ABOUT THE BISHOP

The Right Reverend Mark R. (Randy) DeHart is bishop ordinary to the Diocese of St. Paul the Apostle. Bishop DeHart was consecrated bishop on January 4, 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia while attending the American Anglican Congress Summit.

Bishop DeHart was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. He is a lifetime Anglican/Episcopalian baptized at age ten by The Reverend James P. DeWolfe and confirmed at age twelve by The Right Reverend Avery Mason at All Saints Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, Texas. As a young man, Bishop DeHart was most at home when around his church home and family. Early teenage years were formed around serving as acolyte and as Head Choir Boy in the All Saints Boy Choir, nationally recognized, affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music and directed by renown choral director, Jack Noble White.

Bishop DeHart spent many years pursuing the path of the professional musician where by age eighteen in 1968, he finished high school at Colin McKuen Private School in Hollywood, California while playing drums six nights per week at Cybil Burton’s “Club Arthur.” In the interim, there have been myriad recording projects, television appearances and tours throughout Texas, the United States and Europe with various artists.

After many years as a traveling professional musician, Bishop DeHart returned to his Episcopal roots in 1986 by rededicating his life to Christ and joining Christ the King Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, Texas where he served as Lay Eucharistic Minister, Junior and Senior Warden. While at Christ the King, Bishop DeHart attended Cursillo and discovered the Renewal Movement. Now filled with the Holy Spirit, God moved Bishop DeHart to attend and complete a 3-year diaconal formation process taught by Fr. Sam McClain for the Diocese of Fort Worth. It was not God’s time for Bishop DeHart’s diaconal ordination which did not occur until 1998 when he completed his training by reading for orders under Anglican Bishop Walter A. Gerth, a former Episcopal priest who left ECUSA to continue worship using the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and 1940 Hymnal. Having grown up at All Saints, Fort Worth, the 1928 BCP was like going home. Bishop DeHart was priested a year later in 1999.

It is most important to note that Bishop DeHart is absolutely opposed to “holy men in ivory towers.” Jesus sought no earthly pleasures or the adulation of men. Jesus is our ultimate example of servant hood. Bishop DeHart will accept his own episcopal authority only under the heading of “servant bishop.” He believes that all we do as the “church gathered” is null and void if not immediately put into action as the “church scattered” in our cities, in the workplace and especially in our homes.

Bishop DeHart, although blessed to be called by God to the episcopate, is known to often proclaim, “If God sees fit for me to be a bishop, so be it…however, all I ever really wanted was to be a deacon.”

Why would a bishop make such a seemingly “un-bishop” statement?

Bishop DeHart takes to heart and seeks to live by the words of “ The Examination for the Ordination of a Deacon” (BCP Pg. 543) which are Christ’s direct marching orders for every Christian, whether bishop, priest, deacon or laity:

Every Christian is called to follow Jesus Christ, serving God the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit. God now calls you to a special ministry of servant hood. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are to serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely.