The Vestry is delighted to announce that The Rev. R. Scott Painter, who currently serves as rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, has accepted our call to serve as St. Michael & All Angels’ next Rector. Today, we celebrate the end of a 14-month process of prayerful discernment and the beginning of an exciting new chapter in our life together.
Biography: The Rev. R. Scott Painter
The Rev. R. Scott Painter (he/him) currently lives in Houston, Texas and is the Rector of Grace Episcopal Church and School in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. Scott was ordained in 2016 in Houston where he first served as Curate to St. Stephen’s in Houston. Before entering ministry as a priest, Scott taught English in public and private high schools. He holds degrees from The University of Houston and the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin.
Scott’s youth unfolded in the farmlands of Northwestern Ohio. As the child of a Pentecostal minister, his journey of faith followed a winding road from the church of his parents to, eventually, The Episcopal Church. There Scott found a compelling embrace of all people and openness to questions, in a church experience saturated with mystery and transcendence. He loves the way liturgies can gather people together for meaning-making and missional engagement, to be God’s people in healing touch with the world.
Scott and Tami (an Oregonian) began their life together in Portland, where they were married in 1995. They moved to Houston in 1999 and raised their now-adult son Rowan in Texas. Tami (she/her) continues in a nearly thirty-year career in Human Resources and Employee Benefits as a consultant.
At Grace, Scott was called to walk with a beautifully diverse, multicultural, and service-minded “mission” congregation into an era of renewal and growth. In 2022, Grace celebrated a reversal of organizational decline and achievement of full “parish” status in the Diocese of Texas—a formal recognition of the spiritual, generational, and financial revitalization that is now the new foundation for a sustainable future. The congregation grew in Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) by 125% and their budget doubled in five years. More important-ly, Grace has grown with new folks and families among emerging generations, moved to full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ persons in all areas (lay and ordained) of congregational leadership, and established a growing weekly Spanish-language service and community.
Scott is excited to be joining St. Michael and All Angels as Rector in mid-May. (His household will move to Portland later in the summer.) This parish’s broad social justice commitments, deep lay leadership and involvement, and rich legacy of music and worship in the traditions of The Episcopal Church portend a wonderful new season of mutual ministry, post-pandemic rekindling, and new adventures together into new frontiers.
Scott+ provided short videos in both English and Spanish introducing himself to our community. Please click for a link to the video in English here and for the video in Spanish here.
- Biografía de Scott en español aquí
- Su anuncio especial aquí.
- Carta de Helen Crandell, guardian mayor, aquí
