The Rev. Meredith Crigler, chair of the World Mission Board of the Diocese of Texas, was elected as a new member of the Board of Directors of the Global Episcopal Mission Network (GEMN) Board of Directors at the network’s annual meeting on April 23.

Like the Global Mission Conference that was held April 22-24 on the theme “Earthkeeping: Creation Care in Global Mission,” the annual meeting was conducted online due to pandemic constraints.

The World Mission Board of the Diocese of Texas supports global partnerships within the diocese, including companion relationships with the dioceses of Southern Malawi, Costa Rica and North Dakota.  Crigler is rector of Trinity Church, Baytown, and has extensive international experience.  She has served as a student researcher in tropical ecology in Costa Rica, as a guest teacher in Antoa Village, outside of Kumasi, Ghana, and as a guest lecturer at Msalato Theological College in Dodoma, Tanzania.

Elected to second three-year terms on the Board were the Rev. Jean Beniste, rector of Christ Church, Waukegan, in the Diocese of Chicago, and active in mission with his native Haiti; the Rev. Jaime Briceño, digital missioner at Bexley Seabury Seminary, and active in mission with his native Costa Rica; and the Rev. Dr. Grace Burton-Edwards, member of the Global Mission Commission of the Diocese of Atlanta and rector of St. Thomas Church in Columbus, Georgia.

For biographies of GEMN Board members see this link.

In officer elections on May 25 the Board elected Ms. Patricia Martin of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic as new Vice President.  Long active in the global mission companionships of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, Martin has been a Board member and helped coordinate the Global Mission Conference that was held in the D.R. in 2019.

Elected Secretary is the Rev. Dr. Grace Burton-Edwards, who has served as Vice President, but who requested re-assignment to the vacant position of Secretary in view of other commitments.  Elected as new Treasurer is Mr. William Kunkle of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, former executive director of the Dominican Development Group.  He succeeds Ms. Pamela Boston of the Diocese of Oregon.  Re-elected as President was the Rev. Dr. Titus Presler, an Episcopal missiologist representing the Diocese of Vermont and Bridges to Pakistan.

The 12 members of the GEMN Board serve a maximum of two three-year terms, and recent years have featured progressively younger and more diverse members coming from widely dispersed areas of the Episcopal Church.