Taylor University Chapel

Father Dee Wellington Bright, Rector, Church of our Savior, Palm Bay, Florida

The Rev. Fr. Dee Wellington Bright, Sr. is an Episcopal priest originally from the Diocese of Liberia in the Anglican Province of West Africa. After serving 10 years as a priest in Liberia, he and his family relocated to the United States in 1996 due to a civil war in their homeland in which Fr. Bright was nearly executed. He was literally airlifted from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean by US Marines. In addition to serving congregations in Liberia, he also served as the Principal of the Episcopal High School in Monrovia (The B.W. Harris High School) before his relocation to the US. He has since served as a priest within the Episcopal Church of the United States for over 27 years.

Fr. Bright came to faith in Jesus Christ during his early teens and was nurtured in the Christian Faith through the Episcopal Church and Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), of Liberia.

His theological education includes an undergraduate from Cuttington University in Liberia; Masters from the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas; and Doctorate from Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. His ministry in the US has involved serving congregations in the states of Texas, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma and currently in Florida.

 As a way of giving back to his homeland of Liberia, he is involved with many programs and projects that support Liberia’s ongoing recovery and rebuilding from years of civil crisis including serving on the Board of the Investment Corporation of the Trinity Agricultural Company for the Episcopal Church of Liberia. He was most recently, for four years, the President of the Liberian Episcopalians throughout the United States of America, (LECUSA). He also serves on the Board of the national Union of Black Episcopalian (The UBE).

As a parish priest, Fr. Bright has a passion for ministry to the younger generation and focuses on making youth and children central to the ministry of the gospel. He deems evangelism as an imperative for the church and calls on the Church of the 21^st century to reclaim its evangelistic heritage.

Fr. Bright is currently the rector of Church of Our Savior in Palm Bay, Florida.

He and his wife, Monyue, have been married for 36 years and are parents of three adult children: Dee Bright, Jr., Vonti Bright-Shattuck and Tinika Bright. They are grandparents of two: Elise Bright and Dee Bright, III.