Year: 2023

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Share the Faith Welcomes New Social Media Coordinator

Share the Faith is pleased to welcome Eric A Tweten to the team in the role of Social Media Coordinator!

Eric grew up in a Protestant home with two very business and ministry minded very creative parents and two very different siblings, his sister being more status quo and his brother being more a rebel. Eric was serious about God to a fault, which caused his own mistakes in overcompensating at times. He has always been a creative. He completed his general college education in Northern Minnesota, then off to Texas to a Christian leadership institute. From there, on to a university for design technology. He worked in technical design just out of college, and then on to retail management and sales, including some interior design.

He was in management at a Christian coffee shop, and served as a volunteer coordinator at a Christian Art Center. Eric served on the board at a separate generic art center. Eric also served on office staff for an international Christian music tour. Eric as well served on an Orthodox Christian international missions media committee. He has previously been on the board of Share the Faith, before returning now as a staff member.

Eric is now a freelance videographer and serves in the fundraising and marketing department at Share the Faith. He is husband to his wife Mary and father to his daughter Esther. He enjoys the outdoors as he grew up on an old farmstead. Eric is an accomplished musician, and would like to put his musical ability to work in fundraising for Share The Faith through benefit concerts (hopefully with other musicians as well at times). Eric welcomes and invites all of you to offer your time, talent and treasure to St. Herman’s legacy in donating those gifts as you feel so lead by The Holy Spirit to Share The Faith. It is Eric’s pleasure to serve our precious and Holy Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in this capacity. Eric wishes all God’s best to you and yours as you grow in the love and knowledge of The Lord God Almighty in Holy Orthodoxy.

Please join us in welcoming Eric who can be reached via our social media accounts, or directly at social@sharethefaith.net

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Metropolitan Saba Addresses General Assembly and Points to “Priest and Mission Crises.”

His Eminence the Most Reverend Saba, Archbishop of New York and Washington D.C, Metropolitan of the Antiochian Archdiocese in North America during his address to the Antiochian General Assembly at the 56th Archdiocese Convention in Phoenix, AZ on July 28th, 2023, pointed to the current “priest and mission crises” and the need to plant more seeds for the ordination of new priests and establishment of new missions:

We see a “shortage of eligible candidates for the priesthood. We have approximately 456 active and retired priests. The average age of active priests is 60. This means that in 5 years we will face the challenge of securing priests to continuing the ministry of Christ in our parishes. We are witnessing the beginnings of an economic setback, deterioration of individual finances, high cost of living, low wages, and signs of the decline of the “Life of Luxury.” The vast divide between the income of employers and employees is causing disinterest among the young in pursuing employment in the job market. Also, I hear about the fears of the retirement of a priest, who has been serving without compensation, because the parish is unable to afford a new priest, as well as from some parishes that are only able to afford one priest, they need more, but cannot afford it. The Archdiocese constantly receives requests by different parishes, not missions, for monthly financial assistance.”

There is no question that the “crises of clergy and new missions” spans well beyond the Antiochian Archdiocese to our brethren in other jurisdictions. Please plan to give and support to meet the basic needs of priests and grow Christ’s missions in North America.

Source Antiochian Archdiocese Website: https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/1692

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Share the Faith Ministries Introduces New Business Development Coordinator

Share the Faith is pleased to announce a new Business Development Coordinator has joined its staff! Tasked with expanding awareness of the critical need for Orthodox missions in America, and the role Share the Faith plays in meeting that need, Deacon Christopher brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Rev. Deacon Christopher Purdef was born in Columbus, OH. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from The Ohio State University in 1997, and then his MA in Applied Orthodox Theology from the Antiochian House of Studies in 2013.

He has been married to his wife Valentina, a schoolteacher, since 2001 and they have a son, Andrej, who loves aviation and writing short stories in his spare time.

Deacon Christopher has been a member of St. Ignatius Antiochian Orthodox Church in Mesa, Arizona since 2007. He was a two-term member of the Parish Council, guides the Men of St. Ignatius study group, directed community outreach for the parish, and has led a parish group meal service for the Greater Mesa Homeless Community since the beginning of his deaconate. Deacon Christopher was ordained in March 2013 and is attached to St. Ignatius under the spiritual guidance of the Very Rev. Dr. James Coles.

In the past, Deacon Christopher worked as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer writing small to medium sized grants for community development projects as well as soliciting funding for these grants from expat NGOs raising over 10,000 USD for the Municipality that he served. In addition, he has worked in outbound sales and account management for an online advertisement firm based out of San Francisco, while the last ten years have been dedicated to counseling students for various on-line Universities.

Deacon Christopher is dedicated to growing the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church in North America. He believes that nurturing new missions and supporting priests is paramount to achieving Christ’s Great Commandment:

My life’s work is embodied in Matthew 25:14-30. Our life as Christians is encompassed by our continual repentance and our life in Christ to acquire the Holy Spirit. In synergy with this, we are called to humbly speak the truth, live an example of Christ, and utilize the talents given to us by the Lord – be they meager. The Lord will make great use of them. But we mustn’t shirk away from this responsibility, nor allow others to downplay our role so that we inadvertently bury our talents, thinking ourselves unable to pursue the ministry He has called us too. His very ministry has been given to us to sow the seeds of the True Church with understanding that our almsgiving is tied to our repentance and acquiring of the Spirit. We must not bury what the Lord has entrusted in us rather utilize it to grow His Church and spread His Gospel, His Traditions, and His Mysteries.

Please join us in welcoming Deacon Christopher to his new and challenging ministry. To reach Deacon Christopher, email him here.

To help Deacon Christopher in his new role, please donate to help Orthodox missions!

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Share the Faith Announces Support for Three New Mission Parishes!

The Board of Directors of Share the Faith, the Orthodox Mission Fund for the United States, is pleased to announce financial support for three new mission parishes.

The Board of Directors of Share the Faith, the Orthodox Mission Fund for the United States, is pleased to announce financial support for three new mission parishes. These are:

  • St. Tikhon Orthodox Church in Ruther Glen, VA with Fr John Cook serving. This is a Western Rite, ROCOR parish.
  • St. Anna Orthodox Christian Church in Columbia, TN with Fr Andrew Short serving. This is an Eastern Rite parish of Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.
  • All Saints Orthodox Mission in Lodi, CA with Fr Elijah Drake serving. This is a Western Rite, ROCOR parish.

These three new parishes join the three Share the Faith has been supporting already. Fr Evangelos had this to say about the joyous occasion, “By the blessings of God, and through the generous support of our faithful donors, Share the Faith is now able to offer financial assistance to three additional parishes. As a truly pan-Orthodox organization, we will be supporting ROCOR, OCA, and Antiochian parishes. The mission fields in America are truly white for the harvest. This puts us closer to our goal of supporting 20 parishes by the end of 2023!”

Mission pages will be launched shortly for the new parishes to provide additional information and options to support them. Congratulations to the new parishes, and may God bless them and all Orthodox Christians!

About Share the Faith

Most Orthodox mission priests, and those attached to smaller parishes, often have to work one or more jobs just to make ends meet. This puts great stress on their families, and reduces the amount of time they can devote to missionary activities. At the same time, mission / smaller parishes are often attended by Orthodox Christians who have little training or experience in growing a parish. The priests need financial support, and the parish board needs training in how to support the priest in evangelizing. Share the Faith provides both – stipends for deserving priests and training for the Faithful on how to bring others into the Kingdom of Christ.

In the past year, Share the Faith has been blessed, through the generous contributions of faithful Orthodox Christians, to support three amazing mission priests as they labor for the Kingdom – Fr Adam Sexton, Fr Cassian Dunlop, and Fr Mark Hodges. Thanks to our support, Fr. Adam has been able to expand his parish’s outreach efforts, continue to expand his official Orthodox mission, and add a new Orthodox outreach in a completely new area of Virginia. Fr Cassian’s parish has more than doubled attendance at Divine Liturgy with 17 new Orthodox received in just the past year. Fr Mark has reported several new Orthodox members, six catechumens and several inquirers.

Share the Faith needs God’s help and yours. Could you make a donation of any size to Share the Faith to help us meet our goals for Christ and His Kingdom? Could you forward this email to your Orthodox friends and family who might also consider assisting Orthodox missions? Could you post this article, and/or Share the Faith’s informational flyer (PDF), to your social media? Could you bring the flyer to your parish priest, and ask if he could put a copy in the Narthex, email it to the parish, and/or put it in the weekly bulletin? We are all called to spread the Orthodox Faith unto all corners of the world. That includes the United States!

For more information about Share the Faith, please go here.

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God is Moving at St. Brendan’s in Arizona!

Glory to Jesus Christ!
Thank you for your help!

St. Brendan’s in Bullhead Arizona is doing very well, thanks be to God and to the devotion of her members. Since my arrival, we’ve added several Orthodox members, six catechumens and several inquirers.

As I’ve mentioned before, St Brendan’s went through its first Great Lent and Holy Week and Pascha with a priest this year. The result was a maturation and growing appreciation for our prayer life. Also as I’ve mentioned before, we hosted His Grace Auxiliary Bishop JAMES last year.

We entered into the community swap meet, meeting people and sharing about holy Orthodoxy. We intend to do that outreach again this Fall. We also opened our own bank account, chose our treasurer and vice president. We look forward to a tonsured Reader and another trained chanter taking the helm of our singers and helping our singing better glorify God.

Our Pascha picnic, after Paschal Vespers, was a huge success, and our relationships continue to grow closer. We also celebrated our Patronal Feastday on the Sunday before May 29th. Our ladies gathered on their own to beautify St Brendan’s worship space, scrubbing on their hands and knees the old tile floor and re-arranging our sanctuary and book store area.

We are planning the baptisms of the new family soon. We keep looking for land (we were given six acres but it is unusable; one parishioner attempted to buy land but that has fallen through; we looked at a church for sale that would be perfect, but they are asking way too much). We are about to start our evangelism/sharing YOUR faith program of role-playing courses.

As far as I am concerned, I am so grateful to God to be able to serve St Brendan’s, and grateful to Archbishop KYRILL for taking me in, and for Fr John Peck for vouching for me!  I miss my family (Donna and our 14 children & children-in-law, sister and her family, sister-in-law, 13 grandchildren, and more, all in Lima OH!), and my family misses me a lot. I go back when I can, and when tragic needs arise (my brother’s death, my son Micah’s death, and my friend Philip’s death). The only new message from His Eminence Archbishop KYRILL is that he is happy with my service and blesses me to continue serving St Brendan’s.

Again, thank you for your help!

-Archpriest Mark Hodges

For more information about Fr. Mark Hodges and his mission at St. Brendan’s in Bullhead Arizona, please visit his mission page. To support missions like Fr. Mark’s, to the Glory of God and the transformation of America, please donate to Share the Faith.

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