Living by Faith
Married couple become co-vicars of Episcopal church

Husband and wife pastors Roger and Lynn Perkins provide spiritual guidance for the congregants of The Church of the Holy Spirit located at 1334 Country Club Drive in Gallup. Although the couple have been working for the church since last November, they will officially be installed in a special service on May 31

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — When Lynn and Roger Perkins married in 1983, they not only embarked on a marriage, they embarked on a spiritual journey together.

That journey took an unusual twist in the road in 2004, a twist which eventually lead the couple to a new vocation and a new life in Gallup.

Recently ordained as Episcopal priests in November 2007, the Perkins are the new, part-time co-vicars of the Church of the Holy Spirit. Although the Episcopal Church has been ordaining women as priests for about three decades, the Perkins said it is unusual for both a wife and a husband to serve together as co-vicars. Their arrival in Gallup is a boon to their small congregation, which has been shepherded for the last decade by a series of interim pastors. The church will officially celebrate the couple’s arrival with a ceremony later this month.

In a recent interview, Lynn and Roger Perkins sat down to talk about their faith journey, their call to ministry, their new church family, and their hopes for the future. Neither was raised in the Episcopal Church, and both had circuitous journeys to the faith.

Lynn Perkins, the daughter of a Jewish mother and a Methodist father, was raised as a Southern Baptist — a complicated background that inspires her mother to jokingly refer to Lynn as her half-Jewish, half-Methodist, Southern Baptist Episcopal priest daughter. Roger Perkins grew up with a more traditional church experience. Early on, he explained, he attended Protestant services at Army base chapels, where he was exposed to the “Book of Common Prayer” and to a number of military chaplains who were Episcopal priests. After high school, however, he took a 24-year hiatus from organized religion.

That all changed in the early 1980s when Roger met Lynn, and the couple began attending an Episcopal Church. Lynn felt drawn to the church’s “bells, smells, and music” as those traditions help her enter into the worship service.

“It was home,” recalled Lynn. “It was absolutely right for me.”

Childhood memories of a liturgical church and beautiful prayers surfaced for Roger, and he also felt spiritually at home. The couple married in 1983 and converted to the Episcopal faith the next year.

The Perkins moved to New Mexico in 1992 when Lynn was hired at Sandia Lab. Soon afterwards, Roger retired and found himself being drawn more and more to lay ministries at Albuquerque’s St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral. A church leader eventually suggested Roger consider becoming an Episcopal priest.

While Roger began seriously considering the idea, Lynn also began to feel a personal call to the ministry. By 2004, a decision had been made.

“We decided we would both apply for ordination as priests,” explained Roger. Ten years after converting to the Episcopal faith, the couple moved to Ambridge, Pa. where they began their three years of seminary study.

On Nov. 10, 2007, the Rt. Rev. William C. Frey, the assisting bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, ordained Lynn and Roger as priests. The Perkins were appointed priests in charge of the Gallup church in November, but they won’t be officially inducted as co-vicars until a Celebration of New Ministry service on Saturday, May 31.

Frey presided over their ordination ceremony because Jeffrey Steenson, the most recent bishop of the diocese, had sent shock waves among Episcopalians by resigning as bishop in September 2007 and converting to the Roman Catholic Church. The former Episcopal bishop is now training to become a Catholic priest.

The Perkins expressed great affection and admiration for Steenson, who left the Episcopal Church amidst the denomination’s current struggles between liberal and conservative members. Although the issue of gays in the church has become a divisive issue in recent years, Roger said the break in the church started years ago with the ordination of women and the introduction of a new prayer book.

The controversies raging in the denomination have affected the Gallup church, Lynn admitted.

“We have people on both ends of the spectrum, and people in the middle,” she said. Two local couples have left the local church because of the controversies, she added, but the majority of Gallup members are staying put and trying to stay focused on the Bible and living out its Gospel message.

“It’s worthy of our great discussions and prayer,” said Lynn of the controversies, “but it’s sad that it’s tearing us up.” She believes many of today’s issues are similar to the issues the Apostle Paul wrestled with leaders of the Early Church. The Perkins stressed the importance of living by faith, rather than living in fear of the future.

The Church of the Holy Spirit has a small congregation of about 50 people, but the Perkins hope to attract new members. They also hope to draw some former members back with the recent introduction of an earlier Sunday service. According to Roger, they have two major goals for the Gallup church. They want to raise up the spiritual life of their parish families so people will be drawn to the church’s Christian care-giving and lifestyle, he said, and they want to increase the church’s outreach program to help alleviate problems in Gallup.

Lynn noted that the church — although small in members — has been in Gallup since the 1890s, and she believes it still has a mission to fulfill. “Why has God had us here?” she asked. “We’re still open to see what God wants of us.”

The Church of the Holy Spirit is located at 1334 Country Club Dr., one block west of Red Rock Elementary School. The Sunday Eucharist service is at 9 a.m., followed by the Christian formation class for adults at 10:30 a.m. Information: (505) 863-4695.