Rev. Craig Tanksley

Rector

Born in Tacoma, Washington, and now a Canadian citizen, Craig Tanksley’s professional and spiritual journey has taken him on many paths, but always strong Christian ones.

“I was born into one of the smaller Pentecostal organizations called the Open Bible Standard Churches,” he says, and as described by Dr. Richard Leggett of the Vancouver School of Theology, he is one “who rooted in the neo-Pentecostal tradition has to come to a deeper appreciation of the Anglican tradition.” …

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Having had extensive experience in both evangelical and Anglican churches, as well as missionary service in the Far East, he was ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1981 and as an Anglican priest in 2001.

Craig holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwest University, Kirkland, Washington. After studying at the Fuller Theological Extension in Seattle, he completed a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Regent College, Vancouver, B.C. Along with Holly, his wife, who is also an ordained minister, they have traveled extensively throughout the world, and are avid backpackers. Blessed with an excellent singing voice, he has had a lifelong love of gospel music.

Craig came to St. Alban’s in 2002. He energized and enriched the parish with his enthusiasm, his irrepressibly sunny temperament, loving and attentive pastoral care, and outstanding preaching.

In the spring of 2008 Craig left St. Alban’s to join the pastoral team at St. Marks. He says, “I want parishioners to grow into the full stature of Christ. I want them to attain the maturity in faith to which God is calling them. I believe that God is calling all of us to be more than we are, something that God envisions us to be. A good picture of full Christian maturity can be seen in Psalm 1. Those who walk in the counsels of the Lord, ‘are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither’. Bearing fruit year after year, faithfulness rooted in drinking of the life of God and bearing the fruit of the Kingdom of God. That’s what I want to see happening to people. We won’t arrive in this life to full Christian maturity, but the thing is to keep on this road, growing to fruitful maturity.”

Rev. John Mash

Assistant Priest

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The Rev. John Mash retired from active ordained ministry in 2006 after 36 years. At the time of his retirement John had been Rector of St. Catherine’s Capilano for 13 years. John came to the Diocese of New Westminster following a five year posting as Executive Director of Sorrento Centre in 1993. He was ordained in 1970 by The Rt. Rev. Morse L. Goodman, 5th Bishop of Calgary. John has served St. Mark’s previously as interim Assistant Priest, and is especially happy to be on staff again, if only temporarily.

Rev. Steve Bailey

Teaching Deacon

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Steve Bailey is St. Mark’s Teaching Deacon. His role as a deacon-in-residence is to model the contemporary diaconate in the St. Mark’s community with the aim that one or more people might hear God’s call to ordained diaconal ministry. Steve began his diaconal ministry at St. John’s (Shaughnessy) in 1996 following discernment and ordination. In the year 2000 he became parish deacon at St. Laurence, Coquitlam, retiring last year. He continues to serve as Padre of the Coquitlam Royal Canadian Legion Branch…

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As a secondary school English Department Head and Vice Principal in Burnaby, Steve’s vocational ministry centred around education. After 34 years as an educator in Burnaby, Steve became an adjunct faculty member in the School of Education at Trinity Western University. After serving for six years, he retired yet again – still making the occasional appearance at Trinity Western to teach, serving on the Board of Directors of the BC Retired Teachers Association, the Board of the RR Smith Charitable Foundation, and the Advisory Committee of the Downtown East Side Ministry of the Anglican church. Steve is also a member of the Ecumenical and Multi-Faith Unit of the Diocese.

Steve was born in New Westminster and holds two degrees from UBC. He and his wife Pamela McElheran have four grown sons and five grandchildren. He came into the Anglican church by way of Free Methodist and Baptist traditions.

“I am thrilled to have a teaching ministry at St. Mark’s and to be part of a great ministry team consisting of dynamic lay and ordained leadership. St. Mark’s is a gift!”

Rev. Eric Lowe

Honourary Assistant Priest

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Click here to listen to The Life and Calling of Eric Lowe audio interview.

Born in Athlone, Ireland, Eric immigrated to Canada in 1947 and began his training for the priesthood at Emmanuel College in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He married Margy in 1954 and after serving parishes in Duck Lake and Loon Lake, Saskatchewan, they moved to Lahore, Pakistan and Northern India where they stayed until 1970.

After becoming Deputy Director for Canada for the Bible and Medical Missionary Fellowship, he felt the tug of parish work and moved to St. Thomas, Vancouver and then on to…

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… St. Alban’s, Burnaby before retiring in 1993.

Eric and Margy came to St. Mark’s in 1997 and in May 2012, the parish honoured Eric for his 61 years in ministry with a luncheon in the hall which was attended by his sons David and Peter. At that celebration, Eric expressed gratitude to all the parishes and communities that he had served where he experienced “God’s richest blessings for all of life’s journey.”

Annabelle Ip

Music Director

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Annabelle Ip feels very fortunate to be the Music Director at St. Mark’s Anglican since early 2012. She is a music teacher for the Vancouver School Board teaching beginner band, senior band, jazz band, choir, two guitar courses, and piano. Aside from these, she teaches privately at her studio, as well as performing professionally with the Vancouver Symphony, Kamloops Symphony, and Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, just to name a few.

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Annabelle started her musical studies at age 3 – her mother is also a piano instructor. Later on she further studied music at UBC, majoring in orchestral percussion performance for her Masters, and finished her Bachelors of Education focusing in secondary music in August 2012. On August 2013, Annabelle married Michael Dirk, Music Director at St. John’s Shaughnessy Vancouver, former Holy Trinity organist, and at one time St. Mark’s relief organist.

Emily Worden-Kwok

Choir Director

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Emily Worden-Kwok became St Marks choir director in 2016. She was born an Anglican and her father was an Anglican minister in Ontario. She was fortunate to grow up attending many churches that had junior choirs and talented musicians. She comes from a musical family and brings her depth of experience and joy for Christian music to St Marks. Emily is a Professional Engineer by training, a homeless development coordinator by choice and for every occasion she has a song. She learned to play guitar from an early age and has been providing music for services, retreats and special occasions for more than 15 years.

Josh Brown

Youth Coordinator

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Josh is a graduate of Trinity Western University and began serving at St. Mark’s in June 2012. His prayer is to see young people pursue God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength so they can effectively reach their friends and family with the Gospel. Josh has worked with children and youth in various ministry organizations including Child Evangelism Fellowship and Green Bay Bible Camp, and has also worked with Power to Change Ministries. Alongside serving the youth at St. Mark’s, Josh is an Admissions Counsellor at TWU.

Sheila Johnston

Office Administrator

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Sheila Johnston lives in Richmond with her husband Simon. They moved from London, Ontario to B.C. in 2000, and joined the parish of St. Mary’s Kerrisdale. Sheila is a “cradle” Anglican, and is delighted to be working as a member of the ministry team at St. Mark’s Parish. She was raised in Stratford, Ontario, home of the famous Shakespearean Festival Theatre. After earning a B.A. in English from the University of Western Ontario Sheila pursued a career in communications and worked in promotional capacities at a number of professional Canadian theatres…

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In 1997 her first book was published: ‘Buckskin & Broadcloth: A Celebration of E. Pauline Johnson-Tekahionwake” the first pictorial biography of Canada’s celebrated Mohawk poet/performer. And in 2001 Sheila’s second book was published: ‘Let’s Go To The Grand!’ – 100 Years of Entertainment at London, Ontario’s Grand Theatre’. In Richmond she worked at Richmond City Hall. In 2010, after a visit to Kolkata, India, Sheila felt called to create a Canadian non-profit organization to raise and send money to “Cathedral Relief Service”, an NGO that provides development aid to the most disadvantaged families living in the City of Kolkata and villages in West Bengal.