Five new members joined the GEMN Board of Directors at mid-year:
• The Rev. Canon Gail Avery chairs the newly formed Global Mission Committee of the Diocese of New Hampshire, which has a companionship with Anglicans in Angola, and is a Global Mission Advocate. Her background includes seven years as maritime chaplain to seafarers.
• Mr. Bill Kunkle has returned to the Board after several terms and has served as treasurer for years. A member of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, Bill is executive director of the Province IX Development Group and has led hundreds of short-term mission teams to the Dominican Republic.
• The Rev. Karla Reyes is chancellor of the Diocese of Honduras, vicar of two rural congregations, and chaplain at El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza. She has been involved in Daughters of the King, human rights leadership, disaster response and social outreach.
• Ms. Dulce Schuyler is a member of the Committee for Global Partnerships in Mission in the Diocese of Texas and is a lay minister of the Diocese of Costa Rica, where she lives and is working to plant a church in the south of the country.
• The Rev. Allan Wallace chairs the Global Missions Commission of the Diocese of Indianapolis, where he is rector of St. Paul’s Church in New Albany. His mission work has fostered partnerships with the dioceses of Brasília and Haiti.
Since currently Board membership is limited to Episcopalians, the Board has appointed the Rev. Yvonne Clarke of the Diocese of Southwark in the Church of England as International Associate Member. Formerly active in the U.K.-based but now dissolved Partnership for World Mission, Clarke is the first Black woman to be ordained deacon in the Church of England and one of its first female priests.
More details about the new members are available here.
The GEMN Board is deeply grateful for the service of those who completed terms on the Board:
• The Rev. Jean Beniste of the Diocese of New Hampshire brought rich insights from his Haitian background, served on GEMN’s Mission Formation Program Team, and hosted two Mission Thursdays about current challenges in Haiti.
• The Rev. Jaime Briceño of the Diocese of Chicago brought his background in Costa Rica and administrative experience in theological education from working at Bexley Seabury Seminary.
• The Rev. Canon Walter Brownridge, addressed Missio 2023 on healing from racism and expanded GEMN’s range of contacts. He has taken leave from the Board to be on mission as Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Nicosia, Cyprus.
• Mr. Troy Elder, now of the Diocese of Southeast Florida, brought legal background as an immigration lawyer, extensive mission work in California dioceses, and experience in companionship with the Anglican Church in Guinea.
• Ms. Ayda Patricia Martin of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic brought experience in coordinating visiting mission teams in the D.R. She served as GEMN President and coordinated the network’s social media presence.
