Brian Zook

Each of the Vestry members were asked to reflect on the following questions:

 

Describe your participation at St. Mark’s and/or in the community? Indicate experiences you think would be helpful to your time on vestry.

On most Sunday mornings, you can find me and my wife, Holly, at the 9:00 a.m. service in the center-left front section of the nave. I am a Eucharistic minister, lector, and intercessor, and regularly attend the adult Christian formation gatherings on Sunday mornings. We attend most of the St. Cecilia’s Guild events, as long-time choir members at our previous parishes. I have participated in three Sacred Ground circles at St. Mark’s, facilitating the last two, and helped with numerous Christmas to the Street events, several Day of Prayer and Service events, a couple of trips to Rockport to help after Hurricane Harvey, the recent Hymnathon, and a variety of other parish events. I have been a St. Mark’s delegate to Diocesan Council for the past six years, as well as over 20 times in previous parishes and dioceses. In addition to St. Mark’s activities, we are long-time members of Texas Public Radio, the McNay Museum, and United Way contributors.

 

Feeding San Antonio with the Bread of Life: feeding the hungry with real food; feeding those who are hungry for knowledge and meaning; and feeding those who are hungry for beauty and creativity is the core vocation of St. Mark’s. How do you envision the vestry working to support this vocation?

The core vocation is one of the main reasons we chose St. Mark’s as our parish home—it indicated that this parish sees its mission as doing something, not just being. Furthermore, articulating a mission statement helps guide a parish and its leadership in making choices, providing a road map for priorities. That is, the core vocation helps answer the question: “why are we here?” A vestry’s primary function is to enable the parish—and parishioners—to do their part of God’s reconciling work in this world. This happens through visioning and leadership, and at St. Mark’s we can use the core vocation as a framework.

 

When did you join St. Mark’s and what continues to draw you to this community?

We joined St. Mark’s in the fall of 2016, having moved from a parish where we had been for 25 years. Before choosing St. Mark’s, we visited most of the Episcopal parishes in San Antonio. The mix of welcoming and engaged parishioners, a parish that was committed to doing things, excellent worship, and explorative Christian formation is ultimately what sold us on St. Mark’s. We are not a static parish, and yet these core features continue, making us glad to have established this as our church home.