Introducing the New Lay Missioner to the City of Freeport

Ericca Cavender-Caldwell

Hello! I’m Ericca Cavender-Caldwell, a member of St. Andrew’s By-the-Sea in Destin, a postulant for Holy Orders, and the new Lay Missioner to the City of Freeport.

My spouse, Chris, and I call Northwest Florida home, and I am very glad that the next chapter of my formation is bringing me back here more fully. Before seminary, I spent much of my professional life as an executive chef. At St. Andrew’s, I also served as coordinator of our Jubilee Ministry, the Blue Door Outreach Ministry, which is currently on hiatus. Through Blue Door, I had the privilege of working with our neighbors and seeing firsthand how much ministry begins by paying attention to the people right in front of us. My work as a chef and my time with Blue Door taught me a great deal about hospitality, community, and service. They also became important parts of the road that eventually led me to discern a call to ordained ministry.

For the first part of my M.Div., I studied in a residential seminary program. Residential seminary has been an important part of my formation, but over time I began to recognize how much I missed being rooted in the communities that sent me there in the first place. I am now transferring to a hybrid M.Div. program, which allows me to continue my theological education while returning home to Chris, St. Andrew’s, and the life of our diocese.

It also creates the opportunity for my formation in the classroom and my formation in ministry to happen alongside one another.

And that brings me to Freeport.

As Lay Missioner, I have been asked to help us explore what an Episcopal presence in Freeport might become. Freeport is growing and changing quickly, but our first step is not to arrive with a finished plan for what a new ministry or worshiping community should look like. My first job is to listen.

I’ll be spending time in Freeport getting to know people, learning about the community, building relationships, and asking questions. We want to hear from the people who already call Freeport home and pay attention to where there are needs, hopes, and opportunities for the Church to be part of the community's life.

Most importantly, we are listening for the Holy Spirit.

I don't know exactly what will grow from this work, and I think that is one of the most exciting things about it. Discernment requires leaving some room for God to surprise us. My hope is that we can be patient enough to listen well and courageous enough to follow where the Spirit leads.

For me, there is something especially fitting about doing this work while I continue discerning and preparing for the priesthood. The questions I encounter in Freeport will come with me into the classroom, and what I learn in the classroom will come home with me into ministry.

This is also work I hope we will do together. If you are interested in being involved in the Freeport mission, have connections to the Freeport community, or simply want to learn more about what we are doing, I would love to hear from you. Please reach out to me directly at ericcacavendercaldwell@gmail.com.

Chris and I are grateful to be entering this new chapter at home. I look forward to getting to know more of you around the diocese, sharing what we discover in Freeport, and seeing what God might grow from this beginning.

Please keep Freeport, this new ministry, and all of us doing the listening in your prayers.

Faithfully in Christ,

Ericca Cavender-Caldwell