The Rev. Shane M. Copeland

• U. S. Marine Corps (1986-1990)
• B.A. (Bible) Arizona College of the Bible
• B.A. (History) Arizona State University
• M.Div. Phoenix Seminary

Shane is a native Arizonan who has spent most of his life in Phoenix. He has been married to Kris, also an Arizona native, since 1993 and they have two children, Cody (12) and Rachel (9). He started attending Bethany Bible Church with his grandparents at the age of 3 and first trusted Jesus for his salvation there at the age of 4. It was sometime in childhood that he also felt the calling of God to the ministry. After graduating from Washington High School in 1986, he joined the Marines where he served for 4 years as an infantryman and then as a Recon Marine.

He was honorably discharged from the Marines in 1990, and went off to college at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He soon realized that he needed to be home in Phoenix and returned after 1 year of study. In Phoenix, God led him to a church he attended briefly in high school called Open Door Fellowship (ODF). At ODF, he learned foundational theology concerning his identity in Christ, and experienced the love that God has for his us in His Son Jesus. He also continued his theological education, and after completing a Master of Divinity in 1996, was licensed to ministry by ODF.

It was during this time that Shane began to pursue a sense of calling to plant a church. This eventually led to starting a worship service in 2002 called Shared Life Fellowship that lasted for just over a year. While Shared Life did not grow into a new church, Shane learned many valuable lessons about church planting from the experience. Alongside of this, he was studying church history and exploring the liturgical roots of Christianity. He went back to school and completed a second BA in history from ASU. All of this led him the Anglican Church.

In the fall of 2005, Shane and his family left ODF, with their blessing and release, and joined the Anglican Mission in America, serving at Desert Mission Anglican Church in north-central Phoenix. By this time, God had given him a clear sense of calling to become an ordained Anglican Priest and plant a new church in downtown Phoenix. Shane was ordained as a Deacon in March of 2007 and was ordained into the priesthood in May of 2008.

In his free time, Shane loves to be with his family, reading, watching sports, hanging out with good friends, and being in the Arizona wilderness camping, hunting and backpacking. He is currently employed with Vanguard Mutual Funds as a corporate trainer. Kris is a 3rd grade teacher at Orangewood Elementary, where Cody and Rachel attend school.