Episcopal candidates for bishop ready for road show. See who they are
The process for selecting a new Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi is nearing an end as the diocese readies to introduce five candidates for consideration.
What amounts to a road show around Mississippi will help members of Episcopal churches throughout the state better understand the process. The candidates will be answering questions submitted by the laity and clergy of the diocese, along with having more informal time to visit with attendees after the room rotations. All of the meetings will be live-streamed in an exercise that is completely open.
Brian Seage, the current Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi who led the diocese through the COVID-19 pandemic and Jackson water crisis, will be leaving the state once a replacement is elected.
Seage, the diocese's 10th bishop, was elected in 2014 and succeeded Bishop Duncan Gray in 2015, upon Gray's retirement.
The move comes as St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Northeast Jackson announced that Kyle Seage, also an Episcopal priest and the bishop's wife, had accepted a job as rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere, California. She had been the rector of St. Phillip's for 12 years. Brian Seage said his family wasn't looking for a move, but when they saw the profile listing for St. Stephen's, they felt like she had to apply.
Now, the transition committee will begin to host four opportunities to meet the candidates around the state, beginning Wednesday.
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The first meeting will be at St. James Episcopal Church in Greenville on Wednesday, followed by Thursday at All Saints Episcopal in Tupelo, Friday at Coast Episcopal Church in Long Beach and finally Saturday at Chapel of the Cross in Madison.
A new Bishop will be elected Feb. 3 during the Diocese's Annual Conference. The new Bishop will be ordained on July 20.
Here are the candidates:
The Rev. Canon Jason Alexander
The Rev. Canon Jason Alexander has served as Canon to the Ordinary in the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas since 2009. He is the chief advisor to the bishop in the general oversight of the diocese and focuses on clergy transitions and congregational development. He travels often among Arkansas' 54 congregations, preaching, teaching and troubleshooting. As the diocesan transition minister, he has overseen more than 50 clergy leadership transitions and fostered lay leadership in rural and urban congregations alike.
He is a graduate of Hendrix College as well as the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and Virginia Theological Seminary.
The Very Rev. Jennifer Andrews-Weckerly
The Very Rev. Jennifer Andrews-Weckerly is a native of Atlanta, Georgia and was raised there and in Western North Carolina. She received her undergraduate education at Duke University in political science and holds master's degrees from Virginia Theological Seminary and the University of Alabama's Culverhouse College of Business. She was ordained to priesthood in 2010.
She is married and met her husband while serving as U.S. House of Representatives Pages in high school. They have two school-age daughters.
The Very Rev. Rob Courtney
The Very Rev. Rob Courtney is a South Louisiana native, born and raised in Crowley. He attended the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in the early 1990s with a major in music before beginning a career in radio. Courtney worked as an on-air personality and program director in both Lafayette and New Orleans before leaving radio in 2002 to become the first Parish Administrator at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans. While working full time at the cathedral, he completed a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration through the University of Phoenix.
In 2006, he attended the University of the South's School of Theology in Sewanee, Tennessee and earned a Master of Divinity in 2008. He is married and has three children.
The Very Rev. Walton Jones
The Very Rev. Walton Jones grew up in Grenada, Mississippi. While completing his undergraduate degree in computer science from Mississippi State University. From there, he says he fell a call to to take a position as a youth minister and enter discernment to the priesthood. He received a Master of Divinity from the University of the South in 2007.
He has served several churches in Mississippi, including his current Church of the Resurrection in Starkville since 2016. He is married and has two children.
The Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells
The Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells is Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church in Germantown, Tennessee and is chaplain of the church's preschool. She has been there since 2013.
She is a native of Mobile, Alabama. Wells graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis with a degree in vocal performance. She also has a juris doctorate from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. Her Master of Divinity is from Memphis Theological Seminary and her Doctor of Ministry degree is from Candler School of Theology at Emory University.
Wells is married with two daughters.
See complete bios here.
Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS Episcopal bishop candidates to meet church members
