Saint Alban's Episcopal Church, Elberton, Georgia

Our Rector

The Rev. Dr. Denise Moss has been the rector of St. Alban's since January 2007.

Ordained a deacon in 2004, Moss holds bachelor's  and master of divinity degrees from Mercer University, Atlanta, and earned a doctor of ministry in 2005 from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill. Before coming to St. Alban's, she served as an assistant at St. Timothy's, Calhoun, and was chaplain for Georgia State and Georgia Tech, as well as for Covenant Community in Atlanta. She is married to the Rev. David Moss, a priest of the diocese, and also serves as rector for the Church of the Mediator in Washington.

History of St. Alban's

The first known Episcopal service in Elberton was held September 10, 1894, in the Methodist Church, by Rev. O.T. Porcher of Greenwood, South Carolina. The first organized Episcopal community was the Church of the Holy Apostles in 1898. This mission church disbanded in 1906, but services revived under the direction of the Rev. Thomas Duck of Toccoa.

By the 1930s, the mission congregation was meeting in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Hawes on Heard Street, and services were held by the Rev. David Cady Wright of Athens. The name of the church was changed to St. Alban's in 1941, the same year in which the present church building was completed and dedicated. This took place on September 10, at the same time the first minister, the Rev. J. Britt Ellington, was ordained. Both ordination and dedication were performed by the Rt. Rev. H.J. Mikell. Granite for the new building was donated by Mr. B. Frank Coggins Sr.

St. Alban's was granted full parish status by the Diocese of Atlanta in 1960. In the seventy years since the present church building was completed, the Rev. Herschel Atkinson has had the longest tenure as priest (from 1970 through October 31, 1997). Other rectors during that time have been the Reverends Jay Victor Nickelson, Lawrence Rogers Kelley, William Abbot Yon, Frank V.D. Fortune, Milton Coward Jr., James Shumard, John Via, and the present rector, Denni Moss. The Rev. W.R. Harris was deacon in charge for five months in 1945, and Gene Britton served as supply priest in the early 2000s.

St. Alban's was in a yoked relationship with St. Andrew's in Hartwell from the late 1940s until 2001. The church has been yoked with Mediator in Washington since 2004.