Like the cacti that grow in the distance, Shane is a picture of long perseverance in a difficult climate. Two separate times over the last 20 years this former Marine has worked to get a new church off the ground and both times they did not come to fruition. There was heartache. There was frustration. There was pain. But like the mythical bird for whom the city is named, Shane's vision for Gospel church planting keeps rising to new life from the ashes.

In 2008 Shane began to meet with a small group of less than 10 people in a home in downtown Phoenix for fellowship and evening prayer on Sunday evenings. And so the seeds for St. George's were sown. Slowly the small group has added new faces, only to see many of those new faces leave. Still Father Shane has pressed on.

He is a visible and persistent presence on the Arizona State University campuses that dot the city. He is active in the arts community and in efforts of service and mercy within the city. He is doing the hard work of planting. "We've been asking questions," said Father Shane in a recent interview with Anglican 1000, "These questions are not unique to us; I believe they are on the forefront of all planters' minds. How do we reach the unchurched? How do we not just gather disgruntled evangelicals, but truly make an impact on those who don't know Jesus? How can we be a real presence in this city?"

Seeking answers to these questions, the small group of St. George's Anglican Community are now putting a significant amount of their time, money, labor, and heart into a new initiative called the Eighth Day coffee house. In a renovated commercial space less than two blocks from one of the ASU campuses, Eighth Day will serve as a functioning coffee house, a place for worship, and as a physical point of connection with their community. "I have no sense that we are opening and meeting in a coffee house because it is hip or trendy. We want to be where the people are. We want to find a way to let our lives as a community of faith intertwine with the lives of the people of the city. We want to find a way that we can incarnate Jesus through relationships. That is what Eighth Day is about." said Father Shane.

The coffee house will open by the end of July and the people of St. George's will have a venue to gather and pursue the people of Phoenix. There is inherent risk involved in a project like this and a great deal of work, but the faithful people of St. George's are pursuing it with passion and excitement.

Rev. Copeland is a picture of contextualized Anglicanism in his very person. He's wearing his full Anglican collar, silver pectoral cross, blue jeans, Phoenician cowboy boots, with his long flowing brown hair hanging over his shoulders. He is a man of passion and of persistence, who hurts for his city and longs for Christ. Through tears Rev. Shane told us, "This is Christ's church, Christ's vision, and Christ's work. I cannot own this or make it happen. I can only be faithful to the calling that Christ has given me." And faithful he is. Shane is a model, for all of us, of a man who is giving his life to bring the Jesus that he loves to the city that he loves. He has not given up even in the midst of great trial and frustration. He has not lost hope when growth has been slow or nonexistent. He is fighting the good fight, round after round, with a tenacity that is inspiring.

There is a lot that our Anglican family can learn from and celebrate in the excellent work being done by Father Shane and the faithful people of St. George's. Let us support them in prayer and encourage their missional work in Phoenix.

As the Lord says in Isaiah 43:19, "See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert." Yes he is, and he is doing so through the work of men like Father Shane Copeland and the community of St. George's in Phoenix, Arizona.

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