Dear Trinity Members and Friends,
It is my great pleasure to introduce you to Trinity’s next Associate Rector, the Rev. Deacon Amy Peterson. Amy is currently a student at Duke Divinity School. She will graduate and be ordained to the priesthood in the Spring. Amy is married to Jack, who holds a Ph.D. in Composition and Applied Linguistics, and they have two children, Owen (10) and Rosie (13). Besides the Master of Divinity Degree Amy will receive in the spring, she has a Master’s in Creative Writing and a Master’s in Intercultural Studies and Missions from Wheaton College, Illinois. She also holds a BA in English from Texas A&M. She serves as a Deacon at St. Joseph’s Church in Durham, NC, and has served as a parish intern at St. Matthew’s, Hillsborough, NC, and a chaplain intern at St. Mary’s School in Raleigh. Amy spent several years teaching English as a second language in Southeast Asia, where she met her husband. Raised in an evangelical expression of the faith, Amy has been a part of the Episcopal church for over ten years and began that journey in Indiana when she and her husband worked at Taylor University. Amy is also a published author. Her most recent work is Where Goodness Still Grows: Reclaiming Virtue in An Age of Hypocrisy. Amy describes this work as primarily a conversation with the church of her upbringing. What impresses me about Amy is her approachability, her eagerness to learn, her skills of communication, empathy, listening, the ability to be fully present with young and old alike, and her comfort with people wherever they are on their spiritual journey. Most importantly, what impresses me about Amy is her faith and her ability and desire to bring the best of her evangelical upbringing into the unique Anglican expression of faith in Jesus Christ. It is important to me that our next Associate loves Jesus and has a passion to share Jesus with all. The only shadow side here is that Amy, of course, needs to graduate from school, shepherd her children through the end of their school year and move her household to Asheville before her official start. So we will pray for time to pass quickly and welcome Amy and her family in July. Please keep Amy, Jack, Owen, and Rosie in your prayers as we look forward to this new beginning. Scott+
Dear church family,
I am thrilled to be joining you this summer! Though I’ve only spent a few weekends in Asheville, it’s already become clear to me that you are a people of great authenticity and hospitality; all whom I’ve met have shared with me about their own early days at Trinity, and how they were welcomed from the very beginning. I can see that you are a church who loves Jesus, cares for her community, and deeply wants to grow in faith. I’m delighted that I will have the chance to come alongside you in all of that. I look forward to getting to know each of you personally. Here’s a little more about me. As a teacher for over a decade, I worked in cross-cultural and honors-level academics and student development. When I began discerning a call to the priesthood, I was teaching creative writing, intercultural communication, and interdisciplinary honors courses at a Christian college in the midwest. I’ve also been writing professionally for nearly a decade: as a writer, I like to explore the intersections of faith, language, and culture — here’s a recent-ish essay to give you a taste. My family loves music and story and travel and the outdoors. I’m an amateur quilter; I bake the best cheese scones; I believe going for a walk solves many things; and you can often find me reading poetry or climate science or a mystery novel. I look forward to sharing the Eucharist with you soon. Amy