Holland Wilmer of Chestertown, Maryland, to move to Alexandria and the new national capital to serve as rector at St. Paul's Church after the newly ordained deacon Meade tried to serve those parishioners' needs as well as those of Alexandria's older parish for several months despite their significant distance down the Lord Fairfax Highway from his family's preferred home. Only seven Virginia priests (including Meade and Wilmer) gathered for the second diocesan convocation to select Madison's successor, many fewer than the priests and laity (led by Carter Braxton) who had gathered in 1805 and declined their Bishop Madison's request to appoint an assistant for him (with rights of succession). Finally, Meade, Wilmer and several other prominent Episcopalians convinced Richard Channing Moore to move to Richmond, Virginia to become rector of Monumental Church (a significant parish then being built as a memorial to those who died in a disastrous theater fire), and Moore in due course became bishop Madison's successor. Bishop Thomas John Claggett ordained Meade as a priest in 1814. From his ordination until 1821, deacon and then Rev. Meade served as the assistant to Rev. Alexander Balmain, rector of Frederick Parish and who usually served in Winchester, Virginia, about 15 miles away from Meade's home. Meade normally officiated every other Sunday at the Old Chapel near his family's plantations. On the alternate Sundays, his father in law served as the parish's lay leader, while Rev. Meade visited other congregations nearby or more remotely. After Rev. Balmaine died, Meade took on assistants who served at Winchester and Wickliffe, until those parishes were separated from Frederick Parish. Meade also remained as rector after his consecration as assistant bishop as discussed below, in part because his predecessors all kept other positions. Meade also continued manual labor on his farm, and had specifically sought assurances from Bishop Madison before ordination that such work would not violate a longstanding church canon against servile labor, for Meade firmly believed sloth had helped all but destroy the Church of Virginia. He also home-taught his sons and nephew, both in scholarly work and manual labor. Later, Meade became known for his forays throughout Virginia, especially by horse even during severe weather, preaching among diverse parishes, until he ceded to old age and used a carriage (which some joked dated from his father's service with General Washington). In 1818, Meade and Wilmer helped organize an education society in