Jody Davis has done outstanding work for the Diocese of East Tennessee in his capacity as our Diocesan Youth Coordinator. It is not surprising to me that the Diocese of West Texas has recognized Jody’s many gifts and called him as the next Director of the Duncan Park Camp in Colorado. It is bittersweet to lose Jody and Gracie, but it is a joy to know that Jody’s dream to run an Episcopal camping ministry is possible now. Jody and Gracie go with our prayers and our best wishes. To all East Tennessee Episcopalians, please take pride in your support of Jody through parish ministry at Good Shepherd, Knoxville, and Grace Point Camp and Retreat Center. You all have raised up a servant leader and a faithful disciple. – Bishop Brian Cole
To give to Grace Point, visit www.gracepointcamp.org/give
Please note: The Diocesan Offices are located at 814 Episcopal School Way.
Transcript
– Friends in East Tennessee, it is bittersweet for me to announce that in February of 2021, I will be leaving my post as diocesan youth coordinator of East Tennessee. It has been a privilege to work alongside you all. East Tennessee has helped me grow into the person I am today. A better person, a better minister, a better servant to Christ. It is with great joy that I will assume the position of Director at Duncan Park, an Episcopal outdoor adventure camp located in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies. Although Duncan Park is nestled in the Colorado Mountains, it is owned and operated by the Diocese of West Texas. Gracie and I will have the opportunity to live in Colorado during the camp season, while we reside in the San Antonio area during the off season. Since my early days as a Grace Point camper, it has been a dream of mine to run a summer camp of my own. It is not lost on me how fortunate I am, to see this dream become a reality. I am even more blessed to know that my ministry will continue in two places that Gracie and I fell deeply in love with on our big trip out west. Rest assured, the ETN youth program will be in good hands. The diocese and your youth workers care deeply about the youth of East Tennessee, and will continue to work hard to spread God’s love through their ministries. Thank you all for being with Gracie and I as we move into this new season of our lives. Your love and support over the years has filled our hearts in indescribable ways. We are truly grateful. And, until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of God’s hands. Peace.
– Hi, this is Bishop Brian. You’ve now heard the news of Jody Davis, and this call for Jody and Gracie to go West, to serve the diocese of West Texas at Duncan Park. This is an incredible opportunity for Jody and Gracie, and I can’t thank them enough for the good work, the good service they have provided to this diocese, to Grace Point, just to our communities. What a gift they have been to us, and what exciting news it is for them. We are sharing them with the wider Episcopal Church, we hope they will always know that East Tennessee is home, and we hope to hear a lot more about how they grow and how they serve and minister, both in Duncan Park and in the diocese of West Texas. I know between now and when Jody and Gracie depart in mid-February that you will want to find all kinds of ways to thank them and to acknowledge the good work they’ve done. One way that we want to invite you to do that is to make a gift to Grace Point, in honor of Jody and Gracie. And we want to encourage you to direct that gift, if you so choose to, to the retreat village. This is our final phase of building at Grace Point, we have begun to be able to do some of that building this year with some very generous lead gifts. At this point, we’re not in a public campaign phase, because we want to be sensitive to parish budgets in the time of COVID. But if you’d like to make a gift, to acknowledge your gratitude and thankfulness for Jody and Gracie, make a gift out to Grace Point, memo line retreat village fund. Send that to us here at 814* Episcopal School Way, and we’ll be able to track that and to let folks know that we are grateful for Jody’s service here, for Gracie’s service here. We want the people of West Texas to take good care of Jody and Gracie, and to know they are receiving a great gift of ours, great friends, great colleagues, and we know they will do good work. So, to Jody and to Gracie, we will miss you, we love you, and to the people of West Texas, we’re giving you good people. And to the people of East Tennessee, what a gift it is that we nurture and grow leaders in this diocese, both through ministry here, and in the wider church. Thank you, thank you, thank you Jody and Gracie for your good, good work. Amen.