All of the following candidates have demonstrated servant ministries outside their local parish that both affirm a servant’s heart and a calling to a diaconal ministry. Each has completed a two-year process of instruction, under the direction of Canon Mike Malone, to prepare them for this ministry. The course of study involved meeting together one Saturday a month for instruction from invited priests and deacons of the Diocese. Each comes with his or her own unique spiritual journey and consequent gifts for ministry.
Jim Cato
James A. Cato (Jim), a member of the Parish Church of St. Helena, Beaufort, retired in 2008 after 39 years as a journalist -- 28 years at The Beaufort Gazette where he served as editor, publisher and editorial page editor. Jim has been involved in various ministries and missions including Kairos (prison ministry), intercessory prayer team, and visiting shut-ins, residents in assisted living homes and hospitals and nursing homes, the parish’s 37-year-old community Thanksgiving Day Dinner and Service. Since 2004, he has served on missions to Asia (the unreached people groups), the Dominican Republic and Uganda. Jim feels called to many ministries/missions, but his passion is to the unreached people of the world -- especially Asia. He is a U.S. Army veteran, a graduate of the Defense Language Institute and the University of South Carolina. He served in Vietnam in 1968. He has been married to Susan for 46 years. They have three children and two grandchildren.
Dan Farley
Dan Farley is a member of Trinity Church, Myrtle Beach. He and his wife Susan are both retired school teachers from Rochester NY. He serves as Chaplain at Myrtle Beach Manor. Dan also serves as Pastor for Member Care at Trinity. He looks forward to his sacramental work as a vocational deacon and to serving as the hands and feet of Christ wherever needed.
Roger Griffin
Roger Griffin, an active member of Church of the Good Shepherd, Charleston, has served in numerous leadership roles including lay deacon and vestry member. For the last four years he has coordinated the West Ashley Thanksgiving In the Park Outreach. He has also helped lead small group mission teams to the Dominican Republic. Fluent in Spanish, Roger has been serving among Hispanic migrant workers along with the Rev. David Dubay through the Church on the Move for three years. In addition to his work with Dubay and responsibilities at Good Shepherd, he is also developing a ministry outreach to the local Hispanic community. Griffin came to the Diocese having served as a missionary to Mexico City for five years as well as serving an additional five years in inner-city ministry in Jacksonville, Florida. His secular work includes managing small businesses and teaching English as a second language.
Joyce Harder
Joyce Harder has been a member of Christ Church, Mount Pleasant, for 29 years where she served in many ministries across the parish. Prior to opening her own recruiting firm in 2001, she taught high school French for 20 years -- 10 of them at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant. The focus of her vocational ministry is Kairos Outside, which ministers to female family members of incarcerated loved ones. Joyce was called to this ministry after a beloved member of her extended family was sentenced to 10 years in prison. As she “does the time” alongside her loved one, she’s aware that God is using this tragedy in her family to equip her to minister to women who suffer due to having a family member behind bars. She has been married to Howard for nearly 44 years, and they have two grown children, both married. Their son, Walt, and his wife, Jennifer, have three teen-aged children, and daughter Cameron Handel and her husband, Jeff, have two daughters, under age two.
Barbara Holliman
Barbara Holliman is a member of All Saints, Florence where she has served as Senior Warden, Junior Warden, Lay Eucharistic Minister, member of the Altar Guild, Daughter of the King, and member of the Finance Committee. Her calling is in discipleship ministries with a focus on young adults and college ministry. Barbara is currently an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina, where she serves as the InterVarsity faculty sponsor. She has a son, Ben Hankinson, Jr. (rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois) and a daughter, Emily Mercuri (proud mother of Giana and Sofia Mercuri).
Gerry McCord
Gerry McCord, a member of St. Philip’s Church, Charleston, has been serving the tri-county area for the past 41 years through his profession as a realtor. At St. Philip’s Gerry's ministries include soaking prayer, Stephen Ministry, Cursillo and world missions. His community outreach efforts include working with the elderly in retirement communities; those in hospice; working with support groups family, friends and individuals with brain injury; and veterans’ support groups. He and his wife, Suzanne, live in Mt. Pleasant.
Sam Turbeville
Sam Turbeville is a member of All Saints, Florence, and a former member of St. Gregory’s in Deerfield, IL and St. Alban's Chapel at The Citadel. He is a past President and current member of the Pee Dee Kiwanis Club. A former police officer, Sam’s calling is to minister to law enforcement officers and their families.
