Here is an update from some of our supported Priests.
Christ is in our Midst!
Well we are preparing to go to the Western rite conference in Sarasota Florida next week.Since starting with Share the Faith, St. Tikhon is getting ready to Baptize two, starting another Catechism class once I return from the conference and we have had eight new parishioners.
Father John+
Rev. Fr. John Cook
Saint Tikhon Orthodox Church
Father Mark Hodges Church parish:
From Royce Light (Justine’s husband):
My name is Royce Light and my wife, Justine, and my three children (Boone, Elise, and Boaz) have been attending St. Brendan the Voyager Orthodox Church in Bullhead City, AZ since 2022.
I was attending church and surrounded by kind people. I could never make a meaningful connection to what was being taught. At the time, worship, fellowship, and even love were vague concepts to me. I desired to know what they meant. I made no real progress in truly understanding any of them. Although I spent much time reading the Bible (even learning Hebrew and Koine Greek), attending small groups, and being involved in various ministries, I bore little spiritual fruit. In an attempt to find Truth (as giving up was not an option), we bounced between several churches. This eventually took our family from Honolulu, Hawaii to Hackberry, Arizona.
At the time I learned of Orthodoxy, I was serving as a deacon at a Bible church in Kingman, Arizona. It so happened that the lead pastor was getting rid of his 38-volume set of Early Church Fathers and I agreed to take them. Upon reading about the Seven Ecumenical Councils, the Didache, and the like, I was quite eager to visit an Orthodox Church. Doing an internet search, I found that the closest Church was St. Brendan the Voyager in Bullhead City, Arizona. Though we live an hour and a half away, this would be a small price to pay for finally coming to the Truth. Perhaps it was rash at the time, but when my wife and I decided to visit St. Brendan’s, I resigned from my position as deacon and left our church.
St. Brendan’s has been a life-giving place for us. Through the participation in the Holy Mysteries, this is quite literal. Father Mark and our new family have been welcoming since the beginning, instructing us in the True Faith and demonstrating the fullness of the Orthodox life. Everything we had long hoped for in Christ’s Church we have found in Orthodoxy. The once far-off notions of Worship, Communion, and Love are now astonishingly clear. Everything has new meaning. Indeed, Christ, through his Church, has made all things new. This new life would not have been possible without St. Brendan’s and Father Mark, to which and to whom we shall always be grateful.
Myself, my wife, and three children were baptized and chrismated into Holy Orthodoxy at St. Brendan the Voyager Church on August 20, 2023.
“We have seen the True Light! We have received the Heavenly Spirit! We have found the True Faith! Worshiping the Undivided Trinity, Who has saved us.”
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From Justine, who has been with us for just less than a year (newly baptized in late August):
Born and raised in an evangelical household, I went to church faithfully, never deeply questioning what I was taught, yet always seeking something more as I grew older. My search for “more” landed me in a “Christian” cult, and that was the beginning of a downward spiral in my life. Meeting my husband, Royce, in 2013 was an act of mercy and kindness of God. Though I was a person full of sin, chaos and confusion, Royce patiently loved and accepted me. By the grace and mercy of God, Royce dragged me out of the cult, and we got married, with him vowing to love God the best he knew how. Throughout our marriage, we continued our involvement with various churches, but it always eventually resulted in lacklusterness, disappointment, and drudgery.
After moving to Arizona from Hawaii during the pandemic in 2020, our final involvement in an evangelical church resulted in great disillusionment for my husband, along with serious questioning and rejection of the movement we had been in for years prior. Royce’s unwavering rejection of our previous church experiences/doctrines ignited the same questioning in myself. I began conducting my own research and I knew I needed to go straight to the primary sources: the Early Church Fathers. I only wanted to find the church denomination that behaved closest to the original Church of the Apostles.
To my astonishment, I found that the Orthodox Christian Church did not just behave like the ancient Church; it *is* the original Church! Both my husband and I knew we had found it. This is what we would be willing to drop our nets for. We did a DuckDuckGo search and found St. Brendan’s Orthodox Church, and became catechumens soon after. During the weekend of the Feast of the Transfiguration in August 2023, we were baptized and chrismated by Father Mark Hodges into the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
I shall be eternally grateful to finally have found our Home. Though I continue to struggle with my sins daily, I feel extremely fortunate to be in the continuously flowing stream of God’s healing and wholeness through the sacraments at St. Brendan’s Orthodox Church. Since our Baptism and Chrismation, there has been more love in our family. I personally have learned much by being with our brethren at St. Brendan’s and remembering their good, humble, loving examples. During Confession, I have only felt God’s love and forgiveness through Father Mark Hodges, even when I thought that my sins were too great and would certainly cause him to dismiss me in anger or disappointment. I also appreciate Father Mark’s love for my three children. Even if our three year old doesn’t quite understand the Sacrament of Confession, he never misses an opportunity to get in line, kneel and bow under Father’s stole, and receive God’s grace and blessings. Glory be to God!
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Fr. Mark Hodges
From Father Elijah’s Church Parish:
STF has helped us so much. The support STF has allowed my family and I to continue to afford to host over 20 catechumens and inquirers at our home every Thursday for a meal and exploration of Orthodoxy. Without STF’s support this would be a financial burden which would be hard for us to bear, as we don’t get a stipend or any reimbursements from our new mission .
