About Apostles Anglican Church

Sunday Services

We are a community where people are growing in their faith, modeling the hospitality and generosity of God, and embracing God’s call to mission.

Each Sunday we rehearse the story of God’s faithfulness in Jesus Christ by hearing His Word, praying as His people, sharing His peace, participating in Holy Communion, and going forth by His Spirit to love and serve the world around us

8:45am Holy Eucharist – Choral Music

Join us for Holy Communion with a traditional liturgy, music, and choir singing.

10:10am Spiritual Formation Hour

Adult Formation is in the library. Children’s Formation Hour is in room 22.

11:15am Holy Eucharist – Acoustic Music

Join us for an informal service of worship, teaching, and Holy Communion. Children ages 5 to 11 are welcome to attend a time of age specific-teaching during the sermon.

Wednesday Services

12:00am Holy Eucharist with healing service

Join us for a weekly reflection, a time of healing prayers, and a celebration of Holy Communion.

FAQs

We’ve created a list of questions that may interest you as you get to know us better.

Staff and Leadership

The Revd Canon Jack King, Rector
The Rev. Thomas Ryden, Assistant Rector
The Rev. Rob Goebel, Administrative Pastor
Kaye Freels, Director of Children’s Ministries

Volunteer Clergy

The Rev. John Roop, Assisting Priest
The Rev. Laird Bryson, FODC, Pastoral Care 
The Rev. David Freels, Campus Mission
The Rev. David Sincerbox, Parish Deacon

Jack King, Rector

jack@apostlesonline.org

A long-time Knoxville native, Jack grew up in Fountain City, moved away to school, pastored in England, and eventually came back home. He’s grateful to serve the Kingdom of God in his hometown. He leads Apostles with a passion to see every believer “presented mature in Christ Jesus.”

Jack met his wife Emily in the fall of 2005, and married in July 2007. The Kings have a daughter, Madeleine, and a son, Colin. Jack’s main interests beyond parish ministry revolve around books: poetry, history, fiction, and biographies; distance running; playing guitar and hammered dulcimer; cooking for his wife and friends; and following the Boston Red Sox are other ways that Jack relaxes and unwinds.

Jack received a B.A. in History from Samford University in 2000 and an MDiv from Duke Divinity School in 2004.

Jack writes at KnoxPriest.com.

Check out Jack’s bookshelf at Goodreads.

Thomas Ryden, Assistant Rector

thomas@apostlesonline.org

Thomas grew up in Sharpsburg, GA and has come to Knoxville by way of Birmingham, AL and Johnson City, TN. He received the call to ministry while attending Samford University and has served at Apostles since 2016. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2019. 

He enjoys watching, reading, and debating all things Star Wars, playing guitar, and following the Atlanta Braves.

Thomas is married to Brittany, wand they are the proud parents of Charlie. 

Thomas received his B.A. in Classics from Samford University in 2011 and his Master of Divinity from Emmanuel Christian Seminary in 2015.

Rob Goebel, Administrative Pastor

rob@apostlesonline.org

Fr. Rob and his wife Jennifer have been married for ten years. They have two daughters, Ella and Katherine. The Goebel family loves music and the outdoors.

Fr. Rob began bivocational ministry in 1997. In 2014, he was ordained as a priest and in 2015, he began full-time parish ministry, serving as Vicar of St. Peter’s Church in Canton, IL. Before coming to St. Peter’s, Fr. Rob had a twenty-plus year career in higher education campus management and served in many roles with National Management Resources, including director at Quincy University.

He has served churches in the New England area; as the Assistant Rector at St. Johns Cathedral in Quincy, IL; Chaplains Assistant at The Chapel of Christ the King in Fort Jackson, SC; and Sunday Morning Coordinator at Church of the Apostles in Columbia, SC.

Kaye Freels, Director of Children’s Ministries

kaye@apostlesonline.org

Kaye grew up in South Carolina and graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B. A. in History Education. After 13 years in the banking industry, she started an in-home daycare. Later, she was employed at Grace Episcopal Church in the nursery and taught Mother’s Morning Out. From there she moved over to Grace Episcopal Day School as a Pre-K and First Grade teacher for five years. In 2008, she and her family relocated to Knoxville, when her husband, David, became the Campus Missioner at the University of Tennessee. David and Kaye have three children, Kaitlyn, Becca, and Ben and live with their cat Mrs. Peele.

Kaye has continued her post-college education by taking classes that focus on Early Childhood and Elementary Education. She has applied to add Pre-K through Grade 3 certification to her Tennessee Teacher’s License, qualifying her to teach grades Pre-K – 12. She enjoys combining her education and ministry experience to lead children’s ministry at Apostles.

Michelle Bickers, Parish Deacon

michelle@apostlesonline.org

Laird Bryson, FODC, Pastoral Care and Spiritual Direction

lairdnbits@earthlink.net

Laird was born in Camden, New Jersey shortly after the ark landed. In Florida, Laird met and fell in love with Carley Ann Freck (aka Bitsy) at the tender young age of 15. He never did get over that love, and they married in 1960. Laird served as a Flight Medical Officer and a Cardiologist in the United States Air Force and later in private practice. Answering a clear and persistent call from God to enter the ordained ministry, Laird left medicine and served as a Priest in various parishes throughout East TN.

Laird retired from parish ministry and he and Bitsy entered into what turned out to be a three-year adventure in motor homing full time across the United States (all the states except Michigan) and parts of Canada. They both have served in a wide range of mission both locally and abroad.

Laird received a B.S. in science from University of Florida in 1964, an M.D. in Internal Medicine at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center in 1972, an MDiv from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1991, and a Master of Sacred Theology in Spiritual Directions from General Theological Seminary. He is also a professed member of the Third Order, Society of St. Francis.

The Rev. John Roop, Assisting Priest

john@apostlesonline.org

John is a native of Knoxville and was a third generation member of the Christian Church, where he served as deacon, elder, and especially as a teacher. He and his wife were drawn to the Anglican Church in a somewhat roundabout manner by the rhythm of the daily office, the richness of liturgy, and the presence of a sacramental worldview. John was ordained to the priesthood in 2015. He looks forward to continued ministry at Apostles.

John married his high school sweetheart, Clare, 41 years ago. They both work as high school teachers—John in mathematics and Clare in biology. They have one wonderful daughter, Mary Kathleen, who is currently in college studying secondary science education. John enjoys playing and composing music for various instruments, and reading—with coffee, of course.

John writes at First Blessings and Anglican Pastor.

The Rev. David Sincerbox, Parish Deacon

dsincerbox@att.net

David is a retired math, science and physics instructor who also served as a science museum director. He holds two degrees from the University of Tennessee. He has sixty semester hours above his Masters in educational administration and is certified as such with the state of Tennessee. David has over thirty-five years as a Bible teacher, small group leader and spiritual leader. He was a Presbyterian ruling elder for over twenty years. After retiring as a math instructor, he served as the special assistant to the Reverend T. M. Moore, noted author and lecturer, at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee for two and a half years. David was ordained as an Anglican deacon on August 4, 2009. David serves as a parish deacon at Apostles, serving as the church’s representative in the city through outreach and service projects. David has led Apostles to work with Operation Backyard and serve low-income families at West Hills Elementary School. He has been married to his wife, Sandy, for forty-one years and she is an invaluable part of his ministry.

Mission and Vision

Our mission is to know, love, and worship God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–and to be His disciples in the world.

New Commandment Vision

We will pursue Jesus’ Great Commandment to love God and neighbor according to these three priorities:

1. Become a mother church
2. Deepen our spiritual formation for all ages
3. Serve our neighborhood

1. Become a Mother Church

Why this priority?

• Because God named our church Apostles for a reason. Our name means ‘those who are sent on God’s mission.’ The Great Commandment forms the basis of the Great Commission.
• Because we believe sacramental communities of love change lives, families, and communities.
• Because we are called to entrust the next generation with the hope of the Gospel.

What are we doing?

• Planting an Anglican church in Blount County
• Establishing a curacy program for next generation parish leaders

2. Deepen Our Spiritual Formation for All Ages

Why this priority?

• Because Jesus calls us to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, we believe God desires the spiritual formation of the whole person.
• Because we are entrusted to impart the Faith to the next generation, we give special attention to the spiritual formation of children and youth.
• Because we desire to become people of spiritual depth in a shallow and secular age.

What are we doing?

• Spiritual Formation at 10:10am on Sunday Mornings
• Catechesis of the Good Shepherd: pre-K through 5th grade
• Student Formation Gatherings
• Adult classes including tracks for Prayer and Mission

3. Serve Our Neighborhood

Why this priority?

• Because Jesus’ call to love our neighbor requires love for local people—their struggles and their hopes. We are called to be witnesses of Christ’s love, especially for those who live and work near 1540 Robinson Rd.
• Because the love of Christ must be revealed through concrete Gospel actions. God desires that Gospel actions and Gospel words be united in his people’s witness.

What are we doing?

• Table Groups
• Restoration House
• Bearden Middle School
• KIN in the Pines

Values

At Apostles Anglican, we are learning to be a people who live and act in the peace of Jesus Christ. In the earliest days of our formation, the leaders sought to ground our community in the value of Shalom. We understand this both as the peace of God revealed in and through Christ for his people and his creation, and as an acronym for values the give our call to peaceableness grounding in a set of guiding values.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.”

—John 14:27

S H A L O M

Scriptural

We believe the Old and New Testaments of the Bible are the inspired word of God, containing all things necessary to salvation, pointing to Jesus as the Christ and containing the revelation by which we know Him (John 14:6). We believe it is through God’s grace that we receive forgiveness for our sins through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22-26) We believe the Scriptures to be nourishment for our souls; therefore we advocate immersion in the Scriptures for everyone, regardless of their age, growing in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that we all might live as His disciples (Ephesians 2:4-10).

Hospitable

We will welcome everyone into God’s church that they might be brought to maturity in Christ. Throughout the Scriptures we are commanded to receive the stranger in our midst as we would Christ Himself. We therefore strive to be a welcoming, relational Christian community. (Acts 2:42-47, Ephesians 4:25-32).

Apostolic

We will live lives of faith, accountable to the Apostles’ teaching, as disciples in communion and covenant relationships with other saints. We expect our leaders, both lay and ordained, to imitate Christ’s example of servant-leadership (Mathew 20:26-28, Isaiah 53, Philippians 2:5-11).

Liturgical

We will be a House of Prayer and liturgical worshipers, doing all things in our daily lives as an act of worship to glorify our Father’s holy Name, that we might be transformed into the likeness of His Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. We therefore gather for Spirit-filled, sacramental, corporate worship to be empowered to live out our calling as children of God (John 4:23-24, Romans 8:15-17).

Outreaching

We will reach out to those with physical, spiritual, or emotional needs in our community and abroad. We will be about our Father’s business of caring for widows, orphans, and strangers in our land using our resources to meet needs in Jesus’ name (James 1:27).

Missional

We will live Great Commission lives (Matthew 28:18-20), in a manner worthy of Christ’s instructions, communicating the Gospel in word and deed, speaking Christian truths of the Apostles’ teaching in a language and through media that are easily understood by people of our own generation (Acts 1:8, 6:4).

Affiliation

Apostles Anglican Church is part of the Anglican Church in North America—a body that unites 135,000 Anglicans in 1,037 congregations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a single Church. On April 16, 2009 it was recognized as a province of the global Anglican Communion, by the Primates of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach is the Archbishop of the Anglican Church.

What we stand for

We are in the mainstream, both globally and historically, of Christianity – the biblically-faithful way of following Jesus and being part of the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” As Anglicans, this orthodoxy is defined by and centered on our church’s classic formularies – the Book of Common Prayer, including the Ordinal, and the Thirty-nine Articles – which all point back to the authority of the Holy Bible and articulate foundational principles of the Anglican tradition throughout the world. We wholeheartedly embrace The Jerusalem Declaration, the founding declaration of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.

Beliefs

At Apostles, our beliefs are best summarized in the ancient creeds as drafted and adopted by the historic Church.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.