Clergy and Staff
Clergy and Staff
Our hope is that Saint Stephen Anglican Church is not just a place that you attend once a week, but a place where you can connect with people and be involved in life changing ministry. Faith should touch and inform every part of our lives. Come on in. We've been expecting you.
Father Jim Curry
Rector
Father Jim is a Kentucky native, born in Glasgow in 1955 and grew up in Green County as the eldest of six brothers in a sharecropper family. After a tour of duty in the United States Air Force in the waning months of the Vietnam Conflict, he completed an Engineering Technology degree at Kentucky College of Technology. He worked as National Service Manager for a Patient Monitor manufacturer and began his ministry in 1982 as a Youth Minister at a small non-denominational church in Huntsville, Alabama. At the same time, he began his theological education during two years at Alabama Christian College where he also completed a course of study in Business Administration. Returning to Kentucky in 1985, he continued studying in the Program of Alternate Studies through Bethel College / Memphis Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1986. For over two decades, Father Jim pastored small mission churches in rural Kentucky while continuing to work as a Service Engineer and/or Service Manager for various medical device manufacturers, including the one he retired from after more than thirty-one years. Over time, he came to embrace a more sacramental theology while holding to his evangelical tradition, and in 2003 began a seven-year affiliation with the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches. After completing the diocesan mentored study program, he was ordained as a Deacon in June of 2004 and to the Priesthood on November 27th of that same year. While with the CEEC, he continued to pastor the small rural churches as well as serving as a Canon Missioner and as a member of the Bishop’s Council. Father Jim came to St. Stephen Church in April of 2010 and transitioned from the CEEC to the Anglican Church in North America. He was installed as Associate Rector in November of that same year and as Rector in January of 2012. He has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Pastoral Counseling from Trinity College as well as degrees in Business Administration and Engineering. He was married to Joyce in October of 1987. Joyce is Executive Director of Operation Support Peace, a ministry for members of the Armed Forces and their families. She is also President of the Board of Directors for Fern Creek-Highview United Ministries, a joint ministry of 23 area churches. They have one daughter, Sarah, who has a Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Louisville and works as a Programming Engineer.
Father Rickey Brown, MSJ
Associate Rector
Father Rickey was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1954. As the son of Presbyterian missionaries, he grew up around the world (US, Belgium, Congo and Switzerland). His spiritual journey has led him down a long and varied path: Presbyterian – atheist – Methodist – Assemblies of God – independent charismatic – The Episcopal Church – ICCEC (International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church) – Anglican. After experiencing the many different “flavors” of Christianity on his spiritual journey, he and his wife Brenda finally found their home in the Anglican Communion as part of the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that has existed since the days of the Apostles. In 1987 Father Rickey completed the program of Ministerial Studies in the Berean College of the Assemblies of God and subsequently was involved in ministry in several churches. In 1992, he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky (leading to a job as an R&D engineer in Lexmark International, Inc. – from which he retired in 2015). In 1994, Rickey and Brenda and (then Deacon) Don and Pat Miles and several others founded St. Stephen Charismatic Episcopal Church in Louisville, where Rickey was the music minister and one of the lay leaders. He then attended the ICCEC St. Michael’s Seminary, receiving his Master of Ministry Degree. He was ordained deacon in the ICCEC in 1998 and ordained priest in 2001 and became the associate rector at St. Stephen CEC under Bishop Don Miles. (Note: St. Stephen CEC transitioned from the ICCEC and joined the Anglican Church in North America in 2009, changing the name of the church to “St. Stephen Anglican Church.”) Father Rickey is also a member of the Missionary Society of St. John the Evangelist (MSJ). He is the dean of the Kentucky Chapter of MSJ. He has been married to his wife Brenda (a retired speech pathologist) since 1983. They each work in several different ministries, but especially enjoy working together in the music ministry.
Deacon Clay Cook
Pastoral Associate
Clayton Cook III was born in 1973 in Elwood, Indiana. He grew up in Embarrass, Minnesota and graduated from Central Hardin High School in Elizabethtown, Kentucky in 1991. He went on to graduate from Sullivan University in 1998 with a degree as a Microsoft Systems Engineer. For the last 12 years Deacon Clay has worked Ceridian/Dayforce as a Microsoft Certified Professional. Deacon Clay has been a part of St. Stephen Anglican Church since 2011 and was ordained into the diaconate on March 21, 2015. Clay and his wife Jessica of 5 years and their 2 boys live in Cox Creek, Kentucky.
