My husband, Mike, and I and our sons, Jabari and Joseph, moved to Colorado Springs in late June 2021 from Bryan, Texas after Mike was offered the position of lead chaplain at Penrose Hospital. Outdoor enthusiasts, we immediately felt at home in gorgeous Colorado Springs and after visiting almost every Episcopal church in the area, fell in love with Chapel of Our Saviour and decided to stay.
Mike, while finishing his last year at the Iona School of Ministry in Texas, began a chaplain field placement position at Chapel of our Saviour until he was ordained as a deacon this past June. I started working on a new website for Chapel of Our Saviour last Fall and began leading our children’s program this past January.
I have been invited to take on a larger role in the daily life and ministry of Chapel of Our Saviour. I am in the Parish House office (upstairs) Monday – Thursday from 9AM – 2PM. You can reach me at desha@chapelcos.org or 719-633-2667. I’m here to help support you and your ministry at Chapel of Our Saviour and would love to know how I can walk this path with you.
As Director of Faith Formation for Children and Youth at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Bryan, Texas from 2018 – 2021, I became a certified Godly Play instructor, taught the Virginia Theological Seminary Episcopal Children’s Curriculum, and led the EYC (youth group). From 2014 – 2021, I also worked as Administrator for Episcopal Veterans Fellowship, which equips Christians for missional ministry to combat veterans, and for Two Way Prayer, begun by the Recovery Ministries team of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas to help members of 12 step fellowships deepen their experience of God through the practice of prayer.
When I first started working at Saint Andrew’s in Bryan, I was tasked with cleaning out what was to be my office and my supply closets and one day, in the bottom of a giant box of odds and ends, I came across this old button. At the time, I thought nothing of it. Just a cool vintage button. I stuck it on the bulletin board in my office where it stayed for several years. I didn’t pay attention to it again until I was cleaning out my office getting ready for our move to Colorado Springs in summer of 2021. A little spark of lightening shot down my spine when I realized that I was moving next door to Pike’s Peak. Such a lovely little foreshadowing and a reminder that God has a beautiful plan, even though we may have no idea what it is or that we will love it eventually.
I’m grateful to be here at Chapel of our Saviour and during such an exciting time. There is so much on the horizon for us as a church family and I am honored to be a part of it.
DeSha Thomas, Parish Life and Children’s Program Minister
