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Our History
A Brief History of The Episcopal Church of St. Francis of Assisi Indian Springs, Alabama
St. Francis was organized in 1980 as a joint venture of the Diocese of Alabama and St. Stephen's Church, its nearest Episcopal neighbor in Cahaba Heights. The Rev. Taylor Wingo, serving on the staff of St. Stephen's, was assigned to round up a new congregation, which gathered for weekly worship at Riverchase Middle School.
St. Francis' first permanent buildings were under construction on Cahaba Valley Road in 1984 when Father Wingo died suddenly at the age of 51. The Rev. Robert O. Miller was installed as his successor in the new building the following year, serving until his election as Suffragan Bishop two years later. The congregation continued to grow during his tenure and that of the Rev. Massey Gentry who succeeded him for another two-year period. By the end of 1988, St. Francis listed 350 baptized members.
The Rev. Martin Bell, a nationally known author and educator, became rector in 1989. During this time, St. Francis began to recognize a calling for serious theological inquiry. The parish also began experimenting with various arrangements of furnishings for worship in the parish hall, eventually settling on a centralized altar around which the people gathered in a circle at the Eucharist. Our "communion-in-the-round" continues today as a core St. Francis tradition.
The Rev. Rebecca DeBow was called in 1996, the first female priest to serve as full-time rector of a self-supporting parish in Alabama. Rebecca led St. Francis for 10 years through a strong period of growth and stability, which led to the construction of a new worship space completed in 2003. The altar-centered "communion-in- the-round" arrangement strongly influenced the design of the new building, as did our commitment to having wheelchair accessible facilities, which is a practical and symbolic embodiment of a strongly held value at St. Francis.
In November 2007, St. Francis called the Rev. Neil Kaminski to become our current rector. Neil is a native of Canada and became a U.S. citizen in 1993. He is a graduate of the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He also holds an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Asbury College in Kentucky, and a Master of Theological Studies from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama.
Neil and his wife Gwen come to us after serving for 9 years at St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Navarre, Florida, where he was the first full-time vicar of that congregation. Neil went to Navarre with the goal of growing the church from Mission to Parish status. While there, Neil led the people of St. Augustine's through a building program that added a four thousand square foot parish hall including a nursery, classrooms, and kitchen. Later, the renovation of the worship space to incl
ude prayer candles, icons, and a columbarium. After Hurricane Ivan in 2004 came the renovation of the Vandort Pavilion and the addition of All Souls Garden as a place for the burial of human ashes, which was made available as a ministry to the community since there were no public cemeteries in the Navarre area. During his time in Navarre, the congregation doubled in size, transitioning from a primarily older membership to one with a blend of all ages, and in his final year, St. Augustine's went from Mission to Parish status in the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast.
Neil and Gwen are happy to be among the people of St. Francis as they begin a new chapter in their life and ministry together. They are excited about the spiritual community and its mission.
For more historical information on St. Francis, please return to the top of the page.
Video Presented by Bob Byrd at St. Francis' 30th Anniversary Celebration