The Rt. Rev. Dr. Susan Brown Snook is a leader in the areas of evangelism, church growth, church planting, and new mission development. Before entering seminary, she worked as a certified public accountant, and as a director of Christian education and a director of lay ministries at an Episcopal church in Arizona.
In 2006, the bishop of Arizona called her to plant a church in the northern suburbs of Phoenix and Scottsdale. From 2006 to 2017, she served as the church planter, vicar, and then rector of the Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Scottsdale, leading it through a process of growth to a program-sized parish and through a building process that created a permanent home for the vibrant congregation. From 2017 to 2019, she served as the Canon for Church Growth and Development” in the Diocese of Oklahoma, and in 2019 she was elected and consecrated as the Fifth Bishop of San Diego.
Bishop Susan is passionate about evangelism – proclaiming the good news of Jesus – and about developing thriving churches that transform lives in their communities. She is also passionate about sharing God’s love with all God’s people through ministries of service and social justice, including supporting the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the church.
Bishop Susan authored God Gave the Growth: Church Planting in the Episcopal Church and co-edited Acts to Action: The New Testament’s Guide to Evangelism and Mission. She co-founded the Acts 8 Movement, a group dedicated to proclaiming resurrection in the Episcopal Church. In 2018 Presiding Bishop Michael Curry appointed her to a six-year term on the board of Forward Movement.
Bishop Susan has been married for over 30 years to her husband, Tom Snook and they have two grown children.