Church of the Holy Spirit, Leesburg, Settles Into New Home

Pastor Clancy Nixon reflects on the strides the church he founded 18 years ago has made.

It started out as a small meeting in his family living room, where eight people showed up.

"Four of them were named Nixon," he says with a smile.

Then an attorney in private practice, Nixon said he was called to full-time ministry by the Lord and envisioned that his role would be in church planning.

The Church of the Holy Spirit, affiliated with the Anglican Church of North America, was born out of Truro in Fairfax and moved to Ashburn in 2000, where it remained for 10 years in different forms.

"When we had 72 people in our living room we realized it was time to move," he said.

For nine years, the church gathered at Mill Run Elementary School, where each week church-goers would help in setting up and tearing down the school gym for church services.

"It was a wonderful time for us," Nixon says. "It was a way that people could serve that's so different from a traditional church. It helps to remind us that church is the people not the steeple."

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