Our Next Dean and Rector

(the Revd) Eric Speece

Church of the Apostles is blessed and delighted to announce that the Revd Eric Speece will be our next Dean and Rector.

Eric is currently Senior Pastor at Christ Church, Murrells Inlet, SC where he has served since 2019. Prior to Christ Church, he served churches in the Chicago and Charlotte areas. He holds degrees in theology from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University and in philosophy from Middle Tennessee State University. Eric was ordained to the Priesthood in 2014 by Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje (Rwanda) and Bishop David Bryan (Diocese of the Carolinas).

Our parish survey, undertaken as part of the Dean and Rector search, revealed two important attributes desired by the people of Apostles: a shepherd and a humble leader. We saw these two qualities as a priority throughout our search and discernment process and see them realized in Eric. Eric has a passion for teaching God’s Word, sharing the Gospel of Christ, and discipling people as they grow in both their knowledge and love of Jesus.

Eric and his wife of 24 years, Laura, have 5 children: Lydia, Judah, Isaac, Asher, and Esther. Together they have served as missionaries in multiple Eastern European countries with CRU (formerly Campus Crusade), including a one-year stint in Budapest, Hungary. The Vestry and Search Committee feel the power of the Holy Spirit in our selection of Eric as Dean and Rector. After more than two years of work, prayer, and discernment we are excited to welcome Eric, Laura, and their family join Church of the Apostles.

Eric’s first public service will be Sunday, June 16, 2024, but there will be public opportunities to say hello as Eric and Laura periodically visit Columbia during the transition.  

In his visit with the Search Committee and Vestry, Eric preached on God’s faithfulness. Now we pray in thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness to his people in the culmination of our search process:

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love. We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side. We thank you for setting us at tasks that demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments that satisfy and delight us. We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone. Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he conquered death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom. Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things.  Amen.