Three local men will be ordained into the Charismatic Episcopal Church priesthood this Sunday, in a ceremony scheduled for Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. at the Hopewell United Methodist Church on Jenkins Road, across from Sandy Creek high School in Tyrone.

Paul Massey of Peachtree City, David Jones of Newnan, and Waymon Ahart of Fayetteville will be ordained in the ceremony conducted by the Right Rev. John William Holloway, Bishop of Georgia for the Charismatic Episcopal Church. The three men are currently serving as deacons at Christ the King Church in Peachtree City.

Massey, originally from Frankfort, Ky., currently is a member of the Bishop's Council of the Missionary Diocese of Georgia, the Rector's Council of Christ the King CEC, and serves as an advisor to the Society of Christ the Healer. He is the coordinator of the hospitality ministry at Christ the King and serves in a number of other capacities. He has served as a short-term missionary to Uganda, Africa. Massey is married and has two children and two grandchildren. His wife, Judy, is a commissioned minister in the CEC.

Jones, originally from Texas, has served in Pentecostal and charismatic churches, including independent charismatic, the Church of God, and the Assemblies of God. He has served local churches as a praise team member, worship leader, teacher, associate minister, elder, home fellowship leader, soloist and Sunday School teacher. He has shared his testimony on the 700 Club.

Jones also is a songwriter and founder of Walkaway ministries. He has served as an advisor to Women's Aglow and has ministered in Ireland. In 1977, he was ordained io the historic Diaconate in Apostolic succession. Currently, he serves as a member of the Rector's Council at Christ the King, as minister of worship for the church, and as a Home Church Leader. He has served as the worship leader for the Southeast Regional Convocation of the CEC and for the Diocese of Georgia Convocation. He and his wife, Pat, have four children.

Ahart, from Portageville, Mo., is a certified public accountant and a veteran of the U.S. Army. He has worked for the U.S. Government Accounting Office, the Internal Revenue Service and in accounting firms and business corporations. He is the president of Ahart & Associates, CPAs.

He has served as a member of a hospital board of directors, on the board of directors of the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta, and is a member of the Special Home Missions Committee of the Georgia District of the Assemblies of God. He is the son of a United Pentecostal Church pastor who has attended both Baptist and Assemblies of God churches. After taking a church history course, he eventually became part of the Charismatic Episcopal Church. He has been involved in a street ministry, served as a Sunday School teacher, ministered in nursing homes, served as finance chairman and church treasurer, and has been a deacon in several churches.

In 1997 he was ordained into the historic diaconate in apostolic succession. Currently, he serves as a member of the Rector's Council at Christ the King. He and his wife, Lavada, have three children and six grandchildren.

“This is an extremely significant event,” Epps said.” These men, all of whom are seasoned veterans in the church, will be ordained in historic apostolic succession. That is, they can trace their line of authority all the way back to one or more of the apostles who laid hands on and ordained successors, who did the same, and so on until the present day.”

“The Charismatic Episcopal Church traces its line of succession through the Apostolic Catholic Church of Brazil, then through the Roman Catholic Church, all the way back to the beginning,” Epps said.

The service will be a “praise and worship celebration,” according to Epps, which will feature the historic ordination liturgy, the Eucharist, and “joyful music and prophetic expressions”. The service is open to the public.

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