Bishop Todd recently asked retired Bishops Dan Scott of the Anglican Mission in the Americas and Mark Zimmerman of the Diocese of the Southwest to assist him with episcopal visits and ecclesiastical work in the diocese, giving C4SO increased capacity to do ordinations and confirmations across the country.
We sat down with these seasoned ministers of the gospel to get to know their background and the many gifts and talents they bring to the diocese. Join us in honoring them and welcoming them to C4SO!
The bishops will remain canonically resident in their sending dioceses.
Q: Tell us a bit about your past and where you previously served as Bishops.
Bishop Mark Zimmerman: I graduated from Trinity School for Ministry in 1986. I was drawn into the Anglican church by evangelicals like John Guest and John Rodgers. I have always felt a call to work in rural and small church situations, and I was blessed to serve in two turn-around churches, one in Farmington, New Mexico, and the other in Somerset, Pennsylvania. It was in Somerset that I got the call to submit my name for the first bishop of the Diocese of the Southwest. It is a diocese of many smaller congregations spread out over a huge area. I served here as bishop for a little over six years. A very exciting part of my work was to take the first steps in forming an Anglican Diocese in Mexico. The Holy Spirit has blessed our relationships south of the border, and it has been a joy to work with those people and their churches.
Bishop Dan Scott: I was raised in Southern West Virginia until my teens. My parents moved our family to Quito, Ecuador, where we would spend the next many years in pioneering Christian missionary work. My first pastorate was in Managua, Nicaragua. This was followed by service in Iquitos, Peru; Montréal, Québec; Nashville, Tennessee; Phoenix, Arizona; and then Nashville again until my retirement from parish ministry in 2019. I have a Masters in Humanities, a Masters in Psychology and a Doctorate of Ministry. I was ordained into Anglican Orders in 2003 by Bishop Alexander (Sandy) Greene, under the authority of Archbishop Kolini and the Anglican Church in Rwanda. I was consecrated Bishop by Kolini, Philip Jones, and Sandy Greene under the authority and at the request of Congolese Archbishop Massimongo.
Q: Describe your relationship with Bishop Todd.
Bishop Zimmerman: I first met Bishop Todd in the Anglican College of Bishops. I did not know him well at first, but I was always excited when I heard him preach or teach. At some point Bishop Todd and I realized we thought alike about many important issues facing the Church. I made my first visitation to the C4SO congregation of The Table in Indianapolis. It was a great time in a great parish. I have been able to attend the Telos Collective’s Intersection Conference and C4SO’s Clergy Conference. Every C4SO congregation I have visited has left me energized. I have always been able to take away far more than I could offer.
Bishop Scott: I first met Bishop Todd in 2005 when he was leading Alpha USA. I had already become an Anglican and he was about to make the same move. We share a passion for a lived and experienced (as well as a theologically grounded) Three Streams Anglicanism. We also believe that serving the contemporary culture from a clear and firm commitment of historical orthodoxy is much more consistent with the Spirit of Christ than engaging in culture wars. In the end, we want to demonstrate before the watching world a godly winsomeness rather than a combative spirit, whenever this is possible. This missional aspiration leads us to listen to the genuinely important issues of our times and to respond to those questions with as much respect and humility of heart as the Holy Spirit allows us to manifest.
Bishop Todd embodies leadership qualities that have become all too rare, even among Christians, qualities that Robert Greenleaf described in his famous book, Servant Leadership. I admire those qualities and so look forward to serving him and the C4SO community.
Q: Knowing C4SO’s heart, what do you resonate with most about the way we do ministry?
Bishop Zimmerman: I love the introduction in our new 2019 Book of Common Prayer that talks of the book “being indisputably true to Cranmer’s vision of being thoroughly Biblical, catholic in the manner of the early centuries, highly participatory, peculiarly Anglican, culturally adaptive and missional in a most remarkable way, and utterly accessible to the people.” In my eyes, C4SO lives into this description beautifully. That is why the diocese is so attractive to young leaders. It is a diocese willing to risk to plant churches and spread the Gospel. It is truly culturally adaptive and missional in a most remarkable way, while maintaining our core Anglican identity.
Bishop Scott: C4SO embodies an experienced, as well as theological, commitment to Three Streams Anglicanism. For this reason, it reflects my own spiritual journey that began with, but does not in any way repudiate, the Pentecostal/Charismatic roots of many of its members. C4SO also responds to contemporary North American culture missionally rather than combatively, howbeit within the clearly drawn lines of historical orthodoxy.
Q: Why are you, as a retired bishop, excited about serving C4SO?
Bishop Zimmerman: I believe the Lord is doing a remarkable work in the ACNA. In many ways C4SO is the tip of the spear in growing missional Anglican leaders and congregations. I am humbled to be able to help.
Bishop Scott: It is my desire to serve the clergy of C4SO as spiritual director and confidant and to act as Bishop Todd’s proxy in any manner he deems helpful. I love helping leaders find a place of fellowship and service.