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January 16, 203     Bishop Donald Johnsons deeply troubling January 15, 2004 Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of West Tennessee raises serious questions of freedom of association and freedom of speech as well as abuse of the office of bishop by dictating the conscience of Episcopalians in his diocese. Bishop Johnson wrote his pastoral letter (which he posted on the Diocese of West Tennessee website) in response to a draft document of an American Anglican Council (AAC) subcommittee outlining plans for adequate episcopal oversight.  Bishop Johnson falsely accuses the AAC of deceitfulness and subversive sabotage and vows to purge his diocese of association with the AAC. We are deeply concerned about the individuals, clergy and congregations in West Tennessee who are affiliated with AAC, and we stand in  full solidarity with them.   We urge Bishop Johnson to refrain from punitive action, harassment or intimidation of the people under his care who uphold historic Anglican faith and order and whose affiliation with AAC provides them a place to stand Bishop Johnson emphasizes his desire to preserve the church as it currently exists. Here are the facts about the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) as it currently exists.  It is a Church that is no longer in relationship with the majority of Anglicans worldwide.  It is a Church that no longer turns to Holy Scripture for its guidance. It is a Church that has chosen the ways of man over the ways of God.  It is a church that has undermined the institution of marriage. It is a church with which many worldwide Christian denominations have broken relations.  It is a church that has lost its heart and soul and its commitment to making disciples and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.     We must ask: Is this truly the Church that Bishop Johnson wishes to preserve?     The AAC has long worked for the reformation and renewal of the Church. This is still our desire. We have NEVER said that we are leaving. We have not moved anywhere. We are still in full relationship with the worldwide Anglican Communion and we are resolutely determined that orthodox Episcopalians will remain so.  For years we have spoken of the need for adequate episcopal oversight.  It has been one of our goals, and it will continue be one of our top priorities.  In October, the Anglican Primates unanimously called for this oversight to be provided within ECUSA, and we are committed to finding a way for it to be delivered, even if the leadership of ECUSA is unwilling.     In this time of crisis, we must first and foremost pray; we must repent and ask God’s forgiveness. We must also move forward with the mission and ministry of the Church -- whatever the cost.   -----   The American Anglican Council is a network of individuals, parishes, specialized ministries and Episcopal Bishops who affirm Biblical authority and mainstream Anglican orthodoxy within the Episcopal Church. For more information on the  AAC, please visit http://www.americananglican.org .   END

From The Rev. Don Armstrong Rector, Grace & St. Stephens Colorado Springs, CO   Much is being made of a leaked American Anglican Council strategy memo and a Pastoral Letter from the Bishop of Western Tennessee. I would say that this is all much to do about not much.  Bishop Johnson is simply over reacting. Remember, it is the revisionists who have misbehaved, those of associated with the AAC and our own ACI are simply and obediently maintaining the historical faith and order of the Anglican Communion--something I consider a creedal necessity. The revisionists will try to spin this memo to turn the tables--and I for one don’t want to empower that parlor trick by paying it too much attention. There was nothing particularly startling in the AAC memo--the revisionists broke communion by disobedience to the expressed position of the Church’s instruments of unity, which then caused ECUSA to be in violation to its own constitution and canons. This has resulted in more than half of the Anglican Communion severing ties with our province. The AAC memo simply states that it is serious business to reorder the church--and that we are prepared to take the necessary steps to which faithfulness calls us.     The statements' contents have been vocalized in many ways and are not illogical if compared to the Global South's Disciplinary statements that can be found on the ACI web site.     I think the important thing to remember is that this is not a one size fits all response that the AAC has articulated. There are dioceses that will respond as a whole, there are parishes that will leave for a new structure which we are currently developing, there are parishes that will just hide out (which for them might be the only option given the givens) and there are congregations who will stay in ECUSA, but with a strong and networked presence of commitment to the truth (certainly this is where Grace Church, Colorado Springs will be).     On January 19 and 20 I am participating as a regional (Mississippi to Rocky Mountains) representative to the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes official organizational meeting in Plano at the personal invitation of Bishop Duncan. We will be developing ways to address, articulate and support all four of the above possible responses to the oppressive posture of the revisionist Episcopal Church and its leadership. I can report more fully and knowledgeably when I return.     I do believe it will be our combined witness and resistance from our various circumstances that will in the end reestablish faith and order to a broken and dysfunctional Anglican presence in the United States. Certainly that is my hope and prayer.   END

By The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner Senior Fellow, The Anglican Communion Institute     The only thing surprising about Bishop Johnsons pastoral letter is the level of vituperative hostility;  the content itself represents a consistent ignorance about the Anglican Communion and a willful denial about ECUSAs standing, externally and internally, with respect to its canonical legitimacy in the eyes of both that Communion and many of our own members. As I have noted elsewhere, the outrage over this leaked memo of the AAC is either a sign of disingenuousness or of numbed consciousness.     The basic outline of this strategy has been public for some months, largely because it represents the Proposal of the Primates of the Global South for disciplining ECUSA (and New Westminster) that was presented at the October Lambeth meeting (this proposal is available at anglicancommunioninstitute.org ).    In brief, the Proposal calls for the larger Communion, along a certain timetable, to withdraw its recognition of those bishops who consented to Robinsons election, participated in his consecration, or supported the local option resolutions regarding same-sex blessings;  it also calls on the Communion to maintain its recognition of those bishops and others who opposed these measures as the legitimate representatives of the Episcopal Church.   These recognized leaders would then be affirmed as those capable of acting by rights according to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church.     The AAC -- through its leaders and individual members, both present at Lambeth and subsequently -- have affirmed the thrust of this Proposal. We didn’t need a publicity splash to know this.     In case Bishop Johnson and others hadn’t noticed, even though the Proposal was not officially accepted by the Primates meeting as a whole, it has been put into place by individual Primates in their relationships with ECUSA already, albeit in an uncoordinated fashion.  The process for deciding who is the real Episcopal Church is well underway;  and thus far, the weight is stacking up in favor of the AACs contention.   This is a process that the larger Communion has set in motion quite independent of the AAC, and its implications and outcome are tied to the center, not the periphery, of ECUSAs leadership legitimacy.     If any of this comes as a surprise to bishops of ECUSA, it can only be because they have once again closed their eyes to what the majority of the Anglican Communion is actually saying, doing, and committed to being.   Then again, such willful blindness no longer strikes people in the larger Communion as odd, since it seems to have characterized all the decisions and actions people like Bp. Johnson claim were done publicly and above board: the public trashing of the Scriptures, of the historic faith and order of the Church, of our Constitution, of the previous commitments of the General Convention, of Communion teaching and agreements, of the bonds of our common life -- that this constitutes established means of peaceableness over against the deceit of those upholding the teaching and witness of our historical faith is damning statement of Bp. Johnson's own stunted moral vision.     In short, nothing new.  The AAC is not an outlaw organization;  membership in and support of its work is not a breaking of communion with ECUSA;  no one should be frightened by Johnson’s bluster.   END

January 15, 2004   Dear fellow Episcopalians in West Tennessee,   As the Bishop of The Diocese of West Tennessee, it is my privilege to serve beside you in witness to Christ. In this particular circumstance, I do so now as one who must uphold the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Church I have sworn to defend. No matter what one's opinions are about the more controversial decisions reached at our last General Convention, one has to admit that they were done publicly and above board. Using the long established means to reach decisions as a Church gathered in Convention, the outcome and resulting actions were literally done before the eyes of the world.     Loyal opposition and honest dissent to such actions are legitimate and should be honored by all. I have been careful to do so. However, deceitfulness and subversive sabotage justified in the name of serving Christ cannot be overlooked. To this point, I direct your attention to an article in the January 14, 2004 issue of The Commercial Appeal outlining publicly the American Anglican Councils confidential game plan for the destruction of The Episcopal Church U.S.A. by becoming a replacement jurisdiction, even if it means disobedience of canon law on a widespread basis as deemed necessary. At this time I have in my possession the full text of the confidential letter cited in the article. In as much as what has been done in darkness has now been brought into the light, I urge you to read for yourself this document that lays out the American Anglican Councils plan of destruction.     I do not endorse, nor will I have this diocese in any way associated with this effort, and I will use all the power of my office to see to it that our clergy and congregations will not be in any formal membership arrangement with this or any other such group seeking to destroy the Episcopal Church. To this end, I am taking the following initial steps:   First, I am posting in its entirety on our diocesan web page ( www.episwtn.org ) the letter from the American Anglican Councils representative, the Rev. Geoffrey W. Chapman, who writes on behalf of the American Anglican Council and their Bishops Committee on Adequate Episcopal Oversight. It is their response letter to Episcopal congregations across the country who have requested what they describe as Adequate Episcopal Oversight. Specifically, this letter refers to oversight by a bishop who has bought into the American Anglican Councils plan to sabotage The Episcopal Church. This secret plan is very different from AACs public statements to the effect that it would work within The Episcopal Church under its Constitution and Canons to bring about change in Church policies.     Second, I have called a special meeting of the Standing Committee. I am asking for its advice and counsel concerning what next steps need to be taken by my office regarding our clergy and congregations formally affiliated with the American Anglican Council and, implicitly, with its agenda.     Third, while it may be obvious from the tone of this letter, I want to go on record in saying that I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of the American Anglican Council. Further, I do not endorse, support or condone their plan to methodically create anarchy in the Church.     Fourth, until the American Anglican Council made explicit what many already thought was their real agenda, I have spoken with respect for the bishops, members of the clergy and lay persons who have found in this organization a place to express their honorable dissent and loyal opposition. It is to you that I address the following:     It is my firm belief that most of you who have associated with the American Anglican Council did so for honorable reasons with no idea that their avowed actual goal is to destroy The Episcopal Church as it currently exists. However, according to their own documents, they seem to advocate whatever means necessary to innovatively move around, beyond or within the canons to do so. I know that not everyone associated with the American Anglican Council is of one mind. However, these revelations that have just come to light may help clarify your thinking about their agenda. As such, I hope that you will see this as an opportunity for you and your congregation to rethink and officially disassociate with this organization.     I ask your prayers for our Church, our Diocese and for our clergy and lay leaders who will be asked to help me be faithful in accomplishing this ministry for Christ's witness and love. To that end, I remain   Faithfully yours,     The Rt. Rev. Don E. Johnson Bishop of West Tennessee   (As provided for in Title III, Canon 24, Section 5, this Pastoral Letter is to be read at each service on either Sunday, January 18th, 25th, or February 1st, 2004, or announced as being available, and a sufficient number of hard copies should be provided to those requesting them.)

Archbishop calls for greater evangelistic efforts to reach US for Christ   By David W. Virtue    DESTIN, FL (January 14, 2004)-More than 900 packed the ballroom of the Hilton hotel here last night, in the largest gathering yet of the fast growing Anglican Mission in America - a movement spawned from the dying river of the Episcopal Church and its embracive apostasy. The joy was palpable as the mostly former Episcopalians worshipped, drawing energy from a hundred voice choir, raising holy hands, invoking an orthodox Trinity to bless the fruit of their labors, as the 4th annual winter conference got underway.     Who is the Lord of your life, cried the Rev. Mike Hesse, Destin area rector of Immanuel Anglican Church, an AMIA parish.   JESUS roared the crowd. A Shofar sounded as an instrument of warfare and pending victory. The AMIA-ites sang, we will follow ancient paths and discover future faith, we'll embrace Christ's mystery that will set the people free. HE will set his people free.     This theme seemed to echo the freedom many now found no longer being  associated with the Episcopal Church.     Those gathered here included African Archbishops Bernard Malango (Central Africa), Emmanuel Kolini (Rwanda), and Balufuga Dirokpa (Congo) while Archbishop Metelemele (Tanzania) sent Archdeacon Npiruka as his official representative and the Primate of India J. K. Samuels met with Bishop Murphy and gave his endorsement. Also present was a Nigerian bishop John Rucyahana, Bishop of Shiyra, Rwanda and from South East Asia, Archbishop Yong Ping Chung. There was also two ECUSA bishops and more than 100 AMIA priests and several ECUSA priests weighing their options as they consider their future outside ECUSA.     They sang we must stand against the tide...and keep your Word, a reminder that the church they had left no longer applied or was relevant to their spiritual needs.     In his opening sermon Primate Yong Ping Chung told the assembled crowd that they were gathered to testify to the great works God has doing in their lives as individuals and as a mission, only 4 years old. There has been renewal and revival taking place in our AMIA churches.     The theme  of the conference is Rediscovering the Ancient/Future Faith.     The hope of Christianity is being challenged and attacked, Christian people need to rediscover the truth about God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the world in which we live. Our actions must be judged by the Word of God and not let our interpretation rule our lives. Jesus Christ and his word is the ultimate authority for our churches.     We have allowed the temptations of our cultures and secular human desire, worldly philosophies together with canons and constitutions of the church to blind us to the faith that was once entrusted to the saints.     Today we are here to rediscover the truth and essence of our faith, to rediscover our ancient/future faith and truth that will set people free. Our God is greater than any other, our God is sovereign and he alone is God.     The world has camouflaged our faith, people have added their own opinion, the invasion of the contemporary culture and eagerness of the church to accommodate the culture has altered the essence of our faith. Elements are added because they thought that was what Christianity needed. They have distorted the scriptures, they have changed the grace of God into license about immorality and denied Jesus Christ’s own sovereignty and Lord.     We need to go back to our roots and ancient faith, and discover once again the essence of our faith, to see God in his entire splendor and his glory. We need to go back to the beginning. Before the world was created God was there. Our faith begins with God...in the beginning God.     We need to strip off the fluff of worldly euphemisms and acknowledge our sin. God is very specific and clear, and calls sin by its true name...for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, he said.     His command to us is to go and make disciples of all nations...baptizing them in the name of the Trinity. The Anglican Communion needs Jesus, the AMIA needs Jesus; We all need Jesus. We need Jesus to set us free from the bondage of  sin.     The archbishop said the AMIA should reach out to the lost 130 million in the US who do not yet know Jesus. We desire to win lost souls for Jesus, it is the desire of our hearts and life to bring Good News to all those around us. Let us make it our commitment, he concluded.   END

Episcopalians remain conflicted over US Mission     News Analysis    By David W. Virtue     By any standard, the recent fourth annual winter conference of the Anglican Mission in America was a home run.     Nearly 900 attended including 137 clergy from 34 states and the District of Columbia with conferees coming from 14 countries. There were four Primates, plus a representative from another, a record. Others present included African bishops, numerous observers and seekers, among whom could be found a number of ECUSA clergy weighing their options as they see the Episcopal Church wracked by schism and dissent.  A contingent from Canada was also present. With some 60 parishes and 15,000 members, the Anglican Mission is still small, but they are growing fast. They are no longer functioning in reaction to The Episcopal Church, we have moved on, says Bishop Chuck Murphy, AMIA leader. There are 130 million unchurched Americans who need to hear the gospel and find a spiritual home and we want to welcome them and introduce them to the Anglican Way.     Orthodox Episcopalians still remain uncertain with some openly hostile towards the AMIA.     But there is something freeing about these Anglicans. They are not fretting over sodomy or agonizing over unbiblical notions of inclusion, or defining diversity as something which it is not. They are not dumbing down morality.    They’re also not perfect, they sin, but they call it for what it is and they believe in repentance.   Bishop Thad Barnum is fast becoming one of the best preachers in America. He has soaked himself in Scripture, is a fan of the late British pulpiteer Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, and he preaches with conviction and power. His preaching, more perhaps than anything else might keep the mission on track and give it the constant kerygmatic adrenaline rush it needs.     He calls sin by its name, and even when he is preaching to the converted, he appeals for a deeper commitment, telling his audience that they should not sit back and talk about their conversion decades earlier, but to ask, are you now living in the presence of Christ with clean hearts, forgiven and restored. It never hurts to take stock.     Of course he could not help but take a few jabs at Frank Griswold, but hes in good company, so have a lot of people, including a number of world religious leaders, indeed some of his own bishops.     This group is Protestant to the core, Forward in Faith Anglo-Catholics would not necessarily feel comfortable with their quasi-charismatic approach, but they are gospel driven and they and the Anglo-Catholics are working off the same page with the basic message of repentance and faith. The AMIA have also issued a theological statement on Women’s ordination, opposing it, which puts them in the Anglican mainstream, (unlike the ECUSA who never did its homework on the subject). It was an issue of civil rights not biblical enquiry that informed their actions.     A concordat with the Reformed Episcopal Church is also in the works with the Anglican Mission.     AMIA and AAC     The AMIA have a lot in common with the American Anglican Council (AAC) the orthodox wing of the Episcopal Church - in truth they are both working off the same theological and spiritual page, but they have different ecclesiologies. They see things differently over the doctrine of the church and how to respond to it. The American Anglican Council is staying in the ECUSA to fight for what they believe is a church that is reformable, or to provide a safe haven for orthodox ECUSANs with a church within a church.     The Anglican Mission believes it is no longer possible to pour new wine into the old wineskins of ECUSA. Bishop Murphy asks rhetorically, can a house divided against itself stand?     But schism comes with a high price. The Episcopal Church has seen schism before; first in 1870 with the Reformed Episcopal Church and then in 1976 when women’s ordination was accepted at their General Convention, and Prayer Book revisions were done in 1979, prompting the St. Louis Convention that saw thousands leaving the ECUSA.     But the net effect has not yielded great returns. The splits from ECUSA have not produced massive church growth with much evangelistic zeal. Most of the Continuers as they are called are mostly Anglo-Catholic and they have remained small, frozen in time, still living in reaction to the ECUSA. Some groups have more purple than people.     Many of them have experienced splits among themselves, forcing one to ask the question, where is the fruit of schism? By any measurable standards little has been achieved by the multiple splits and plethora of groups spinning off from the ECUSA.     All the while the Episcopal Church just keeps rumbling along, losing members, but keeping the facade of a mainstream church with new notions of pluriformity, sexual inclusivity and diversity becoming the buzzwords of a new Episcopal world order. The ECUSA has remained the country’s church of choice for liberal intellectuals and cultured secularists who still would like to say they believe in the Apostles Creed while reading (and sometimes believing) The DaVinci Code. Howard Dean, till he left the Episcopal Church, epitomized the Episcopal mindset, one doesn’t have to believe much or too sincerely, but Gods existence (whoever He or She is) should be affirmed if for no other reason than it is good form, perhaps even politically necessary. Being a Boston Brahmin or a New England Episcopalian is a comfortable bed to lie in, sustained by wealth, a liberal education with a side order of sodomy affirmed by Massachusetts Bishop Thomas Shaw. But talk of discipleship is the ravings of fundamentalists and Pentecostals, not Episcopalians. Another gin, bishop?     As one watches the AMIA at work, there is a palpable sense that discipleship does matter. It is at the core of their mission. They want converts to Christ first and for them to become Anglicans second. They are biblically driven.     The nagging question still remains, can they achieve it? Their leader, Chuck Murphy is a single-focused man - make disciples in the US and plant new churches. Grow, grow, and grow. His fellow bishops are loyal, faithful and driven. He has given up much to be where he is. He has taken numerous hits, and, depending on whom you talk too, is loved and despised with equal vigor.     Those orthodox who have remained in The Episcopal Church are either jealous of his success, or believe he is on some sort of a power trip. Those who know him intimately reject the latter interpretation. That he is spiritually gifted is without question. That he has drawn around himself men and women of like minded vision and faith is also without question. He has never been interested in playing the corporatist ecclesial ECUSA club game. He views the kingdom in way bigger and decidedly different terms than that, and sees the ECUSA House of Bishops as conducive to spiritual inertia not spiritual life and health.     Murphy is a big man, imposing, handsome, and spiritually fixated on what he thinks the church should be up and doing. He has pacemaker which, at age 56, doesn’t seemed to have slowed him down too much, but he delegates authority more easily these days.   But still the question remains. Is the AMIA the answer to ECUSAs apostasy? If you listen to ECUSA theologian and author Dr. Ephraim Radner you get a quite different perspective. He sees the AMIA as a retreat into the impossibly autonomous, arguing further that it stands as one of the great obstacles to a forceful response to ECUSAs current rebellion.     There is a (mistaken) fear among some Primatial leaders, looking at what has happened with the AMiA, that decisive and courageous action now is equivalent to prideful self-assertion, he writes.     Radner argues for a common accountability within the Communion, at the many instances of perceived moral failure but says the AMiA represents one aspect of ECUSAs and the Communions internal malaise. [The AMIA] is a symptom of spiritual disease, not an instrument of healing.     There is the temptation to press our testimony into a realm of individual freedom, cut loose from the constraints of blasphemy and persecution we so acutely feel around us. The danger, however, is that we will soon find ourselves floating in a sea of competing testimonies and freedoms, and mutually assaulting claims with the faith and order we set out to defend will be lost amid the debris,writes Radner.   A brilliant analysis, but it begs the question what would Jesus or Paul say and do if they happened to stumble upon the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City where Episcopal priests hold New Age services with Buddhist priests invoking strange gods, through a cloud of Episcopal incense, while on the cathedral wall hangs a naked brass rendition of Jesus with female breasts. Or what does one say to Frank Griswold who regularly invokes Sufi Rumi, inviting theologically and morally conflicted Episcopal priests and bishops to meet him on same plain or other beyond good and evil!     Tossing the money changers out of the Temple looks positively mild compared to what Jesus might do today. After he had tossed out the Episcopal priests he might just do what a Russian Orthodox Bishop did to a parish that married two homosexuals burn the church to the ground and bulldoze the remains into powder and then walk away never to return.     The age-old question of which is worse, living with heresy or coming out from among them still remains. Jesus also made it clear that the wheat and tares would grow up together and everyone would have to wait till the harvester (Jesus) did the final sorting out at the Last Judgment.     Whatever the answer is, Episcopalians in good faith will make decisions they think are right for them, often based on where they live, their experiences and much more; and also how deeply the issues trouble them. For the most part it comes down to that.   We must ultimately await the judgment of history.   END

An Exclusive Interview with Bishop Charles Murphy     By David W. Virtue     PAWLEYS ISLAND, SC-The leader of the fast growing Anglican mission to America wears a heart pacemaker these days, but that hasn’t stopped the pace of growth of his mission to bring the gospel to Americans who want something more than Evangelical Lite in worship and spongy feel-good sermons. The 56-year old leader is laid back, though still imposing, bearing in mind that he was once offered the job as rector of the largest Episcopal Church in the US (in Houston) and was offered a chance to run for Bishop of Florida. He turned down both offers. Chuck, as he is known by friend and foe alike, is a former Episcopal priest who is, by any standard of measurement, on a roll. But he is not without his detractors. Mention his name and you get one of two responses. He’s either the devil incarnate who left the Episcopal Church when he should have stayed to reform it, or he is the savior of Anglicanism in the US by offering a safe place for Episcopalians who can no longer abide the church’ s leftward swing to revisionist thinking in faith and morals.     His detractors say he is a renegade Episcopal priest with powerful ambitions to have his own show; that his Anglican Mission is a jump start operation to split the ECUSA. He would argue, as do his followers and not a few Episcopal bishops and Anglican Primates that he is merely responding to the 40-year breakdown in the ECUSA and the cry of thousands of laity who want an alternative place to practice the Anglican expression of their faith. Oddly enough it is not just the Episcopal Church’s revisionists like Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold who hate him, a goodly number of Evangelicals dislike what he is doing as well.     His more immediate problem is a clash he is having with the Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina, Ed Salmon, over the property the AMIA headquarters shares with All Saints Waccamaw, a 1,000 person evangelical Episcopal church that was, till recently, a parish of the diocese and the Episcopal Church.     I interviewed the bishop recently in his office in Pawleys Island.     VIRTUOSITY: The Bishop of South Carolina, Ed Salmon, has declared All Saints Waccamaw a mission. He has excommunicated the vestry and put in his own vestry. Where does that leave you?     MURPHY: We had a special corporate meeting last Thursday night. We had 500 adults present, two-thirds of the adult membership. 42 voted against changing the church’s charter and 38 voted against leaving the ECUSA. 462 overwhelmingly voted for consensus. It was very positive. We are severing all ties and coming under the oversight of another province.   The membership wants to come under the oversight of the AMIA and to transfer their canonical letters to the Episcopal Church of Rwanda.     In short we have moved on. Bishop Salmon has appointed another vestry with four new families. Ed [Salmon] is moving forward to set up a shadow vestry, a mission committee, and reduce the church to a mission.     VIRTUOSITY: The parish voted overwhelmingly to end its relationship with the Diocese. Have you heard from the Bishop? What has been response?     MURPHY: He met Friday at a local hotel with 10 people and appointed a senior warden, a junior warden, and the rest of the committee and the new mission committee. He will write and present his side and take out a full page parish advertisement.     VIRTUOSITY: Will you walk away from the properties if you have too? MURPHY: Yes we will. The reality is the Dennis Canon can be used retroactively. If it happens, the congregation will leave. This is the cost of discipleship.     VIRTUOSITY: The courts have determined that the dioceses and national church had no interest in this property. Even though Ed Salmon appealed, Judge John  Breeden Jr. said a second time under a motion that the diocese had no interest. He issued a summary judgment saying in effect that it was not worthy to be taken up and made a trial over. Ed Salmon has gone to the Appellate court to get a ruling.     On Sept 19, 2000 the diocese filed a notice in the public records of Georgetown, SC, which states that the subject property is held in trust for the Episcopal Church and the PECUSA in the Diocese of South Carolina. The filing of this notice precipitated this action. It was all initiated by Ed Salmon. He filed using the Dennis Canon; it is in the records of the Georgetown Courthouse.     If the Dennis Canon wins it would set legal precedent and hurt everyone. That is regrettable.     It troubles me to be in litigation because of 1 Cor. 6. At the same Paul also appealed to Caesar because he could not get justice from the religious courts and he appealed to the secular courts. If you have good cause in the ecclesiastical setting, I think it is right to appeal.     VIRTUOSITY: Do you think that the AMIA could be the evangelistic arm of the new Network of Confessing Dioceses and Parishes?     MURPHY: It is too early to know. The Network has not sorted out the specifics.     VIRTUOSITY: With the emerging creation of this Network on the horizon why do you believe it would still be best for orthodox parishes to leave the ECUSA?     MURPHY: I believe that there are two strategies among the orthodox that are presently being implemented. There is the inside strategy which argues that the best way forward is to fight within the system. This is about either reform and correction of the ECUSA which idea may now be largely abandoned, or at least a safe haven, shadow-government church within a church - an orthodox ghetto.     The outside strategy is to go offshore, seek canonical residence in another province, appeal to the international Primates for backing and support and get out from under the coercive structures and canons of the Episcopal Church so we can move forward with the mission.     All Saints, Waccamaw has chosen the outside strategy. On Thursday night All Saints said they can no longer remain a part of the ECUSA and will seek canonical residence off shore in another province, in this case Rwanda. They are applying for affiliation in the AMiA.     VIRTUOSITY: Why are you doing it at this time?     MURPHY: We believe that a house divided against itself cannot stand and therefore the creation of a shadow government or another house within a house is a failed strategy. It may take years, decades, but it will happen. Just the strains in the Anglican Communion show that a house divided against itself cannot stand. The real solution is an outside strategy, inside the Anglican Communion but outside the ECUSA.     VIRTUOSITY: Would you like to be recognized by Canterbury?   MURPHY: I believe there is a realignment going on in the Communion and I will need to know where Rowan Williams ultimately lands before I am able to answer that question. Ultimately, the answer to that question must come from our two overseeing archbishops. We are going to meet with Williams in March and perhaps we will get more clarity in answer to my question.     VIRTUOSITY: Do you think the Episcopal Church is the answer the AACprayer for continued unity? MURPHY: I believe that a house divided against itself cannot stand. We should have had discipline and correction in the House of Bishops 30 years ago.     VIRTUOSITY: Some have said you are calling yourself a Presiding Bishop?     MURPHY: No. I am a Bishop and the chairman of the Anglican Mission.   VIRTUOSITY: There is a group, the Anglican Communion Institute, calling for acquiescence in the face of revisionism. They argue that the orthodox, though opposed to revisionist actions, should just wait, pray, be humiliated and let the Holy Spirit lead. Do you believe in such a strategy?     MURPHY: Thank God for pacifism, and I am so glad there are few of them. There are four Ps: Power, position, properties and pension, but we cannot let those four Ps be the determining factors. I don’t think it is bad to have four things necessary for a vibrant organization, but it is regrettable if those 4 Ps become the ultimate determining factor. All Saints, Pawleys, though is concerned about property, but for All Saints those 4 Ps are not ultimate. We have to risk our jobs to keep our jobs.     VIRTUOSITY: There is implicit in this argument that those who stay no longer think the Reformation was a good thing. How would you respond to that?     MURPHY: I would not be an Anglican if I thought the Reformation was bad. I would be a Roman Catholic.     THANK YOU   END

Statement to the Parishioners of St. Johns Church in Versailles, Kentucky   In August, 2002 our previous rector Alan Hansen left the parish. The bishop met with the vestry and recommended that the vestry be frozen until a new rector was called. We have remained in place in an effort to keep the wheels on and I think we have been successful in doing so. When Alan left, we were in a critical financial crunch, and the effects of 9/11 added to the crisis. The vestry worked diligently to reduce operating costs, and with the involvement of our dedicated parishioners, we were able to turn things around. Our year-end balance sheet shows assets of:     $246,165.48 in checking, money market, and investment accounts $1,056,972.58 in buildings and property $561,383.59 in restricted funds/trusts Total Assets of $1,864,521.65.     In December, the vestry made the following charitable contributions to   various, deserving, outreach ministries:     Salvation Army - $2,000.00 Food For The Poor - $5,000.00 St. Agnes House – 3,000.00 Shoes For Kenya - $1,500.00 10 Scholarships for Youth Quake - $1,800.00 ACTS 29 Ministry - $1,000.00 Woodford Ministerial Association (Food Pantry) - $1,200.00 Woodford Educational Endowment Fund - $1,000.00 Woodford Project Graduation - $500.00 Tuition to Asbury Seminary for Youth Minister Ron Garner - $2,500.00 For a total of $19,500.00     The budgetary surplus for 2003, after meeting our entire diocesan pledge amounts to $39,961.66. This alone should indicate how seriously this vestry has taken its stewardship responsibility. There can be very few churches in this diocese able to make a similar claim.     In August, 2003 after the National Convention, a letter was written to the bishop, stating clearly that the vestry was in disagreement with his vote in favor of the consecration of an openly gay bishop and the blessing of same-sex unions. We subsequently had four meetings in our church regarding differing viewpoints on what had transpired at the Convention, including one at which the bishop shared his opinions. In November, the vestry sent out surveys to see how each parishioner felt on the issues and in what direction they wanted our church to move. Of the 300+ surveys sent out, over 170 were completed and returned. A compilation of results told us that over 75% of St. John's parishioners were in disagreement, that they would not be pledging as in the past, and that over 60% were in favor of aligning with an orthodox bishop within ECUSA, if it were a possibility.     A small group of parishioners went to the bishop to complain about what the vestry was doing. They clearly thought that we were planning on bringing in a new rector who would take us out of the diocese and the Episcopal Church. We were, in fact, searching for a rector who fit our parish profile, and we had hoped that eventually there would be adequate alternative oversight available. Never have we considered taking St. Johns out of the Episcopal Church. In fact, I wrote to one of this small group to explain that in a worst-case scenario, what would likely happen was that the vestry would resign at some point, leave St. Johns, and form a new mission church under an orthodox, biblically centered, Anglican affiliation. I further stated that we were not interested in seizing the property of St. Johns, and were certain to leave the church in better financial condition than that in which we had found it. I defy anyone to demonstrate where this vestry has been anything other than completely devoted to the care of our congregation, deliberate and honorable in our search, true to the majority opinion of our congregation, and above reproach in the administration of our fiduciary duties to this parish.     On December 9, 2003, the vestry submitted the name of our chosen candidate for rector. The bishop replied December 9 that he was happy to give consideration to our candidate. On December 13, the bishop convened a meeting of the Executive Council to request that St. Johns be reduced to mission status. The vestry was not made aware of this meeting, and in fact, was hopeful that the bishop would initiate his background check and plan meetings with our candidate. On December 18, the bishop contacted our candidate and suggested that they meet January 5th and 6th, 2004. After cordial, but fruitless meetings, we awaited the bishops answer. On the evening of January 6th, records of the Executive Council meeting of December 13 were found, quite by accident, having been posted on the diocesan website. Vestry member, Judge Wilson met immediately the next day with the bishop, and was invited to the Executive Council meeting held that same evening, January 7. At this meeting, Judge pleaded with the bishop and the Executive Council to reconsider their actions. After facing a grueling session of questioning and intimidation, Judge left completely devastated. The Executive Council ended having granted the bishops request to reduce St. Johns to mission status. The vestry is to be removed, and the bishop is to take control of this church.     For 156 years, St. Johns has been aligned with the Protestant Episcopal Church. St. Johns is a corporation registered in the state of Kentucky. All property is titled to the senior warden and vestry of St. Johns Church. We have been asked repeatedly over the years to hand over the deed to this church to the bishop, but we have never done so. We have never borrowed money from the diocese. Clearly, the only way that the bishop can take over the property is by removing us from our elected positions and putting in place those persons who would be willing to turn the property over to him. The only concern the bishop has had throughout the process of the Executive Council meeting was in regard to the property and assets of St. Johns. In explaining the outcome of the meeting to me, Fr. Jay Pierce said those words to me verbatim.     Under the administration of this bishop, within this diocese, you can find 5 churches without rectors. Having bought a huge, old house in Lexington for use as an office, at a cost to the diocese of over a million dollars and restoring it at an additional cost of another half million dollars, this bishop now finds it necessary to extend his credit line from $100,000 in 2003 to $500,000 in 2004. He is taking money from trust funds to pay operating expenses, and is finding that pledges have diminished, making a budget impossible. As a result, he has enacted Canon 28, calling for an assessment of 18% of annual parish revenues. Based on our 2002 revenues, this assessment would total $64,213. An initial, adjusted assessment (to make it more palatable) brings our bill to $33,404 this year.     You now have the facts before you. I urge you to consider them carefully, before you allow this bishop to take control of your church. There is so much at stake here. The actions of this bishop toward St. Johns have been destructive to individual families within our parish, to the unity of the parish family, and the diocese as a whole. Our fate is to serve as an example for all the other parishes in this diocese. As a bishop, this man is expected to lead his flock, not beat it into submission.     We have asked for alternative Episcopal oversight as set forth by the Primates of the Anglican Communion. We are not, nor have we ever sought to be anything other than faithful, orthodox Anglicans. One of many examples is that for a decade, we have been a primary advocate of the Alpha Course throughout the state. Alpha is a uniquely Anglican approach to evangelization enthusiastically endorsed by the past and current Archbishops of Canterbury. The only reason we can imagine why this bishop would act in such an uncanonical and unethical manner towards us is his deep animosity towards evangelical and orthodox Anglicans.     I am saddened by the prospects for my church. Serving this church alongside such dedicated people has been a great honor. However, the effort has become a heavy burden. Our lives have been filled with fear, pain, anger, and ultimately, great sadness. That is not what God intended for his people. We will continue to pray for each of you, and always for our beloved St. Johns Church.     In His service,     Mr. Thomas J. Thornbury Sr. Warden, St. Johns Church, Versailles, Kentucky     A Stormy Week in the Episcopal Church – by David Virtue     Dear Brothers and Sisters,     It was another stormy week in the life of The Episcopal Church as the ship tossed and turned, the timbers of the Communion boat creaked, the winds showed little sign of calming. The Communion, as one theologian put it, has been hit by a tsunami, and we are salvaging what we can and hoping things have not gone beyond the possibility of repair.     One can but hope. Another rally drew 3,000 orthodox Episcopalians at what was billed as Plano East, following the highly successful Dallas meeting last year, and the troops were once again fired up to hold fast the faith and not abandon the ECUSA ship, as help was on the way. There was no battle plan; no strategy was laid out, just a giant pep rally, and a promise of good things to come. A new strategy will be revealed unto us on January 19-21 when the deep thinkers in The Network of Anglican Dioceses and Parishes within the Episcopal Church, (and approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury) will meet in Plano, Texas. A public statement of major proportions affecting all the orthodox in the Episcopal Church will be forthcoming. Conclusion - There must be a realignment in Anglicanism.     In the meantime nothing will really change until two events occur: The first is the willingness of a substantial number of priests to stand up to their diocesan bishops and refuse to recognize their sacramental authority, and secondly that biblically orthodox Diocesan bishops are willing to enter the Dioceses of revisionist Bishops and perform sacramental acts without the permission of Bennison et al.     Put another way, nothing will happen unless the orthodox bishops and priests move from speech to action. D-Day approaches.     IN ANOTHER CONFERENCE with the eerie title, Does the Anglican Communion have a Future, and attended by Virtuosity in Charleston, SC  saw several hundred conferees listen to an array of theologians attack the subject.   Dr. Chris Seitz, president of the Anglican Communion Institute said that any talk of a federation must be rejected. We are a Communion, unlike the Lutheran World Federation, which consists of independent national churches. Anglicanism has found its life and mission in a genuine Communion of accountability and interdependence. Within the US, we have tried to emphasize this with the language for a network now forming: Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes.     While the American Anglican Council focused exclusively on The Episcopal Church’s problems, the ACI sought to set the conflict in the larger context of the Anglican Communion, arguing that splitting up was also not the answer and sticking together through thick and thin, with the help of the Holy Spirit was the way to go.     In the midst of their deliberations and papers, the parish of ALL SAINTS CHURCH, WACCAMAW announced it was pulling out of the DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA and the Episcopal Church and aligning itself with the Anglican Mission in America (AMIA), provoking anguish from the Bishop Ed Salmon and the parish of St. Philips where the ACI conference was being held.   They issued a statement, which you can read in today’s digest.   The bishop had previously fired the vestry and put in his own forcing a confrontation and a vote in the parish as to what they should do. It was a slam dunk for the parish. By an overwhelming vote the All Saints, parish comprising 507 eligible voters, voted 468 voted to leave with 38 voting no and one abstention. The Standing Committee promptly urged Salmon to drop the appeal to the lawsuit, recommend that seat, voice and vote be given to All Saints at the upcoming Diocesan Convention, that the Vestry be reinstated and the parish restored. At this time of writing no one knows what Salmon will do. He has said if the national church ever voted to legitimize homosexual behavior he would take the diocese out of ECUSA, but he has backed down from that position. Uncertainty reigns.     In the meantime the Anglican Mission in America goes from strength to strength, scooping up plum Episcopal parishes around the country. They meet in Destin, Florida this Thursday for four days. Virtuosity (who will be there) was told that more than 1,000 have so far signed up to attend, significantly more than last year.     BUT THEN THERE WAS ANOTHER UNEXPECTED TURN this week when two orthodox ECUSA parishes in the DIOCESE OF ATLANTA announced they were seeking episcopal oversight from the Province of the Southern Cone and its Primate Greg Venables.     This is a first. To date Episcopal parishes wishing to stay in ECUSA have sought cover from African Primates, but this time they turned to the Bishop of Bolivia, Frank Lyons for help. One reason is that one of the parishes has a large number of Hispanics. One parish split almost down the middle with the rector staying and more than half the parish leaving; the other rector announced he was leaving ECUSA over its bankrupt morality and theology and taking three-quarters of the parish with him. Needless to say the bishop, one Neil Alexander is not amused.     The financial loss to the diocese will run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. You can read those stories in todays digest.   BUT FINANCIAL LOSSES TO REVISIONIST DIOCESE are increasing at a rapid pace. Following my story on one parish in Americas heartland, I got a note from a parishioner in an ultraliberal parish in Annapolis, MD. In Timeline, the parish newsletter for St. Annes, pledges for 2004 are only $500,000 against a goal of $800,000 and last years numbers of $710,000. So its not just affecting orthodox parishes who leave and take their people, it is going on in revisionist parishes where, it was thought, the dyke would hold. Not so. VIRTUOSITY has repeatedly said that Episcopalians are far more conservative than their liberal priests and revisionist bishops. And now these bishops will learn a bitter hard truth - no money, no mission. We will see more and more parishes being reduced to mission status and, over time, many closing their doors. It IS only a matter of time. Oh see what Vickie Gene hath wrought...and the fun has only just begun.     BUT NOT TO BE OUTDONE REVISIONISTS ARE CLAWING THEIR way up diocesan ladders looking to take over the reigns of power wherever they can in order to push their sodomite agenda.     In the orthodox DIOCESE OF THE RIO GRANDE where the biblically orthodox bishop Terence Kelshaw has announced plans to retire, the process of replacing him, and the politics have already started.     The rector of an Albuquerque church obtained the confidential mailing list of the Diocesan newspaper, and did a mailing under the Via Media label (the new tactic of revisionists to position themselves in the middle). As a result Kelshaw wrote every member in every parish a letter explaining what had happened, telling them in no uncertain terms that the Via Media mailing was not official and not from the diocese. The revisionists will stop at nothing to get power even as the ship sinks.     And in the DIOCESE OF NORTH DAKOTA, recently vacated by the godly Bishop Andy Fairfield the revisionists are trying to wedge one of their people n their as well. But voters in that diocese will now have six candidates instead of five to choose from when they select a new bishop next month, angering the liberal selection committee who had stacked it with five liberals. Three clergy and three lay persons nominated the Rev. Henry Thompson III of Coraopolis, Pa., through a petition process.   He joins five others picked by a selection committee. None of the five candidates had directly expressed their views on the recent confirmation of the openly gay New Hampshire bishop.   And in the DIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH, Bishop Robert Duncan withdrew a measure that would have left each church in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh in control of its own property and buildings in a rift over the consecration of a gay bishop in New Hampshire. The resolution introduced by Bishop Robert Duncan, leader of the diocese, prompted a lawsuit by a revisionist Episcopal parish in Pittsburgh against Duncan and the dioceses board of trustees to prevent the transfer of any church property. A headline in a local newspaper screamed: Attorneys withdraw Episcopal land-grab resolution. You can read that story today.     And in the DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK, the Bishop there, Michael Garrison told an orthodox congregation to go pound sand, declaring, you have your opinion, you will not change mine. These were the words spoken repeatedly by the revisionist Garrison as he visited St. Bartholomew’s in Tonawanda, NY. on January 8th. It was a bitter cold snowy evening when members of all ages (from babies in arms to those in their late 80s) filled the sanctuary for a scheduled meeting to tell the Bishop of their concerns regarding his vote in favor of the consecration of V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. St. Bartholomew’s, a godly parish of over 1100 members, with a godly rector has long been known as a faithful congregation who both know and love Holy Scripture. You can read what that vicious bishop said to these People then he demanded more money from them. You can read that story today as well...and weep.     HARVEST U.S.A. is a ministry to a hurt and sexually broken world.  HARVEST has been ministering to men and women afflicted by pornography, same sex attraction, and other forms of sexual brokenness. There are countless, wonderful witnesses to the healing power of Christ for those who have been healed from their sexual problems and are now living in the light of Christ. If you live in or near Philadelphia and would like to attend a luncheon and hear about this ministry then call 610 944-4040 at Church of the Good Samaritan, Paoli, PA. Luncheon is set for Thursday, January 22 at 12 noon.     I AM POSTING A NUMBER OF STORIES including an exclusive interview with the Primate of the West Indies, Drexel Gomez who publicly blasted Frank Griswold, ECUSAs presiding bishop, calling him duplicitous. There are a number of stories coming out of the ACI conference in Charleston.   WEBSITE. Most of you are aware of the new VIRTUOSITY website that can be accessed at www.virtuosityonline.org . New stories are posted daily.   Register for a user account on the website and you can configure it to be notified when news stories are posted. Up to 30 people are visiting the website at any given time. More than 2,000 people are visiting the website every day.     VIRTUOSITY depends totally on the support of its readers for this vital news service. If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to VIRTUOSITY you may do so in one of two ways. The first is through PAYPAL at the website: www.virtuosityonline.org or by snail mail: David W. Virtue, VIRTUOSITY 1236 Waterford Rd West Chester, PA 19380. Thank you for your support.     All blessings,   David W. Virtue DD

BY DAVE MUNDAY Of The Post and Courier Staff     The decision of a South Carolina parish to leave the Episcopal Church has left many in the Diocese of South Carolina confused and hurt, according to the chairman of a committee that tried to work out a compromise.     I think there’s a lot of hurt, the Rev. Craige Borrett, rector of Christ St. Paul’s Episcopal Parish of Yonges Island, said Sunday. We are breaking with family. Theres a tear in the family. Borrett and other members of the diocesan standing committee met for several hours Jan. 5 with the vestry of All Saints Church of Pawleys Island to try to find a way to keep the parish from voting to leave the denomination, which it did Thursday, he said.     The majority in the diocese, and those at All Saints, are deeply concerned about the crisis in the Episcopal Church, Borrett said in a report after the meeting. We strongly believe that our working together is the best witness in this struggle.     The committee asked the parish to delay its vote for a year to allow time for leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church’s parent group, to come up with a plan to discipline the Episcopal Church for approving an openly gay bishop last summer.     In return for All Saints delaying the vote, the standing committee offered to ask S.C. Bishop Ed Salmon to:     -- Drop an ongoing lawsuit over the diocese asserting a legal interest in the property (should the congregation decide to leave the denomination).     -- Give All Saints a seat, voice and vote at the next diocesan convention (privileges lost three years ago after All Saints sued the diocese over a public notice stating its interest in the property).     -- Reinstate All Saints vestry (which Salmon declared ineligible for office last month after the vestry voted to recommend that the congregation leave the Episcopal Church).     -- Restore All Saints to a parish (Salmon demoted the congregation to a mission after the vestry’s vote).     -- Cancel a scheduled meeting to appoint a new vestry.   Salmon agreed to all the recommendations except dropping the lawsuit.   In light of the fact that the appeal of the lawsuit has already been heard, and the ruling from the court is still pending, the bishop's discernment was to wait for the court’s ruling, Borrett said in his report.     All Saints leaders said that if Salmon was not willing to drop the lawsuit, they would proceed with the vote to leave the denomination. The congregation voted Thursday to cut its ties with the Episcopal Church USA and come under the oversight of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda, an African member of the Anglican Communion.     The decision was a big disappointment, Borrett said.   There was no imminent threat of the bishop coming up there and forcing them to do anything, he said. Everybody said, Please, don’t do it, and they went right ahead and did it.   Salmon could not be reached for comment Sunday.   Salmon appointed a new vestry Friday, but there are no immediate plans for an alternate service for those remaining loyal to the Episcopal Church, which is usual denominational policy, said the Rev. Kendall Harmon, the dioceses communications officer.     It’s still our hope that cooler heads will prevail and there might be  way for this decision to be reconsidered, he said.     That’s the hope of many in the diocese, according to the Rev. Marc Boutan, associate rector at St. Philips Church in Charleston.   We need your voice along with ours to stand for the historic Christian faith against the tide of revisionism, Boutan said in a letter sent to All Saints leaders this weekend.   The diocese and All Saints agree that the Episcopal Church went beyond the boundaries of acceptable Anglican practice in approving an openly gay bishop. But All Saints can no longer hope to reform the Episcopal Church, Rwandan Bishop Chuck Murphy, a former rector who is the church’s main leader, said before last Thursdays vote.     All Saints is home to the Anglican Mission in America, a network of churches that have left the Episcopal Church but maintain ties to the Anglican Communion through the primates of Rwanda and Southeast Asia.     The diocese, on the other hand, plans to join an emerging network of Episcopalians who publicly oppose the denominations actions on sexuality. Those in the network hope the majority of the primates (the 38 provincial leaders of the Anglican Communion) will recognize them as the legitimate expression of the Anglican faith in America.     The vote puts the congregation of All Saints at risk of losing the use of the property, which includes the historic chapel and $10 million worth of new buildings on 50 acres. Episcopal Church laws state that individuals can quit the Episcopal Church, but the property must remain for the use of those loyal to the denomination.   Its a risk were willing to take, the Rev. David Bryan, one of the church’s pastors, said in a Sunday sermon in the historic chapel that’s used for traditional services. We believe the truth is more important than property.     Many of the 38 votes against leaving the denomination Thursday came from those who attend services in the old chapel, said longtime member George Saussy.     I’m still an Episcopalian, he said. I guess I’m a visitor here this morning.   He planned to keep attending services in the old chapel as usual. Most of those in the old church don’t pay much attention to what goes on in the newer buildings across the street, he said.   Most of the 468 members who voted to leave the denomination attend more contemporary services in the newer complex, which includes a much bigger auditorium with projection screens for praise and worship songs.     END

Midwest Conservative Journal Webster Groves, Missouri - Copyright 2004,  by Christopher S. Johnson 1/15/2004     Last Sunday at Washington's National Cathedral, on the occasion of the celebration of the Baptism of Our Lord, Frank Griswold delivered a sermon that demonstrated once again that whatever his religion is, it isn’t Christianity:     North Dakota nominates one bishop candidate by petition     N.D. EPISCOPAL DIOCESE: Candidate for bishop draws opposition   Associated Press   FARGO - Voters in North Dakotas Episcopal Diocese will have six candidates instead of five to choose from when they select a new bishop next month.     Three clergy and three lay persons nominated the Rev. Henry Thompson III of Coraopolis, Pa., through a petition process. He joins five others picked by a selection committee. None of those five candidates has directly expressed his views on the recent confirmation of the openly gay New Hampshire bishop, the Rev. Gene Robinson. Thompson disagrees with the confirmation of homosexual clergy but said it is important to work together.     The search committees lack of direct questions regarding homosexuality angered some members of the diocese, who used the petition process to nominate Thompson. Thompson had been rejected by the search committee.     I think he’s a very well-rounded candidate, said the Rev. John Floberg, of Thompson. Floberg said he led the petition drive to give the diocese a broader range of candidates.     Donna Pettit, the search committee chairwoman, said she believes the committee came up with a list of qualified candidates.     I’m disappointed, she said. The committee worked very hard.     North Dakota Bishop Andy Fairfield, who strongly opposed the election of Robinson, retired in August.     The other five candidates to succeed him are the Rev. Christopher Chornyak, of Ellsworth, Maine; the Rev. George Martin, of Edina, Minn.; the Rev. Michael Smith, of White Earth, Minn.; the Rev. John Shepard of Spokane, Wash.; and the Rev. Peter Stebinger, of Bethany, Conn.     The election of the next bishop for the North Dakota diocese will be Feb. 7 at Fargo’s Gethsemane Cathedral. One candidate must receive a majority of votes, or the nomination and election process will start over.       END

Jan. 27 PBS by Louis Victor Priebe Washington Correspondent     WASH., DC,  Jan. 13 An upcoming Public Broadcasting System (PBS)  program featuring a debate on gay marriage with ECUSA gay Bishop Gene  Robinson taking the pro position was assessed by a panel of concerned  Christians last week at the National Press Club.  Participants concluded  that, with cautious optimism, the program, narrated by Bryant Gumbel,  could be expected to reflect a balanced and fair assessment of the  controversial subject. The January 27 program is scheduled to air at 9:00 pm EST on local PBS  affiliates and to feature excerpts from a debate taped on January 4 at  historic Christ Church in Philadelphia, founded in 1695 and site of  Benjamin Franklin’s grave.  The debate was between newly elected  homosexual ECUSA Bishop Vickie Eugene Robinson and Dr. Bob Wenz, vice  president for National Ministries of the National Association of  Evangelicals.     Dr. Wenz reported that the hour-long program, Flashpoints USA, will  include three segments on the national motto One Nation Under God, public display of the Ten Commandments and gay marriage. The other  segments were taped in Philadelphia at nearby Independence Hall  featuring Alabama Judge Roy Moore and Constitution Hall.  These  religious issues are certain to be raised during the 2004 Presidential  campaign, in the debate over the Federal Marriage Amendment Act and in  prominent court tests.     During the fast-moving 25-minute taping, Dr. Wenz said he was able to  make three important points: Homosexual sex is a counterfeit of what  God intended for human sexuality Homosexual behavior is outside of God’s  created order for procreation Marriage is a sacred institution between a  man and a woman, ordained by Almighty God and not to be altered Robinson, Dr. Wenz reported, maintained the deviant liberal position  that the Bible is always open to interpretation by each generation.  Robinson studiously evaded such central topics as the nature homosexual  behavior with regard to actual practices and their consequences.   Dr.  Wenz observed that If you are not truly objective, you can come up with  any conclusion you want depending on your revisionist bias at the outset  of an analysis.     Dr. Wenz said that he sought to convey what Biblically faithful  Christians are for, more than what we are against..  He underscored  that God’s word is definitive on the subject on homosexuality and that  homosexual behavior affronts reason and Gods intended role for humankind.     The assessing panel meeting at Washingtons eminent National Press Club  included Rev. Martin H. Granger, president of Faith in the Family  International, Rev. Ralph Weitz, a pastor at Immanuel Bible Church in  Springfield, Virginia, Rev. Earle Fox, founder and president of Emmaus  Ministries and Allan D. Dobras, a diversely published Christian  researcher and author. They had initially expressed skepticism at the  hands of moderator Gumbel, whose broadcasting career has placed him in  an adversarial relationship with many biblical positions.     There’s no question about it,  Dr. Wenz observed, Robinson is being  positioned as the national ‘gay Bishop spokesman, not just the  Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire. He said tolerance of anyone’s  behavior  regardless of its morality or its consequences  –  has  become the supreme value in the religion of revisionist religious  figures who advocate conformity to the secular culture.     Many questions were left unasked in Philadelphia due to limited time.  A transcript of the entire proceedings will be provided.  The assessment  panels participants said they hoped ‘set-ups for questions wouldn’t  reflect liberal bias and that editing would not juxtapose altered  questions with responses.     he group concluded that the macro issue being debated was Biblical  veracity and authority and that gay ordination and marriage were subsets  to it.   Participants concluded that, despite ECUSAs dramatically  declining membership, what the denomination does has an important impact  on contemporary culture and all of Christendom.  The PBS program, they  felt, should help enlighten people on the importance of the topic.   Dr. Wenz had entered the debate well-prepared with Ten Principal  Messages as talking points. Although he did not have time to make all of  these points, they follow this article to help expand and amplify  important topics related to the issue of gay marriage, ordination and  other issues relevant to homosexuality.     Dr. Wenz said he plans to author an article entitled If I Were Your  Pastoral focusing on Robinsons behavior and his divisive role in the  Christian community and advising repentance and return to Biblical  standards.   Website for the National Association of Evangelicals is http://www.nae.net

Anglican Mainstreams leadership have given a fulsome welcome to the announcement that Canon Stephen Cottrell is to be the next Bishop of Reading, but is it not odd that they are welcoming the appointment of a man who is reported as holding a completely contrary view to theirs on the very issue which led to the formation of Anglican Mainstream, namely his support for the attempt to appoint Jeffrey John It is true that the new bishop designate has a high-profile commitment to evangelism and accepts the practical boundaries laid down by the House of Bishops Report Issues in Human Sexuality, but he has not committed himself to maintaining orthodox and biblical teaching on homosexuality. Indeed, his reported comments make it clear that he regards this as provisional: We need to listen to what God is saying, what the scriptures are saying. We need to listen to gay and lesbian people in our church - we need to listen to what the world says.     The substantive theological differences between Stephen Cottrell and Jeffrey John ? both of whom are members of the liberal Affirming Catholicism group, do not seem to be of any great significance, yet the one is warmly welcomed while the  other triggers the formation of an unprecedented international coalition.     Why should this be? Perhaps the reason why evangelicals managed to came together over the Jeffrey John episode was that it was a remarkably unsubtle appointment the attempt to prefer a man with a track record as proponent of the gay/lesbian cause in a diocese with a strong evangelical presence. Stephen Cottrell represents a much more institutionally savvy way of doing things because he is theologically of a similar mould to Jeffrey John, but sails under an orthodox flag of convenience which has misled some into thinking he is actually an evangelical.     Anglican Mainstream has therefore got itself into an incoherent position. It claims to be upholding biblical truth, but in practice has shown that what really matters is the appearance of orthodoxy rather than the substance. It does not seem to matter what a bishop teaches, or fails to teach, so long as he observes the current institutional rules.   This is a view of Christian leadership which is clearly at variance with the New Testament requirement that those who exercise oversight should have the personal integrity of  holding on to faith and a good conscience (1 Tim 1:19). In fact, this failure to follow through the biblical logic of their opposition to Jeffrey Johns appointment has left Anglican Mainstream vulnerable to the revisionist accusation of homophobia. Much has been made of the fact that Stephen Cottrell is a family man so it would seem that what you teach does not matter very much, but who you chose to share your bed with does.     That Anglican Mainstream has come ? intentionally or not - to split off biblical teaching from biblical practice should not be a total surprise.   There seems never to have been a recognition on their part that the Archbishop of Canterbury is himself a significant part of the problem because this is exactly what he has done ? sought to separate his ecclesiological practice from his personal (yet well publicised) views.   The bitter consequence for him was that he had to publicly abandon Jeffery John, a longstanding friend, for the sake of institutional unity; the bitter consequence for Anglican Mainstream will be that it loses its way in a marshland of ecclesiastical compromise unless it can quickly put its house in order.     The church I now lead, Christ Church Kidderminster, came into being as the outcome of a principled decision to disassociate from the spiritual authority of the current Bishop of Worcester, albeit a family man, who actively and openly supported the gay lesbian agenda and therefore rejected the authority of Gods Word which is the basis of his office.   Despite pressure to compromise from certain senior evangelicals, I have never regretted taking that stand and I am convinced that it is only when we take action on issues of belief and are willing to put issues of   faith before order that the Church of England will see the deep change it so urgently needs.     The Rev Charles Raven is the former vicar of St John the Baptist, Kidderminster, Worcestershire. He is now the vicar of Christ Church, Kidderminster.