Trinity Church's Interim Rector, Dawn M. Frankfurt

The Rev. Dr. John D. Lane, rector for twenty years, recently retired. A Search Committee to find a successor has been appointed by the Vestry and is at work. In the meantime, the Vestry named The Rev. Dawn M. Frankfurt, to serve as Interim Rector.

 

Dawn M. Frankfurt was raised in Edmond, Oklahoma (a suburb of Oklahoma City).  It was in Oklahoma City at St. John’s Episcopal Day School where from kindergarten through sixth grade she had her first experience of formation in the Episcopal Church.  Growing up in a Presbyterian Church where she was active in youth programs, she always wondered why those Presbyterians were saying The Lord’s Prayer “wrong.”  They said ‘debts and debtors’ instead of ‘trespasses.’  While living in Honolulu, Hawaii, later in life, she came home to the Episcopal Church where she fell in love again with the theology, liturgy and worship of God the Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Frankfurt did undergraduate and graduate work in English at the University of Oklahoma, first with a concentration in Medieval Literature, and later in creative writing.  Her professional experience, primarily in client-side marketing, started with serving as the Marketing Coordinator at the largest architectural and engineering firm in Oklahoma.  Later, while living in Wilmington, North Carolina, she served as UNCW’s Publications Coordinator.  In Honolulu, Hawaii she served briefly as Production Manager for a local advertising firm before moving to work for the Honolulu Board of Realtors for five years.  She served as Marketing, Communications and Membership Director of the approximately 3,500 member trade association.  Through her experience in these positions, she developed many important skills including a propensity for administration, communication and leadership.

In the Fall of 2001, The Rev. Frankfurt went to seminary from the Diocese of Hawaii.  She graduated from the Berkley Divinity School at Yale in 2004.  That year she was ordained a Deacon at Epiphany Church in Honolulu, Hawaii and then joined the staff at Trinity Church.  Her ministry interests include pastoral care, preaching, and faith formation in small groups.  While at Trinity she has led several book discussion groups, Bible studies and confirmation classes.  She has worked closely with the youth and outreach ministries of the parish.  She has traveled to Honduras twice with different mission groups from Trinity, and has recently returned from a tour of Turkey, “the second Holy Land.”  She will attend CREDO in September 2007 and travel to the Holy Land in February 2008.  Some of her continuing education pursuits have included preaching, outreach, systems theory, transition and interim ministry.  She believes in empowering the laity for ministry in the church and supports church-related education for everyone.   

The Rev. Frankfurt serves on the Education Consortium and the Executive Board of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia.  She serves as mentor of the Fresh Start program of the diocese and is the chairperson of the diocesan Outreach Committee.