The Rev. George Young III has been elected on the 8th ballot as the next bishop of the Diocese of East Tennessee pending consents from the bishops and Standing Committees of the Dioceses of The Episcopal Church.
He received 107 votes of 142 cast in the lay order and 59 of 84 cast in the clergy order. An election on that ballot required 95 in the lay order and 56 in the clergy order.
Young is the Rector of Saint Peter’s Church, Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island, FL. He has served there since 1997.
Fr. Young previously served as Rector of St. Elizabeth’s, Jacksonville for five years, and as Assistant at St. Giles’, Northbrook, IL (Diocese of Chicago) for two years. George is married to The Rev. Kammy Young, and they have a son, George, 24, and a daughter Lucy, 22, both of whom are in college.
George was awarded a B.S. in Sociology, with minors in Religion and Psychology, from Florida State University in 1978. He received his M.Div. from Seabury-Western in 1990, and was ordained deacon and priest in 1990.
He has served three terms as General Convention Deputy, as member and president of the Standing Committee, and as an avid supporter for more than 40 years of Camp Weed, named for a former bishop in the Diocese of Florida.
George says he is “very impressed with the spirit and hospitality and energy and ‘lightness of being’ of those with whom he has had contact in the Diocese of East Tennessee. They are clearly committed to life in the Spirit, and very positive about moving ahead as the Body of Christ in the twenty-first century with passion and imagination. So refreshing and exciting!”