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July 15, 2015Volume 5, Number 46
In This Issue
Diocesan Office Update
A Letter from Bishop Benhase
52-Week Prayer Cycle
Convention Hotels
Advent and Lent Retreats
Harvard Business Review on Church Statistics
Summer Camp
St. Elizabeth's, Richmond Hill
Holy Comforter, Martinez
St. Paul's, Savannah
Youth Mission Trip
Social Media Connections
Send us your news
Web Links
 
 




This Sunday's Lections
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Track 1
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Psalm 89:20-37
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

or

Track 2
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm 23
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
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Acolyte Festival on St. Simons Island

The Acolyte & Youth Leadership Festival (AYLF) registration is now open to 3rd through 12th graders.
 

This year's festival will be hosted by Christ Church Frederica on St. Simons Island and will be held Saturday and Sunday, August 22 & 23, 2015. The cost is just $50 to attend, which includes meals, snacks and a t-shirt. Priests will work with youth ministers in putting on this fun event. Participants should bring their own vestments (marked with a church  name or participant's name) and their home church's banner, which will be processed during the 11:15 Sunday morning Eucharist at Christ Church.

During the Acolyte Festival, participants can expect to participate in acolyting and church leadership workshops facilitated by experienced practitioners; to meet other young acolytes and church leaders from across the diocese; to learn about other liturgical practices; to share their own church experience; and to have fun! There may be a possible field trip on Saturday to the beach, so please come prepared with bathing suits and sunscreen!
 

To register for this event, please follow the link below: 

Register for the Acolyte Festival
Diocesan Office Update    

Bishop Benhase will serve this Sunday at Christ Church, Augusta.
 
Canon Logue is assisting congregations this week with searches toward calling a rector, especially Calvary Americus, Annunciation Vidalia, and St. Matthew's Savannah.

Program Manager Rudy Reyes is leading a Columba House Leadership Retreat tomorrow and Friday. 
A Letter from Bishop Benhase     

Dear Friends in Christ:

 

Our 78th General Convention was a momentous one in many ways. We elected an exciting new Presiding Bishop in Michael Curry and restructured the Church for new mission opportunities (and actually funded those opportunities) to make disciples and to make a difference in our communities. We also significantly changed our Church's marriage process making it possible for same sex marriage in the Church. With these changes, we've actually made things less clear, having the marriage canons in conflict with the Book of Common Prayer (including the Catechism), and more diffuse, ceding to individual bishops the authority for local option. While such a compromise for local option protected the consciences of a minority, it has created less "common prayer' throughout our Church. This may have unintended consequences in the future that stretch beyond the marriage issue.

 

So what does this mean for the Diocese of Georgia? The applicable changes go into effect on Advent 1, 2015. I plan to take my time to pray and to listen to many leaders in the Diocese. On July 22, I am gathering the Standing Committee, the Chancellor, my Canons, and other diocesan leaders to hear what they have to say. A month later, I will meet again with the Standing Committee after they have had time to reflect so they might advise me further. At its regular meeting in September, Diocesan Council, leaders elected to represent the Diocese, will have an opportunity to share their thoughts with me and with one another. And then, at the end of September, the clergy of the Diocese, gathered for our Fall Clergy Conference, will weigh in.

 

I want to be clear: the enabling resolutions of General Convention make this my decision, even though I continue to disagree that such authority should be left solely to any one diocesan bishop. My hope is that I will reach a decision that is reflective of the grace and mercy we receive in Jesus and of the Church's good order. Please pray for me.

Scott's Signature
The Right Reverend Scott Anson Benhase
Bishop, Diocese of Georgia
A Prayer Cycle for Each Sunday of the Year
A new one-year prayer cycle combines prayers for every congregation in the Diocese of Georgia with prayers for our ecumenical partners and for our Companion Diocese of The Dominican Republic. The 52 weekly prayers are available in one document: http://gaepiscopal.org/docs/oneyearprayercycle.pdf 

Week 1 prayers are for the first Sunday of the year and for any weekly service through the following Saturday, with Week 2 prayers starting on the second Sunday of the year. We are currently on Week 28 of the 52-week prayer cycle and will be on Week 29 starting this Sunday, July 19. The prayers for this week and next are:

Prayers for July 12-18
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Richmond Hill, St. Elizabeth of Hungary. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Richmond Hill, especially Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church and St. Anne's Catholic Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for St. John the Evangelist (San Juan Evangelista) in Piedra Blanca. 

Prayers for July 19-25
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Rincon, St. Luke's. We also pray for our ecumenical partners, especially the Lutheran churches in Rincon-Jerusalem and St. John's. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for St. Barnabas's Church (San Bernabé) in Pizarette.

Additional Prayer Cycles
We also have online the daily prayer cycle for use with Morning and Evening Prayer (http://gaepiscopal.org/docs/prayercycle.pdf) the Diocese of Georgia Clergy Spouses Prayer Cycle, the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, and the Companion Diocese Prayer Cycle. These are found alongside many other helpful documents in the Reference Library at the diocesan website.
Convention 2015 Hotel Accommodations
The 194th Convention of the Diocese of Georgia meets November 12-14, 2015 at the Coastal Georgia Center in downtown Savannah. The meeting is hosted by the Savannah Convocation, with the Thursday Evensong at St. John's, the Friday Eucharist at Christ Church, and the Saturday morning Eucharist at St. Paul the Apostle. The Diocese has secured blocks of rooms at the following hotels. Convention registration will follow.

Courtyard by Marriott Historic District
415 West Liberty Street, Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 790-8287

 

Hampton Inn Savannah Historic District
201 East Bay Street, Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 231-9700

 

To reserve a room, dial the hotel's Front Desk Agents directly at (912) 231-9700 and refer to the groups block code (EDC) to ensure proper room rates. You may also register online here:  Register for Hampton Inn with the convention rate.

 

The last day to secure a reservation at the quoted discounted room rates is 10/12/15, or when the block of rooms is booked.

 

Holiday Inn Express Savannah Historic District
199 East Bay Street, Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 231-9000

 

To reserve a room, dial the hotel's Front Desk Agents directly at (912) 231-9000 and refer to the group block code (EPI) to ensure proper room rates. You may also register online here:  Register for Holiday Inn Express with the convention rate.

 

The last day to secure a reservation at the quoted discounted room rates is 10/12/15, or when the block of rooms is booked.

 

SpringHill Suites Savannah Downtown/Historic District
150 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 629-5300

Save the Dates for Advent and Lenten Retreats

Honey Creek will host two spirituality retreats this coming year. The Advent Retreat led by the Revs. Dwayne Varas and Lonnie Lacy will teach participants to follow Jesus in the way of St. Ignatius. This retreat will be held December 11 from 5 p.m. until 5 p.m. on December 12th. Click here for a brochure on this retreat.

  

In Lent, the Revs. Liam Collins and Frank Logue will offer a Forgiveness Retreat at Honey Creek. The 2016 Lenten Retreat will meet February 19 at 5 p.m. and conclude by 2 p.m. on the 20th. This will repeat the Forgiving Life Retreat the two led three years ago. 

 

The rates for the conference including three meals are: Lodge 1 Single $144, Lodge 1 Double $99.50, Lodge 2 Single $133, Lodge 2 Double $94, Cottage $90, and Campers and Commuters $64. Registration information will follow.

The Loose Canon 

Harvard Business Review Considers Church Stats 

What measures should guide the management of a church? This is the central question in an article published last week at the Harvard Business Review website. The answer given is not the usual numbers of attendance, membership or giving. Instead, All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California's use of data is given as an alternative.
 
The article author, Zachary First, reports that All Saints has 8,000 members on its rolls, but that they did not just want more numbers. The church's Rector, the Rev. Ed Bacon (from Jesup, Georgia) told him, "Sure, we love to see big numbers, but what really makes our hearts beat fast is transformed people transforming the world. Membership isn't our business. Turning the human race into the human family is."  

Guided by this approach, All Saints replaced the question: How do we grow our membership? with a question more focused on the outcome the leadership desired: How do we more deeply engage the people we serve? The size of All Saints made gathering data a little trickier than at a church where the priest and vestry members know all the other members. They began with software to track engagement and weighted some engagement more significant than others.
 
All Saints' approach certainly isn't the only option, but I do like the way they turned typical stats around by asking a different question. Rather than asking how many people are a part of the church, they asked how engaged those attending were and so rather than wondering how to get more bodies, they worked on more fully connecting with the folks already present. The full article is online here: What to measure if you're mission driven.
 
What do you think of the approach? How might you adapt it to your congregation? Asked differently, if we are in the business of changing lives by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then how is business?
 
Frank
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary
Register for Summer Camp at Honey Creek


Summer Camp is almost ended for this season. A few spots remain in our final session for the summer:  


 

July 19-25 St. Peter II 

Campers completed Grades 6-8

 

Tuition for regular session
is $430 per camper.
 

For more information visit HoneyCreek.org.

 

Click here to register

St. Elizabeth's, Richmond Hill

Organist Sought 

St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Richmond Hill is currently looking for an organist. This is a paying position.  For more information, please call the Rev. Dr. Clark Hubbard at (912) 727-2650. 

Holy Comforter, Martinez 

Two Part-time Openings  

 

Youth Pastor 

We are looking for a youth pastor to minister to our young people and continue the work of our collaboration with Cornerstone, an Augusta  Convocation youth program.  Young adults, college age and older, are especially encouraged to apply.

 

Children's Ministry Pastor

We need a pastor for our children's ministry program, which oversees the needs of all our children from nursery up until Middle School.  We want to continue using our innovative BLAST program, Bible Learning Action Stations, which uses rotational learning to encompass all learning types.  This program really is a blast and uses art, computers, cooking, science and other mediums to share the gospel story.  Previous background in working with children preferred. 

 

Please send resumes to:  The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Taylor at pastor@holycomforterchurch.org.  To learn more about Holy Comforter go to our web site at www.holycomforterchurch.org  or go to Facebook at Church of the Holy Comforter. 

St. Paul's, Savannah  

Organist/Choirmaster Sought 

St. Paul's, Savannah is currently seeking a 3/8-time organist/choirmaster (15 hours per week, AGO scale) with organ performance and choral directing experience. Choir rehearsals Wednesday and Sunday.  Two Sunday Masses per week 10 & 12:15.  Major Holy Days and other special occasions.  For more information see Organist.Choirmaster Job Description.  Interviews are being conducted during July.  Position begins in September. Contact Dean Willoughby at rector@stpaulsavannah.org. 

Procession

Acolytes Ella and Charlie are pictured in procession at Christ Church Savannah. Acolytes from across the Diocese of Georgia will enjoy gathering on St. Simons Island in late August for the Acolyte Festival. See the top story in this issue for complete information.
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Sincerely,                                       
            
Diocesan Staff                             
The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia