Owen Copps has skied 114 days in 2025. After nearly three years as a Youth & Family Minister and with the encouragement of his discernment committee, Owen moved to Telluride to ski, lead an adventure camp, and enjoy God’s creation before heading off to seminary in Texas this past fall.
Owen’s seminary journey began here at Christ Church. “I knew I was loved by the people of Christ Church before I knew what it meant to be loved by God. Growing up I could feel the love of my Sunday School teachers, my friends, and of parishioners who knew my name,” he adds, “it was later that I came to understand that all this love I felt was the love of Christ acting through the people of Christ Church.”
As a teenager, Owen would drive by the church. He soon learned the chapel was open anytime for prayer and would regularly stop in. He would simply sit, pray, or just be in silence. Then one day John Porter-Acee, former priest, saw Owen come out of the chapel and asked, “What are you doing?”
He invited Owen to shadow him and soon Owen was writing curriculum, leading youth events, learning from other clergy. “I got to see a peak view of the love that comes pouring out of this place.”
Recalling the day John Porter-Acee met him at the chapel, tears in his eyes, “I felt so seen.”
To be seen so fully and invited more deeply into God’s love, changed Owen’s life. Owen shared, “My greatest spiritual gift is that I know at my core is that I’m beloved,” and when he talks to others about God, “You are loved. God is love. Christ is the walking embodiment of that love.” This love is taking Owen to the Seminary of the Southwest in Texas for his studies to become a priest.
Your generosity to Christ Church is making it possible for Owen to continue his studies through a scholarship from the Christ Church Foundation*, but more importantly, it allows us to continue to see each person here and call them beloved.
*Christ Church Foundation Scholarships (are awarded each spring, on a need basis, for college and seminary studies during the upcoming academic year.