The Rev. Betty Glover

St. Matthew’s welcomes our new rector!

For the Rev. Betty Glover, becoming the rector at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church is like coming home. Raised in an Army family, Glover moved to Delta Junction as a teenager and later resided in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Valdez.

When she left Alaska in 1987 for Texas, she always meant to return.  In the meantime, she earned a bachelor’s degree in social work at Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and a master’s degree in social work at the University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Glover was ordained as a deacon in Topeka, Kansas, where she was the executive director for the Child Death Review Board and was a hospital and police chaplain.

After graduating from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 2007, Glover returned to Kansas and was ordained to the priesthood in Topeka. Since her church there had burned down, she celebrated her first Eucharist at a nearby Jewish Temple.

In the following years, Glover was an Episcopal rector in South Central Kansas, then an interim rector in North Carolina and in Topeka.

Upon Mother Betty accepting the call to be Rector at St. Matthew’s, she said, “Finally the circle is complete. It’s good to get back home. St. Matthew’s is a lovely place and I’m excited to be here. My heart rests easiest here.”

Glover believes in mutual ministry. “My job now is to listen and find out what folks love to be engaged in,” she said. “I’m a collaborative leader. My role is to love and show God’s love and to listen well.”

She hopes to help her parishioners discover what dreams God may have for them. “I want to help their holy imaginations develop,” she said.

In her free time, Glover enjoys walking, quilting and reading mysteries. She is a volunteer chaplain for the Secret Service.

Contact the church at 456-5235 or visit stmatthewschurch.org

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Rev. Dr. Nancy James

The Rev. Dr. Nancy C. James served as interim rector at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Fairbanks from May 2017-February 2018.

James was raised at Eielson Air Force Base, where her father was a pilot. She received a Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, and a doctorate in religious studies from the University of Virginia. James is also an author of books centered on spirituality and faith. 

She served at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., for 16 years. 

“St. John’s is a lot like St. Matthew’s,” James said. “St. Matthew’s is diverse and bubbling with life. The church has frequent worship services and is rich with thought and prayer.”

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Rev. Bella Jean Savino
Deacon 2006, Ordained Priest 5-27-2012

As a deacon and a priest, I am a servant of God and I serve others. In my ministry of course I help with the worship service on Sunday, help with funeral services, and other services when I am able to assist. I do a lot of one-to-one counseling, or just listening to others and praying with them. Every other Sunday, with the help of my friend Bernice Aragon, I go to Denali Center (and sometimes to the Hospital) and give them Communion, which is a blissful ministry in itself. If anyone is interested in doing private home Eucharists, I would love to have you come along and learn about it.

I was selected as a delegate to the Interior Deanery meeting, which was held here at St. Matthew’s June 2-4, 2006; and was elected there as a Member-at-Large to the Deanery Council, representing the Tanana Valley Region (which includes Fairbanks).
Daughters of the King meet the 2nd Sunday of each month here at St. Matthew’s. We do a lot of praying for the family of St. Matthew’s, the community of Fairbanks, the Bishop and his family and staff. We pray for military troops and their families, and our country.

Rev. Bella Jean retired as Active Assoicated Priest in November 2016.
 

The Rev. Lee Davis
A Calling

Thank you St. Matthew’s for your continued love, support, and encouragement as I slowing progress, step by step, toward ordination to the priesthood. A calling that arose from ministering to our incarcerated brothers and sisters and which continues to lead me into a future known only to God, I was ordained to the transitional deaconate July 23, 2006, and have now completed the canonically required six month period as a deacon. A letter has been sent to Bishop Mark, requesting ordination to the priesthood. A letter of support from the Vestry of St. Matthew’s has been requested and must be sent to Bishop Mark and then the Standing Committee and Commission on Ministry make their recommendations. A long and holy process that seems to go on and on but a good process opens to the working of the Holy Spirit and the will of God.

What next? While I wait, I will continue ministering to the incarcerated and assisting at St. Matthew’s when in Fairbanks. February 12, 2007 Mary Margaret and I leave for Arizona where I will work with the Chaplain at Red Rock Correctional Center, Eloy, Arizona, as a Volunteer Chaplain to more than 1200 Alaskan inmates. We plan to remain in Arizona until the latter part of April, 2007 with occasional trips back to Fairbanks whenever necessary. Please keep all of our incarcerated brothers and sisters in your prayers.
 

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Scott Fisher -- Retired Rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church

The Rev. Scott Fisher served as Rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church (6/91 - 11/28/15). He arrived in Alaska, through Bishop Gordon, as a volunteer layworker in  October 1970; and lived in the Interior villages of Chalkitsik, Stevens Village, and Beaver before leaving for seminary, under Bishop Gordon's direction, in the Summer of 1973. Receiving his Master of Divinity from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest (Austin, Texas) he returned to the Interior of Alaska, working for the Church in Fort Yukon and Beaver, before moving into the Diocesan Office. Serving under Bishops' Cochran, Harris, and Charleston, he was an Assistant to the Bishop, traveling and working extensively throughout the Interior and Arctic Coast, before coming to St. Matthew's in the Summer of '91. He has three children, Charleen, Shane (+9/21/00), and Rebecca; and five grandchildren and one great grand child. After much thought and prayer, Scott declared that he would retire and did effective November 28, 2015 from St. Matthews and will continue to chat with God as to where his journey will take him next.