The Rev. Canon Betsy Randall
West Texas
I do love West Texas. I grew up in Midland and see beauty in big skies. I breathe easier when I can see for miles. The people are “salt of the earth,” as one friend from the Metroplex put it. The teachers and coaches from whom I learned the most were relational, resilient, and had a sense of humor that made difficult challenges seem smaller and even energizing. I knew they cared about me. Seeing the words “people are more important than programs” in the Northwest Texas’s Bishop Search profile compelled me to pray about discerning with you, for I believe that it is precisely through personal relationships and with a spirit of resilience that our faith in Jesus Christ can and will make a difference in the Episcopal Church and in our surrounding communities in this unique season.
This Season
We live in a season of increasing secularization, societal division, and loneliness. In 2025, the Cigna Group updated a landmark study on health which included data on loneliness.1 The effects of loneliness are impacting Boomers and Generation X most deeply in their physical health, but Generation Z and Millennials report the highest levels of loneliness. At the same time, younger adults are significantly less likely to attend church or to claim a religious identity.2 Studies show that a vast majority of American adults say spirituality is important to them.3 Though “the nones” (those expressing no religious affiliation) are increasing, a spiritual hunger remains. In this season we are called to reach out and to make relationships with those who are so ready for meaning, purpose, and love.
Your Gifts
The Diocese of Northwest Texas runs on relationships. Your strong clergy collegiality is well known. I am told that Diocesan Convention is a family reunion—a gathering of faithful purpose punctuated by joy and laughter. You have a legacy of capable leaders, both lay and ordained, who continue to carry the faith to this day. The next generation grows in strength through your Episcopal schools, youth programs, and campus ministry. Your hope for a bishop who has a sense of humor reveals that you all are serious about God’s work in your lives but respond to challenges good-natured, resilient way. You have a can-do, collaborative approach that cannot be overcome by distance. You care about others and it shows in the strong outreach programs throughout the diocese. You look for new souls with whom to share the warmth of your hospitality. Your profile reveals an energy to reach out beyond your congregations to connect personally with those in the surrounding community. This energy is the work of the Holy Spirit. You are ready to share Christ’s love with a world waiting for it. To discern with you all would be a privilege. In the months to come, I hope to learn more about you and to share my experience and joy in ministry.
My Joy
This season is challenging, but it is precisely in challenging times that God calls us to work together for the sake of others. My joy is inviting folks into this work in which love is central. I have been told that my greatest strengths are connecting people to their gifts and inspiring them to action. I delight in equipping people to reach those outside the church, to meet them where they are, and to invite them into a compelling spiritual life.
As a rector of an urban, program-sized parish, I started a partnership between Epiphany in Richardson and St. Mark’s in Coleman, Texas. For five years the two congregations worked together in Coleman to create a food pantry and soup kitchen which is run by Christian Family Ministries of Coleman. These three-day mission trips were characterized by worship, service, fellowship, and spiritual growth.
I brought what I learned to the Diocese of Oklahoma. Currently our Mission Partners program involves parishes, both rural and urban, in similar work. The most compelling project is a church restart led by Native Americans. Parishes from across the diocese worked together to refurbish a closed church, Redeemer, in Okmulgee, the capitol of the Muscogee Creek Nation. On these trips, I took folks with me into the community to people in the town.
Relationships were built with Muscogee leaders, who began a Native recovery program at the church. The program offers healing from addiction, generational trauma, and grief through spirituality and cultural reconnection. From that came community dinners, Evening Prayer, and children’s formation and activities. Eventually, folks asked for Sunday worship. Bilingual services began on Christmas Eve of 2025. The congregation is lay-led with clergy in the area serving on Sundays. They have had ten baptisms since Christmas. As one Native leader said, “the light has been turned on in this place.”
As Canon to the Ordinary, I enjoy the broad scope of my work. I handle administration and canonical processes with the well-being of the people in mind. I drive the Bishop’s vision for the diocese, identify issues, offer possible solutions, and coordinate efforts for change. I oversee the ordination process, lead the Commission on Ministry, and mentor clergy one-on-one. As transition officer, I facilitate searches, recruit candidates, and support placement. I work with congregations to offer creative ways to thrive through stewardship learning cohorts, discerning mission-focused alternative income streams, and created a three-year parish self-redevelopment initiative that has shown encouraging results. These efforts run on recruiting and teamwork as the much of it depends upon the gifts and efforts of committed volunteers, both lay and ordained.
The Future
Our future depends on creative changes that promote the health of our congregations so that we can share the gospel, promote justice and peace in our world, and invite all people—no exceptions—into the life of faith. Such changes depend on our commitment to the unifying and empowering essentials of our tradition. We are defined by our Creedal faith and nourished by Word and Sacrament. Thus, the call of the bishop is to “proclaim the Resurrection,” and “to guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the Church.” The bishop is to serve as “a faithful pastor and wholesome example for the entire flock of Christ.”4
Pastoring both clergy and laity depends on personal connection, compassion, and holy encouragement. Leading by example in our time will take the willingness of the bishop to serve shoulder to shoulder in vitality work with the faithful, keeping in mind that each context is unique. A bishop who works with the people and can appreciate their gifts, assess challenges, see opportunities, and encourage experiment without fear of failure, will fit right in with the relational, “can-do” spirit of Northwest Texas.
The ordination rite calls the bishop to a ministry of joy in following Jesus Christ, “who came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”5 This means that love and humility are essential to a bishop’s ministry. Such a person will listen well to the people so that God’s vision for the diocese will emerge.
Finally, our future depends upon engaging in basic spiritual practices such as praying the Daily Office, reading and reflecting on Scripture, receiving the Sacraments, and cultivating spiritual friendships. A bishop will model these practices and remind the faithful that it is the seemingly ordinary day-to-day work of the Church that results in miracles.
This is a picture of ministry that energizes me and gives me hope. I am excited about the possibility to discern with you to see if we are called together for such a time as this. The good news is that all our hope rests in the work of the Holy Spirit. The outcome is not up to us, but joining in the Spirit’s work is the adventure of a lifetime.
Notes
- The Cigna Group, “Loneliness in America 2025,” The Cigna Group Newsroom, accessed May 30, 2026, https://newsroom.thecignagroup.com/loneliness-in-america
- Megan Brenan, “Americans’ Religious Engagement Holds at Lower Levels,” Gallup, March 3, 2026, https://news.gallup.com/poll/702572/americans-religious-engagement-holds-lower-levels.aspx.
- Becka A. Alper, Chip Rotolo, Patricia Tevington, Justin Nortey, and Asta Kallo, “Spirituality Among Americans,” Pew Research Center, December 7, 2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/12/07/spirituality-among-americans/
- The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church: Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David According to Use in the Episcopal Church (New York: Church Hymnal Corporation, 1979), 517.
- Ibid.
