BISHOP SEARCH

SLATE OF CANDIDATES

The Standing Committee and Bishop Search Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland are pleased to announce the slate of candidates for the Bishop Coadjutor of Maryland (XV Bishop of Maryland). 

THE REV. CARRIE SCHOFIELD-BROADBENT

Canon to the Ordinary for Transition and Church Development
Diocese of Central New York

 

The Rev. Carrie Schofield-Broadbent (she/her) serves as the Canon to the Ordinary for Transition and Church Development in the Diocese of Central New York. Building on many years in parish ministry, Carrie works with clergy and congregations in times of transition, and collaborates with the communities of faith to cultivate and grow dynamic, healthy, invitational congregations and ministries that are relevant to their contexts and deeply rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Carrie received a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Peace and Conflict Studies with an emphasis in interpersonal and intragroup conflict resolution. She worked for several years before going to seminary as a conflict resolution trainer and consultant, mostly working in educational settings. In her work in the Church, this background has been helpful. Carrie consults with clergy, lay leaders, vestries and congregations who are experiencing conflict, both in her diocese and across the Church.

Having served in a variety of ministry contexts: small town, rural, urban, and suburban; tiny churches to program-sized parishes, she has a flexible liturgical style and enjoys preaching and presiding at different churches each week in her current role.

Since graduating from Virginia Theological Seminary in 2003, she has continued her professional development through the Alban Institute, the Lombard Menonite Peace Center, Fierce Conversations, the Interim Ministry Network, and Susan Beaumont and Associates. Carrie is a trainer with the College for Congregational Development.

Carrie identifies her own core values of ministry as: trust and relationships, truth and transparency, and compassion and faithfulness. These qualities reveal themselves in who God has created her to be: a bridge-builder, someone who is not afraid of tough conversations, and an encourager – grounded in integrity, creativity, and the love of Jesus.

Her passions in ministry include: empowering lay ministry, working with congregations, supporting non-traditional paths to ordination, conflict resolution, talking about God (and our beloved church) in ways that make sense to people, and seeing beyond numbers to each congregation’s vitality and passion for ministry. Open to the movement of the Holy Spirit, her collaborative leadership style combines strength, graciousness, authenticity, strategy and a generous sense of humor.

Deeply committed to honoring the dignity of every human being, Carrie consistently attends to her own work around race, climate change, economic justice, and full-inclusion of LGBTQAI+ persons and is committed to helping the Church grow in these areas as well.

Carrie lives in Syracuse with her husband, Keith, their children, Will (19) who is a sophomore at SUNY ESF and Kate (17) who is a junior in high school, and their two dogs. They enjoy traveling, camping, kayaking, and hiking together. In her free time, Carrie is a hobby potter and also dabbles in painting and quilting. She also loves to read, practice yoga, nurture friendships, and cultivate her growing love of houseplants. 

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VIDEO GREETING FROM THE REV. SCHOFIELD-BROADBENT

THE REV. ALISSA NEWTON

Canon for Congregational Development and Leadership Formation
Vicar, St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Kent, WA
Diocese of Olympia

 

The Rev. Alissa Newton was born in Roseville, California, and grew up in Northern California. She currently lives in Des Moines, Washington, near Seattle, with her husband Andrew, their daughters Jubilee and Salome, and their dog and five chickens. Alissa serves the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia as Canon for Congregational Development and Leadership Formation, and St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Kent, WA as their Vicar. 

Alissa grew up in an evangelical Christian tradition, and found church to be a place of belonging, community, and love. The church of her childhood taught her that church is a place for people of all ages and abilities and gave her a deep love for Jesus and the Bible. While in high school she participated in a foreign exchange program and lived in Russia. This, her first experience with radical difference, changed her. She came home with a bigger experience of God’s love, and an expanded theology for how inclusive that love could be. This started a journey that led her to become confirmed as an Episcopalian in the spring of 2000 in Seattle, the same year she graduated from Seattle Pacific University. 

After graduating Alissa went to work as a research interviewer for the LONGSCAN research project, a landmark study examining the long terms effects of neglect and abuse on children. She also started drumming in a band with some friends and found community in the lively Seattle music scene of the early aughts. This is where she met her husband, Andrew, who is a musician and a respiratory therapist. 

In 2005 she and Andrew started attending St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Seattle. At St. Paul’s Alissa began learning the skills and practice of congregational development. She served as junior warden, and then Lay Pastor for Children and Families. It was during this time she began to discern a call to ordained ministry. In 2009 Alissa started seminary at Seattle University and she and Andrew welcomed their first child, Jubilee. Their second daughter, Salome, arrived in 2011. Both of their children came to them through adoption.  

While in seminary Alissa developed interests in anti-racist theology and child theology and was privileged to publish papers in both areas. She also began working as a congregational development trainer and consultant, assisting in the launch of the first College for Congregational Development. Upon graduation and ordination she began her work as a Canon and Vicar, and in the time since then has found that she thrives in both environments. Congregations are her passion – Alissa believes the local congregation is the primary site of God’s transformation for Christian people. She is ready to work with the Diocese of Maryland to equip and empower its congregations, clergy, and lay leaders to be local expressions of Christ, people sent out to be salt, light, and leaven in our world. 

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VIDEO GREETING FROM THE REV. NEWTON

 

THE REV. GREGG MORRIS

Rector, St. Andrew’s, Downers Grove, IL
Diocese of Chicago

 

The Rev. Gregg Morris currently serves in the Diocese of Chicago as Rector of St. Andrew’s in Downers Grove, IL. Gregg studied Christian Education and Church Music during his undergraduate years at Taylor University. He holds a Master of Arts in Leadership Studies from Azusa Pacific University, and a Master in Divinity Cum Laude from Virginia Theological Seminary.

Before beginning ordained ministry, Gregg had a 20-year career in various lay ministry settings: working with students on a college campus, Youth Minister, high school religion teacher, national trainer and consultant with the Journey to Adulthood Youth Program, and Christian Formation Director. Each of these roles allowed Gregg to hone his gifts and skills for teaching, training, and mentoring, and to fuel his passion in the art and practice of leadership. He has a deep commitment to empowering lay ministry, which actually kept him from pursuing ordained ministry for over a decade.

His call to ordained ministry clarified while he was living in Pittsburgh. (At the time, the Bishop of Pittsburgh was seeking to remove the diocese from The Episcopal Church, so discernment there was not possible.) Due to a long-term consulting relationship with Trinity, Towson, the hospitality of Trinity’s Rector, and the blessing of the Bishops, Gregg undertook and completed his discernment process in the Diocese of Maryland – commuting between Pittsburgh and Baltimore for two years!

After completing seminary, Gregg served as Associate Rector at St. John’s, Ellicott City, MD. In addition to developing his craft as a preacher and pastoral care provider, this experience allowed him to further refine his skills in leadership development, vision-setting, strategic planning and implementation, and volunteer administration and management. During his time there, he also served on the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Maryland.

After four years at St. John’s, Gregg joined St. Andrew’s in Downers Grove as Rector, where he has served for more than seven years. In addition to leading this highly active parish, he is a trainer with the College for Congregational Development, and is an active consultant, serving parishes in the Diocese of Chicago. Gregg also serves as a mentor for new clergy in the diocesan Fresh Start program. He is a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI, LLC), helping people intentionally develop their intercultural competency.

A key aspect of Gregg’s spiritual life is found in his recovery from alcoholism through AA, and his 22+ years of continuous sobriety. Because of his experience, he knows alcoholism’s effect on individuals, families and entire systems. He describes himself as a “wounded healer,” able to bring hope and healing to those whose lives and systems have been affected by alcoholism.

Gregg lives in Downers Grove with his wife, Laura. They have two adult daughters, Jillian and Hillary, and three dogs. He is an avid collector of vinyl records, loves to be outdoors, practices yoga, and  wears Converse All-Stars most of the year. (He has been known to wear the red ones on Pentecost.)

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VIDEO GREETING FROM THE REV. MORRIS

 

THE REV. J. RANDOLPH (RANDY) ALEXANDER JR.

Rector, Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, Alexandria
Diocese of Virginia

 

The bedrock of Randy’s identity is that he is a child of God, as is everyone reading this bio. He believes in God’s scandalous, redeeming, inexhaustible love for us, most vividly displayed in becoming one of us, with us, and for us in Jesus Christ. It is this love that Randy has been honored to proclaim as a priest for 28 years. He is also married to a priest, the Rev. Patty Alexander (who serves as Rector of St. Dunstan’s, Bethesda, MD), and together they have three sons, William (21), Peter (19), and Andrew (16).

Randy was raised in a small town in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia, where his family has lived for hundreds of years. There he lived in a culture of being known and of belonging – not based on anything he did, but simply upon who he was. Randy has also lived in major cities, where he has worked in homeless shelters and feeding programs, and in suburban areas, where he learned about the stressors of balancing work and family while commuting.

After graduating from the University of Virginia and the General Theological Seminary in New York, Randy served as Curate at St. John’s Church, Larchmont, NY (in suburban Westchester County), and then as Assistant Rector at Old St. Paul’s in downtown Baltimore. He then moved to London, where his wife was a research assistant to the Archbishop of Canterbury and he was a priest associate in a London parish. They were then called back to Westchester County, where Randy became Rector of Christ Church, Pelham, NY, a post he held for 13 years. He was called to Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, Alexandria, VA in 2013, a parish founded by and closely associated with the Virginia Theological Seminary. Immanuel is a vibrant, loving community with a heart for outreach, Christian formation, and vital lay ministry.

Randy is very involved in the ordination process in the Diocese of Virginia, currently serving as Chair of the Committee on Priesthood and a member of the Commission on Ministry, and having served in the past on the Standing Committee, as Dean of the Alexandria Region, and as a Deputy to General Convention. He has also taught as adjunct faculty at VTS.

Randy is a “people person,” endlessly fascinated by the rich variety of human nature. He loves being a pastor, learning people’s stories, asking together what God might be dreaming for them next, and preaching, teaching, and celebrating the sacraments of the New Covenant. He is energized as a leader by asking, always, how our life and work together is helping to build God’s Kingdom, God’s justice, God’s righteousness, the Beloved Community. It is from this perspective that he has been blessed to work towards the congregational development of all five parishes he has been honored to serve.

Randy loves late-night discussions, good movies, strolling through museums and then discussing it all afterwards, travel, hiking, biking, and kayaking. He is humbled, and deeply honored, to be on this discernment journey with us in the Diocese of Maryland.

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VIDEO GREETING FROM THE REV. ALEXANDER