Bishop David Epps, Senoia, GA, who has served since 2012 as the associate endorser for United States military chaplains for the Charismatic Episcopal Church of North America, has been appointed as the Endorser, succeeding the retiring endorser, Archbishop Craig Bates. The change was announced in October at the North American House of Bishops.
Ecclesiastical endorsement of chaplains is verification by an Ecclesiastical Endorsing Organization that an authorized minister or practitioner is in good standing, has gained the necessary qualifying education and experience, as well as being willing and capable of working collegially in a religiously and culturally pluralistic environment.
In Epps’ denomination, the military chaplain’s endorser also approves chaplains in the Veterans Administration hospitals and in the Federal Prison System.
The endorser is also responsible for the episcopal and pastoral oversight of the chaplains and their families under his care.
Epps will be attending the annual conference of the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces (NCMAF) in Arlington, VA in January 2025, where he will attend the new endorser’s training.
Epps is a veteran of the U. S. Marine Corps and served thirty years as a law enforcement chaplain, including serving as the Chief of Chaplains for the Peachtree City Police Department and as a chaplain for the Atlanta Division of the FBI.
Epps is a graduate of East Tennessee State University, the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Trinity Anglican Seminary, and Berean Graduate School of Divinity. He is a Board Certified Clinical Chaplain and a Board Certified Pastoral Counselor with the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy.
He will continue to serve as the Rector of The Cathedral of Christ the King and as the Bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-South.
He has been married for 53 years to Dr. Cynthia Douglas Epps, who retired as the Associate Dean of the Tanner School of Nursing at the University of West Georgia. They have three adult sons, twelve grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren with three more on the way.
Epps has been an opinion columnist for The Citizen since 1996.
