Our Staff

Saint Teresa's Episcopal Church

5725 Fords Road, Acworth, Georgia 30101

770 590-9040; fax: 770 590-9794

Email: parishoffice@stteresasacworth.org

The Reverend Dr. Larry Williams

Father Larry The Rev. Dr. Larry C. Williams was born in California in 1950. Having been raised in a military family, he has lived in a number of different locations across the United States. In 1959, his family moved to Albany, GA. It was there that he completed his secondary education. He graduated from Albany High School in 1968, entered The University of the South, and graduated with a B.A. degree in Economics in 1972. Because he felt a call to the ordained ministry, he turned down an opportunity to pursue an M.B.A., and instead entered Nashotah House Seminary in the fall of 1972. There he graduated with a M.Div. degree and was ordained a priest in The Episcopal Church, October 23, 1975.

Since 1975, he has held the following clergy positions: Assistant Rector, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Augusta, GA (1975-1978); Curate, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Mobile, AL (1978-1981); Rector, St. Thomas Church, Greenville, AL (1981-1984); Rector, Church of the Mediator, Meridian, MS (1984-1990); Canon Educator, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Shreveport, LA (1990-1998); and St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Hot Springs, AR (1998-2005). Larry has served The Episcopal Church in other ways as well: he has chaired different commissions in the Dioceses of Mississippi, Western Louisiana, and Arkansas. In Mississippi, he was a diocesan clergy spiritual director in the Cursillo Movement for 2-1/2 years. While in Arkansas, he was elected to serve on the Board of Directors, Camp Mitchell Camp and Conference Center; Executive Committee of the Diocese, and Trustee of the Diocese. He has also served as a clergy delegate to Synod in Provinces IV and VII.

In 1995, he was awarded a Doctor of Ministry degree in Evangelism and Church Growth from Perkins School of Theology, S.M.U., Dallas, TX. Married for nearly 25 years, Larry and Deborah Williams are parents of three children: Mary Canon, a senior at North Georgia College & State University; Cecilia, a senior at Harrison High School; and Chris, a junior at Harrison High School.

He is passionate about preaching, church growth, and relationships, for without relationships where might any of us be. His favorite quote is from the late Roman Catholic, Hindu, Jesuit priest, Raymond Pannikar who once said, "I pray that one day my cottage might become a household to all humankind."

Reverend Buff Grace

buff

The Rev. Holt Buff Grace serves as Assistant Rector for St. Teresa's Episcopal Church, in west Cobb County, Georgia, tending to newcomers and young families, and staying involved with children of all ages and their mentors. He and his wife Amy, who works for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, have two children: Peter, 5 and Eleanor, 4.

Buff was ordained on the Feast of St. Clare, 2007, having earned his Masters of Divinity from Sewanee School of Theology. He came to the priesthood after a decade of humanitarian and education work, including several years instructing wilderness courses for Outward Bound and as directing operations for a non-profit organization supplying hospitals in impoverished areas around the world. He grew up in Georgia, earned is B.A. in English Literature from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar, and has lived in New Zealand, the Chihuahuan Desert, and Minnesota.

Buff enjoys gardening, reading poetry, and walking where the pavement ends. He is interested in eco-theology and how God can heal us through our living in fuller concert with our communities and the land we live on.