The Rev. Fr. Brendon Helms is a graduate of Appalachian State University in Boone, North

Carolina, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in History, Secondary Education. He also

holds two Master of Arts degrees from Southern Evangelical Seminary in Matthews, North

Carolina—one in Biblical Studies (2010) and one in Philosophy (2015).

Professionally, Fr. Helms serves as a financial advisor. Throughout his career, he has also

served as a high school history teacher, a youth pastor, and an instructional designer at

Southern Evangelical Seminary. He was also a co-founder of Ratio Christi, an international

apologetics ministry dedicated to equipping college students to know, defend, and proclaim the

Christian faith.

Fr. Helms was ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacon by Bishop Thomas Gordon of the

Orthodox Anglican Church on May 22, 2021, and to the Sacred Order of Priest on June 5, 2022.

Following his reception into the Anglican Church of America, he was ordained sub conditione to

the Sacred Order of Priest by Bishop William Bower on July 31, 2025.

As a priest, Fr. Helms is devoted to the reverent celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,

faithful preaching of Holy Scripture, and the pastoral care of Christ's flock. His ministry is shaped

by the Anglican Catholic tradition, drawing deeply from the Holy Scriptures, the Church Fathers,

the historic Creeds, and the Church's sacramental life. He is passionate about helping God's

people grow in holiness through faithful worship, sound doctrine, and lives centered upon Jesus

Christ.

Fr. Helms and his wife, Elizabeth, reside in Concord, North Carolina, with their children.

Deacon Ryan Thomas was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, and was raised in a home deeply

rooted in Christian ministry and service to the Church. The son of a Baptist preacher, Ryan was

introduced from an early age to the importance of preaching the Gospel, serving one’s

neighbors, and ministering to those in need. During his early years, he served in several Baptist

congregations as a sound manager and musician.

Ryan also spent many years serving at a Christian youth camp in Wilkesboro, North Carolina,

founded by his father for the ministry and care of abused and disadvantaged children. The camp

operated for nearly twenty years, during which Ryan served as both a counselor and head of

security. Through this ministry, he developed a particular appreciation for the importance of

compassionate Christian service to those who are vulnerable and in need.

After entering the Anglican tradition, Ryan increasingly sensed a call to serve God and His

Church through ordained ministry. He began taking a more active role in the life of his parish

and, in particular, found joy in ministering to those who were unable to participate fully in the life

of the Church. His diaconal ministry has included service in a nursing home, where he has

offered prayer, pastoral care, and liturgical services to residents seeking spiritual comfort and

encouragement in their later years.

Ryan was ordained to the diaconate by Archbishop Joshua Gilliam of the Orthodox Anglican

Church on June 8, 2025. He was subsequently ordained sub conditione by Bishop William

Bower on July 25, 2026.

Deacon Ryan currently resides in China Grove, North Carolina, with his pets. Outside of his

ministry, he works in the corporate sector of Coca-Cola Consolidated, with a particular focus on

sales and customer service. In his free time, he enjoys reading from his extensive personal

library, studying the culinary arts, and pursuing a variety of other interests.

Deacon Ryan is grateful for the opportunity to serve Christ and His Church and looks forward to

continuing his ministry of prayer, service, and charity among the people of God.

His Episcopal motto "Dominus illuminatio mea" (The Lord is my light) is taken from the opening words of Psalm 27 and is the used by the University of Oxford as its motto. It reminds us that only in Christ do we have the light of salvation. In the light of Christ, we shall not be afraid of anything. 

The Right Reverend William Bower, SSC was elected to be the bishop suffragan of the Diocese of the West of the Anglican Church in America at its Synod in September 2020 and was consecrated on July 10, 2021. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1964, where he attended grade school through high school. It was during this period that he was a member of the Grammy A ward winning Atlanta Boy Choir and was part of a student exchange program with the Vienna Boys Choir. In his teen years he relocated with his family to the Los Angeles area where he finished high school and met the love of his life, Sabrina Thai, whom he married in 1984.

He attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) on an Army scholarship and received a Reserve commission in 1985. In 1986 he founded Contemporary Information Corporation, a data company, in Santa Clarita, California. As a bi-vocational clergyman, he continues to work full time at his secular employment as well as being engaged in pastoral ministry. 

After being ordained both deacon and priest in a noncanonical old calendar Orthodox jurisdiction, Bishop Bower moved his congregation into the Orthodox Church in America. In 1997 he completed the Late Vocations Program and was ordained a deacon by Bishop Tikhon (Fitzgerald). He attended St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary from 1997 - 2000. He was incardinated in the Anglican Church in America in July of 2000 and assigned to St. Mary of the Angels parish in Hollywood, California, where he participated in the St. Mary's Theological College. In 2002 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop James Gordon Stewart. In 2001 Bishop Bower began a degree by research program with the University of Oxford, and in 2013 was awarded the degree of Master of Philosophy specializing in Theology.

Bishop Bower was the founding rector of the parish of St. Columba in Lancaster, California which he served from 2002-2013. From 2014 until 2019 he assisted at two Anglican parishes in Atlanta, Georgia. In July 2019 he began filling in at St. Mary of the Angels parish and was assigned as Locum Tenens in August of that year. He has faithfully served St. Mary of the Angels for two years providing pastoral leadership to guide the parish through a crisis period into stability including finding and training a permanent parish priest.

He has served as Canon to the Ordinary for three diocesan bishops, has been a member of almost every diocesan committee, and is a long-term member of the Societas Sanctae Crucis (Society of the Holy Cross).

Bishop Bower and his wife Sabrina have four adult children, Rebecca, Ian, Catherine, and Julia. When not engaged by secular or church work, they enjoy spending time boating in coastal South Carolina or on the Suwannee River in Florida. 

The ACC's Archbishop and Metropolitan is the Most Reverend Mark Haverland. He is a graduate of

Kenyon College with a bachelor’s degree in political science, and holds an MA in Roman Catholic

theology from Duquesne University, and a Ph.D. in religion from Duke University.

Ordained to the priesthood in 1982, he served for twenty-four years as rector of St. Stephen's Church, in

Athens, Georgia. In 1998, the then Father Haverland was elected and consecrated as Bishop Ordinary of

the Diocese of the South, succeeding the late William O. Lewis. At the XVI Provincial Synod in 2005, he

was elected to succeed the retiring John Charles Vockler as Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Anglican

Catholic Church.

He is author of ANGLICAN CATHOLIC FAITH AND PRACTICE, an introduction to orthodox Anglican

belief and has written articles and reviews for publications such as Touchstone, The New Oxford Review,

and The Journal of Religion.

As Archbishop, he is the head of the College of Bishops of the ACC's Original Province.