Receiving Through Service as a Deacon

For Michael McGee, the blessings of becoming a deacon have been rooted not only in the role but in the relationships. As he shares, “What’s been rich about it, I think more than anything, is people getting to know me, really observing me, affirming a call in me and then being able to watch me.”

Michael’s path to ministry in the AMiA stretches back to his childhood. “I grew up in a really God-fearing, Jesus-loving home where my dad was a pastor at the Baptist church, and my mom was a teacher. I grew up around my dad and mom both loving Christ and being involved in the Word. And that kind of provided, I think, a fertile soil for me eventually to want to do ministry,” he recalls. “I always waited on my ‘Gabriel moment’ where I thought God would call me to ministry, but eventually I just kind of found out that what I enjoyed doing was working in the church. … And eventually it made sense to pursue that path.”

Michael served as associate pastor at a non-denominational church in Dallas but saw God lead him toward Anglicanism. “Around COVID I picked up a BCP 1662 reprint from InterVarsity,” he recounts. “I started reading it, using it devotionally, and I just came to fall in love with the liturgy. … Being a seminarian at the time, I started exploring more of the theology behind it, the ecclesiology. And it just made sense to me. … I wanted to be a part of a church like that.

He and his family found a church like that at All Saints Dallas. Michael shares, “We’ve had a really sweet time being at All Saints and being a part of the AMiA and just the richer tradition that Anglicanism provides, both for the clergy and for the lay people.”

In addition to finding a place to worship within this rich tradition, Michael found a church community in which to serve. He’s been involved in youth ministry at All Saints for the past three years. About a year ago, he began the discernment process, and in June 2026, he was ordained as a deacon.

Having served on the elder board in a nondenominational church, Michael has appreciated the accountability and connection he’s experienced on his path to ordination. As he was considering where and how to serve over the long term, he saw how many pastors in the broader Christian community were facing the consequences of their own failings—demonstrating to him the value of the accountability and connection that the AMiA provides. “I saw there were protections for both clergy and church in the AMiA,” he shares. “I wanted something that was going to watch me and care for my family in that as we took on the weight of ministry. And I found that in the AMiA. … It’s been really great—the process and how thorough it is, how holistic it is and how involved it is.”

As he steps into this new ministry role, Michael reflects on the task given to the first deacons in the early Church. “We see in Acts 6 where there are people being overlooked. These deacons are going to focus on them. And so, for me, thinking about that—the people on the edges of society—I want more opportunities to soak that in and receive from that.”

As part of this, Michael is eager to work more with the church’s outreach committee and help All Saints’ ministry partners serve those in need in the community—especially, he says, in downtown Dallas, where homelessness is prevalent. “[These are] groups that we can really partner with both in time, but also in treasure.”

As Michael shares, the call to work with those who are overlooked also includes ministry among age groups that are often considered challenging—including youth. “They’re not monetarily poor, but they are kind of the fringe,” he explains, and serving them can shape their faith for a lifetime. “Most studies show that kids decide they’re going to follow Jesus the rest of their life by their 13th year of life. And that is kind of like make or break. It’s really, really important stuff.”

In this new season of ministry, Michael will continue overseeing the youth at All Saints, and as a deacon he’ll get involved in catechism. “That’s something I’m really looking forward to,” he shares.

At All Saints, he’s shaped the youth ministry with a focus on spiritual formation rooted in Anglican values, liturgical worship and the three streams of Scripture, Sacrament and Spirit. This includes incorporating the rhythms of the daily office. “We’ll do morning prayer together on a Sunday, or whenever we have an event, we’ll do it together. …That gives us opportunity to do things that are gearing our minds to the sacramental or liturgical season.”

He likens practicing this approach to playing scales as a musician. “It sounds rote whenever we’re quoting things back and forth to each other, but I describe it as, ‘you practice your scales’—not because it’s something that we’re trying to make God love us through or something that God’s trying to grade us on. But instead, it’s a way that we can practice the basics and refresh our minds. … These things may seem very dry, but they’re meant to turn our minds toward Christ.”

As Michael seeks to ground the youth of the church in these rhythms, he tells them, “This will not always feel the same. Sometimes they’ll be more meaningful … you’ll see it pop up very specifically in your life when you’re playing a bigger score. But sometimes it is just practicing those scales to let them just wash over you, and it fills your life.”

He continues, “What we’re trying to do is [help students be] comfortable talking to God, seeking God, asking questions about the Bible in ways that they could do it by themselves. … At least in our youth group, we don’t really do sermons because they already get a sermon on Sunday. We’re more doing a Bible study facilitation, teaching them what kind of questions to ask so that they can respond to the Holy Spirit and so they can put that into practice.”

As he ministers as a deacon, Michael is grateful to serve in the company of the AMiA leaders he’s gotten to know at All Saints. “Our clergy and our bishop are the real deal,” he says. “They really love Jesus and are really just people full of thanksgiving and gratitude. … They’re super prayerful and really do enjoy Jesus and really do love people.”

In this role and in this community, Michael is focusing on receiving all that God has for him and his family. As he shares, “I’m receiving the teaching, receiving the opportunities as a deacon as I look forward to being a priest, but really soaking up this season where I specifically focus on what it means to be a deacon and how to serve in that way and let that feed my heart.”