# Mark Zimmerman > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mark_Zimmerman > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mark_Zimmerman.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zimmerman > Source revision: 1355368750 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}} {{short description|American Anglican bishop (born 1956)}}{{Distinguish|Mark Zimmermann}}{{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | honorific_prefix = [The Right Reverend](/source/The_Right_Reverend) | name = J. Mark Zimmerman | title = Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Western Anglicans | image = Bishop Mark Zimmerman.png | alt = | caption = Zimmerman speaks at an [Anglicans for Life](/source/Anglicans_for_Life) service preceding the 2020 March for Life. | church = [Anglican Church in North America](/source/Anglican_Church_in_North_America) | archdiocese = | diocese = [Western Anglicans](/source/Diocese_of_Western_Anglicans) | see = | term = 2023–present | predecessor = | successor = | | ordination = | ordained_by = | consecration = February 28, 2014 | consecrated_by = [Robert Duncan](/source/Robert_Duncan_(bishop)) | rank = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1956}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | previous_post = [Bishop of the Southwest](/source/Anglican_Diocese_of_the_Southwest) (2014–2020) }} '''John Mark Zimmerman''' (born 1956) is an American [Anglican](/source/Anglicanism) bishop. He was the first diocesan bishop of the [Anglican Diocese of the Southwest](/source/Anglican_Diocese_of_the_Southwest), which has jurisdiction in [west Texas](/source/west_Texas), [New Mexico](/source/New_Mexico) and Mexico in the [Anglican Church in North America](/source/Anglican_Church_in_North_America). ==Early life, education, and early ministry== Zimmerman was born in 1956 to an [Episcopal](/source/Episcopal_Church_(United_States)) priest.{{cite web |title=MEET BISHOP MARK ZIMMERMAN OF THE DIOCESE OF THE SOUTHWEST |url=https://anglicanchurch.net/meet-bishop-mark-zimmerman-of-the-diocese-of-the-southwest/ |website=Anglican Church in North America |access-date=November 8, 2022}} After completing college, he met his future wife, Cynthia, and they worked overseas, teaching English in [Oman](/source/Oman). Zimmerman received a call to ministry and attended [Trinity School for Ministry](/source/Trinity_School_for_Ministry), graduating with an M.Div. in 1986. Early in his ordained career, he spent nine years as a priest in New Mexico.{{cite web |title=OUR JOB IS NOT TO LOOK BACK |url=https://americananglican.org/job/ |website=Encompass |publisher=American Anglican Council |access-date=November 8, 2022}} From 1999 to 2008, Zimmerman was rector of St. Francis-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in [Somerset, Pennsylvania](/source/Somerset%2C_Pennsylvania), growing it from a 30-member congregation to nearly 100 in Sunday attendance and debt-free status for the first time in its history. In 2008―the same year that the majority of the [Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh](/source/Episcopal_Diocese_of_Pittsburgh) voted to leave the episcopal church, thus forming the [Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh](/source/Anglican_Diocese_of_Pittsburgh)―Zimmerman announced to the congregation that he was leaving the Episcopal Church. Eighty percent of St. Francis' members followed him, and the new congregation, called [Somerset Anglican Fellowship](/source/Somerset_Anglican_Fellowship), left its building and began meeting at a local mall. In 2011, Somerset Anglican Fellowship purchased the former St. Paul Presbyterian Church in Somerset and relocated there. Zimmerman launched a [Young Life](/source/Young_Life) chapter in Somerset and started a Spanish-speaking outreach service. ==Episcopacy== The newly formed Diocese of the Southwest elected Zimmerman as its first diocesan bishop in 2014. He was consecrated at the [Church of St. Clement](/source/Church_of_St._Clement_(El_Paso%2C_Texas)) in [El Paso](/source/El_Paso%2C_Texas) by Archbishop [Robert Duncan](/source/Robert_Duncan_(bishop)) on February 28, 2014.{{cite web |title=MARK ZIMMERMAN CONSECRATED AS ACNA BISHOP OF THE SOUTHWEST |url=https://www.tsm.edu/2014/03/18/mark_zimmerman_consecrated_as_acna_bishop_of_the_southwest/ |website=Trinity School for Ministry |access-date=November 8, 2022}} The diocese was small, with just 14 congregations spread across a large and remote geographic area. During his episcopacy, the diocese grew to 22 congregations.{{cite web |title=Congregational Reporting: 2021 in Review |url=https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rp70xuodivly2bm/AABmdX40gdldjDnRub3Puloka/Congregational%20Reporting/Congregational%20Report%20of%202021%20to%20Provincial%20Council%202022%20FINAL.pdf?dl=0 |publisher=Anglican Church in North America |access-date=November 8, 2022}} In 2016, Zimmerman joined fellow ACNA Bishops [Eric Menees](/source/Eric_Menees), [Keith Andrews](/source/Keith_Andrews_(bishop)), [Kevin Bond Allen](/source/Kevin_Bond_Allen), and [Todd Hunter](/source/Todd_Hunter_(bishop)) to streamline the ordination process in western U.S. ACNA dioceses, with a joint exam and a joint examining board that would allow clergy ordained under the standards to serve in any participating diocese.{{cite news |title=Western ACNA dioceses amalgamate ordination process |url=https://anglican.ink/2016/04/19/western-acna-dioceses-amalgamate-ordination-process/ |access-date=November 8, 2022 |work=Anglican Ink |date=April 29, 2016}} In November 2019, Zimmerman ordained Farhid Adabache to the priesthood in [Fresnillo](/source/Fresnillo), Mexico. Adabache was the first Mexican national to be ordained by the ACNA to serve a Mexican congregation.{{cite news |last1=Virtue |first1=David |title=ACNA ORDAINS FIRST MEXICAN PRIEST |url=https://virtueonline.org/acna-ordains-first-mexican-priest |access-date=November 8, 2022 |work=Virtue Online |date=January 8, 2020}} In 2020, Zimmerman began winding down his episcopal duties after accepting a call to serve for a two-year period as a half-time bishop-in-residence and interim rector at Christ Church Phoenix in the [Diocese of Western Anglicans](/source/Diocese_of_Western_Anglicans).{{cite web |last1=Collins |first1=Chuck |title=Interim Clergy Staffing Plan |url=https://christchurchphoenix.org/interim-clergy-staffing-plan/ |website=Christ Church Phoenix |access-date=November 8, 2022}} Since March 2023, he has been suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Western Anglicans with charge over the Yellowstone Missionary District, a grouping of 10 churches across Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming seeking to grow into a future diocese.{{cite web |title=Yellowstone Missionary District |url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AbWyi4PVfb6G_-q7h9NrNZZZMNn0y208/view |website=Profile of the Diocese of Western Anglicans and Yellowstone Missionary District |publisher=Diocese of Western Anglicans |access-date=7 September 2023 |page=20}} ==References== {{reflist}} {{S-start}} {{S-rel|ac}} {{S-bef|before=[Winfield Mott](/source/Winfield_Mott)
(''vicar general'')}} {{S-ttl|title=[I Bishop of the Southwest](/source/Anglican_Diocese_of_the_Southwest)|years=2014–2020}} {{S-aft|after=[Steven Tighe](/source/Steven_Tighe)}} {{S-end}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, John Mark}} Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mark Zimmerman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zimmerman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zimmerman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.