Meet Our New Rector
Transitions
The Rev. Alfred A. Sawyer, rector of Christ Church of Atlanta since its founding in 1998, will be retiring effective August 31, 2025. Alfred will preach his last sermon on Sunday, June 29, and will be on sabbatical in August. The Rev. Dr. Ryan P. O’Dowd has been selected to succeed Alfred as rector of Christ Church. Ryan’s first Sunday in the pulpit will be August 3.
Introducing: The Rev. Dr. Ryan P. O’Dowd
Letter of Greeting from Ryan:
Dear Christ Church of Atlanta,
Warmest greetings from Ithaca, New York where the high temperature is 49 degrees today. We have been experiencing nearly constant rainfall and low temperatures for several weeks and know we are in for a shock when we hit Atlanta. We do hope that being in Atlanta will allow us to see the sun again.
The Big Picture: As I write, Amy, Emma Clare, and I are busy finishing the school year, packing up our home, and saying goodbye to friends and colleagues. As you can imagine it’s a season mixed with sadness and joyful anticipation of our calling to Atlanta.
By God’s grace our home sold very quickly. We will move out on 19 June and live with a local friend from church until our drive down to Atlanta around the first week of July. We have arranged to rent a home in Sandy Springs for the first little while to give us time to orient to the city and look for a home to purchase. We will spend the remaining weeks of July unpacking, figuring out traffic patterns (including Emma Clare’s school commute), ironing out the many details involved with a move to a new state, and squeezing in a little time for a much-needed family vacation. My first Sunday in the pulpit will be August 3rd.
About Us: Some of you will know that Amy has been allowed to continue her work as an Associate Dean at Ithaca College for the next year, working remotely. That will free her schedule up to help us all get adjusted to Atlanta and engaged in church life. Amy and I have loved sharing ministry for over thirty years of marriage, and we are looking forward to working together at CCA.
Emma Clare, who turns 15 in August, has two weeks left in her freshman year of high school. She just finished her final season of gymnastics with a third-place finish at the upstate New York championships. She is enrolled to attend Mount Bethel Christian Academy (MBCA) in East Cobb and wants to transition her tumbling and balancing skills into cheerleading. Based on videos of her performances, the Cheer coach gave her a position on the MBCA team for next year.
I’m finishing up my work at Bread of Life Anglican Church and at the Chesterton House Center for Christian Study at Cornell where I spend most of my time. I am presently working to create long term relationships with colleagues at Cornell and at a few international ministries to bring some of the best of our ministry programs to CCA and local universities in Atlanta. I will say more when we arrive in Atlanta, but I am already in conversation with the vestry, Rusty Demoss, and Hank Booth about two major goals for my first few months at CCA: (1) get us all into scripture more often and more deeply, and (2) build a strong class that will prepare confirmands for confirmation and provide a broad introduction to the Anglican tradition.
Thinking about CCA: I hear from Stuart Kenney often, as well as a few of you who have been kind to write and call. I am aware of your long march to get into the new building. We read in Proverbs: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” That’s true for you, I have no doubt, and so I remain in prayer for this process of getting the building open and for God to give patience while we wait.
Our days are full, but please feel free to email or call, especially after 18 June. We want to take time to meet each of you.
More About Ryan:
Ryan O’Dowd has been serving as a Senior Fellow at Cornell University’s Chesterton House and pastor of Bread of Life Anglican Church of Ithaca, New York. His formal education includes a B.S. in Biology from the U.S. Air Force Academy, M.A. in biblical studies from Reformed Theological Seminary, and Ph.D. in biblical studies from the University of Liverpool (2005). Dr. O’Dowd holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve with more than 30 years of combined service in active duty and reserve status.
His research interests include biblical law, wisdom, and poetry, as well as Christian theological approaches to ethics, work, and vocation. His books include The Wisdom of Torah: Epistemology in Deuteronomy and the Wisdom Literature (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht); Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Theological Introduction, with Craig Bartholomew (Apollos); Proverbs (Zondervan); and Numbers Through the Centuries, Blackwell Bible Commentaries, ed. John Sawyer and David M. Gunn (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming).
Ryan is married to the former Amy Gunter of Pacific Grove, CA and they have four children: Aidan, Patrick, Annie and Emma Clare.
