A Texas-based Anglican diocese that deadlocked over choosing its next bishop earlier this year has now elected a new leader. The Anglican Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast chose the Rev. Paul Donison as its bishop ordinary on Saturday, the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) announced on Wednesday.

Donison will serve as ordinary-elect and bishop-in-charge until the ACNA College of Bishops considers his election at its meeting in January. Bishop Ryan Reed, who has served as interim bishop since September, will remain as bishop consultant during the transition.

In a letter to the diocese, Reed said clergy and lay delegates voted for Donison to become the young diocese's second bishop "in an overwhelming fashion." Reed asked for prayers for Donison and for all who will assist him in the transition, and thanked the clergy and delegates for giving their time to represent their congregations in the councils of the Church.

"I am leaving this synod with great joy and a new hope for the days to come for this diocese and for each of your congregations," Reed wrote. "We are in fact one church with one mission."

The diocese is also set to grow. It will expand to include the Great Plains Missionary District, where Donison had served as assisting bishop. An online synod is planned for early next year. The missionary district, which seeks to spread the ACNA's presence in the region, reports congregations in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and northern Texas.

The Western Gulf Coast diocese traces its beginnings to 2011, when a group of Anglican congregations in Texas and Louisiana formed a regional body within the ACNA. The road to this election was not smooth. In May, the diocese held a synod at St. Timothy's Cathedral to elect its next bishop, with the Rev. Russell Martin and the Rev. Ben Sharpe as candidates. After seven ballots, neither candidate secured the necessary majority, and the synod narrowly approved a resolution to send the matter to the ACNA College of Bishops.

ACNA leadership then made Donison the sole candidate for the November 7 vote, according to Anglican Ink, and "walkabout meetings" were held in various locations before the vote so delegates could meet him.

Donison's own story is one of conversion. According to his online biography, he was an atheist who came to Christ at age 17 in the 1990s. He was ordained in 2004 and served as rector for several parishes in Canada before accepting a leadership role in Texas in 2016. He holds a degree in fine arts from the University of Victoria and a degree in theology from Regent College, and he is a doctoral candidate at Trinity Anglican Seminary. He and his wife, Monika, have four children.

The diocese now looks ahead to January, when the College of Bishops will consider Donison's election, and to the online synod that will welcome the Great Plains congregations into the fold — a season of new leadership for a young diocese that, after months of waiting, has found its bishop.