For the second time in less than a year we mourn the loss of our chief pastor. The Most Revd Michael Dean Stephens died on 29th March 1998 after suffering a heart attack at his home in Metairie, La, USA. He held office as Metropolitan Archbishop for only 164 days.
Archbishop Stephens, who was born in 1940, and leaves a wife, Wanda, and son, David, was elected as the Third Metropolitan of the Original Province on 15th October 1997 during the XII Provincial Synod, and succeeded The Most Revd William O. Lewis who died on 23rd September 1997, following a long illness.