And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
~ The Acts of the Apostles 2:42
OUR VISION
Our vision is to be a beacon of hope and love in the community, embracing diversity and spreading the message of Christ's unconditional love to all.
WHAT WE DO
At St. Paul's Church, we are dedicated to serving the community, nurturing spiritual growth, and creating a welcoming space for all to explore and deepen their faith.
OUR COMMUNITY
Our community is inclusive, supportive, and passionate about making a positive impact in Petersburg and beyond. We come together to worship, learn, and serve with joy and compassion.
THE VERY REVEREND SAM SHERIDAN
Father Sam is the 35th Rector of St. Paul’s. A Virginia native, he grew up in Sugar Hollow outside Crozet and Charlottesville. He earned his BA from Sewanee and M.Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary. In the decade between those two schools he had many jobs, often simultaneously. He served as Floor Manager at Bronzecraft Foundry for Sculpture; Children and Youth Minister at St. John’s Episcopal in Waynesboro; and Director of Private Events at Keswick Hall and Golf Club, among several smaller jobs—mostly in wineries. As a priest, he most recently worked at Immanuel-Church-on-the-Hill in Alexandria.
In his three years in Petersburg, Fr. Sam has joined the Board of Downtown Churches United and become actively involved in the Hope Center, where St. Paul’s has served faithfully for over fifty years. He also serves as Dean of Convocation VI in the Diocese of Southern Virginia—hence the “Very” Reverend—and is one of the Diocese’s Lay Preaching instructors, with a deep passion for encouraging all baptized people to proclaim both the Gospel and the story of their own faith.
Fr. Sam is known for preaching that is honest, thoughtful, and rooted in Scripture—sermons that weave together theological depth, Biblical witness, personal storytelling, and a call to compassionate, morally serious living. He is excited to be part of St. Paul’s growing more into a community of welcome, beauty, and spiritual depth, grounded in the hope of the Gospel and committed to faithful service in Petersburg and the world.
He is married to the Reverend Mary Margaret Winn, who also graduated from Sewanee and Virginia Seminary, and who currently serves as Rector of St. John’s in Chester. They live with two toddlers and two just extraordinarily poorly behaved dogs.
VESTRY
A Vestry is the governing body of an Episcopal parish—composed of lay members elected by the congregation to share responsibility for the spiritual and material life of the church. The Vestry works alongside the Rector to steward the parish’s mission, finances, property, and ministries, ensuring that everything St. Paul’s does reflects both the Gospel and the values of our community. Though the Rector presides at worship, manages the staff, provides spiritual leadership, and has some responsibilities to the physical plant; the Vestry holds the fiduciary and practical trust of the parish. Together they discern how God is calling St. Paul’s to grow, serve, and witness in Petersburg and beyond.
Because Vestry members’ allegiance is first and foremost to St. Paul’s—and will likely be part of this community through many priests—they are, in a real sense, the leaders of the community and the examples the rest of us look to for how to live as Christians in the world. Their work is not only about budgets or buildings but about embodying faith, hope, and love in the daily life of the parish. By their presence, service, and decision-making, they help the whole congregation stay grounded in prayer, generosity, and the conviction that God continues to do new things in and through this community.
If a priest has an institutional role in the "Church," our Vestry are the people with the much more important job of showing us what Christianity actually looks like in a life in the world.
Current Vestry Members are Alex Daghita, Heather Dowling, John Maclin, Buck Palmer, Andy Sheetz, Mike Tuck, and Linda Wynne
BISHOP SUSAN B. HAYNES
In the Episcopal Church, each parish is part of a larger diocesan family overseen by a Bishop, who serves as chief pastor, teacher, and symbol of unity for all congregations in that region. While the day-to-day leadership of a parish belongs to its Rector and Vestry, the Bishop provides pastoral care and oversight to the clergy and ensures that each congregation remains connected to the wider Church. The Bishop’s visitations remind us that we’re not isolated communities, but members of one Body, joined together in Christ’s mission.
The Right Reverend Susan Bunton Haynes (born 1959) is the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, the first female diocesan bishop of the diocese.
Born in Tampa, Florida and raised in South Carolina, she received a bachelor’s degree from the University of the South in 1981 and a master’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University in 1989 and M.Div. from Vanderbilt University Divinity School in 1993. She married fellow Floridian Thomas E. Haynes in 1982 and he taught at the Culver Academies before being ordained a priest in 2010 and serving as priest in charge of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Plymouth and pastor of St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church in Culver, both in Marshall County, Indiana. They have two children.
Ordained as a deacon by Bishop Edward S. Little II of the Diocese of Northern Indiana on December 21, 2004, Haynes was ordained to the priesthood on June 24, 2005, and became an associate priest at St. James Cathedral in South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana, rising to become the priest in charge before accepting a position as rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mishawaka (also in St. Joseph County), where she served for 11 years.
On September 21, 2019, Rev. Haynes was elected to become the 11th bishop of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, the seat having been vacant following the retirement of the Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith IV in January 2019. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry presided at her consecration to the episcopate on February 1, 2020, in Williamsburg, Virginia and Bishop Edward S. Little II preached.
