January 27, 2021
 
Dear St. Philip’s Family,
 
As you know from our recent announcements, the Rev. Marc Boutan will be retiring from his role as a full-time clergyman at St. Philip’s effective February 1. Marc has been a deep blessing to our parish family through his chief ministry of pastoral care, shepherding families and individuals through many of the storms and trials of this life, whether it be sickness or emotional struggle or loss of a loved one. He has helped us to live out the scriptural admonition to “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the Law of Christ.”
 
I believe that a chief priority for the Church as a whole and for St. Philip’s in particular is to love and care for and walk with members of our parish family, most especially in times of need and sickness and loss. To that end, the Vestry and Clergy team have strongly reaffirmed our desire to have a full-time clergyman devoted to pastoral care for our congregation. When we learned that Marc would be retiring from his role, we began to prayerfully consider and discern whom God might be calling to lead this important ministry in our church.
 
Following this time of prayer and discernment, I am delighted to announce that we have extended a call to the Rev. William Christian to be our new Assistant to the Rector for Pastoral Care, and he has accepted. Many of you know Bill and his wife, Sarah, as they have been worshiping with us for the past several years while Bill headed up Star Gospel Mission, one of our mission partners. Bill brings a wealth of experience and many ministry gifts to this position, and he has a pastor’s heart.
 
Please join me in welcoming Bill to this new ministry role in our parish family, which he will begin February 15. I am grateful to God for bringing Bill to us and believe he will be a great addition to our clergy team and a blessing to our congregation. 
 
Faithfully,­­­­­
Jeff+
The son of a Lutheran pastor, the Rev. Bill Christian was born in New Rockford, North Dakota, and raised in Wisconsin’s rural dairy land. He attended Concordia University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Concordia Senior College in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, earning his Bachelor of Arts in systematic theology as well as speech and communication in 1974. He received his Master of Divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1978 and was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in Denver, Colorado, that same year. In 1986, Bill graduated from Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, with a degree in Anglican theological studies, and was ordained as an Episcopal deacon and priest.
 
Bill served as pastoral care associate at The Church of St. Michael and St. George under the late Rt. Rev. Edward L. Salmon, Jr., who went on to serve as Bishop of South Carolina. Bill has also served as rector of two parishes: The Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and School in San Antonio, Texas. He has been the executive director and pastor of Star Gospel Mission since 2001.
 
Bill enjoys working out, woodturning, working in the yard, and traveling. He and his wife, Sarah, have been married for 36 years and have been active members of St. Philip’s for five years. They live in Mt. Pleasant with their two adoring English Cockers, Maggie and Bella.