Bishop Search Committee

Releases Profile, Opens Application Process

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Episcopal Diocese of Florida,

Thanks be to God! Your Bishop Search Committee is excited to release the Diocesan Profile for our search for the ninth Bishop of Florida:

View the Diocesan Profile

And thanks be to you too! This profile is not merely the work of our committee, but rather the fruit of what so very many of you in our diocesan family shared through weeks of Envisioning Forums and the diocese-wide survey. Your reflections, impressions, insights, and ideas fed into this profile, through which we now invite prospective priests and bishops to join us in our journey and discern the call to serve as our bishop.

With the release of the Diocesan Profile, the application and nomination phase of our bishop search is now open. Here are links to the forms — please pay attention to the deadlines:

Nomination Form — Deadline: Monday, March 9, 2026 — This form is for clergy and laity who wish to recommend a qualified Episcopal priest or bishop (as detailed in the profile) for nomination as a potential candidate for the upcoming bishop election.

Application Form — Deadline: Monday, March 23, 2026 — This form is for qualified Episcopal priests or bishops (as detailed in the profile) who wish to nominate themselves as a potential candidate for the upcoming bishop election.

As we enter this next key phase of our bishop search, please join together in…

Pondering the Ordination of a Bishop (Book of Common Prayer, pages 512-523), paying close attention to both the vows we will make to support our next bishop and the vows that our bishop-elect will make to pastor us as a diocese. Both we and our bishop will make these vows before God, to whom all of us must answer together. The obligations, vows, prayers, and readings in this liturgy bear witness that the sacred trust of this pastoral ministry is very much a mutual, reciprocal covenant between shepherd and flock under God — something that your committee has kept in mind and taken to heart throughout this search process.

Praying for fit candidates who can fulfill those vows faithfully and meet their challenges in earnest, ever mindful of what the Bible calls on bishops to do: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). We especially call upon all Daughters of the King chapters and other practitioners of intercessory prayer in our diocese to make this intention a priority in their regular prayers over the coming weeks.

If pondering the Ordination of a Bishop liturgy and praying for fit candidates brings to mind someone whom you feel would make a promising nominee, please do share the profile and application form with that individual.

May Almighty God — “unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid” (Book of Common Prayer, page 323) — graciously guide us to the person called to serve as our next bishop, so that, shepherded by sound faith and wise leadership, we may tend with renewed vigor to the primary purpose of his Church, which is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ” (Book of Common Prayer, page 855).

We’re all in this together, so please keep one and all in your prayers — with “our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

Prayerfully,

Bishop Search Committee

Episcopal Diocese of Florida

Carolyn Jones (The Rev.), Co-Chair, St. Mark's, Jacksonville

Gregory Orloff, Co-Chair, Holy Trinity, Gainesville

Mark Armesto, St. Paul's, Quincy

Paul Arrington, St. John's Cathedral, Jacksonville

Eileen Bisgard, St. Mary's, Green Cove Springs

Angela Boyd, Our Saviour, Jacksonville

Martha Cox, St. John's Cathedral, Jacksonville

Courtland Eyrick, St. Mark's, Jacksonville

Allen Hill (The Rev.), PhD, Holy Comforter, Tallahassee