Nominations

The following positions will be open for nominations beginning November 11, 2024. These positions will be elected at the business meeting of the 41st Diocesan Convention. Please read through the following positions and, should you feel led, submit your nominations using the button at the bottom of each section beginning November 11, 2024.

Nominations may be made only by the Bishop, Clerical and Lay Delegates, Vestries, and any other person authorized by Canon. See Rule 8.01. Nominations are due by Friday, January 10, 2025. All nominees are invited to submit a photo, detailed biography, and reasons for seeking the position to the respective diocesan office (no word limit). This information will be posted on the website. Nominees are also invited to submit an abbreviated 100-word informational profile to be included in convention materials. Additionally, all nominees will be invited to participate in a breakout session during convention to meet and answer any questions from delegates and interested parties.  For further assistance with nominations after this date, please email the Secretary of Convention at christopher@knoxvilleascension.org.

The Bishop and Council (B&C) comprises the Bishop, the Dean of the Cathedral (or their appointed representative clergyperson), plus ten lay and clerical members who represent each of the three geographical areas of the diocese – two of each from the populous South East and Middle East areas and one of each from the Upper East Area.

B&C carries out the work of the Diocesan Convention between its annual meetings and oversees the program of the diocese.

In 2021, the Bishop and Council affirmed the following guiding principles. We ARE:

•   attuned to a eucharistic moment when past, present, and future co-exist
•   focused on God’s work in us and in you
•   hopeful about the church
•   collaborative
•   three regions as a trinity
•   ecumenical, participative, supportive
•   all in this together
•   prayerful
•   speaking truth in love
•   the convention between conventions

Among its responsibilities, B&C prepares the diocesan budget to be approved by Diocesan Convention and approves grants and loans recommended by the Opportunity Fund Committee. Members may serve on the Opportunity Fund and other council committees: Budget and Finance, Health Insurance, Stewardship, the Diocesan Council on Youth Ministry, or Diocesan Convention. Each term is three years. Clergy and lay members may not be from the same parish, and members must be 18 years old or more. Bishop and Council members may not serve simultaneously on the Standing Committee. Members gather approximately four to six times a year for meetings at the Diocesan House in Knoxville. Recent meetings have included the option for remote attendance.

Please see Rule 8.03 of the Diocese of East Tennessee Annual Convention Rules of Order for specific provisions governing the election of members of Bishop and Council.

Bishop and Council Nominees

Middle East Clergy Nominee

Sean McEwen is the Curate at St. Andrew’s, Maryville, where he has served since 2024.  He was ordained to the priesthood in June of 2024 having earned a Master of Divinity from the School of Theology at Sewanee where he served as class representative and Sewanee Community Council representative.  He also holds degrees in history and religious studies, and served as a licensed lay preacher and catechist before entering seminary.  He is a member of the diocesan task force on Christian Formation.  Sean lives in Maryville with his husband, Lance.

Middle East Lay Nominee

Marilyn Roddy is a lifelong educator. She grew up the granddaughter of a first-grade teacher and the daughter of a community college educator and a university professor. She began her career as a third-grade classroom teacher. Marilyn recently retired from the Pellissippi State Foundation where she served as the Director of Major Gift Development. She worked to create transformational partnerships for donors and students.

Prior to joining the Pellissippi State Foundation, Marilyn was the Director of STEMspark, a regional collaborative focused on increasing STEM education capacity in K-12 schools across 13 counties and 19 school districts in East Tennessee.

From 2003-2011 Marilyn was a member of Knoxville’s City Council, working closely with the Haslam Administration to bring growth and fiscal discipline to the city. As a member of Council, she focused on services and finances, the backbone of local government.

Marilyn holds a master’s in business administration from the Haslam College at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

She has been involved in the Knoxville community for over 35 years. She is a graduate of Leadership East Tennessee, Leadership Knoxville, and Leadership Blount County; served as a member of the Episcopal School of Knoxville board of trustees and was the founding vice-chair of the Legacy Parks Foundation.

Marilyn has been an active member of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension since 1988. She has served as vestry member and senior warden, altar guild member and trainer, children’s Sunday school teacher and lay reader. Her faith is core to her very being, and she cherishes the liturgy and traditions of the Episcopal church.

Marilyn and Patrick Roddy have been married for 39 years and have three adult daughters and two grandsons. Their daughters are active in their local Episcopal parishes, currently serving on vestry and flower guild. Their grandchildren sing in the children’s choir.

South East Clergy Nominee

Maribeth is the Priest in Charge at the Church of the Nativity in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. She is a 2020 graduate (M.Div.) of Sewanee’s School of Theology, served a year as a resident chaplain at the UT Medical Center in Knoxville, and as a curate for two years at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chattanooga where she was ordained to the priesthood in 2022. Maribeth is grateful for her call to Nativity, “the little church with the big, big heart,” where she has been serving since November of 2023.

South East Lay Nominees – Vote for ONE

Proven information technology leader with extensive experience in risk management, regulatory compliance, policy development, network and data center engineering and operations, incident response, sales support, and solution consulting. A leadership career marked by developing successful organizations through collaboration, communication, mentoring, and an understanding of shared governance; with a demonstrated history of successfully managing relationships with internal and external clients including Fortune 100 companies.

Brent has been a Middle School and High School Sunday school teacher for the past 12 years. He does tech support/organ DJ/cameraman support on Sundays. And he does Buildings and Grounds support at CCESP year round. He grew up at Second Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. He married into the Episcopal tradition at St. Peter’s Conway, Arkansas in 1995. He is the husband of the Rev. Kim A. Hobby and father of Aubrey and SarahBeth. 

I have been a member of Good Shepherd for 17 years.  My family and I have been involved with most everything Good Shepherd offers from services, Youth events, EfM, serving pancakes at our pancake supper and just about anything in between.  In my first term on Vestry, I served as Junior Warden and Senior Warden. Currently, I’m serving my second term on Vestry where I’ve helped with our stewardship campaign and other areas like Parish Camp, Parish cookouts and our annual Mass in the Grass service. I am also a Verger and served as an Usher for many years.

The Standing Committee serves as a council of advice to the bishop. Among its responsibilities, it gives consent for all bishops elected in the Episcopal Church, recommends individuals for ordination, and advises on the purchase, sale or encumbrance of any diocesan property or property held by a congregation or ministry of the diocese. In the event the diocese is without a bishop, the Standing Committee serves as the ecclesiastical authority until the diocese elects a new bishop. 

The Standing Committee schedules monthly meetings, but sometimes it conducts business via e-mail or conference call. 

The Standing Committee has six members, three clergy, and three lay. One clergy and one lay member rotate off each year. Each member’s term is three years, and they may be re-elected for one successive term. Members of the Standing Committee may not serve simultaneously on the Bishop and Council, Commission on Ministry, or Disciplinary Board.

Standing Committee Nominees

Lay Nominee

I grew up on a farm in East Tennessee, and was baptized in the kitchen sink by a priest from St. Francis Episcopal Church in Norris, Tennessee. My wife, Beth, and I have a 7 year old daughter, Audrey and 2 year old son, Sam. I just finished serving on the Vestry at Ascension; we have been attending Ascension for about nine years. At Ascension we as a family serve as Greeters, Beth serves on the Newcomers Committee and Audrey helps disperse welcome gift bags to newcomers during the service. I am serving as a delegate at this year’s convention and have served as an Alternate Delegate and attended the Diocesan Convention for the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee in 2017 and served as an alternate again in 2019. Also I have served the community in various ways including but not limited to: serving on the board of directors or Board of Governors for the Knoxville Bar Association, Horse Haven, and Hope of East Tennessee. My cochair and myself were recognized by the president of the (Knoxville) Bar Association for our service on the Access to Justice committee, where we connect volunteers and organize legal clinics at churches, community organizations, and other venues. When not injured I enjoy running and sprint triathlon’s. Even when injured I enjoy playing Legos, cars, and generally, doing whatever my kids are into at the moment. I love being out, in, and a part of nature, aspire to become a birder and to return to Crystal River and swim again with the Manatees.

Clergy Nominees – Vote for ONE

The Rev. RJ Powell has served as a Chaplain at Tyson House, the Episcopal-Lutheran Campus Ministry at UTK, since 2016, full-time since 2022. He also serves as a priest associate at St. James, Knoxville.

Originally from the Richmond, VA area, Fr. RJ grew up in the Christian Church/Church of Christ tradition and was heavily involved in campus ministry while attending undergrad at James Madison University in the Shenandoah Valley. In 2003, RJ moved to Johnson City, TN and lived there for over a decade where he attended seminary at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, worked with international students at East Tennessee State University, and was a member of St. John’s Church before completing his training for ordination at Sewanee.

He met his husband, Michaelangelo, in 2013, in Asheville, NC, and they were civilly married shortly before moving to Knoxville. Bishop George Young blessed their marriage at St. James in 2016. Michaelangelo, originally from Nicaragua, works as a skilled tradesperson as a Master Finish Carpenter.

Fr. RJ has served our diocese in a number of capacities including as a member and president of the Standing Committee, member of the Becoming Beloved Community Anti-racism taskforce, member of the Disciplinary Board, member of the Bishop Search and Transition Committees for our Fifth Bishop, and as a Clergy Deputy to the General Convention in 2018, 2022, and 2024.

Fr. RJ believes that, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we must devoted to realizing and offering what theologian Miroslav Volf calls “a compelling vision of a way of life worth living,” which is a life fervent in doing justice in our neighborhoods and city, loving mercy for our neighbors in the many ways they come to us and we can go to them, and by walking humbly with our God as a community of siblings in Christ.

Though born in New Jersey, Ashton grew up in Alabama and, like many here, eventually became an East Tennessee transplant after graduating from Sewanee’s School of Theology in 2017. Between graduating from seminary and ordination, he worked at UT Medical Center Knoxville in a variety of different capacities, including chaplain, nursing technician, and health unit coordinator.

His “churchy” passions are liturgy, biblical studies, formation, and (most recently) engaging with English Reformation theologians. He has also enjoyed time as a pilgrim in both the Holy Land as well as walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. And as far as personal interests are concerned, he is a life-long gamer (the Dragon Quest series being a particular favorite), an amateur runner, and an avid reader of fantasy and sci-fi literature.

He and his wife Anna have been married for seven years and share a mutual love of travel, lazy mornings, and taking Pip their dog anywhere they can get away with it.

The Disciplinary Board is unique among our elected leadership bodies in that it does not convene for meetings on a regular schedule. The disciplinary board meets once  annually for an orientation and then serves through the remainder of the year as a pool of members from which panels may be drafted as needed.  The ideal qualities of a good disciplinary board member include sound judgment and the ability to listen carefully.  This board is composed of seven persons, four members of the clergy and three lay. Clergy members must be canonically and geographically resident within the diocese, and lay members must be adult communicants in good standing who are geographically resident in the diocese. Members of the Standing Committee may not also be members of the Disciplinary Board. Functions of the Disciplinary Board are listed in the Canons of The Episcopal Church, Title IV.

Disciplinary Board Nominees

Lay Nominee – Term Ending 2027

Mark Porter is a member of St. Peter’s, Chattanooga, where he serves as acolyte master and a member of the youth committee. Professionally, he works as a nuclear engineer with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Lay Nominee – Term Ending 2028

John is a communicant at St. Paul’s in Kingsport.  He is also a Eucharistic Minister and Lector. John has served his parish and diocese in multiple roles, including as Senior Warden, and as a member of Bishop and Council, the Diocesan Covid Task Force, and Disciplinary Board. He is a licensed lay pastoral counselor and worship leader. John is married to Tim Bradshaw who is also very active at St. Paul’s. John and Tim have two sons, Rhys and Rowan Bradshaw-Bellamy.  John is a Senior Attorney for Eastman in Kingsport.

Clergy Nominees, Term Ending 2028 – Vote for TWO

The Rev. Jonathan “Johnny” Tuttle is the rector of St. Pauls in Kingsport, TN. Having attended Milligan college, he fell in love with Upper East Tennessee. Johnny attended seminary at Duke Divinity School and graduated with a certificate in Anglican Studies.He previously served in the Diocese of Georgia at St. John and St. Mark Episcopal Church before coming to East Tennessee. He has served on the Disciplinary Committee, Becoming the Beloved Community, and the Evangelism Committee.

After joining the Episcopal Church, he discerned a call to the priesthood, which led to a unique process for ordination in 2016, having already completed seminary in 2015.

The structure and liturgy of the Episcopal Church, as well as our ability to receive and blend gifts “both old and new,” drew Johnny to this particular tradition. The hope for ecumenical bonds of affection and shared ministry is a driving force behind his desire to be involved in diocesan ministry, recognizing that the structure and canons of the church are instruments of our potential and formal communion with our siblings in Christ in other expressions of our faith.

Johnny loves living in Kingsport and the greater Tri-Cities with his wife, Nicki, two children, Eli and Isla, and his dog, Dansby. He enjoys playing Pickleball and Disc Golf in his free time.

Ann, a Chattanooga native, earned her interior design degree from the UT, Knoxville. She worked in the field for 40 years, owning her design firm for 16 years in the South Broad District. Ordained as an Episcopal deacon in 2007, Ann served at St. Paul’s, Chattanooga, for a decade and is an active supply deacon and on the diocesan Disciplinary Board. A member of the Downtown Rotary Club, she also serves on boards for the Caldsted Foundation, South Broad Redevelopment Group, and Chattanooga Sports Authority. Ann and her husband Brad live on Lookout Mountain, enjoying their daughters and grandchildren.

Two lay people and one member of the clergy serve on the Board of Trustees of the University of the South. The term of office is three years, and trustees can be re-elected for one successive term. One trustee rotates off each year. 

Trustees are expected to attend the annual board meeting each May and any special meetings that may occur throughout the year. Trustees should be personally committed to the basic aims of the university. They are responsible for informing their dioceses about the university and should be willing to contribute to its financial well-being.

Trustee Nominee

Lay Nominee

As an undergraduate at Sewanee, Anna engaged as a student leader, serving as an Arcadian, Vice President of Inter Sorority Council, member of Career Development Student Leadership Committee, and Omicron Delta Kappa. Recognized by the faculty, Anna received the Art History Award upon graduation. Upon completing a Masters degree in Arts Administration, Anna returned to Sewanee as a member of the Advancement team tasked with raising nearly $100 million dollars for the University.

Anna’s career reflects a lifelong commitment to education and service. With a background rooted in the values of an Episcopal education, Anna has served in diverse roles, including educational fundraising, professional school counselor, and her current position as an administrator in higher education at Pellissippi State Community College. Her experiences in fundraising (Sewanee, Maryville College, Pellissippi State) highlights her dedication to building resources that empower schools and students, while her fourteen years as a professional school counselor in Knox County public schools demonstrates her passion for guiding young people in their academic and personal development- including several young people enrolling at Sewanee. Now, as Dean of Pellissippi State Community College’s Blount County Campus, Anna combines these experiences to lead with empathy, vision, and collaboration.

A lifelong Episcopalian, Anna has served parishes as both a youth and adult church school teacher, Senior Warden, and Stewardship Campaign Co- Chair with her husband Shawn (Sewanee C’89).