for 53 years, leaving a legacy of love and devotion still felt in Glynn County. She also taught at and had oversight of the school at St. Cyprian's, in Darien. Deaconess Alexander served in difficult times, however. The diocese segregated her congregations in 1907 and African-American congregations were not invited to another diocesan convention until 1947. Similarly, it was only in the 1950s that a woman set aside as a deaconess was recognized as being in deacon's orders. However, her witness- wearing the distinctive dress of a deaconess, traveling by foot from Brunswick through Darien to Pennick, showing care and love for all whom she met-represents the best in Christian witness.

A Collect for Deaconess Alexander
O God, you called Anna Alexander as a deaconess in your Church, and sent her as teacher and evangelist to the people of Georgia: Grant us the humility to go wherever you send, and the wisdom to teach the word of Christ to whomever we meet, that all may come to the enlightenment which you intend for your people; through Jesus Christ, our Teacher and Savior. Amen.

Psalm 78:1-7
Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 20-25
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Matthew 11:25-30

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America featured ecumenical work in the Diocese of Georgia in its magazine, The Lutheran. The article highlighted both All Saints, Tybee Island and St. Mark's, Woodbine, Episcopal congregations served by Lutheran pastors, the Revs. John Anderson and John Pearce. The article also described the unique, now three year old, partnership in Albany between St. Patrick's Episcopal and the Lutheran Church of Our Saviour (LCOS). St. Patrick's is home to LCOS, the ELCA Lutheran church in Albany and the Sunday 9 am service uses the Lutheran worship book led most weeks by St. Patrick's Rector, the Rev. Jay Weldon. The two congregations share more than there new church building with its Our Saviour Chapel. The two congregations also share several meals together each month, do Vacation Bible School together, and otherwise partner in ministry.

Vocare #25 will be held October 2-4, 2015 at Camp Mikell in Toccoa, GA. Vocare in Georgia is an Episcopal young adult ministry serving both the Diocese of Georgia and Diocese of Atlanta. Through weekend retreats and community building, Vocare in Georgia provides opportunities for self discovery and the beginnings of spiritual discernment. God is calling each one of us into deepened faithfulness and more clearly defined ministries. The weekend is filled with fun and games, serious reflection and discussion, and familiar, relaxed worship. 

The cost of the weekend is $100. Scholarships are available. The Pilgrim registration form can be accessed via the link below. 

Pronounced 'kur-see-yo', this a short course in Christianity taken from the Spanish word meaning 'little' or 'short course'. Cursillo developed after World War II with Roman Catholic men. The short course has now been given to men and women around the world and in the process has assisted generations of Christians to more faithfully follow Jesus in their daily lives. Cursillo begins on a Thursday evening and ends the following Sunday evening. During those three days the participants engage in listening to talks given by priests and lay people, and small table discussion, while worshiping and playing together. The next Cursillo weekend will be October 8-11, 2015, at Honey Creek. You can find out more and register to attend at cursillo.georgiaepiscopal.org