Dear Christ Church,
Please read below this longer e-news to see updates on three staff members.
Beau Pruitt
I am excited to announce that we’ve found a full time Director of Student Ministries–welcome Beau Pruitt!
Beau grew up in Hutto and is the son of a Youth Pastor. He went to undergrad at Moody Bible and then Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for graduate work. There he received his Masters of Divinity; he also began attending an Anglican Church during graduate school. He and his wife Danielle moved back to Austin in the spring of 2021 and began worshiping at Christ Church in March. They welcomed their first child, Flora, this past fall into the world.
Beau has discerned a clear call to serve and love students. He is eager to begin jumping into the work leading our student ministries, middle school through college. Already he is working with our leadership team to plan summer activities for the youth. We’re excited to welcome Beau to our staff!
Bill Walker
Bill Walker was hired in May of 2019 to lead our Vocation Initiative, a 4-year initiative at Christ Church to equip and commission everyone at Christ Church in our callings for every arena and season of life. You’ve probably heard or seen these statements: “Vocation is the way we are called, shaped, and gifted to love God and others in a given season of life and work”; and “Everyone called. Everyone commissioned. In every arena.”
Under Bill’s leadership we’ve done things like:
- Hosted 1-2 yearly Fuller Formation groups, including one for a church plant in Waco
- Led multiple Calling Lab courses for both adults and youth
- Held a 4-week “Every Arena” series that spotlighted exemplary practitioners from many fields
- Continue to gather and invest in marketplace leaders through our monthly Faith & Business lunch, as well as commission them and share vocational testimonies
- Explore vocational themes in our last two parish retreats
- Offered 50 Workplace Blessings
- Commissioned everyone in the church in their daily work through our Sunday commissionings (soon to be archived online)
- Led book studies for staff and vestry on vocation, as well in our Small Groups, to more deeply integrate the sense of call at every level of Christ Church.
We’re deeply grateful for Bill’s leadership these past three years. His role in the fourth year of this initiative will shift somewhat.
Bill has accepted a role as the Executive Director of Hill House Christian Study Center, a unique campus ministry at UT that highlights vocation and helps students integrate their faith in academia, the workplace, culture, and the community. We are very excited for Bill as the Lord has clearly prepared him for this unique work. Bill will assume leadership of the ministry on July 15th.
Bill and his family will continue to worship at Christ Church; Bill will still serve as a priest on Sunday while Fr Cliff is on Sabbatical. He will also still lead a Fuller Formation group this year and a Calling Lab. The good work he’s begun for helping all of us discern our vocation at Christ Church will continue in many ways. Look for more to come in this area.
Adam Featherstonehaugh
Unfortunately, Adam did not win the lottery visa application he needed in order to work with Christ Church this year. Our vestry has exhausted every avenue for bringing Adam here and has hit a dead end. There is still a small chance he could receive a visa later in the summer which would allow him to work with Christ Church in the fall. Since we can’t be assured of him winning this second-chance visa, we are going to reopen our search for an Executive Director of Operations. This is news that is disappointing both to Christ Church and to Adam as we all seemed so assured that Adam was the right candidate last fall.
Please join me in praying for Adam and for the right candidate to join our Christ Church staff. If you have people in your life who might be a good fit for this role, you can direct them to this link.
Peace,
Matt+