West Texas bishop announces leadership transition plan

From ENS-

The Rt. Rev. Gary Lillibridge, in a Jan. 28 letter to the diocese, announced his intention to step down from his responsibilities as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas sometime during 2017. His plans call for an orderly leadership transition over the next three years. As he begins his 11th year as a bishop this year, Lillibridge intends to remain very active, busy, and dedicated to the people and ministries of the diocese throughout this transition.

In 2017, Lillibridge will turn 61 years old and will have been ordained for 35 years. His leaving the position of diocesan bishop is by no means for retirement; rather, Lillibridge plans to stay active in his ordained ministry. He has no set plans at this time, and he trusts God will lead him when the time is right in his next season of ministry.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2014/02/03/west-texas-bishop-announces-leadership-transition-plan/

Christ Church names rector

From West Texas-

Christ Episcopal Church has ended a more than 20-month search for a permanent rector to head one of the most prominent and storied churches in the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas.
The Rev. Patrick Gahan, 57, will preach his first sermon March 11 at the 100-year-old congregation in Monte Vista.

Ordained for two dozen years after a career in the military and education, Gahan had been rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Wimberley since 2005.
His arrival is bringing a long-awaited sense of resolution to a trying chapter in the congregation's history.

The Rev. Chuck Collins left as rector in May 2010 as a way of cutting ties with the national denomination, the Episcopal Church USA. He and other members who left that year said the denomination had strayed from its theologically conservative roots and time-honored Anglican doctrine, including the approval of gay clergy and same-sex blessings.

Read more:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Christ-Church-names-rector-3378018.php#ixzz1o3SZAtpK

WEST TEXAS: Christ Church rector resigns citing 'crisis of conscience'

More on Chuck Collins- From ELO-

The Rev. Charles Collins, rector of Christ Church in San Antonio in the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, has announced his intention to retire Sept. 1, 2010.
Collins, who had served nine years as rector of the 2,700-member congregation, said in a May 19 letter to parishioners that he made the decision "to take early retirement … because of a crisis of conscience."

He cited disagreement with the direction of "the Episcopal Church [which] … has moved further and further away from the Gospel to which I committed my life and I have concluded that there is no future for me in this spiritual environment."

Collins said his ministry at Christ Church has been the most spiritually demanding and fulfilling years of his 29 years as an Episcopal priest. "This is the most difficult decision I have faced in [my] ministry."

He will begin a sabbatical June 1 and not return to the parish, he said during a May 26 telephone interview from his San Antonio office.

He said that the church has been in a two-and-a-half year process to "discern our future in the Episcopal Church" and has recognized that the congregation is divided among those who wish to remain in the Episcopal Church and those who intend to leave.

In an April 2010 note posted on the parish website, vestry members acknowledged that division and said they assume "those who stay in the Episcopal Church will continue as Christ Episcopal Church at the current property." It is uncertain where those who wish to leave will worship, the note concluded.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_122501_ENG_HTM.htm

P.B. in West Texas: ‘Media Doesn’t Cover Good Things We Do’

When Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori arrived for a whirlwind visitation on April 23 in the Diocese of West Texas, she may not have expected her visit would begin with a leisurely walk near sunset along a Gulf Coast beach. But a stroll and conversation at the diocese’s Mustang Island Conference Center with diocesan Bishop Gary Lillibridge and the Rt. Rev. David Reed, Bishop Suffragan, were among the few leisurely moments during her stay.

Bishop Jefferts Schori visited several diocesan institutions and participated in two question-and-answer sessions with members of the clergy. The first stop was at Cliff Maus Village, where 260 occupants, of which half are children, live in a low-income apartment complex. Cliff Maus Village was founded and is operated by several Episcopal Churches in Corpus Christi.

The majority of Friday afternoon was spent with more than 100 clergy and lay leaders who gathered at Church of the Good Shepherd, Corpus Christi, to have a conversation with the Presiding Bishop. She began the discussion by noting the importance of having sufficient time “to see God at work,” in each other. She added that the example set by West Texas could teach the broader community that conversation has to do with where one starts.

In the question-and-answer forum that followed a Bible exercise she led, the Presiding Bishop touched on several areas of church life. Asked if she thinks it necessary for a person to be baptized before receiving Holy Communion, she replied that is what the church canons prescribe. “However,” she said, “in the ancient church it was all one – baptized and fed immediately.” She said this is a conversation that is ongoing, but “clearly our practice is one must be baptized before receiving Communion.”

More-

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/5/1/west-texas

Good Stuff In TEC: West Texas

Youth Ministry and Transformative Environments

I spent this past weekend in San Antonio, TX with some new friends at St. Luke's Episcopal Church and a few other churches within the Diocese of West Texas. I led several conversations for a couple dozens students around mission, community and identity formation - some of the very things we've recently been discussing on this blog.

Each of the conversations were punctuated with experiential learning environments consisting of such activities as sharing food and conversation with the homeless, collecting food for a local help pantry, participating in the Eucharist, intentional conversations in which to discuss the experiences, numerous forms of art expressions and so on.

I've come away from the experience feeling very inspired and encouraged. Possibly the most inspiring element to the weekend was the relational composition I noticed between the various groups of students.
I've spoken to and trained many students at various gatherings throughout North America over the last decade or so and never have I more clearly witnessed a sense of true community and cooperative learning than while at St. Luke's.

More here-

http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/2009/04/youth-ministry-and-transformat.html

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Diocese bishop installed Episcopal flock has a new shepherd

n the borrowed sanctuary of Lubbock's First United Methodist Church, a near capacity crowd of Episcopal clergy and laity welcomed the Rev. J. Scott Mayer as new bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas late Saturday morning.

Mayer is a 1992 graduate of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, and a 1977 graduate of Texas Tech University.
On Nov. 22, he was elected by a constitutional majority of electors inside the sanctuary of St. Paul's-on-the-Plains Episcopal Church in Lubbock.

The first ballot earned him 34 of the 47 clergy votes, but only 65 of the 141 votes cast by the lay electorate - six shy of the necessary majority. The results of the second ballot weren't even close: 38 votes from the clergy order, and 90 from the laity.

Four months later, the diocese celebrated in style, with a little help from the Methodists, because none of Lubbock's Episcopal churches are large enough to accommodate the 1,200 attendees.

http://www.amarillo.com/stories/032209/new_news12.shtml

Good Stuff in TEC: West Texas

Good Samaritan Community Services-

Since 1951 Good Samaritan Community Services has addressed the desperate living conditions of the impoverished communities of San Antonio's west side. Over the years our agency has become known as a place of change and hope for the individuals and families who strive to overcome the impact of poverty. Now greatly expanded to serve not only San Antonio, but Bexar County and its contiguous 11 rural counties, Good Samaritan Community Services is committed to changing lives through excellent community services through programs that foster education, character development, self-sufficiency and healthy living.

More here-

http://www.goodsamaritancommunityservices.org/

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