Saint Stephen's calls the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Watts, Associate Rector for Formation

Dear Saint Stephen’s Family,

I am excited to share that the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Watts (Becky) has accepted my invitation to join our staff as the Associate Rector for Formation.  Over the last twelve months, we have slowly begun living into a strategic vision that sees the Christian faith lived out in worship and liturgy but practiced through four critical areas: pastoral care, outreach, care of creation, and formation.  When we began our clergy search last fall, we began searching for both an Associate Rector for Pastoral Care and Liturgy and an Associate Rector for Formation.  I am thrilled that the process has concluded, and we have assembled a clergy team that can help Saint Stephen’s live into her vision and mission for this next chapter of ministry. 

Becky and her family will be moving from College Station, Texas where she has been serving as a priest at St. Thomas Episcopal Church. At St. Thomas, Becky started and organized the Holy Hikes Brazos Valley chapter and taught a number of adult formation classes.  Prior to seminary, Becky spent nearly two decades in teaching, curriculum design, and assessment.  She was the chair of the Communication Department at Stetson University, where she also co-founded and co-directed an American Studies lecture series called Learn Local, which spotlighted the work of faculty and students who study Central Florida, its natural environment as well as its history and culture.

Becky shared in the interview process that she was drawn to our pillars of community outreach and creation care, especially the ways these interact with our ongoing spiritual formation. Becky wrote, “a central focus of my teaching, research, and writing prior to seminary was the intersection of rhetoric and public memory with race and southern identity, including the work of the civil rights movement. Being in ministry in the Birmingham area sparks my imagination, especially when I consider how formation and community outreach could support the ongoing ministry of racial reconciliation and healing.”

Becky’s primary focus is the cultivation of our formation opportunities for all ages including the continued creation of small group ministries. The vision of the vestry is that all members of our faith community will engage in some form of meaningful Christian formation. Included in this responsibility is the development of the Saint Stephen’s lecture series. 

I would also be remiss if I didn’t extend a huge amount of gratitude to Michel Marcoux, Cathy Buhring, Ashley Kuntz, John Freeman, Lindsey Hull, and Melinda Thompson who have served as our Associate Rector search committee since September of 2019. The Watts family will move the end of July and Becky will begin her tenure on August 1, 2020.  Please join me in welcoming Becky and her family to Saint Stephen’s and Birmingham, Alabama. 

Faithfully,

The Rev. John B. Burruss, Rector