Lauren McDonald, daughter of Page and Graham McDonald, Fayetteville, and seminary student at Seabury Western in Evanston, Ill., preached in her hometown church, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Peachtree City on Aug. 19. She was honored by more than 170 friends, family, and church members at a reception held in the parish hall. Father Paul Elliott presented Lauren with a purse, a gift from the congregation.

McDonald spent her teenage years at St. Andrew’s participating in the choir, the youth group, and serving as an acolyte and crucifer. While in college she served as a camp counselor and as a staff member at Camp Mikell, an Episcopal retreat camp in north Georgia.

After graduating in 1991 from the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., an Episcopal university, she spent 15 years in professional theater in southern Virginia. It was during a pilgrimage to Israel with her mother and church members that she says she felt called to the ministry. She completed the discernment and ordination process and has completed the first two years of Seminary at Seabury Western, Evanston Ill. She is a candidate for Holy Orders.

After graduation she will become a deacon for six months and then will be ordained as a priest.

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