Eric W. Turner

Attached document: 

Turner, Eric.pdf

I am a lifelong Episcopalian and the son of an Episcopal priest. I completed a BS in Aquatic Environments at Allegheny College and after college worked as a biologist for a consulting engineering firm until sensing God’s call to ordained ministry. After receiving an M. Div. from Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in 1988, I was ordained Deacon in 1988 and Priest in 1989.

 I have served as youth pastor, assistant rector, rector, and led a church plant. I currently serve as rector of St. John’s, Melbourne and my term as Dean of the Southeast Deanery ends with this Convention. I have chaired the Christian Formation Commission for the past two years, leading our work toward the development of a “best practices” manual, a new,orthodox, lectionary based children’s curriculum and a new adult catechumenate program.  In other Dioceses, I have served on a Committee on Campus Ministry, Ecclesiastical Trial Court, and chaired Committees on Evangelism and Church Planting.

 I serve on the Board of Directors of Solar Light for Africa and have been leading a summer Youth Mission trip to east Africa taking American and African teenagers to rural areas to install solar power systems in churches, hospitals, clinics, orphanages and homes since 2000. 

I am a member of the Eau Gallie Rotary Club, where I have held various offices and currently serve as secretary of the Eau Gallie Rotary Charities Corporation.

I am married to Charlene and have two children, ages 18 and 20.

Having served on the Diocesan Board for three years, and in several other roles, I have developed a familiarity with and love for the life of the Diocese of Central Florida, and I humbly submit my name to put that experience to continued service on the Standing Committee.

The three greatest challenges / opportunities are; 1) Maintaining a clear, Biblical vision of the Christian life as our denomination and our culture move in ways counter to that vision; 2) Revisioning our place in the life of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion and, 3)Navigating continuing financial challenges in our parishes and the Diocese.

We can most effectively respond to these challenges by lovingly and humbly submitting our lives to the teaching of Scripture, then witnessing to the power of that submission as we proclaim Jesus in our Church and our culture. My central, operative model for ministry, in mission in our communities and the world, as well as in our denominational life, is witness.

A witness is not judged by the response of others but by faithfulness to what has been given.  Sometimes witness will be the warm welcome of a stranger in one of our parishes, a large scale evangelism program, a soup kitchen, the work of El Hogar, or Anglican Frontier Missions. At other times, it may take the form of statements and resolutions, even if the effort may seem like tilting at windmills.

The core of our financial difficulty is, quite simply, a drop in Sunday attendance. We can point to many factors that contribute to that decline, but our task is to reverse that decline, to take the church back on the offensive. To do anything less is, ultimately, to doom the church and to be found unfaithful stewards.