Welcome Rev. Mark Anderson

Dear friends,

I am thrilled to be returning to St John’s Cathedral. I look forward to meeting you in person, but in the meantime wanted to tell you a little bit about myself.

Just as it is for you, St John’s is my home. I was confirmed, I discerned a call to become a priest, and I married my wife, Mary, in this church. After departing from St John’s, I studied at Yale Divinity School and then served as the Curate for Children, Youth and Families at St. Mark’s Church in Ortega. I then moved to Boston, where I served as the Interim Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in the small town of Wrentham while earning a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Harvard University.

From there I moved to Dallas, where I was called as the Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. I felt called to this church, in part, because while it had been a thriving church with a strong congregation and campus full of programs for years, it was in crisis and desperately in need of leadership, love, and pastoral care. Over the next few years, I worked with the Vestry and the congregation to ensure powerful preaching, education, and worship. And the church began to turn around.

Membership grew by over 25 percent, attendance swelled by more than 50 percent and pledging expanded by over 60 percent. We hired an Associate Rector, a Director of Communications, and a Children and Families Minister.

But life doesn’t always progress in a straight line. Amid our season of growth, a tornado tore through our campus, damaging multiple buildings and tearing the roof off our 10,000 square-foot education building.

I began to pray with our leaders, and we realized that this devastation might have created an opportunity. We had outgrown our parish hall, and while we were rebuilding our campus, we could build a new parish hall, renovate our other buildings, and repave our parking lot. We set out to raise one million dollars to cover expenses and ultimately received pledges of more than twice that amount. God walked with us through these challenges, further strengthening my confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to work through the church, through the communion of saints.

With an expanded congregation, new financial stability, and transformational campus construction underway, St. Luke’s was entering a new chapter. Therefore, when Mary and I began to pray about this ministry at St. John’s, we began to believe that it was an appropriate time for us to make this transition. I believe God has called us here.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve alongside Dean Kate, having done so once before. She called me to serve as an intern at St. John’s about a decade ago, when I was testing this vocation. Mary, a dermatologist, is also thrilled to be returning to Jacksonville. We bring with us our fourteen-month-old baby, Philip, who just enrolled at The Cathedral School.

I can’t wait to serve alongside each of you, as we work together to serve our neighbors, grow increasingly in the image of Christ, and demonstrate God’s love to the world!

In Christ,

Mark+