Bishop Keith Andrews
Chairperson (2023)
Bishop Keith is the second diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Western Anglicans. During his eight years of apostolic ministry, the diocese has grown in local churches, in the strengthening deaneries, in the training of deacons and lay Missioners and in the launch of the Yellowstone Missionary District. Church planting and clergy pipeline development are crucial values for the ‘harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.’ Please join us in this glorious work of expanding God’s kingdom in the Pacific Southwest.
James Dale
Chairperson (2024-25)
Jim is serving in his third year as President of the Diocese of Western Anglicans and previously served on the Diocesan Executive Committee for three different terms. His family has long Anglican roots as his great uncle, Rt. Rev. William E. McLaren, was the Episcopal Bishop of Quincy and then Chicago at the turn of the 20th Century. He is a long-time member of St. James Anglican Church, Costa Mesa, and served as Senior Warden of St. James when the congregation left the Episcopal Church. During Jim’s time working in Scottsdale, AZ, Jim was a member of the launch team for Christ Church Phoenix. Jim loves serving our Lord in any capacity that the Lord asks him, from being a member of the greeting team at St. James to serving as the President of the Diocese. As President, the opportunity to work closely with our Bishop is an extraordinary gift from the Lord that he could never have imagined. Jim is married to Cheryl and has a son, Alex, and two granddaughters, Charlotte (Nena) and Daniella, who all live in Seattle.
Fr. Ron Offringa
Assistant Chair (2024-2025)
Fr. Offringa is a presbyter in the Diocese of Western Anglicans with an MA in Classical Theology from Talbot Theological Seminary. Ron is currently serving at Christ’s Church in Redlands, CA while raising support to plant a church in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Ron has been married for eleven years to Katelyn, a speech-language pathologist, and they have three children: James, Thomas, and Charlotte.
Connie Polite
Administrator
Connie Polite has been a parishioner at All Saints Long Beach for over fifteen years. Her children Maggie and Sam grew up in the church and the family lives in Belmont Heights near the Cathedral. She looks forward to what God has in store for the Diocese of Western Anglicans. Like the other team members, she covets your prayers as the Diocesan Transition Team seeks God’s will together, and in community with you.
Eric Crawford first started walking as a disciple of Christ in college as a part of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship at Pomona College in California and first encountered Anglican worship at a charismatic Episcopal Church in Orange County. He met his wife-to-be at St. Jude’s Church in Burbank and followed her to Arizona when her missions agency relocated to Mesa. Fr. Keith Andrews (our current Bishop) performed their marriage service and they served at St. James the Apostle in Tempe in various ways until the church re-aligned to remain faithfully Anglican in 2003-2005. During that time, Eric served as “future” elder and media spokesman as Fr. Keith and the great majority of St. James parishioners became Living Faith Church Tempe. At Living Faith, he has served on the Lectors, Tech team, Finance team, Vestry, Senior Warden, and Small Group leader.
The Rev. Deacon Gail Duffey describes herself as “a mostly reformed troublemaker.” When she was a teenager at church camp, she would sneak out of the cabin at night to sleep at the chapel altar. God became a father to her and it was then she knew she was called to serve Him. She loves God and loves people, especially those in need of hope and healing. She is grateful to her husband of 32 years, Tom, for encouraging her to follow her call to ordained ministry. It is her joy to serve at Christ the King, Poway, CA as a deacon and as a chaplain to the staff of the San Diego Rescue Mission.
Mary Sue Houston is a member of Christ The Redeemer in Yuma AZ. She serves as the Parish Administrator. At present, she is on the Executive Committee and the Arizona Deanery Steering Committee. She has previously helped call rectors to serve two different parishes in two different states. This is a time of great prayer and an exciting time for the Diocese.
Fr. Steve Kennedy is honored for the opportunity, privilege, and responsibility to serve on the Diocesan Transition Team to help select and discern the next Bishop of the Diocese of Western Anglicans. He came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in 1991 after God led him to start attending All Angels’ Episcopal Church in New York City where he worshipped and grew in community with many Bible believing followers of Jesus. For the last 17 years, he has served as a Deacon and Assisting Priest at Saint David’s Anglican Church in Burbank. He is a member of the Diocesan Finance Committee and has just started his second term on the Diocesan Executive Committee. For the past 17 years, he has served as Chief Financial Officer of two nonprofit organizations, Los Angeles Mission and now Los Angeles Christian Health Centers, supporting the provision of services to low-income persons, many of whom are experiencing homelessness. By working inside and outside the church, he has the perspective and thinking of both a priest and lay person. He is blessed to be recently married to Michele and reside in El Segundo, CA.
Fr. John Laffoon has been serving as the minister to youth and families at Christ Church Anglican in Phoenix, AZ since 2017. He has served in youth ministry since 2005 in NC, CA, MA, and Chile. His own beloved youth minister played a crucial role in God’s leading towards his ministerial calling. He loves hiking the endless Arizona trials in his free time. He also continues to throughly enjoy biblical, theological, historical, and biblical language studies.
Originally from the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fr. Paul Nacin worked in a number of different churches over a seventeen-year period as a youth minister until the year 2000. During this same time, he operated a small high-tech manufacturing business for space-based optical components and industrial automation parts. Receiving a call from the Lord to establish a new parish in North Las Vegas, he completed his theological studies and was ordained in the Diocese of Western Anglicans. He and his wife Dina moved to Nevada in 2019 and began the work of church planting. Dina is a public-school teacher in Las Vegas specializing in autism, and Paul continues to work as a bi-vocational priest, handling a smaller version of his business while standing up St. Martin’s Anglican Church in North Las Vegas.
Patricia Stewart is an Anglican because she fell in love with liturgy in the early 70’s at St. Helena’s Parish Church, Beaufort, SC. The Lord has blessed her with gifts to serve Him and others: prayer, discernment, wisdom, administration, and a heart for others. Her current home church is Grace Anglican, where she serves as Senior Warden, leads a group of 36 prayer warriors, leads prayers of the people on Sundays, and serves as a small group leader and healing prayer minister with her husband, Randy. She has previously served on a Bishop search team, and her past experiences in DWA include five years on the Executive Committee and Lead for the Clergy Formation Team in the San Diego Deanery.
Sue Ellen Warren
Diocesan Intercessor
Sue Ellen describes herself as “an original Baby Boomer,” born and raised in a small Michigan town. She and her husband have four adult children and one beautiful granddaughter. For the past thirty-six years, she has been teaching Nutrition Science at El Camino College. She loves Jesus and strives to know His heart and to serve His people as He leads. It is a privilege and will surely be a challenge to choose a leader and help set the priorities and path for our growing Diocese of Western Anglicans
Sherri Wayman is currently on the Executive Committee and is the Senior Warden at Christ the Redeemer in Yuma, AZ. She a retired educator of thirty-four years of teaching, but still substitutes. She likes to spend time with family and friends, with her church family, and serving the Lord.
Specialists
James Craft
Chancellor
James and his wife Dawn are parishioners of Christ Church Anglican in Phoenix. They have three grown children, a two-year-old granddaughter, and a grandson on the way. Their faith in Jesus has been nourished and strengthened in Anglican traditions and expressions. James practiced law for more than forty years and now serves as general counsel with a hospital physician group. He sees his primary responsibility during this diocesan transition as supporting the team in an orderly process in accordance with the Diocesan Constitution and Canons.
Fr. Simon Enwereji
Chaplain
Hailing from Nigeria, Fr. Simon Enwereji was admitted into the Diocese of Western Anglicans in 2018 by Bishop Keith Andrews to serve as the Rector of All Saints Anglican Church, Hawthorn, Los Angeles in the LA Deanery, a position he still holds. He is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Theology (MAT), a member of the Diocesan Executive Committee and the Diocesan Transition Team. He served as chaplain at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center where he provided emotional and spiritual support to patients and their family members. He loves visiting church members, praying and teaching the Bible. He resides in Pasadena, California with my lovely wife, Mrs. Caroline Enwereji.
Jessica Greenlee
Communications & Website
Jessica Greenlee grew up loving words, wordplay, and stories. She has a doctorate in English literature and will talk about books for hours. This love for words led to writing for websites and, ultimately, to running them because communication depends on clarity of format as well as content. Currently, she lives in Long Beach and attends All Saints Cathedral, ministers as the Diocesan Communications Coordinator and runs the Diocesan Transition Team website. She also has an inordinate fondness for flowers, with forty-some varieties of rose bushes surrounded by an ever-growing number of other flowers in her garden.
Rev. Suresh K Gunti
Head Chaplain
Father Suresh was born and raised in Hyderabad, India, into a Christian family. After completing his degree in commerce, he felt called to dedicate himself to full-time ministry in the Church. In 2012, Fr. Suresh was invited by Christ Church Anglican in Phoenix to reach out to Indian expats, and he accepted the call, planting a Telugu congregation. As his family transitioned from East India to the Southwest of the United States, they had to embrace a new way of life. Engaging people in Bible studies, fostering unity, developing ministry leaders, and inviting the unchurched to join their church community brought immense joy and encouragement.
Jenna Vazquez
Diocesan Liaison
Diocese of Western Anglicans in Transition 