The Celebration of New Ministry of the Rev. Robert T. J. Childers at the Church of the Good Shepherd on Lookout Mountain will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday. A reception will follow. Childcare, by reservation, will be available during the service.
A native of Selma, Ala., Rev. Childers is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and the University of Alabama Law School. He practiced law with the firm of Turner, Wilson and Christian in Montgomery, Ala., for seven years and while there attended St. John's Episcopal Church, where he served on the vestry, taught Sunday school and was a lay rector of the parish Cursillo Ultreya.
He then moved to New York City to attend General Theological Seminary. After graduation in 1991, he served as a curate/assistant rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and then as rector of St. Joseph on the Mountain Episcopal Church in Mentone, Ala., before going to Grace Episcopal Church in Anniston, Ala.,.five years ago. In the area of stewardship, he has been a stewardship consultant since 2003, working with parishes on their stewardship campaigns.
He and his wife, Terry, are the parents of two children, Rob and Elizabeth.