About Us

 The Right Reverend Charles Alexander Farmer  

Bishop Alex was elected and consecrated in 2022 as the second bishop of the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. Throughout most of his adult life, Bishop Alex's ministry has focused on the cost of discipleship, the call to unity, the necessity of being quiet before the Lord, and releasing others into ministry empowered by the Holy Spirit.

He was ordained in 2000 after serving a Jacksonville, FL, parish for three years as a youth minister. In 2002, he was called to St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Gainesville, FL, a declining church in need of revitalization. He and the members of St. Michael’s reorganized in 2006 to found Servants of Christ Anglican Church, now a thriving congregation, where he served as rector until just after his election.

As Bishop of the Gulf Atlantic Diocese, has ordained over twenty leaders to Holy Orders. He oversaw the development and implementation of the Diocese's first Strategic Plan beginning in 2023, through which God has seen fit to increase the health of its churches. Under his leadership, the Diocese has continued to grow, producing new disciples and new churches. As he has done nearly every year since his ordination, Bishop Alex continues to spend a week each summer serving at the diocesan summer camp that now serves as a model for the wider Province.

He has been married to his wife, Jody, for 31 years. They have three adult children and three grandchildren.

The Reverend Craig Brown 

Father Craig Brown has been a priest since 2004. He has served as rector and church planter in Kansas and Texas, and currently serves St. Peter’s in the Glen Anglican Church in Glen St. Mary, Florida. He has also been a missionary in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, and a part of several initiatives for new ministry or ministry revitalization.

He is the Associate for Congregational Health in the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of The Anglican Church in North America.  Fr. Craig Brown is a licensed Mental Health Counselor and Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of Florida, and has worked extensively in that field, serving in mental health hospitals, in the prison system, and in outpatient settings. He is in private practice.

His passion is for the transformation of the lives of individuals, families, and communities through the work of the Holy Spirit.  Father Craig is deeply invested in contemplative spirituality and prayer.  He is married to Christie for 23 years and they have two children. 

The Reverend Ronda DeFazio

Since 2009, Mother Ronda has been an Anglican priest. She has served in church ministry for 30 years and in the arts industry for over 40 years; consistently being an advocate and pioneer in the liturgical dance arts and arts in worship/ministry.  She is a former international principal ballerina and guest artist who has worked alongside and collaborated with world-renowned artists in the dance, theater, opera/choral, music, and film industry as well as with architects and curators of art galleries. 

Mtr. Ronda has served as a costume/set/ sound designer, choreographer, assistant film director, producer and is a multi-disciplinary artist, movement director, master dance teacher/adjudicator and spiritual director/mentor for artists.  She has led workshops and retreats in church settings, convents, colleges, universities, art galleries, and sacred spaces with professionals, adults, youth, children, and assisted living ministry.  Mtr. Ronda is the Director of the Anglican Network of Artists in the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church of North America.

She served inner-city Toronto, as an Associate Pastor, where street/prison ministry, restorative justice, and church planting became her focus.    

“I am filled with gratitude to share my passion for the Life Dance in Christ Jesus; encouraging all to be captured by His Love! God the Creator is the Master Artist, and you are His Masterpiece! He made us to create and worship! The gift is great, but the Giver is greater still. Thou, O God, art the Giver, and in Thee is the Life that never dies. To God be the glory!”

Dr. David Garmus

After graduation from UCLA with a commission in the Navy, Dr. Garmus served as a Navy Supply Corps Officer (principally in organizational planning, inventory control, and financial management). Concurrently, he taught college-level courses in management, accounting, banking, finance, computer programming, system development, information systems, and data processing. Retiring from the Navy to become the Development Manager at the CACI Design and Development Center, in Mechanicsburg, PA, he left CACI after 10 years to found DDB Software and The David Consulting Group (DCG) with his partner, David Herron. DCG assisted clients in identifying opportunities for improvements in productivity and software quality. We recommended organizational improvements in process, techniques, tools, environment, personnel, and management. 

Currently, he serves as a Past President of the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG), a large international nonprofit group known for sizing techniques associated with computer software.  Dr. Garmus is a speaker and author for The IT Metrics and Productivity Institute and has written many articles and several books for Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley and Auerbach Publications.  He is the Vice Chair of Kairos Prison Ministry International and is responsible for Long Range Planning as a member of Foundation Board and a member of Finance, Audit, HR, and Location Committees. In addition to his service work in the mission field at church and his involvement in Kairos, he was a Founding Director of Waste Not Want Not in Orange Park,FL which redistributed approximately two million pounds of overstocked or overage food in 2013. 

He received a BS from UCLA; Honor Graduate recognition at Navy Supply Corps School; MBA from Harvard Business School; Certificate in Team Leadership Development in Nonprofit Organizations from Rollins College; Team Training from Northeast Florida Nonprofit Leadership Center; Doctorate in Worship Studies from the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies.

Liudmila Polonskaya

Ms. Polonskaya was born in Crimea, Ukraine and attended the Vaganova Ballet Academy, St. Petersburg since the age of ten.  She was the First Ballerina of the Maly Opera Theater in St. Petersburg, where she interpreted the leading roles of classic repertoires such as Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, Giselle, Paquita, Raymonda, La Bayadere, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty and the Nutcracker.  Ms. Polonskaya has a Master in Ballet Pedagogy at the Vaganova Ballet Academy, Russia and a Diploma of Choreographer and Teacher of Classical Ballet, Character and Historical Dance where she was on faculty at the prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy.  Since then, she has been sought-after as a Master Professor of Dance throughout the world, including regular engagements in Australia, Japan, Korea, USA, and Brazil.  She is the former school principal / director of Tulsa Ballet, director of her own ballet school in Brazil, a certified American Ballet Theater graduate, on faculty at The Florida Ballet, and continues to be in high demand from prestigious schools throughout the USA.