The Rev. Stephen Applegate M.Div. cum laude ’80, began an 18 month – 2 year assignment as Interim at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, Carmel, IN on October 1st.
He recently completed a fourteen-year tenure at St. Luke’s Church, Granville, Ohio, in the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Granville is the home of Denison University, where Father Applegate also served as Adjunct Episcopal Chaplain. St. Christopher’s is a 1,000 member congregation in the Diocese of Indianapolis. His appointment comes after he completed the first two phases of Interim Training offered by the Interim Ministry Network.
While Father Applegate was rector, St. Luke’s completed two capital campaigns that paid for the restoration of its frame Greek Revival Church. The church has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. From its historic building, the parish presents the annual Granville Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot, which has provided $100,000 to the Food Pantry Network of Licking County (FPN). St. Luke’s also operates one of the 21 pantries supplied by FPN in neighboring Newark, Ohio, a county seat town that, like many in Central Ohio, has been profoundly affected by the opioid epidemic.
In 2014, Father Applegate received his D. Min. in Congregational Development from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley. His wife, Terry, is a first grade teacher in Granville; they are the parents of four and the grandparents of four.