Loren B. MeadLoren B. Mead (1930-2018) was a native of Florence, South Carolina. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of the South (Sewanee) and a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina. In 1955, he graduated from the Virginia Theoloical Seminary. Mead was ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church that same year, and priest in 1956. He served as a rector in South Carolina and North Carolina before agreeing to direct Project Test Pattern, a national initiative of the Episcopal Church, in 1969. The Alban Institute, which he founded in 1974, grew out of this work. He was president of the Institute until 1994. When he stepped down from its presidency, the institute had 8,500 members and was recognized as a leading force in the life of the contemporary church. He continued to consult, write, and teach until the last years of his life. During a career that spanned six decades, Mead wrote many books, including The Once and Future Church (1991), Tran Read More Read Less