[2] Historically, the diocese's congregations have favored low, or evangelical, churchmanship, with a generally more conservative theological and cultural tone than the Episcopal Church nationally.

For 10 years Bishop Murray traveled throughout the diocese shepherding his flock, providing steady leadership during a period of great change in the Episcopal Church, not the least being the adoption of a new prayer book and the ordination of women, things that some parishioners were strongly outspoken against.

The new bishop was ordained on April 11, 1981, in the Field House of the University of West Florida in Pensacola before 2,500 people who had gathered to witness and celebrate the consecration.

To improve access for the far-flung parishes of the Central Gulf Coast and enable the Bishop and his staff to better serve the people, the diocesan offices were relocated to downtown Pensacola in 1989.

During Duvall’s episcopate, two successful fund drives raised money to enhance the capability of the Diocese to serve the people of southern Alabama and northwestern Florida.

The first, "Venture in Mission," launched in 1983, raised $1.5 million ($3,989,111 in 2021 money), part of which financed construction of the Chapel of the Resurrection at Beckwith Camp & Conference Center.

After a year-long search process, meeting at St. Stephen’s Church in Brewton, Alabama, on January 6, 2001, a special convention of the Diocese elected the Very Rev.

The shield was designed by Professor James Waring McCardy of the University of the South, Sewanee, who is recognized as a top authority on ecclesiastical heraldry in America.