By Anne DeVries
On the morning of Sunday, June 14, the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin’s Tarrytown neighborhood was filled with something beyond its typical Sunday service. A secret, held for weeks, was being kept from the church’s lead Rector, the Rev Stanford Adams, affectionately known to his congregation as Stanford.
Though Stanford thought it was a business-as-usual Sunday, after the 10:30 a.m. service on June 14th, the congregation gathered for a surprise celebration of a milestone a decade in the making: the 10-year anniversary of their beloved pastor at Good Shepherd.
At the conclusion of the service, the Rev. Paige Alvarez Hanks, Senior Associate Rector, shared the news with Stanford and presented him with a box filled with anniversary messages gathered in secret from the congregation. “This is an offering of things people want to say to you about your ministry,” she told him, “and also so that you know, the clergy and staff love you too.”
A celebration followed, complete with an anniversary cake and the easy fellowship that defines a community at its best.
Stanford was visibly moved. Responding to the outpouring of affection, he addressed the congregation: “When I arrived 10 years ago, I knew this was a healthy and well-regarded parish, but what I didn’t know then was how much I would come to love you and respect you and care for you, and how much I would experience your love in return. You all are committed, generous, and willing to take risks, which is the service of being followers of Jesus. Thank you for the last 10 years. I am super excited about all of the years to come.”
That Stanford Adams would find his way to the pulpit at Good Shepherd is itself a remarkable story. Raised attending St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Jackson, Mississippi, he earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.
As an ode to his alma mater, Stanford recently had the honor of guest preaching at Princeton University Chapel, sharing the good news in one of the nation’s most renowned sacred spaces.
Following his time at Princeton and UT, he went on to practice healthcare law and to serve on the vestry of Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, TN, and the cathedral chapter of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee.
In 2009, he stepped away from law to enter seminary at Sewanee: The University of the South, where he served as student body president and was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in 2012. After a season of ministry in Tupelo, Mississippi, he returned to legal practice in San Antonio as Senior Counsel at HCA Healthcare. But the pull toward pastoral life remained.
When Good Shepherd came calling, Stanford was still working as a lawyer in San Antonio, driving to Austin on Sundays to help with services. Something shifted during this time.
“I realized once I started doing this how meaningful it is to be with people in the moments that are really significant,” he reflected, “where the biggest questions of life and meaning and purpose are on the surface of what is happening. I find so much meaning in those conversations and those times, and it is such an honor to be with people in those moments. That’s what drove my decision to be here.”
He accepted a call to Good Shepherd as Senior Associate in 2017, later served as Vice Rector and Acting Rector, and was named Rector in 2025. A father of three, Max, Ellen, and Will, he serves on boards, including those of St. Stephen’s Episcopal School and the Seminary of the Southwest.
Ten years in, Stanford Adams remains exactly where he says he belongs, among the people he has come to love, in a community that has come to love him right back. For Good Shepherd, it is a gift they clearly do not take for granted.
Visit www.westaustinnews.com to see a video interview of Stanford Adams by West Austin News Summer Intern Alexa McGlathery.
