Where All Are Welcome: No Exceptions
On a quiet residential stretch of North Ninth Avenue in Pensacola, Holy Cross Episcopal Church has made its motto the greeting at the door: "Where all are welcome...no exceptions!" The parish describes its own clearest strength as "the world's clearest need: faithful, loving, and active community." Around that aim, Holy Cross gathers a wide range of ages and callings - two Sunday liturgies, a Wednesday spent around tables, a Wednesday food pantry before sunrise, and ministries that reach into schools, shelters, and the wider Gulf Coast through the Episcopal Church and Anglican networks.
A Sunday at Holy Cross
The Sunday rhythm begins early. At 8:00 AM, the first Holy Eucharist is celebrated in the sanctuary and broadcast on the church's YouTube channel for those at home or in the hospital. By 9:00 AM the parish hall smells of a hot breakfast laid out for anyone who wants to linger. From 9:35 to 10:20 AM the building hums with formation for every age: Christian Education classes for adults, Sunday School for children broken into Nursery and Pre-K, Kindergarten through second grade, and third through fifth grade, plus a Choir Practice and Devotional for singers in between.
At 10:30 AM the second Holy Eucharist begins, also livestreamed. Children ages four through ten are invited to follow the wooden cross in procession to Children's Chapel after the opening prayer and return to their families at the Peace, just before communion. The service closes at 11:45 AM with Community Hour, a parish-wide time to eat, talk, and welcome newcomers.
Wednesday Around the Table
Wednesday is the day Holy Cross opens its doors to the neighborhood. The Food Pantry and Resource Center runs from 8:15 to 9:30 AM, with volunteers distributing bags of groceries and offering connections to other help - an equal-opportunity provider open to anyone in need. At 10:00 AM a midweek Holy Communion is celebrated in the sanctuary, with a Healing Service added on the first Wednesday of each month.
Evenings belong to the family meal. At 5:30 PM volunteers serve dinner in the parish hall, and the building fills with three groups that run side by side: an Adult Christian Formation class, the Youth Group for middle and high schoolers, and Play & Pray for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. A nursery is open throughout. The goal of the night, the parish says, is that there is "something life-giving for all ages."
Worship That Bridges Ancient and Modern
Holy Cross describes its worship as "modeled after ancient practices and yet done in a way that is a mix of contemporary and traditional." Visitors unfamiliar with Episcopal liturgy are reassured that they are not alone and that, with a little patience and an open heart, the experience proves profound. The Sunday services follow the Book of Common Prayer, while the music ministry intentionally weaves older and newer styles. Healing prayer, lay readers, chalice-bearing Eucharistic Ministers licensed by the bishop, and Eucharistic Visitors who bring communion to the homebound all share in the work of worship.
From Mother's Day 1976 to a House of Labor
Holy Cross began its life in worship on Mother's Day, May 9, 1976, in the cafeteria of Scenic Heights Elementary School. The vision had been born two years earlier in the hearts of members of St. Christopher's Church, itself a child of the missionary outreach of historic Christ Church downtown. Groundbreaking for the present sanctuary came in August 1978, and the doors opened for worship on Sunday, March 25, 1979.
What makes the building distinctive is who built it. Members of the new parish crafted much of the interior themselves: the altar and altar furniture, the central stained glass window, the fourteen Stations of the Cross paintings on the north wall, and the platforms and rails for choir and altar. In 1989 parishioners completed the first two wings of the north-side education complex - classrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, and a multipurpose room - laying the groundwork for the larger parish-hall complex that followed. The result, the parish notes, is a place that feels "big and yet small."
Music as Prayer
Music carries more than its share of the liturgy at Holy Cross. Isabelle Peterson, Minister of Music and Liturgy, directs the choir, the handbell choir, and a contemporary band, and the program regularly welcomes trumpets, clarinets, guitars, and other instruments. The choir rehearses Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 PM and gathers again Sunday mornings from 9:35 to 10:15 for a devotional and warm-up. The Handbell Choir rehearses on Thursdays at 5:00 PM. The parish describes its philosophy simply: "music can express what words alone cannot."
Forming Children and Youth
Children's Ministry runs from the nursery through fifth grade, with Sunday School, Children's Chapel, Vacation Bible School each summer (for ages six through twelve, with older youth as helpers), and a Wednesday-evening Kid's Club that meets during the family-dinner hour. The nursery is staffed by a head nursery worker and a large rotation of volunteers.
Youth Ministry, led by Youth Minister Payton Gallant, gathers both junior high and senior high students for Sunday School at 9:35 AM, Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00 PM for games, music, fellowship, and Bible study, and monthly off-site events and trips. Each year brings summer camps and mission trips; youth are also encouraged to serve as acolytes, choir members, and instrumentalists in worship.
A Web of Care for Adults
Adult life at Holy Cross is woven through small groups, lay-led ministries, and quiet acts of mercy. Sunday-morning Adult Christian Formation offers multiple class options that change through the year, with dinner groups of four to six adults or couples rotating homes monthly. A Pastoral Care Team, formed by the rector, keeps watch over elderly members in nursing homes, assisted living, and at home. GriefShare meets weekly in the parish hall for anyone grieving the death of a loved one, and WeCare meets on the second and fourth Saturdays for those caring for loved ones with dementia or elderly family members.
Several classic Anglican and Episcopal lay orders have chapters here. The Brotherhood of St. Andrew, an international men's ministry, gathers on the second Saturday at 7:30 AM in the parish hall for breakfast and a program. The Daughters of the King take a Rule of Life centered on prayer and service. Cursillo is active locally through the Coastal Pilgrims community, which supports small Group Reunions, monthly Ultreyas, and the long arc of the Fourth Day.
Behind the scenes, Ambassadors for Christ serve as trained greeters, presenting visitors with bags of information and a fresh-baked loaf of Bread Ministry bread after their first visit. The Altar Guild prepares the sanctuary; the Flower Guild arranges the altar flowers; the Prayer Shawl Ministry knits and crochets shawls that are blessed by the priest and given to those on the prayer list; the Casserole Ministry fills the parish-hall freezer for new parents and the sick; and informal groups - Holy Weeders for the gardens, Team Muscle for the heavy jobs - keep the place running. Eucharistic Ministers are nominated by the rector, approved by the vestry, and licensed by the bishop for three-year terms.
Reaching Beyond the Walls
Outreach at Holy Cross is built on weekly habits rather than annual events. The Wednesday-morning Food Pantry is the steady center, stocked in part by Feed My Sheep Sunday, when the first Sunday of every month worshippers bring groceries from their own pantries to the back of the church. Hagar's Basket partners with more than twenty-two local schools to provide personal hygiene products to students in need. Each quarter the One Blood bloodmobile parks at the church for a blood drive.
Seasonal collections include the Peanut Butter Drive each October through mid-November, when local farmers match the parish's gathering, and a parallel Blanket and Sock Drive. The Angel Tree goes up by the first Sunday of Advent, with gifts going through Operation Santa to foster children served by FamiliesFirst Network of Lakeview. Monthly donations support United Ministries, a community partnership that provides emergency financial assistance and counseling. The youth raise money for Episcopal Relief & Development through Souper Bowl Sunday, and Vacation Bible School funds clean-water projects in Africa through ERD. Disaster relief, when called for, is part of the parish's ongoing work.
Tools for Prayer
Holy Cross takes prayer formation seriously enough to teach it. The parish's HELP with Prayer page walks through several traditional practices: Centering Prayer (setting a timer, choosing a single prayer word such as Jesus, Abba, Shalom, or Peace, and gently returning to it as thoughts drift by); the daily Examen in the shorthand of "Thank You, Sorry, Please"; a simple Breath Prayer ("I am...here now...in this"); Lectio Divina with steps for reading, meditating on, and praying a short passage of scripture; and the Daily Office and the Psalms. A short video on the site, "How To Do Morning Prayer," introduces the Daily Office to newcomers.
Clergy and Staff
The Rev. Rob Dixon is the fifth Rector of Holy Cross and has served since 2016. Raised outside Fairhope, Alabama, and an Auburn-trained chemical engineer, he came to ordained life through youth ministry at Christ Church in Pensacola, seminary and curacy at St. David's in Austin, and a rectorship at St. Stephen's in Brewton, Alabama, before serving as Associate Rector for Pastoral Care and Outreach at St. Martin's in Houston. He and his wife Amanda, a local high school teacher, have three daughters.
The Rev. Matt Dollhausen joined Holy Cross in 2024 as Assisting Priest for Worship after retiring as rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Milton. He leads the Wednesday-morning service, assists on Sundays, teaches an adult Sunday School class, and continues to lead an annual mission trip to Guatemala.
Janelle Berger serves as Church and Ministry Director, overseeing general operations, communications, and volunteer coordination. Caitie Sheppard, a Pensacola resident of twenty years and a mother of four, is the Family Life and Newcomers Minister. Payton Gallant, a Xavier University graduate originally from Houston, is the Youth Minister. Isabelle Peterson, a Pensacola native and University of West Florida vocal-performance graduate now pursuing a master's in Choral Conducting at the University of South Carolina, directs the music program.
Visiting Holy Cross
The church building sits on North Ninth Avenue in a quiet residential neighborhood. Sunday dress at Episcopal parishes tends to range from business casual to more traditional, and newcomers are warmly welcomed at either service. Nursery care is offered throughout the morning, and Children's Chapel gives elementary-aged children their own worship space during the 10:30 liturgy. Parking is available on site. Those unable to attend in person can join either Sunday service via the YouTube livestream. Office hours run Tuesday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, with the office closed for lunch from 12:30 to 1:30.
For those who want to walk into a working parish with deep roots, deep tables, and an open door, Holy Cross Episcopal Church has been making room on Pensacola's north side for fifty years - and counting.