Updates from the Bishop’s Office

Acting Minister for Youth and Young Adult Ministries

We give thanks to the ministry.

The Reverend Dakota (Cody) Blackmon was born and raised in the Diocese of Arkansas, attending St Peter’s Episcopal Church in Conway before being endorsed for ordination by the same. He attended the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas where he did his field education working at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd helping to rebuild their children, youth, and family ministry in the wake of Covid. After graduating from SSW, he was offered a full time internship at Good Shepherd in order to help facilitate the expansion of that program. Returning to the Diocese of Arkansas, Cody was ordained a Deacon in the summer of 2025. He has also served in the Army National Guard for fourteen years, first as an enlisted non-commissioned officer and now as a commissioned officer in the military chaplaincy. He will be serving as the Clergy-in-charge of St Nicholas Episcopal Church in Maumelle and in the Diocesan Office as the Minister for Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministries.

With the exciting addition of several new staff members to our Diocesan Staff, we have created an organizational chart to show what the primary responsibilities are for each staff member. 

In addition to the organizational chart, we have also added brief lists of responsibilities of each staff member on our diocesan website with direct contact information for each. You can view that here. 

Thank you for your generous welcome to our new staff members and for your willingness to bear with us as we continue to grow into a diocesan staff and our new roles together.

Thank you to the Reverend Brenda Krall and the Reverend Darrell Stayton, who have accepted the bishop’s appointment as our new diocesan intake officers for our Title IV process. Brenda and Darrell bring a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge to this work. Title IV is the process designated by our Episcopal Church Canons which upholds and regulates the professional conduct of our clergy. Its goals are to promote healing, repentance, forgiveness, restitution, justice, amendment of life, and reconciliation. Intake Officers are a key component in this process, and they are available via phone call or email with their information posted on the diocesan website under our staff contact section (even though they are not technically diocesan staff).