Nathan D. Baxter

Who is Nathan D. Baxter?

Born in 1948, Nathan Dwight Baxter, AHC, is the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania and the 1,010 in succession in the Episcopal Church. He was elected as bishop coadjutor on July 22, 2006, and consecrated on October 22, 2006. Baxter's friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached the sermon.

Directly before being elected, Baxter spent two and a half years serving as the rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A third generation priest, he was dean of Washington National Cathedral from 1991 to 2003 and served as Chief Administrative Officer of the Protestant Episcopal Church Foundation. Before becoming dean of the of Cathedral, Baxter served as the administrative dean and associate professor of pastoral theology at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, seminary dean and associate professor of church and ministry at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and chaplain and professor of religious studies at St. Paul's College in Lawrenceville, Virginia. Baxter has also served at other parishes in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Baxter, a Harrisburg native, was the oldest of three sons of Elder Belgium N. Baxter and Augusta Baxter. He is married to Mary Ellen Baxter, an educator with degrees from Hampton University and Harvard University. They have two children, two foster children, and nine grandchildren.