A NEW RECTOR Has Been Called

A Letter From Our Vestry

Dear Christ Episcopal Church,

It is with great joy that we introduce the Rev. Joseph Dewey as the ninth Rector of Christ Episcopal Church. Joe comes to us with experienced leadership, deep faith, and a heart dedicated to serving God and His people. His first Sunday at Christ Church will be May 18, 2025.

Joe is currently the Vicar and Chief of Staff at The Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, TX. Incarnation is one of the largest churches in our denomination with nine clergy, 100 employees, a pre-school, and over 1,000 in attendance each Sunday. As Chief of Staff, Joe manages this operation.

Joe was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He attended the University of Virginia (UVA), where he played varsity lacrosse and received the Men’s Lacrosse Tom Rixey Award for Leadership. During his time at UVA, Joe rediscovered the love of God in Christ and discerned a call to ministry. 

After graduation, Joe served as a campus minister with Athletes in Action and worked as an Ecclesial fellow at Trinity Presbyterian Church. He attended Covenant Theological Seminary where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Master of Divinity and was awarded the Systematic Theology Award and the Seminary Preaching Award.

With what he learned in seminary, Joe helped plant Resurrection Brooklyn Heights. While serving at Resurrection, Joe also led a theologically rigorous discipleship program called “Brooklyn Fellows” and earned a Master of Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he studied reformed and patristic theology and graduated Summa Cum Laude.

During his time in Brooklyn, Joe discerned his proper ecclesial home in the Episcopal Church. He was eventually ordained by Bp. Greg Brewer and received a call as Assistant Rector at Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Tx. As the saying goes, he got to Texas as fast as he could.

At UVA, Joe met and fell in love with Rebecca “Becca” Chuckney. After graduation she became a missionary in Nicaragua for a year before the two were married. She then joined him in full-time ministry and the two have been ministering together ever since. She also pursued a master’s degree in counseling while she and Joe were in seminary. They have three children: Denton, 8 years old; Louis, 6 years old; and Florence, 2 years old.

The Archdeacon described Christ Church’s search process as the most thorough in the Dioceses of West Texas and we are confident that the Holy Spirit has led us through this process to the right call for Christ Church. We extend our sincerest gratitude to the members of our Search Committee and their families for their love and dedication to Christ Church. We can’t wait to welcome Joe, Becca, and their family to walk alongside us in ministry as we continue to live out our mission statement of drawing, changing, and sending people through the power of Christ.

Faithfully,
The Vestry of Christ Episcopal Church

A Letter From Our New Rector

Dear Christ Episcopal Church,

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” I am writing to you with great joy and anticipation of serving among you as your ninth rector.

You have been in Becca’s and my prayers for over a year. I was first informed about Christ Church in January of 2024 at a clergy conference. A colleague and friend approached me, saying: “you need to consider Christ Church; they are a joyful community, faithful to the gospel and in an amazing city.” Naturally, I was interested.

Our journey with the search committee only confirmed and enhanced our desires to serve among you as a shepherd. Not only did we experience their prayerful intentionality and theological discernment, but we also experienced their desire for and pursuit of Christ Church’s best interest. When we finally arrived in San Antonio for our visit, we experienced God’s presence and peace in a way that confirmed our sense of calling.

This sense of call was then formalized and agreed upon with the vestry in February. My calling at Christ Church is to lead as your pastor, priest, and teacher by proclaiming the Gospel, loving and serving you, nourishing you, and strengthening you to glorify God in this life and the life to come.

I am grateful for the legacy of former rectors who have fulfilled this calling, I am humbled by the task, and compelled by God’s grace to run the race marked out for me. Such a calling cannot be achieved through human strength but will require God’s power. For Christians, God’s power is made perfect through weakness. Consider St. Paul’s ministry to the Corinthians:

"When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power." (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

While my experience and resume matter for introductions and for the sake of credibility, I want you to know that I come to you as a servant of the crucified and risen Christ. In this servanthood, I believe God will do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine in the years to come.  

I am so eager to be with you on May 18. You are in my prayers, and I would ask that you add our family to your prayers as well, especially amid this transition. 

Grace and peace,
Joe+