NATCHEZ — After serving as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church for 12 years, the Rev. Zabron “Chip” Davis will be leaving the post in September.

Davis has received a call to a position working for Bishop Neil Alexander in the Diocese of Atlanta, and he announced the call in a letter to Trinity members Tuesday.

“In the Episcopal Church, priests move regularly,” Davis said. “None of us are in a place permanently.

“It is usual for an Episcopal priest to move after a reasonable amount of time,” he said.

While Davis said he was excited to take the new opportunity, it will be bittersweet.

“We are sad to be leaving,” he said.

Along with being Trinity’s rector, Davis is an ex officio member of the Trinity Episcopal Day School board and serves on the board of directors for Natchez Regional Medical Center.

He will be a member of the school board as long as he is rector of the church, and Davis said he would serve on the hospital board until he moves.

“As I understand the law, I am a member of the hospital board as long as I am a resident of Adams County, and I will serve until such time as I am not a resident of Adams County,” he said.

The exact date of his permanent move has not yet been set, he said.

When Davis leaves, the diocesan bishop will become the church rector until one is appointed, and the vestry will become the church authority.

The exact details of what Davis will be doing in Atlanta have not been ironed out yet, and after he takes a trip to the city this week he will know more, he said.

“At that time, I hope the bishop will make an announcement,” he said. “I am not going to speculate, and he has asked me not to.”

Davis will preach and celebrate mass at Trinity on Aug. 30, Sept. 6 and Sept. 13, and will have a leave-taking service with the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, the Rt. Rev. Duncan Gray on Sept. 15.