For 131 years, St. Luke’s has been a beacon for Christ in the high desert of North Central Arizona. Each Sunday we gather for worship in love, faith and charity to proclaim the relevance of Christ and His teachings in our individual and corporate lives. We are a church rooted in tradition; one that values reason and engages the challenges and complexities of God’s truth found in Holy Scripture.
Our mission is “To Know Christ and to Make Christ Known.” We strive to carry out that mission not only in our individual lives, but corporately through more than eighty distinctly structured ministries, programs, projects, commissions and work efforts. Within our parish, you will find groups committed to service and outreach, education, hospitality, Christian fellowship, and pastoral care. Volunteer opportunities abound in and through our parish.
Luke was a doctor who lived around 2,000 years ago. We don’t know much about his early life, but we know that about the year 51 he met a man named Paul who was on a mission to spread the good news of Jesus Christ across the land. Luke joined Paul and others on that mission. Luke wrote about his experiences in his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. As a man of science, Luke tells us he sought to investigate thoroughly, interview eyewitnesses, and set down an orderly account of everything that happened from the beginning of Jesus’ life. So, Luke was also really a historian. We can tell from Luke’s writings that he was a compassionate man who was deeply concerned about the poor and marginalized among him. He wanted people to know that God’s door is open to all and that forgiveness and mercy await everyone. Luke stayed with Paul during Paul’s execution by the Romans in the year 66. Paul became St. Paul and is widely recognized as one of the most influential of all saints. It is believed Luke lived to be 84. The oldest surviving manuscript of Luke’s gospel is from around the year 200 and ends “The Gospel According to Luke.”
Luke is now St. Luke and his message of hope is as fresh and meaningful today as it was 2,000 years ago.
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Luke 11:9-10
The people of St. Luke’s gather “to know Christ and to make Him known”. We are the only Episcopal Church in the Tri-City area, which means that we have quite a diverse congregation with differing opinions and world views. Our diversity is brought under the Authority of Christ and is thus a source of real strength, mutual respect and love. In worship, we prioritize the Holy Sacraments of Eucharist (communion), and Baptism. We stay theologically close to the comforting liturgy found in the Book of Common Prayer and thus reflect a fairly traditional Episcopal approach to worship, teaching and evangelism. Click here for an in-depth look at our Episcopal traditions.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Fr. McDonald has lived all over the country including: Ohio, Michigan, California, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arizona (Tucson, Prescott, Bullhead City, Glendale, and Flagstaff). The son of a Nazarene minister, Fr. McDonald came to know early the love of God. God’s call led Fr. McDonald to serve in The United Methodist tradition as a pastor for just over 19 years. But sometimes God’s call takes a circuitous route. Through epiphanies of God’s grace, he and his family have found a new spiritual home in The Episcopal Church, coming full circle to a call that he had originally felt in 1990.
He met his wife, Linda, at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas. Linda, a lifelong Kansan, was born and raised in Meade, Kansas. They were married in 1993 and blessed with their daughter, Sarah, in 2004.
Fr. McDonald graduated from MidAmerica Nazarene University (Olathe, KS) and received a Master of Divinity from Phillips Theological Seminary (Tulsa, OK). He has served in full-time ministry since 1994, pastoring churches in Ohio, Kansas and Arizona. Fr. McDonald also served as chaplain at Flagstaff Medical Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. He received a call to be the full-time Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in September 2023. Prescott has long held a special place in the family's heart as Fr. Marc's parents served the Nazarene Church and lived here from 1992 to 2018.
Fr. McDonald is active with Quad-City Interfaith Council , serves as on the Board of Directors of Dignity Health/ Common Spirit Yavapai Regional Medical Center.
In his spare time, Fr. McDonald enjoys spending time with his family, playing with their Havanese rescue puppy, Dezi, collecting religious icons / crosses, traveling, movies/ theatre, listening to good music and studying Anglican history, theology, and spirituality.
Rev. Jim Schubert has been part of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church since 2006. He was ordained in 1990 and is a retired pastor from the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), and currently a licensed Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Arizona. He has served in ELCA, Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches in various roles in Wisconsin, Kansas, and Arizona. He has worked in psychiatric settings and for 15 years as a Crisis Intervention Specialist with the Scottsdale Police Dept. He has also served as a hospice chaplain, and Emergency Room chaplain. He is also active in The Order of St. Luke, an international healing prayer ministry.
The Rev’d Richard (Rick) Lassiter was born in 1946 and raised in Connecticut. He joined the US Navy after high school and spent almost five years working as an Electronics Technician. After his Naval time, he married and helped raise two wonderful children. That marriage ended in divorce in 1987. Father Rick met his present wife, Ellie, some two years later and they were married in 1990. While working for the National Park Service in Boulder City, Nevada, Father Rick decerned a calling to the Episcopal Priesthood, and after three years of intense study, was ordained in March of 1997. Unfortunately, Father Rick experienced two heart attacks three years later and temporally retired to Prescott the following year, where he built a home on property he and his wife had previously discovered. Father Rick also discovered St Luke’s during that same time, and a few years later, he requested and was granted license to officiate in the Diocese of Arizona. Father Rick has served St Luke’s since then, assisting three separate rectors in all the normal duties for which his ordination provides. Father Rick truly believes that God’s hand was and continues to be responsible for his service at St Luke’s and hopes for several years more of servant priesthood.
Bonnie was first and foremost a wife and mother. Her second career was teaching preschool music thru the auspice of Wisconsin University/Wood County. At the same time, she opened a music studio in her home teaching piano, voice, and harp. She has been active in community, hospital, and church volunteer work throughout her adult life. She was called to and received training certificates for Youth and Family Ministry and served churches in the ELCA for several years before attending Wartburg Seminary. After ordination, she served the ELCA in rural ministry until retiring in 2015.
The Rev. Kimball C. Arnold, Deacon at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, is a woman whose ministry focuses on grief issues, pastoral care and critical needs. In November, 2004, Deacon Kimball became a Nationally Certified Bereavement Facilitator. Following a 15-month discernment of a call to the ministry, Kimball was invited by the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese in Arizona, to enter into the formation process working toward ordination. Upon successful completion of these studies and oral exams, Deacon Kimball was recommended formally approved and ordained in 2000 by the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese in Arizona. Kimball has spent her lifetime as an active community volunteer. Her service includes volunteer Chaplain at Yavapai Regional Medical Center, prayer service leader of the Margaret T. Morris Center, member of the Chino Paulden Ministry Association, Boy Scouts Chapter Organization Representative and merit badge counselor with Troop 10. Kimball lives a faith-filled life, always extending a hand to those in need. She is a blessing to all the lives she touches.
Father Phil served as St. Luke's Interim Rector from February of 2022 through September of 2023, and has now returned to serve as an Assisting Priest.
The canon law of the Church charges the Vestry with the following responsibilities:
Promoting the spiritual welfare of the parish with the Rector; Aiding the Rector in the institution, conduct, and development of the programs of the Church both within and outside of the Parish; Acting as an agent and legal representative in all matters concerning property: maintain the buildings and furnishings, maintain other property (facilities, parking lot, grounds, etc.), and providing adequate insurance; Taking responsibility for the finances of the parish, raising money, prompt payment of salaries and bills, prudent care of trust funds, endowments and bequests, sale and transfer of securities and other assets, maintain records, annual report, budget (approve expenditures and recommend and approve salaries);Recruiting, encouraging, training, and guiding candidates for Holy Orders; Representing the parish in its relations with the Rector; serving as a “Council of Advice” for the Rector when requested; Electing a Rector if there is a vacancy.
Wednesday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
10:00am
5:30pm
8:00am
10:00am