St. Francis was organized in 1980 as a joint venture of the Diocese of Alabama and St. Stephen’s Church. The fledgling congregation gathered for weekly worship under Rev. Taylor Wingo at Riverchase Middle School until the first permanent buildings were completed on Cahaba Valley Road in 1984.

The Rev. Martin Bell, a nationally known author and educator, was called as rector in 1989 and immediately established the parish as a place for serious theological inquiry.  The altar-centered “communion-in-the-round” arrangement for our worship space dates from this time and continues today.

The Rev. Rebecca DeBow was called in 1996, the first female priest to serve as full-time rector of a self-supporting parish in Alabama. Rebecca led St. Francis for 10 years and oversaw the construction of a new worship space completed in 2003. The altar-centered “communion-in- the-round” arrangement strongly influenced the design of the new building which is a practical and symbolic embodiment of a strongly held value of community at St. Francis.

The Rev. Neil Kaminski was called to be St. Francis’ rector in November, 2007.  During his tenure a Memorial Garden was established and a running-water baptismal font fashioned of stone, tile, and glass replaced the wooden font that had been used since the parish was founded.

From January, 2014, through December, 2015, the Rev. Martin Begay served as interim rector, providing spiritual and administrative leadership during a time of reflection and study, as we sought to identify the core values of our congregation and develop a vision for the future.

The Rev. Margaret Taylor, a retired priest in the diocese, served as a Part-Time Interim Rector from January 2015 through May 2017. She lead our Sunday morning worship, while the Vestry and its committees oversaw the church’s other activities, including administration and Christian education.  Pastoral care was provided by our Deacon, The Rev. Judy Lee, who also oversaw St. Francis’ many outreach activities.

The Rev. Corey Jones joined us June 2017 serving first as a Deacon In Charge til his ordination as Priest In Charge on December 2nd, 2017. Following his ordination, Rev. Jones was instrumental in coordinating new traditions that have become beloved to the Parish such as displaying personal Creches during Advent. Together in conjunction with our Director of Music, Alina Voicu, he worked to return special events such as Taize services and the Arts Festival in celebration of St. Francis of Assisi, our patron saint. Father Corey was selected as the next Executive Director of Camp McDowell and assumed those duties March 1st, 2019.

The Rev. James McAdams was selected by our Discernment Committee to join us as Priest In Charge In Discernment in August of 2019. Upon his installation, our Discernment Committee and he continued to meet regularly throughout the year. The Committee was extremely pleased to recommend to the Vestry to issue a call for him to be our Rector. He accepted that call in September 2020 as our new Rector. His leadership and compassionate care have lead our Parish through what could have been a very anxious year of 2020, in light of Covid-19. As our Senior Warden, Tim Shaffer put it, “He's a great listener and a non-anxious presence, with considerable experience and skill in pastoral care, parish administration, ministry and mission. He also has great taste in music! My sincere appreciation to the members of the committee and to Jamie for their dedication to the process and their obvious love of our church. I look forward to many years together.”