by The Vestry
February 7th, 2010
Good morning. We have wonderful news! The Rev. Canon Stephen Huber of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. has accepted our unanimous call to be the 7th Rector of All Saints' Church.
Last month, over the course of several days packed with meals, meetings, car rides around Los Angeles, and a service preached here in the Sanctuary, the Vestry got to know Stephen Huber. And it became clear to us that this gifted leader, pastor, preacher, and organizer belongs at All Saints'. This week you all will hear directly from Steve in a letter to our parish, but today we will try to give you a feel for our next rector.
In an essay for the Search Committee, Steve wrote, "My greatest joy is being an Episcopal priest. I go home most days thinking, 'This has been a blessed day.' I'm an extrovert and draw my energy from people. I delight in the privilege of inviting others to discover the Good News of Jesus Christ in a culture of inquiry and discovery, where people of all ages are energized by the journey of faith."
Steve grew up in a large Roman Catholic family in Ohio and attended Catholic schools from first grade all the way through graduate school at Loyola University in New Orleans. He spent ten years teaching theology and working in development in private schools before transitioning to full-time development work as an AIDS fundraiser for such organizations as the Fenway Community Health Center in Boston and the Human Rights Campaign Fund in Washington, D.C.
During this time, Steve recognized the Episcopal Church as his true spiritual home, and by the mid-1990's, discerned God's call to be an Episcopal priest. He attended seminary at Yale University, obtaining his Master of Divinity in 1998. Steve continued at Yale's Berkley Divinity School as their development and communications director, where he coordinated a $2.8 million capital campaign and increased annual giving by 23 percent. While in Connecticut, he spent three years serving at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in New Haven and a year as part-time priest-in-charge at St. George's Church in Bridgeport.
Steve was called to St. Columba's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. as associate rector in 2000 and ultimately served as its transition rector from 2004-2006. At that time St. Columba's was the largest parish in the Diocese of Washington with 3600 parishioners and a 28-member staff. During his tenure, Steve oversaw a $2.5 million annual program budget. He prioritized developing comprehensive adult formation programs and empowered a children and youth ministry program where over 200 teen-agers were actively involved in ministry. Steve led an outreach program of 26 mission groups and served as liaison to Washington-area social action organizations.
In 2006, the dean of the Washington National Cathedral hired Steve to build a Cathedral congregation. The Cathedral historically had many visitors but no on-going congregation - a place with lots of generals but no army. Steve was hired as Vicar to create a regular worshiping community of people whose spiritual lives would be formed and lived out through ministries at the Cathedral. Using his skills as a collaborative leader, Steve developed education, pastoral care, stewardship, communications, and hospitality ministries for the congregation, which now numbers more than 700 members.
Steve is a Spirit-filled preacher and loving pastor with an open heart and wonderful manner, ready to lead All Saints' in the work of the Kingdom of God. In another essay for the Search Committee, Steve wrote, "I understand my primary vocation as inviting people into a new or deepened relationship with Jesus Christ. All Saints' is a model to the whole church of an intellectually coherent expansive Christian faith that is unabashedly grounded in discipleship of Jesus Christ. I find that enormously exciting." So do we!
These seven months, from when Carol retired until Steve arrives in late August, are a time of purpose in our parish. Our Interim Pastor, Mary Haddad, and our three Associates, Gabri, Barry and Maryetta, will be leading our congregation in a journey of preparation and renewal. Years from now, all of us at All Saints' today will be privileged to say that we were here for Carol's ministry, that we were here for the wonderful and remarkable seven month interim period, and we were here for the ministry of our new rector.
We give our thanks and appreciation to our clergy and staff. We also thank the Search Committee for their 18 months of service to our parish. And above all, we thank you. Your prayers were with us the entire time, guiding us, inspiring us and helping us.
Now, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we've been blessed with a new shepherd, Stephen Huber.
"Thanks be to God."
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