Answering God's Call: Stories from the Newly Ordained
Behind every call, whether lay or ordained, lies a story shaped by prayer, persistence, and the quiet work of grace that leads, at last, to a wholehearted “yes.”
Such is the case for the four individuals who were ordained in the Diocese of Alabama this fall. In a joyful celebration of Holy Eucharist on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at St. Francis Chapel, Camp McDowell, Bishop Glenda Curry and Assisting Bishop Brian Prior ordained three people to the Sacred Order of Deacons—Kristin Hanson Blackerby, DeQuincy Deshawn Hall, and Taylor Franklin Johnson—and Paul Gaston Petznick to the Sacred Order of Priests. The service was filled with joy, quiet reverence, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
What is the story behind each ordinand’s call? How did they first hear it, wrestle with it, and grow into it? We invited each one to share, in their own words, how God’s call took shape in their lives, revealing the many and diverse ways people experience vocation in the life of the Church.
The Rev. Dr. Paul Gaston Petznick: A Seed That Blossomed
A lifelong Episcopalian and Birmingham native, Paul Gaston Petznick practiced dentistry for more than three decades before discerning a call to the priesthood. His journey began at Cathedral Church of the Advent, where a rector once invited him to consider ordained ministry — a suggestion that planted a seed that would take years to bloom.
“Sixteen years ago, my rector asked me to meet with him,” Paul recalled. “I didn’t realize he was going to encourage me to consider ordination. At the time, I was deeply embedded as a layman but hadn’t contemplated ordained ministry.”
“Was this the proper vocation for me?” he wondered. “How would it fit into my busy career, young family, and existing responsibilities?” For years, that seed of possibility lay dormant — but it never disappeared.
As he walked through the parish and diocesan discernment processes, his call deepened through the mentoring of priests, deacons, family, friends, and fellow seminarians. “I listened to those who encouraged me,” he says, “and experienced the grace of the Holy Spirit strengthening me in my call. The strengthening call and transforming relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ continues to guide and inspire me to share God’s love.”
Today, Paul has pastoral oversight of St. Paul’s, Carlowville, and as chaplain and counselor with the Brother Bryan Mission in Birmingham. He holds degrees from both Baylor University and the University of Alabama School of Dentistry, and was formed for ministry through the Alternative Clergy Training program at Sewanee. He is completing the curacy program at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.
“My prayer,” he says, “is that Christ’s joy is evident in my preaching, teaching, and sharing the gospel. The Holy Spirit’s profound graces embolden me to expand God’s Kingdom and His Church as a priest — one relationship at a time.”
The Rev. Deacon Kristin Hanson Blackerby: A Steady Call, Gently Heard
The church has always been home for Kristin Hanson Blackerby. Growing up attending both Episcopal and Roman Catholic services with her family, she experienced church as a familiar, grounding presence. Her home parish, St. Thomas in Huntsville, and her time as a counselor at Camp McDowell nurtured a sense of community that would later blossom into a lifelong call to ministry.
“Church was a constant presence in my life as a child,” she shared. “I found belonging in my parish youth group in St. Thomas, Huntsville, and at Camp McDowell. Two summers as a counselor there and a summer internship shadowing clergy gave me the first hint of a call to ordained ministry.”
Over the years, that call became persistent. “As I approached ten years in youth ministry,” she reflects, “the call to ordained ministry became harder to ignore.” With encouragement from mentors, she began formal discernment at All Saints’ Church in Homewood under the guidance of the then-interim rector, the Rev. Mary Bea Sullivan, and later completed an internship with the Rev. Jayne Pool at St. Mark’s Church, Birmingham.
Now a senior at Virginia Theological Seminary, Kristin’s path to ordained ministry has been years in the making. Before seminary, she served as the Diocese’s Missioner for Youth, Campus, and Young Adult Ministries and spent a decade in parish youth ministry. She is a Sewanee graduate with a B.A. in Religion, where she wrote her senior honors thesis on “Gender and Ordination in the Episcopal Church: Women’s Perspectives on the Influence of Gender on Ordained Ministry.”
The seminary has affirmed Kristin’s call and ignited her excitement to return to parish ministry after graduation, where she looks forward to building relationships through pastoral care, fellowship, preaching, and teaching.
“With the help of a sense of God’s love and my hope in Christ, I desire to help others discover their baptismal vocation, and I believe I can offer parishes that I may serve a grounded, non-anxious, and pastoral presence,” she said.
The Rev. Deacon DeQuincy Deshawn Hall: The Making of a ‘Little Preacher’ Man
Known affectionately since childhood as “little preacher man,” DeQuincy (Quincy) Deshawn Hall’s journey into ministry began with a nickname that proved prophetic and has since been marked by quiet faith, compassionate service, and a love for the sacraments.
“My mother loves to tell the story of how, as a toddler, I once slipped out of our family’s pew to join the choir and pastor during the opening hymn procession. Before my mother could get up to look for me, she turned and saw (much to her initial horror) how I was already standing beside Pastor Williams in the pulpit, beaming with delight. From that Sunday on, Pastor Williams would stop by our pew to collect his “little preacher man” for church.
A lifelong churchgoer, Quincy’s formation was shaped by watching faithful people serve. One of his most formative experiences was accompanying his grandfather, Ralph, as he took communion to the sick and homebound members of their congregation. “I watched how he never talked down to anyone,” Quincy recalls, “but met each person where they were — with grace, compassion, and the gentle dignity of someone who knew they were beloved of God.”
A turning point came during Cursillo #220, in a late-night conversation with the Rev. Kaki O’Flynn. “Through that dialogue,” Quincy reflects, “I realized that discernment was not about proving a call but about surrendering to one.”
Today, Quincy is completing his Master of Divinity at Bexley Seabury Seminary in Chicago, where he began as the St. Marina Scholar. He holds degrees in Sociology and Counseling from the University of Montevallo and currently oversees the tutoring program at The University of Alabama.
As he begins ordained ministry, “my prayer,” he says, “is to be able to walk with others as my grandfather and so many mentors once walked with me, and that my ministry helps the Church live more deeply into God’s love — seeing every person as sacred, and every moment as holy ground.”
The Rev. Deacon Taylor Franklin Johnson: From Classroom Curiosity to Sacred Calling
For Taylor Franklin Johnson, God’s call began in the most unexpected of places: a college classroom. A classically trained singer studying music at East Texas Baptist University, Taylor needed an upper-level elective and enrolled in a course on Jesus and the Gospels.
“I had to take an upper-level elective to finish my degree in music, and the only course that would fit my schedule was on Jesus and the Gospels. As cliché as it sounds, this class changed my life. I’d never been so excited to go to class and to learn all those incredible things about Jesus and the Bible,” Taylor said.
The excitement, he realized, wasn’t just intellectual or academic curiosity but a deeper call to serve. That realization led him to Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, where he earned his M.Div. in Christian Ethics and was ordained as a Baptist minister in 2011. After moving to Huntsville, he spent more than a decade serving as Minister of Worship and Young Adults at Trinity Baptist Church in Madison, AL.
Even as he led others in worship, Taylor found himself drawn more deeply to liturgy, the sacraments, and the creeds — to the rhythms and beauty of Anglican spirituality. In 2018, he began a Doctor of Ministry in Liturgy at Sewanee, where his encounters with Episcopal priests affirmed a new direction.
“I discovered that I loved the Creeds, the sacraments, the liturgy,” he reflected. “They shape a community of faith into the people God would have them be. God wasn’t done with me — He was calling me to be an Episcopal priest.”
He is currently pursuing a Diploma in Anglican Studies at Bexley Seabury. “I’m excited for this new chapter of ministry,” he says, “to fully embrace who God has called me to be — and to help others discover who God has called them to be.”
Four people. Four journeys. One Spirit at work.
Each of these new servants of the Church brings a distinct story of faith and formation—stories shaped by the Spirit’s call and answered in their own words. Though their paths differ, their stories together reflect the same truth: the Spirit continues to stir hearts in new ways, calling servants to love, to serve, and to go wherever Christ leads. Their stories stand as a living witness that God is still calling. If you feel called to explore your own vocation, ordained or lay, the Rev. Canon Cameron Nations stands ready to help you find clarity. Contact him today at cnations@dioala.org.
***
The writer is the Director of Communications. She can be reached at nana@dioala.org