Ministry Development and Administrative Officer Named

The Rt. Rev. C. Wallis Ohl, provisional bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, has named Demi L. Prentiss ministry development and administrative officer for the diocese. She will begin work on January 4, 2010.

Prentiss said she intends to "focus on the dual priorities of helping laity to articulate and act on their call to ministry and of supporting and equipping capable leaders whose work will be transformative wherever God calls them – inside and outside the church walls."

Her commitment to the development of lay leadership and ministry is a perfect fit with the commitment of the Diocese of Fort Worth to encourage the ministry of all the baptized.

In announcing the appointment, Canon to the Ordinary Courtland Moore said, "Bishop Ohl has known Demi Prentiss and her many talents for some time, having chaired the Church’s Standing Commission on Ministry Development. Demi was the Church Center staff person assigned as liaison to the Commission. It became immediately clear to Bishop Ohl, when he accepted the role of provisional bishop, that Demi’s skills met exactly his perception of his needs for a diocesan staff officer and the needs for the Diocese of Fort Worth as well."

Ms. Prentiss holds a BA, magna cum laude, from Harvard University with a major in English and an MTS from the Seabury Institute for Advanced Studies in Congregational Development, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. She has a background in journalism, printing and community organizing. She began her work in church administration in 1990 as an organizer for parish social ministry with Catholic Charities.

In 1992, she became lay ministries coordinator for St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Kerrville in the Diocese of West Texas. In 2000 she became ministry development officer for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio in the Diocese of Texas. In 2006 her husband Paul was transferred to Denton, where she became donor communications specialist for the University of North Texas.

In 2008, Prentiss became program officer for lay leadership with the Episcopal Church Center in New York. In this capacity she was assigned to work at the Church’s Omaha office, developing programs for lay ministry discernment. This position was eliminated this summer as part of a budget cutback caused by the economic downturn.

Prentiss and her husband Paul will continue to live in Denton. He is an individual assistance specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA], working in disaster areas such as New Orleans. They are active members of the Church of the Annunciation, Lewisville, in the Diocese of Dallas. They have an adult son and daughter and one grandchild.