The Diocese of East Tennessee has announced a slate of four men and one woman for the diocese’s election of a fifth bishop:
- The Rev. Brian Cole, rector of Good Shepherd, Lexington, Kentucky
- The Rev. Hendree Harrison, rector of St. Paul’s, Athens, Tennessee
- The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, canon to the ordinary, Diocese of Georgia
- The Rev. Canon Lance Ousley, canon for stewardship and development in the Diocese of Olympia and priest-in-charge of St. John’s, Kirkland, Washington
- The Rev. Marty Stebbins, rector of St. Timothy’s, Wilson, North Carolina
The diocese will accept nominations by petition through May 12. The election is scheduled for July 28 at St. John’s Cathedral in Knoxville.
The nominees all addressed four points:
- “What does it mean for you, personally, to follow Jesus? How does this relate to your sense of call to be the next Bishop of East Tennessee?”
- “Which of your professional and personal experiences and spiritual gifts would equip you to meet the perceived needs of our diocese?”
- “Describe your experience of developing, casting, and implementing a strategic vision for an organization.”
- “In no more than 1,000 words, please give us a sense of how you think about and present the good news of God, and how you conceive of and would live out what it is to be a bishop.”
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
