Youth Minister Transition
Farewell to Curtis Moneymaker
& Welcome to Adam Alexander
FROM THE RECTOR
This summer, Curtis Moneymaker, our Youth Minister, will leave St. Paul’s to enroll at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. Curtis has been discerning a call to ordained ministry for several years, and last fall he was made a postulant for holy orders by our bishop—a necessary step in the long process that leads to ordination. A postulant is someone who continues the work of discernment as they are formed academically, spiritually, practically, and communally for ordination, and, after three years, we anticipate that Curtis will be ordained a priest.
In a very important way, therefore, Curtis’ departure is not the end of our relationship. It is the beginning of a new chapter during which St. Paul’s will continue to be supportive of Curtis and his ministry. Although he will no longer be our Youth Minister, he will become our seminarian. Our job as his sending parish is to support him any way we can. When nominating him for postulancy, our vestry pledged to be involved in his preparation for ordination and to contribute towards the cost of that preparation, but they are not the only ones whose job it is to support Curtis. I ask you to pray for him as he heads to seminary this summer.
When he finishes three years of seminary, we expect that Curtis will ordained—first as a deacon and then as a priest. Although it is almost certain that Curtis will be called to serve in a different parish than St. Paul’s, we anticipate that he will become a priest in the Episcopal Church and likely serve in the Diocese of Arkansas. We trust, therefore, that there will be plenty of opportunities to share ministry with Curtis in the future.
Curtis will finish his ministry among us as our Youth Minister on Sunday, June 30. After the 11:00am service that morning, we will have a reception in the Parish Hall to thank him for his time on our staff and to send him off with our congratulations and prayers. He will also make time to celebrate with the youth of the parish the week before. As we have learned over the last few years, saying goodbye is an important part of ministry, and, although Curtis may not enjoy all the attention that we will give him, his willingness to allow us to celebrate his time at St. Paul’s is a valuable gift to us. I hope you will join us that day.
Even before we say farewell to Curtis, I am delighted to announce that we have called Adam Alexander, a member of our parish and a current youth volunteer, to serve as our next Youth Minister. Adam has experience working full-time in youth ministry, and he has also worked in church camp settings. Adam is faithful, creative, energetic, loving, pastoral, and authentic, and I believe he will be excellent in this role.
At the listening session for our parents and youth, those stakeholders named a strong preference for a leader who can foster a loving, supportive, formative, inclusive, and growing community for our youth. After interviewing several excellent candidates, a search committee of parents and youth recommended that we hire Adam, and I agreed enthusiastically. Adam will begin as our Youth Minister on July 1, and one of the first opportunities ahead of him will be making this youth program his own.
You may recall that our previous Youth Minister, Emma Mitchell, left in the fall of 2022. After a little over three years of excellent work, she departed in the middle of the semester to accept a larger role at Trinity Cathedral in Little Rock. Finding a Youth Minister in the middle of an academic year is a challenge, and I was delighted that Curtis, an experienced volunteer in our program, was available. He began in an interim role, but, when it was time to interview permanent candidates in the spring of 2023, Samantha Clare, our then Director of Christian Formation, announced her plans to leave Fayetteville.
Rather than conducting two searches at once, the vestry accepted my recommendation that we ask Curtis to extend his time as our Youth Minister for another academic year. By then, we anticipated that Curtis would be going to seminary this summer, and having a steady hand in place while we called Beth Maze, our new Director of Christian Formation, who could then help lead our search for our next Youth Minister was a great benefit to the parish. Now, for the first time in almost two years, our formation department is fully staffed, and I think the years ahead will be great for St. Paul’s.
The good news is that, as one of our committed volunteers, Adam already knows St. Paul’s and our youth program. Plus, as an experienced Youth Minister, he brings lots of knowledge and insight into a community with which he already has that established relationship. He will build upon the excellent work that Curtis, Emma, Amanda, Dan, Alon, Will, Ivy, and others have accomplished in the past, but he will also help our youth program flourish in new ways.
Join me in giving thanks for what has been while also looking forward to what will be. Although we say goodbye to Curtis as our Youth Minister, we send him forth as a seminarian, knowing that a relationship of prayerful support will continue between us. We welcome Adam in a new role, but, as a member of this parish, he is already known to us. In some ways, these transitions are significant and consequential, but, in others, they are a reminder of the constant loving care that God exercises in our midst, especially through those who are called to serve our children and youth. For them and their willingness to share their gifts with this parish, we are deeply thankful.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner