Rick Stall, Senior Warden

Monica Orosz, Junior Warden

Having committed yourself to this work, do not forget the trust of those who have chosen you. Care alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor. By your words, and in your life, proclaim the Gospel. Love and serve Christ's people. Nourish them, and strengthen them to glorify God in this life and in the life to come.

. . . Institution of a Minister, Prayer Book p 557

Dear People of Messiah,



Your vestry is excited to announce the next chapter in the growth of the Episcopal Church of the Messiah Myrtle Beach.

With support of the Diocese of South Carolina we have called the Rev. Roy Tripp to be our vicar. Fr. Roy will be our first vicar to reside among us in Myrtle Beach.

Of course, this also is bittersweet because it means our beloved Fr. John Sorensen is going to retire (again).

But this process has taken place with Fr. John’s full blessing and encouragement. He and Fr. Roy have agreed that John will be welcome for counsel as needed and to fill in as supply for occasional services.

Fr. John – who came to us for what was to be a SHORT stint – has recently expressed his desire to retire and at that point Senior Warden Rick Stall talked to Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley about prospective candidates. She recommended Fr. Roy, who retired as rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Port Royal, S.C., but has expressed a desire to continue working in a part-time capacity. St. Mark’s was formed in 2003 as a restart congregation and has had a similar evolution to ours – Fr. Roy was a part of that process.

Fr. Roy spoke extensively with Fr. John and Rick before an in-person meeting with the Messiah leadership team over the weekend of Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. He and his wife, Liz, visited our church facilities and were given a daylong tour of Myrtle Beach. After prayerful consideration, Fr. Roy expressed his eagerness to join Messiah and the vestry enthusiastically agreed to move forward to call him.

Fr. Roy believes in being out and about in the community – he’s not an office kind of guy. You’ll instead find him working on his sermon in a local coffee shop, wearing his clerical collar and being open to start conversations.

His part-time status means we still will have support of our associate clergy, Fr. Jim and Fr. George. Together, our priests will work to help grow our presence in Myrtle Beach.

Your vestry is so grateful to the bishop for matching us with Roy and for supporting the process by committing the diocese to pay his salary. Messiah will be responsible for the housing component of his package.

We are excited about Fr. Roy’s enthusiasm to move to Myrtle Beach and continue the hard work of growing our presence here. Once again, the Holy Spirit has provided just what we need when we need it.

We will work – with your help – to secure housing for Fr. Roy and Liz and hope he can transition into the post by Ash Wednesday. Of course, we will plan a proper party to honor Fr. John and his service.

In Christ,

Rick Stall, Senior Warden

Monica Orosz, Junior Warden

The Reverend Roy Tripp, Above. Roy lives in Beaufort, S.C., with his wife, Liz Devoir, and their son, Preston. He retired as Rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Port Royal, S.C., in January 2025. Before that he served churches in Massachusetts, Delaware, and Washington state.

Dear Friends of Church of the Messiah,

Grace and peace to you.

I am writing with deep gratitude and genuine excitement as I introduce myself as your new Vicar. I am honored to have accepted the call to serve the Church of the Messiah, and I look forward to beginning this shared ministry together.

What makes this call especially meaningful to me is the opportunity not only to serve this parish, but for my wife, Liz Devoir and I to live among you here in Myrtle Beach. I will be the first of your vicars to reside in the community, and I believe deeply that ministry is strongest when the church is rooted in the everyday life of its people—present, visible, and engaged.

I come to you with a deep love for parish ministry: worship that is reverent and alive, pastoral care that is personal and faithful, and a church that knows its neighbors by name. Alongside this, I bring an entrepreneurial approach to spirituality—one that is creative, adaptive, and attentive to how the Holy Spirit is already at work beyond our walls. In a storefront setting especially, I see opportunity: to experiment, to listen closely, and to grow organically as a community shaped by prayer, hospitality, and mission.

My hope is that the Church of the Messiah will continue to be a place where tradition and imagination meet—where ancient faith speaks clearly to present lives, and where all are welcomed to encounter Christ with honesty and hope.

I am eager to meet you, to hear your stories, and to begin discerning together what God is calling us to be and to do in this season. Please know of my prayers as we prepare for this new chapter, and I ask for yours as well.

With gratitude and anticipation,

The Rev. Roy Tripp

Church of the Messiah Upcoming Worship Schedule

Vicar John Sorensen, Retiring; Associate Priests Jim Craig and George Welles; Rev Roy Tripp begins February 18, 2026

December 28, 10am, 1st Sunday after Christmas, Rev. John Sorensen

January 4, 2026, 10am, 2nd Sunday after Christmas, Rev. Jim Craig

January 11, 2026, 1st Sunday after Epiphany, Rev. Jim Craig, Celebrant & Postulant Charlie Jordan, Preacher

January 18, 2026, Martin Luther King, Transferred, Rev. John Sorensen & Rev. George Welles

January 25, 2026, 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, Rev. John Sorensen

February 1, 2026, 4th Sunday after Epiphany, Rev. John Sorensen

February 8, 2026 5th Sunday after Epiphany

February 15, 2026, Last Sunday after Epiphany

February 18, 2026, Ash Wednesday, Noon & 7 pm, Rev. Roy Tripp

February 22, 2026, First Sunday of Lent, 10am, Rev. Roy Tripp

This Land is Our Land!

The Blessing of our New Property

Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley blessed our new property at 38th & US-17 Bypass in Myrtle Beach, on Sunday, September 21, 2025. The water used to bless the property is from the Atlantic Ocean and the Jordan River.

The Vestry presented the Property to Bishop Ruth with these words: "

Bishop Ruth, We present to you this land in Myrtle Beach

to be set apart for the service of Christ’s Holy Church and for

the future home of The Episcopal Church of the Messiah

in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina." 

Participating in the blessing ceremony were four clergy, L-R: Vicar John Sorensen, who has been with us almost four years; Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, Bishop of South Carolina just over four years, who led the Diocesan effort to purchase the property; Dean Wilmot Merchant, Rector of St Stephen's, North Myrtle Beach, who supported and encouraged the founding of Messiah in 2013, helping us get on our feet; and Pastor Jason Lee, St Phillip Lutheran Church, who gave Messiah a worship home for the first 4 years of our existence. (Photo Below)

The signing of purchase documents occurred the week of Saint Patrick's Day in multiple locations, beginning with Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley’s signing of the documents in Charleston on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2025. (See Photo below.) The owner of the property is the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. Officially, the “Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Church of South Carolina”. The Trustees will continue to own this property until we become a parish and are financially capable of assuming the loan, some years from now. In the words of Charlie Jordan, our parishioner and attorney who faithfully shepherded the closing process, "The loan amount is $2,200,000. The Lender is the Episcopal Church Building Fund. The Note is payable by the Trustees and has a 20-year term".

The 2025 Messiah Church Vestry

Left to Right, Photo Above: Monica Orosz, Junior Warden; Kristi Burch; Chrissy Oppegaard; Peggy Kovacs, Treasurer; John Sorensen, Vicar; Eileen Fairchild; Patrick Patterson, Clerk; Rick Stall, Senior Warden. Not Pictured: Charlie Jordan, Legal Advisor.

The next Vestry Meeting will be

Sunday, January 11 after our Annual Meeting.