Father Lee Nelson, SSC is the 27th Rector of Saint John's Church. Coming to us from Saint Laurence Church in Southlake, Texas, where he served as Youth and Family Minister, Father Nelson is passionate about discipleship and equipping the saints. Founder of Youth Formation Ministries, a catechetical program for youth, he works with a number of churches to help them envision their youth ministry programs. He also serves on the Catechism Sub-Committee of the Anglican Church in North America, the Board of Directors for the Young Anglicans Project and is a member of the Society of the Holy Cross. He is also a contributor to Forward in Christ, a publication of Forward in Faith, North America.

Father Nelson is deeply committed to the ideals of Anglo-Catholicism: the common Faith of the Church through the ages including the Gospel message, the Sacred Scriptures and the Creeds, the sacramental life in which we receive divinely given and necessary instruments of spiritual grace, and the apostolic ministry, instituted by Christ in the persons of the Twelve and continued in the succession of the bishops through the ages. He believes that the Christian Faith is not something he has the prerogative to change or alter, but merely the duty to deliver message after message, teaching after teaching - in its fullness and beauty.

Father Nelson was born in Washington State and moved to Texas at the age of eight. In his youth, he became extremely involved in the Church, serving as President of the Diocesan Youth Council. It was during this time that he first discerned a call to priestly ministry. In the summer of 2001, as an intern at Harley Davidson Motor Company, he became absolutely certain. In May of 2002, he graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.B.A. and the following fall matriculated to Nashotah House in Nashotah, Wisconsin, graduating with a Master of Divinity in 2005. It was during this time that he met his wife Ela. He and Ela have two children, Moira (age 2) and Oliver (9 months).

Father Woodrow Gubuan first came as a guest to St. John’s together with the Holy Cross Mission (Filipino-Asian) as its Vicar in 1996. When Holy Cross Mission was integrated with St. John’s in 2000, he became Associate Rector of the parish. During St. John’s transitional period, (July 2007 to November 2008) he became its Interim Rector. With the coming of Fr. Nelson as the new Rector in December 2008, he reassumed his position as Associate Rector.

Fr. Gubuan is a product of solid Catholic Seminary training which started with the Sacred Heart Minor Seminary in Bacolod, Philippines at age 13 and continued with Philosophy and Theology education under the Spanish Dominicans at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines. Ordained a priest by the late Paul Paul VI in 1970, he worked in the Diocese of Bacolod for 13 years as seminary professor and later as parish priest.

Fr. Gubuan’s ministry moved abroad starting with an earned doctorate in theology at the Universita San Tomasso (the Angelicum) in Rome, Italy. He served as Pastoral Director of the Collegio Filippino in Rome and as chaplain of the Filipino migrant workers in Italy. He moved to Canada and was in parish ministry and in hospital chaplaincy until his move to California. In 1996, he accepted the call to be Vicar of Holy Cross Mission, and life has since then been connected with St. John’s.

Fr. Gubuan is married to his childhood friend Ruth and is the father of Honey and John-Felix and the grandfather to Isabella Rose and Joseph Woodrow.

]]> Father Lee Nelson http://www.stjohnsstockton.org/?id=427 2009-02-03T05:18:35Z

Acolytes are youth in fourth through twelfth grade who serve the priests at the altar during Sunday morning services and other special services throughout the year. The Rector and Acolyte Parents provide training and scheduling. Acolytes are scheduled usually once or twice a month to serve at the altar.

See current schedule

Lectors read the scriptures at Sunday services and other special occasions. The only requirement is the ability to read aloud clearly and confidently. There is no age barrier. Lectors are scheduled to read usually one Sunday a month.

See current schedule

Ushers open doors, distribute Sunday Bulletins, guide members to receive communion, pass the collection plate and help newcomers with questions. The ushers are trained and scheduled to serve usually one Sunday a month.

See Current Schedule

We have two choirs at St. John's.

The first is our multicultural choir, which sings Filipino service music at our multicultural services.

The second is our Chamber Choir, under the leadership of Dr. Stanworth Beckler, who also accompanies them on our Pipe Organ. This choir prepares the music for the 10:00 a.m. Eucharist and the music for our Holy Week Services. They also prepare a wonderful Festival of Advent Lessons and Carols prior to Christmas.

The Altar Guild, serving under the Rector, is responsible for preparing the altars for all scheduled services. Members commit to one Saturday morning a month to perform these duties. Meetings are on the second Tuesday of each month at 10:00am, but are not mandatory, so as not to exclude working mothers.

Daughters of the King is an affiliated member of the National Church organization. Members support the priests, church members and each other in an intentional and disciplined life of prayer and service. the group meets on the second Saturday of each month at the church.

Serious Christian discipleship is a normative expectation of all members of St. John's. This expresses itself in faithful Sunday attendance, stewardship, lifelong learning, evangelism, service, and outreach - that St. John's become a brighter beacon to the community, and a greater source of stability and continuity for her members.

1 Corinthians 12:14-26 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Every Christian receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and gifts from the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of baptism (I Corinthians 12:4-13, Ephesians 4:11-16, BCP p. 308). The primary purpose of these gifts is to help the Church be what it's called to be and do what it's called to do. Their secondary purpose is to encourage each individual "body part" in his or her journey of faith.