Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Spring 2012 Issue | Page 23

that was strong enough
that I wanted to give up one
career, one vocation and take
on another.” The extended
discernment period also
provided a level of comfort
and satisfaction in the
ultimate decision process
for Whitmire: “I felt ready,
that I was emotionally and
spiritually ready.”

As assistant to the
rector and director of youth
ministries at St. David’s,
Ashburn, Whitmire hasn’t
given up on some of those
things that attracted him
to medicine. “There was
that element of following
[patients] through the
ups and downs of their
lives,” he said. “I see very
similar elements as a priest,
following people along their
spiritual journeys.”

But after being held-up at
gunpoint with his infant
son in his arms in 1993, he
started to look at faith in a
different light.

“The greatest thing
about working on ‘Friends’
… is that it had exploded
into a hit show,” said
THE REV. ANN GILLESPIE
Ackerman. And working for
a producer on a hit show
added up to perks – concert
tickets, backstage passes,
gifts of shoes and clothing.
“But, with all that great
stuff coming my way, I really
felt unfulfilled. I felt empty
in my spiritual life,” said
Ackerman. “I remember
praying to God, ‘I know you
THE REV. DR. NORMAN WHITMIRE
don’t want me to feel this
way. So I’m ready. I’ll do
whatever you want me to
do, just show me the way.’
And it began to open.”

Ackerman took on a
PETER ACKERMAN fell
job with more manageable
into showbiz honestly: his
hours at a commercial
father, Harry Ackerman,
property management
was an executive producer
company, which freed
for “Bewitched,” “The
up time for him to work
Flying Nun,” “Hazel” and
THE REV. PETER ACKERMAN
as a paid youth leader at
“Dennis the Menace,” to
his congregation. Before
name just a few. His mother,
too long, that position
Elinor Donahue, was best
translated into a full-time
known as Betty Henderson
job as parish administrator.
on “Father Knows Best.”
And then, his rector asked,
“That’s sort of what I knew
“Have you ever thought
growing up,” said Ackerman.
about the priesthood?”
He started out as an actor,

“It was a scary time,”
working small roles on
said Ackerman, who was
several television series.
raising two children with his
Soon enough, though, he
THE REV. LIN HUTTON
wife, Marie. “I kept trying to
got a look at the “other”
do it my way, on my terms.”
side of the business – editing, casting sessions and the like. It
Finally, the Rt. Rev. Jon Bruno of the Diocese of Los Angeles
“opened up this whole new world for me.”
encouraged him to go to a full-time seminary, and he ended

Ackerman worked as a freelance production assistant
up at Virginia Theological Seminary. “It was scary, but God
on various jobs and music videos – most notably standing in
provided.” A relative came into some money and offered to
for Steven Tyler during a run-through for Aerosmith’s “Janie’s pay off his pre-seminary debt. Bruno offered to help with the
Got a Gun,” and working on Madonna’s “Express Yourself.”
move to Virginia. “Marie and I knew it was a calling,” said

“My dream was always to go into television,” said
Ackerman. “She saw it as much as I did.”
Ackerman. And that’s just what he did, working as a

Now as rector of St. Christopher’s, Springfield,
temporary writer’s assistant on the series “Full House” and
Ackerman is playing to his strengths. “I’ve always enjoyed
then as assistant to the line producer of “Friends.”
and felt comfortable in being in front of people,” he

“It was during ‘Friends’ that I really started to re-engage
explained. “I love interacting with people … Whether I’m
my faith,” said Ackerman. A cradle Episcopalian, Ackerman
presiding at the table or whether I’m delivering a sermon
was born on Easter Sunday, as his mother was on the way
home from her own baptism at All Saints’, Beverly Hills.
continued on page 22
Spring 2012 / VIRGINIA EPISCOPALIAN

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