Raising & Equipping Leaders: The March 2025 Communiqué

I pray you have begun a Holy Lent in preparation for the celebration of Our Lord’s Resurrection in just a few weeks. Thank you for your prayers for the Clergy Retreat held in February and which was attended by nearly one hundred of our clergy, postulants, and clergy spouses. Please keep the Clergy Spouse Retreat coming in early April in your prayers.

This month’s Communiqué is focused on the next Mark of Flourishing Churches: Raising and Equipping Leaders. To start, let me encourage you by saying the Lord is faithfully raising up new ordained leaders for the Diocese. We rejoice with Christ the King St. Augustine and The Mission Pensacola who have called new Rectors. Through our Diocesan youth ministry, college ministry, your parish youth ministries, God is continuing to raise up ordained leaders for our efforts to reach North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. However, ordaining new clergy is just one aspect of this Mark of Flourishing, and we must look beyond the ordination process if we want truly flourishing churches.

What does faithful ministry look like? In our data-driven and efficiency-obsessed culture, speed and results are often used as metrics for success. But is success the same as faithfulness? In our pursuit of optimization, what is the role of the Holy Spirit?

While there is much practical wisdom that may be gleaned from our cultural moment, we must admit up front that speed and efficiency are not necessarily kingdom values. Consider Jesus’ many organic metaphors for the kingdom of God …

Some of you may have heard of the wonderful servant leader Charles Simeon, but how many of heard of the Institute that bears his name? Or, having heard of the Charles Simeon Institute, how many of you actually know what its mission is? Consider this article an invitation for you to learn about who CSI is and how we are hoping to partner with you in the future!

Healthy church communities don’t just nurture faith – they raise up leaders. If we truly seek to build the Kingdom of God, if we truly seek to flourish, we must be intentional about empowering the next generation to step into roles of leadership and service. From children and youth to young adults, we have an opportunity to equip and disciple future leaders who will carry the mission and message of the gospel forward.

The early church understood the importance of raising up leaders to meet the growing needs of the community. Look at what happens in the Acts of the Apostles:

How do we raise up healthy church planters to lead our church plants? Studies have shown that an essential component contributing to a church plant’s long-term success is leading candidates through a vibrant assessment process before any planting work begins.1

For us, Assessment is just a fancy word for communal discernment. Just as the early church discerned in prayer that God was raising up Paul and Barnabas to be sent out (Acts 13) …

It's my pleasure to introduce to you three people stepping into new roles around the Diocese. Ms. Catherine Datres has this month joined the Diocesan staff, taking up the role of Executive Administrator. Additionally, two of our parishes have recently called new rectors: Fr. Daniel Hixon has been called as Rector of The Mission Pensacola following the retirement of Fr. Ron Browning, and Fr. Craig Sanders has been called as Rector of Christ The King in St. Augustine following the retirement of Fr. David Allert. Please join us in heartily welcoming them into these new ministries!

Catherine Datres

Catherine Datres is a member of All Souls Anglican Church in Jacksonville, Florida. She is married to Mike and has two daughters, Alex and Tori. She graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Finance and received her MBA from the University of North Florida. 

She comes to the Diocese with 30+ years’ experience in the banking industry with an emphasis in Financial Reporting, Budgeting and Regulatory implementation.  

She has a passion for mission work and financial literacy. For missions she is a certified Perspectives Coordinator and has participated in several gospel sharing missions in Cuba. For financial literacy she is a certified financial coach assisting individuals on personal financial goals and has led a financial workshop in Ireland.

As part of the Five-Year Strategic Plan, the Gulf Atlantic Diocese partnered with the Charles Simeon Institute to launch an new annual conference called Equipping the Saints. This Conference seeks to empower and equip people across the Diocese in key areas identified as strategic opportunities of growth, and especially focuses on the development of laypeople.

You can view all upcoming diocesan events on our Events page.

Camp Araminta registration is open! Camp Araminta is one very active week with ongoing, exciting programs and activities that keep our kids busy from the crack of dawn until the evening. Camp is open to all rising 4th-12th grade students. We are building Christian Community through fellowship, living the Christian ideal from day to day, and learning to hold each other accountable. We also encourage discipleship by teaching youth how to filter the culture around us and discern what we listen to, say, and do (in music, media, and games). We are a ministry dedicated to supporting our youth as well as our fellow Anglicans.

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