Rector's Report

St. Raphael's by the Sea Anglican Church

Annual Meeting / January 23, 2011

St. Raphael's by the Sea Anglican Church held her first service on August 7, 2010 at 5:00 PM at the Beach Methodist Church on Fort Myers Beach, Florida with twenty people in attendance. Our parish began with twenty-five members from St. Raphael's Episcopal Church, including five members of the Vestry - Roxie Smith, Betty Goodacre, Pat McIntosh, Sue Egony, and Hazel Anlauf; the Parish Secretary, Leeanna Parsons; and the Children's Sunday School Director, A. J. Bassett; all of whom chose to follow Christ as The Way, The Truth, and The Life. From this belief, our mission statement "To Know Christ and to Make Christ Known" was formed. Like Abraham, who left his beloved city of Ur to follow the Lord' bidding, we too left our physical church buildings to journey with Christ into the unknown. We, who had been the caretakers of the historic church on the island, became nomads for Christ.

To begin our journey, we were given a special temporary covering for both our clergy and our parish in the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America while our paperwork was duly processed. This covering served to protect our status as a parish and myself as your new rector. Without the leniency and generosity of the leadership in the new Anglican Province going all the way up to the Archbishop, we could not have made this move. Like a mother guarding her newborn baby, the Anglican Church in North America opened up her arms to us and brought us under her protection. We came as refugees seeking a place to worship and were received as family.

In like manner, through the hospitality of the Beach Methodists and the monastery of St. Claire, we were also provided a place to worship our Lord Jesus the Christ. Our weekly worship services were held at the cost of a minimum donation on Saturdays in the Parish Hall where the Methodists were also worshipping during the non-season months. As for our Rosary services, through the generosity of the good nuns we continue to hold our prayer services free of charge every Thursday in their beautiful chapel on Fort Myers Beach.

On August 21^st following our Saturday evening worship service, we had our first baptism at St. Raphael's by the Sea. Justin Matthew Parsons expressed the desire to be baptized that night, since he was soon returning to Oregon and had no church home. Betty Goodacre, our Altar Guild Directress, handed me a bowl from the Methodist's kitchen, two of our parishioners stepped forward to sponsor him, and Justin was then baptized. Afterwards, he received his First Communion from the elements blessed in the earlier service. The movement of the Holy Spirit was evident throughout this glorious event. Justin was even healed of a headache. Since then, we have had two more baptisms, Christopher Parsons and Jerry Erickson.

Shortly after our new parish began, an historic turn of events took place. The owner of the Shrimp Fleet, Dennis Henderson, contacted Betty Goodacre and invited St. Raphael's by the Sea Anglican Church to host the Shrimp Fleet Blessing for 2011. The Blessing ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 20^th at 2:30pm on the shrimp docks. The Rt. Reverend Neil Lebhar, Bishop of the Gulf Atlantic Diocese in the Anglican Church of North America, kindly accepted the shrimpers' invitation to bless the Shrimp Fleet.

In expression of their love for Christ, before our first service, we were given generous gifts for our worship. Beautiful gifts such as an antique processional cross, silver heirloom candlesticks, new brass bells, an antique silver chalice and paten set, a silver heirloom plate for communion bread and many other gifts of love so we could offer our best to the Lord. Since then, many more gifts have been given to enhance our worship, including a stained glass window, a Paschal Candle stand with Advent Wreath, and two creches.

To help us kick off our first service, Jean Matthew got us front page news coverage in 'The Sandpaper' with her article. This article was picked up by several online Anglican news organizations giving St. Raphael's by the Sea a widespread coverage beyond our greatest hopes. Because of this coverage, something unexpected and wonderful happened. We were given a grant of $12,000.00 from Christ Church Anglican of Phoenix, Arizona. This grant is usually given only to other parishes within Christ Church's local diocese, but after reading about St. Raphael's by the Sea's story on the Internet our reasons for leaving the Episcopal Church an exception was made by their bishop.

This generous gift allowed us to move our worship space to the Beach Movie Theatre, where we could hold services on Sunday mornings. On the Feast Day of the Archangel St. Raphael, Sunday, October 24^th, at10 AM, we celebrated our first Sunday Eucharist, giving thanks to God for having our own place of worship. The owners of the Beach Movie Theatre have been most generous in allowing us to use without extra costs, their building for storage, their parking spaces and access to their sign for advertisement. This new space has brought us new friends through our now prominent location.

On Saturday, November 6th, the Gulf Atlantic Diocese held its first Synod at the Advent Retreat Center near Live Oak, Florida.  St. Raphael's by the Sea on Fort Myers Beach was one of three new parishes officially received into the Gulf Atlantic Diocese. As your rector, I was also officially welcomed and licensed as a Priest in Good Standing in the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. Our beautiful donated banner led our procession into the Synod. We were also given the good news that Bishop Lebhar had appointed the Reverend Susan Tweardy-Rhodes to serve as our deacon, a blessing for all of us. Deacon Susan is currently teaching a Healing Class for us on Sundays after the worship service.

On Christ the King Sunday, we welcomed our new deacon to St. Raphael's by the Sea. Instead of using a portable banquet table to celebrate the Eucharist; we celebrated the Eucharist in the largest auditorium at the Beach Theatre with a beautiful altar given to us from another church. It was a joyous celebration!

For our first Outreach, some of our parishioners gathered at the Red Coconut to help the local Firefighters and the Fort Myers Beach Chamber wrap Christmas presents for needy children who live on Fort Myers Beach. Our vestry also voted to donate funds to the following organizations: 

• PACE Institute for Girls of Lee County
• American Marine Institute of Fort Myers
• God's Table
• Nation's Food Bank (Israel Suarez)
• Salvation Army of Fort Myers
• Juna Amagara of Uganda

In keeping with our mission statement, we are making Christ known to others both locally and abroad.

To celebrate our first Christmas Eve service, Richard Cavell presented St. Raphael's by the Sea with his Lowery Celebration Deluxe Limited Edition organ on December 7, 2010. William, his son, wrote in his note to us, "We are thankful the organ will help support your new church and we wish you much success and wonderful music."  The new organ replaced the use of a keyboard given to us from a non-denominational church shortly after we moved into the Beach Theatre. Jean Matthew, our musician, who is a trained organist, was delighted to hear of the good news of this generous gift that has become one of our most cherished assets.

We closed the end of 2010 with great joy and much for which to be thankful. At our Christmas Eve service our attendance was forty-eight. This is amazing, especially when we realize that we had only been a parish for less than five months! The parish also gave me my first ever Christmas bonus! Special thanks to all for your generosity and thoughtfulness.

As Rector of St. Raphael's by the Sea, I serve as Chaplain for the Beach Chamber of Commerce and as Vice-President of the Beach Ministerial Association. The presence of St. Raphael's by the Sea on Fort Myers Beach has already impacted our small island. In the meantime, we have a rummage sale coming up at the end of this month and Paul Todd is doing two concerts for us in March as another fund-raiser. We will also be hosting the Good Friday Service for the Beach Ministerial Association this year and don't forget the Shrimp Fleet Blessing! Remembering that we remain nomads, we are looking forward to the months and years ahead in reaching more people for Christ wherever the Lord leads us to worship. Let us resolve to know Christ and to make Christ known. With your continued support and efforts, we can go forward for Christ!