David Sibley

Priest in the Episcopal Church

The best decision I have made in this life is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I want others to experience the same joy and hope that I have experienced in following after Jesus. I am an Episcopal Priest, and I’ve served as the Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walla Walla, Washington since 2019, after seven years serving in churches in the greater New York City area. I was ordained in 2011, and have served as a solo parish priest ever since.

In the wider church, I’ve served in a variety of roles: as a Deputy to the Episcopal Church‘s General Convention on behalf of the Diocese of Spokane (and an alternate on behalf of the Diocese of Long Island); as a contributor to churchwide efforts to improve health benefit affordability, a contributor to efforts to offer more expansive versions of the Book of Common Prayer 1979’s Rite II Eucharistic Prayers (and keeper of the Word document during the process!), a contributor to Forward Movement’s Lent Madness for over a decade, and in early 2026, a contributor to Forward Day by Day.

Husband & Dad

I’m married to Dr. Emily Sibley, a scholar of Comparative Literature, with special focus on Arabic literature (and what constitutes “literature”) and the environmental humanities. Her first book, The Poetics of Incivility, will be published by Cornell University Press in 2026. She serves as a Senior Visiting Researcher at Whitman College in Walla Walla. Together, we’re parents to a daughter (who I’ll style as N her for privacy’s sake) born in 2021. Our household also includes a mischevious Lakeland Terrier, Siena. We aren’t so daft as to claim we “own” her. Most of the time, she owns us.

…and all the other stuff.

Outside of my vocations in the church and family, I’ve got a wide variety of interests. I’m a sports fanatic – particularly for my beloved (and maddening) South Carolina Gamecocks, Furman University (my alma mater), the Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Cubs, and Liverpool FC. My family and I love spending time in the outdoors and going camping (albeit with the pleasant amenities of a pop-up camper.)

I love learning about most all things, and in the process of learning have become a technophile (albeit with growing ambivalence about much of our technology), a home do-it-yourselfer, ham radio operator (W7BCP, mainly working FT8 and digital modes), an avgeek and almost-a-pilot (I soloed in 2018, but ultimately moved to Washington before finishing my license.)

Oh, and there’s the other thing. I was lucky enough to get called to appear on Jeopardy! in Season 39 and managed to go on a four-game run, which earned me an invitation to the 2023 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions where I won a game before exiting in the semi-finals. As one friend from the experience quips, it’s a fun party trick, but not much more than that.