Rev. Eric Phillips

Eric is a native of Greensburg, PA and studied theology at Grove City College. After graduating in 2004, he served as a Baptist minister in Northern Virginia for 5 years, until he and his family decided to move closer to home and plant a church in the East End of Pittsburgh. He served as pastor for that inner-city church for 5 years, then pursued seminary education at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

While studying at Southern Seminary, Eric began to develop a richer appreciation for some of the more ancient expressions of the Christian faith, and found his own theology in increasing alignment with the Anglican tradition. His movement toward Anglicanism was not a rejection of his years as a Baptist minister, but instead he saw it as adding another layer of richness to what he gained from his years studying and ministering in the Baptist church.

Eric and his family subsequently moved to northwestern Pennsylvania, where his wife Coleen took a position as a math teacher at Lakeview Middle/High School and Eric worked at Grove City College. Eric then sought further seminary training at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge. During his time studying at Trinity, he also served as curate at Grace Anglican Church in Grove City and was ordained a priest within the Anglican Church of North America in 2020.

Eric and Coleen have two sons, Judah and Malachi. They live on a small plot of land in a rural setting outside of Stoneboro. Coleen continues to work as a math teacher at Lakeview. Eric and his family love the outdoors and are avid in hunting, fishing, camping, and pretending to be homesteaders.

For Coleen, Eric, and their sons, planting a new church in Franklin is born out of dual loves: the love of the Gospel, and the love for this area that has become home.