Every item on the Honey Creek Summer Camp wish list is now on its way to our camp director. The list, first published in last week's From the Field caught the eye of the Rev. Lyde Andrews. He is a priest of thus Diocese working as an Army Chaplain attached to the Special Operations Task Force stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Chaplain Andrews felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit to complete whatever was lacking on the list and promptly did so. When asked if the Diocese might share the news, he naturally did not want publicity for this, but did understand our desire to share the good news. Chaplain Andrews said, "The Diocese of Georgia has always been, and continues to be, such an incredible blessing to me, and it's an honor to be able to give back in some small way."

This is, of course, less a story of one person making a gift, and more a sign of God's grace and activity in our midst. So thank you to Chaplain Andrews for both the gift and for permitting us to share the news even if he didn't want publicity for what he called "just doing what God wants us to do."

Diocesan Office Update

Canon Willoughby meets today with the diocesan Finance Committee.

Tomorrow, Bishop Benhase will Blessing a New Building at St. Anne's, Tifton.

On Friday, Bishop Benhase, Canons Logue and Willoughby, and Rudy Reyes will be at St. Paul's, Albany for Diocesan Council.

On Saturday, Bishop Benhase will be at the Albany Convocational Confirmation at St. Patrick's, Albany.

On Sunday, Bishop Benhase will make his visitation to St. Paul's, Albany, in the morning, and Good Shepherd, Thomasville, in the afternoon.

Next week, Bishop Benhase will be on retreat.

Regional Confirmations at St. Patrick's Albany

Bishop Benhase will be at St. Patrick's, Albany, this Saturday for regional confirmations. The service is at 4 p.m. and will include a reception afterward.

This is offered specifically for the Albany Convocation, but all are welcome. St. Patrick's is at 4800 Old Dawson Road in Northwest Albany.

Honey Creek Commission News

Charlie Hough has stepped down as chair of the Honey Creek Commission. Bishop Benhase accepted Charlie's resignation while insisting that he remain an active member of the Commission. The Bishop called Charlie's leadership at Honey Creek "essential to its survival and now it is thriving. We wouldn't be in the hopeful place we are now without Charlie leading as he did." The Bishop named Joel Coble as the new Chair the Honey Creek Commission saying "Joel brings the right set of skills for the next phase of Honey Creek's ongoing renewal."

Hough took the helm of the Commission at a time when the Camp and Retreat Center's future was very much in doubt. Charlie led the Commission in instituting needed changes in its operations while also, through the bond sale, addressing long-deferred maintenance issues. Charlie brought years of expertise in business to help make the turnaround at Honey Creek a reality. Since 2012, Honey Creek has operated "in the black," which was no small accomplishment. The Honey Creek Commission working with Executive Director, Dade Brantley, is now looking to the future with renewed hope in Honey Creek being a strategic missionary asset of the Diocese of Georgia. In reflecting on Charlie's chairing of the Commission, Dade Brantley said: "Charlie's style of leadership was crucial during this time of transition. He worked with me daily to make the hard decisions essential to changing our operations while leading the Commission effectively in long-term planning."

At the same time, the Bishop accepted Hough's resignation from the Board of the Corporation of the Diocese.

Greneker Hired as Honey Creek Campus Coordinator

Our Camp and Conference Center staff will grow June 8 as Thomas Greneker joins the team as Campus Coordinator. In addition to his duties in overseeing the buildings and grounds, Greneker will shadow Elizabeth Burns in this her last year as Summer Camp Director. Next year, Greneker will also serve as Director of the Summer Camp Program. A 2015 graduate of the University of Georgia, Greneker is well familiar with Honey Creek, having grown up coming to the camp.

Honey Creek Executive Director Dade Brantley said, "Thomas greatest asset is his ability to connect with adults and youth alike, which is a span few can manage as well." He added, "He brings volumes of experience in group facilitation, and I look forward learning from him as we work side by side at Honey Creek."

Creation Care Commission

"Green" Work Weekend at Honey Creek

The Diocese of Georgia's Creation Care Commission (formally known as the "Green Team") invites you to a work weekend to boost Honey Creek's environmental stewardship efforts. "Green" Work Weekend will be held at Honey Creek from June 12-13.

Participants will help develop a food waste reduction program and composting system at the dining hall. This summer, campers and staff will participate in a food waste challenge to significantly decrease food waste going to the landfill, where it creates methane (a potent greenhouse gas). Paper products and food/liquid waste suitable for composting will be collected and taken to compost receptacles behind the dining hall.

The group will gather around 5 p.m. on Friday and depart around 4 p.m. Saturday. In addition to launching a food waste/composting project, the group will worship and explore Honey Creek together, and will also begin developing environmental education resources for our congregations.

Lodging cost is $12-$82, with tent, cottage, and lodge options available. Meals cost $37, which includes dinner Friday and breakfast and lunch Saturday. Those wishing to come Saturday only can have meals prorated.

To register or for more information, contact The Rev. Deacon Leeann Culbreath at deacon@stannestifton.com.

Youth Programs

Building a Youth-Led Ministry for Youth

Last year, the Diocese worked with Youth Presence (YP) Ministries to put on two different workshops in three different locations that attracted fifteen congregations from around the Diocese. These two workshops were apart of YP Ministries three phase approach to creating a youth presence in ones congregation: Phase One-Create the Vision, Phase Two-Raise up Adult Teams, and Phase Three-Youth Lead Ministry.

This summer we will be hosing the third phase: Youth Lead Ministry (also referred to as After Damascus). This training will be held at Honey Creek starting on the evening of July 26 and ending before dinner on Friday July 31. Churches are asked to bring teams of youth and two adults. The cost for this week is $295. This fee includes all meals and lodging in the dorms as well as program supplies. Note: This training will still be very effective with out the background of the first two phases.

The skills that the youth will learn are based around the community model of leadership. This model of leadership focus on collaboration between youth and adults. In addition to the leadership model, we will help them discover their skills and gifts. The following topics will be covered are below:

How to tell your story and how to listen to others
How to express your thought, opinion, or belief - Speaking personally & "I" messages
Identifying your gifts and being able to offer them
Idea making
Utilizing a formula for collaborative leadership
The leadership of presence
Servant leadership skills
Definitions and principles of the Community Model
How to begin community at home
Circles of Leadership
Creating the Sacred Circle
Faith from love
Faith from community (belonging)
Faith from doubt and struggle
Faith that belongs to be (what I believe)
Faith that is shared (spiritual leadership)

I can send any congregation the prospectus for this training. Contact me at (912) 236-4279 or eburns@gaepiscopal.org for more information.

-Elizabeth Burns, Missioner for Youth

Loose Canon

Yearning for a Church Transformed

"We can no longer wait inside our sanctuaries to welcome those

who want to become Episcopalian....We can continue to watch our church dwindle
until it someday becomes an endowed museum to the faith of our forebears....
Or we can lose our life for Jesus' sake so that we might save it."

The text above is from a document I am proud to have been on the team to create: A Memorial to the Church. The text is meant to give focus to the work of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church which meets next month in Salt Lake City. My friends and I created nothing new. Not only did will build on the good work done by the Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church, but the decline of mainline Christian churches is no secret and so many of us across a number of denominations are all looking how how best to be faithful in these changing circumstances. Life-giving transformation must come. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit is quite capable of making all things new.

What is a Memorial?
A Memorial is an odd term used by the Episcopal Church for a written statement urging action by the General Convention. Memorials written by Chicago, Montana, New Jersey, and South Florida in 1964 led to a name change dropping "Protestant" from the "Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States." More notably William Augustus Muhlenberg and others presented a Memorial to the House of Bishops in 1853 which touched off increased ecumenical work by our church.

Not a New "Decade of Evangelism"
Following the lead of the 1988, meeting of all the bishops of the Anglican Church, called the Lambeth Conference, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church named the 1990s as the Decade of Evangelism. Let's forget for the moment that a church declaring a Decade of Evangelism is like an airline declaring a Decade of Flight. The 1990s saw steeper church decline than in previous decades. This doesn't mean evangelism is a bad idea. The decline just means we, as a denomination, didn't share the Gospel the way we hoped. But we never really thought we could grow the Body of Christ by passing resolutions in meetings did we?

This is why the present Memorial to the Church acknowledges clearly that none of what we might hope will occur other than on a foundation of reading scripture, praying individually and corporately, and serving God through serving others. In that sense, we don't need the General Convention to bring about the transformation for which we yearn. That just comes through faithfully following Jesus and sharing the love of God with others.

Specific Action to Make this Real
The Memorial gains meaning when it is made real with actions of the General Convention which live into the change for which it calls. So, those of us who wrote the Memorial also crafted nine resolutions that give substance to the initiative. I will write about these resolutions in the coming days, but they are all gathered with the Memorial at EpiscopalResurrection.org

Please note that you will see people have joined us in signing the Memorial, but doing so is not endorsement for this group of resolutions. Each Deputy and Bishop will prayerfully decide their own way to support the goals of the Memorial through the votes they cast in Convention. But the key is that each of us who sign the Memorial agree that this is the vision toward which we are working. We hold in common a desire to remove obstacles embedded in current structures and to refocus "our energies from building up a large, centralized, expensive, hierarchical church-wide structure, to networking and supporting mission at the local level, where we all may learn how to follow Jesus into all of our neighborhoods."

I believe if we take concrete action in support of this while building up the Body of Christ through the practices of the faith we uphold, then whether the specific resolutions found at that website pass or not, the General Convention will begin to turn our beloved church toward the right goal.

-Frank

The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary

General Convention

State of the Church Report and Nominee Videos

The House of Deputies State of the Church Committee (SOTC) has concluded its work for the triennium. The report, submitted as part of the Blue Book, is available here.

The charge of the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church, the oldest committee of the Church, is to prepare a report for the House of Deputies that shows an accurate picture of The Episcopal Church and to approve the form of the Annual Parochial Report. The Committee on the State of the Church has partnered with Forward Movement , working together to offer an overview, or "snapshot," of the 38- page report. This summary report is available as a PDF document in two formats - as an 8 1/2 x 11 full sheet here or as a half-sheet suitable for use as a bulletin insert, available at no fee here. Congregations are encouraged to print and distribute this information so that Episcopalians across the church will gain an awareness of the state of our Church.

Videos of Presiding Bishop Nominees

The Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop has posted online a video from each of those nominated for that office.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal

The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry

The Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas

The Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith

Presiding Bishop Election Process

On Saturday, June 27, members of the House of Bishops with seat, voice, and vote will convene in St. Mark's Cathedral in Salt Lake City, where the election will occur in the context of prayer and reflection. Once an election has taken place, current Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will send a deputation to the House of Deputies for confirmation of the election.

The Rev. Gay Jennings, President of the House of Deputies, will refer the name to the House of Deputies legislative committee on the Confirmation of the Presiding Bishop without announcing the name to the full House. The legislative committee will make a recommendation to the House of Deputies whether to confirm the election or not confirm, and the House of Deputies will immediately vote on the recommendation. President Jennings will then appoint a delegation from the House of Deputies to notify the House of Bishops of the action taken.

The Presiding Bishop serves for a nine-year term. The Presiding Bishop is Primate, Chief Pastor of the Church, Chair of the Executive Council, and President of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.

Youth Programs

Last Chance to Register for Happening #95

Happening #95 will be held at Honey Creek May 29-31, 2015, and is open to those in grades 10 - 12. During a Happening weekend, participants worship, play, sing, and talk about God's place in their lives. They make new friends who share similar concerns and questions - a reassuring discovery.

A teenager who acts as "rector" leads the weekend with the help of a staff consisting mostly of young people. Melissa Smith of St. Michael and All Angels, Savannah, will serve as the Rector of Happening #95. Some staff members give challenging talks, after which there's time for discussion and activity. Together, the staff and participants share in an exploration of the impact of Christian faith in their daily lives. Happeners who attend a weekend for their first time are called "Candidates." To be a Candidate, one must:

Have completed the 9th grade (including those completing 9th grade this spring) and have not begun college.
Fill out the application:
Candidate Application for Happening #95 (see below)

Happening costs $101 to attend, and financial assistance is available. For more information, please visit the Georgia Happening website.

Click here to register

EYCS College Scholarship Application Due May 31

Education Scholarship for College Applications Due! Deadline, Sunday, May 31, 2015. Apply online: eycs.georgiaepiscopal.org Scholarships are based on financial need and are awarded for undergraduate education. Scholarships are not available for graduate school. Applicant must apply ONLINE by May 31st, for the following academic year. Thank you on behalf of the Episcopal Youth and Children's Services Board.

Columba House Savannah

Feast of St. Columba Summer Cookout!

Columba House is celebrating its patronal feast day with the annual Feast of St. Columba Summer Cookout. Columba House will celebrate the ministry of the House Residents as they end their year of service. There will be good food, music, and company. Everyone is invited!

Tuesday, June 9th at 6 pm
Columba House Savannah

For more information, check out the Facebook event here: Saint Columba Cookout

Friends, Family, and the Fourth at Honey Creek

Celebrate July 4th at Honey Creek! Come down between Wednesday, July 1-Sunday, July 5 and enjoy time with friends and family.

This week falls in-between camp sessions, and the schedule is yours to design! Enjoy meals in the dining hall, swim in the pool, swing on the tire swings, go kayaking, visit Jekyll and St. Simons Islands, go to Summer Waves, and spend time with family and friends.

Contact Carolyn at Honey Creek (912-265-9218) to make reservations for lodging and meals in the dining hall. honeycreek.org

Blessing of the Boats this Sunday on Lake Blackshear

Christ Episcopal Church, Cordele, invites you to attend the 13th annual Blessing of the Boats on Sunday, May 24th at 9 a.m. on the dock at the Lake Blackshear Resort. The Rev. Larry Williams, Rector of Christ Church, will be the celebrant for this special service.

Start off your summer of recreation and leisure in a positive way by attending this meaningful service. Canoes, kayaks, jet skis, boats of any type are all welcome. If it floats, we will ask God to bless it and you as well. Sunday, May 24th, 9 a.m. on the dock at the Lake Blackshear Resort.

Little Library at Columba House

Last Saturday, Columba House in Savannah held a dedication for the new Little Free Library in front of the ministry center in midtown Savannah. Find out more about little free libraries at littlefreelibrary.org.

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Sincerely,

Diocesan Staff

The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia