As a Deacon, I see the Church as an organic body where "The Word of God is proclaimed and the Sacraments are properly administered". Succinctly, the Church must be:
As a political creature, my views fall within the spectrum of a Socially conservative Libertarian. This view is supported by the twin pillars of Holy Scripture, and the Constitution of the United States.
You can find me at all the familiar places:
The Catbird Seat (My Blog)
Dcnandy (My Twitter page)
Andy's Podcasts (Coming soon...)
I was born 1962 in Valley Township, a suburb of Philadelphia, PA. My dad was a bond trader on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. My mom was a Second Grade teacher with the Coatesville school system. Theirs was a “mixed marriage” by pre-Vatican II standards as mom was a devout Roman Catholic and dad was an active Episcopalian. Suffice to say that for the Roman church to bless this union, the kids were pledged to be raised Roman Catholic. My mom was faithful to this promise and I was baptized in August 1962. It was at this time that my Grandfather, to his pride and his father’s consternation began to refer to his first Grandson as the “First American Pope”.
My formal catechistic training began in the fall of 1968 at St. Cecilia’s Parish in Coatesville. Along with learning the catechism of his church, I also prepared to receive the sacraments of Holy Eucharist, Penance and Confirmation, ultimately being confirmed by an auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in April 1972.
In 1974, I had my first first real exposure to Anglicanism and the Episcopal Church. This occurred at the Church of the Trinity, or “Trinity Coatesville”, a “Broad” church that tended to lean closer to the Anglo-Catholic vein of Anglicanism. I initially attended Eucharist on various Holy Days with my dad and stepmother. In attending these, he began to sense a growing affinity for the Anglican form and would eagerly get up early for these services that were held before school. This was a time of family worship as so often, the Terry family were the sole attendees on these mornings.
Discerning and Moving towards God’s Calling
Since the age of six, I was aware of the Lord’s call on my life. In fact, I can still recall a late spring afternoon, looking up into the northeastern sky and watching the cumulus clouds move on the winds. It was here where I first encountered the still, small voice of the Spirit speaking into my heart. This call was sensed by others also. In August 1979 during an evening walk on an Ocean City beach, my Grandfather informed me that he was prepared to underwrite his undergraduate and seminary studies if I'd answer the call to the priesthood.
I was ordained as an Exhorter (A Licensed Minister) within the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee in December 1992. Over the next three years,I'd serve in a number of capacities which included Youth and Christian Education, Evangelism and Outreach, Sick/Shut-in ministries, and associate pastoral ministries. In January 1996, the Bishop of Virginia installed me as pastor of a struggling church in Alexandria, VA. This would run through late 1997 when the church was merged with another small congregation in the Mount Vernon section of the city.
In late 2001, I was beginning to sense the seeds of what would become watershed theological issues between him and the Church of God. I was fully cognizant of my divine mandate to proclaim the counsel of scripture, and to equip God’s saints that they might mature into the fullness of God’s word. Yet both the official and unofficial teachings of his denomination seemed to be at odds with this solemn charge. The Church of God, Cleveland was firmly entrenched in the Arminian/Semi-Pelagian school at the official level. Her unofficial/popular teachings were rife with the aberrant teachings that were being aped throughout the various Charismatic circles. The sum of these seemed to produce stunted, anemic followers who were never more than a thought away from “loosing their salvation”. Troubled by doctrines that left immature saints in a state of being “tossed about by and carried away”, I strove to teach foundational doctrines that would inoculate the saints against heresy, and nourish them with the meat of God’s word. This not received well on either side of the altar rail, and he was accused of being anything from a crypto-Baptist, to an outright apostate.
The days rolled into 2003, I found myself in a place where it was becoming increasingly difficult defend the teachings of his church. In some ways, his struggle was not unlike that of the orthodox Episcopal Priests who were wrestling with the positions held by their church. Yet, there was the paralysis of the twin brothers of fear and pride when faced with the prospect of stepping away from the denomination. The Lord intervened and made the decision clear through a providential chain of events. In September 2003, I resigned from my position at the Stafford Church. The family's attention would soon be caught by a church in Stafford which billed itself as being both “Evangelical and Episcopal”.
The Vicar of this mission plant soon discerned that there was a call on my life and stood up to the task of becoming my spiritual director. In August 2005, a two year discernment period began. During this period, the mission was disolved by its members in the growing crisis within the Episcopal Church. Some of these members gathered together to create a new parish that would seek membership within the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).
This period of personal discernment actually exceeded the presupposed two years and was culminated in March 2009. Those years proved to be a time of both great joy, and spiritual agony as I had the opportunity to experience both the Smile of God along with his sharp pruning shears. I can only look back to this time as the greatest season of personal and spiritual growth I've ever experienced.
Ordination and Service within a New Church
My Anglican Ordination took place on November 7th, 2009 at Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia under the hands of Bishop Martyn Minns. Today, I serve the Parish of All Saint's Church in Woodbridge, Virginia.
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