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Christ Episcopal Church, Delavan joyfully celebrates the arrival of their new Rector, The Rev. Joel Allen Prather, wife Tammy and 9 year old son, Jude. Father Joel’s first Sunday at Christ Church will be on the Feast of Pentecost, June 8th, where he will celebrate at both the 8 a.m. Chapel Service and the 10 a.m. Church Service.

Father Joel received his Associates in Liberal Arts, College of Dupage in 1994. .In 1996 Bachelor of Science, History from Illinois University. He worked for State Farm Insurance 1998 - 2006, and .received his Masters of Divinity in 2009 from Nashotah House Seminary.

Father Joel was a chaplain at Three Pillars Senior Living/Care Facility in Dousman, WI during his Clinical Pastoral Education while at Nashotah House in 2008, he then served as Assistant/Associate/Curate from Aug. 2009 - Aug. 2010 at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Frisco, TX.

The Prathers come to Christ Church, Delavan, WI from Allen, TX, where Fr. Joel as priest, with wife Tammy as executive minister, were church planters, starting and growing Church of the Savior in Allen, TX in 2010, leaving to come to Christ Church in May 2014. Church of the Savior started with just three, Fr. Joel, Tammy and Jude, during the summer of 2013 COS petitioned to become a Mission of the Episcopal Church, signifying they had surpassed 50 baptized adult members in just 2 years. In September 2013, they moved into their own permanent facility and by 2014 had increased to 80 members!

Father Joel’s passion is “to serve and lead a community to love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength and to love one another after the example of Jesus chiefly through worship, biblical teaching, spiritual formation & pastoral care.”

Fr. Joel and Tammy both grew up near the suburbs of Chicago, they met each other at an Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship Bible Study at Illinois State University. Amazingly, they’d been attending the same Church in Chicago-land for over a year but met 150 miles away at ISU! They were married in 1998, after Tammy received her Bachelors Degree in Social Sciences from Illinois State University and started working as a Social Worker. Eventually, Tammy started her own catering business which she gave up to move back home to Chicago where she spent several years at Church of the Resurrection, Wheaton, IL as the Director of Children and Family Ministry. She was blessed to minister there until after years of waiting on the Lord, Joel and Tammy received the precious gift of their son in 2005. Tammy has been active in ministry, working on her Master’s in Theological Studies that she started at Nashotah House while Fr. Joel was completing his studies. Tammy plans to continue her studies now that she is back in Wisconsin.

Father Joel loves road trips with the family, Django Reinhardt’s guitar playing, Gloucester Massachusetts, making beignets, a Prairie Home Companion, Russian literature, red dairy barns, the Lone Ranger, Rwandan coffee, movies about great leaders, Heavy Metal, Sea-faring stories, road bicycling, Winston Churchill, the Lord of the Rings and Vienna Beef Hot Dogs.

Tammy loves to travel, watch BBC Dramas, follow politics, Vivaldi, eating organic, N.T. Wright, swimming, Facebook humor, reading theology, working out, ethnic cuisine, NPR, Aurelio’s Pizza in Homewood, IL. and classically educating their son, Jude.

Nine year old son, Jude, is one amazing son who is a master of disguise, explorer, swashbuckler, literary aficionado, zoologist and involved actively in Cub Scouts.

Christ Church, Delavan is excited to be continuing our journey in Christ with the Prather family, and are thanking God for the blessing of our new priest, Father Joel, Tammy and Jude.