Bishop's Report
Call to order
Report of the Credentials Committee on the Presence of a Quorum:
Appointment of Secretary: Jeff Watson
Assistant Secretary: Lynn Milograno
Parliamentarian: Scott Ward
Introduction of Youth Delegates
Introduction of clergy who have been ordained or transferred into the Diocese in the past year
Bishop’s Report
Great Commission Committee Report
Great Commission Committee Report (The Rev. Tom Herrick, plus others)
Approval of Missions becoming Congregations (The Rev. Liz Gray)
Approval of Missions becoming Congregations (The Rev. Liz Gray)
Report of Canon for Clergy and Congregational Care
Report of Canon for Clergy and Congregational Care (The Rev. Mary Hayes)
Presentation and Adoption of the Budget (Treasurer Gary French)
Presentation and Adoption of the Budget (Treasurer Gary French)
Report of the Canons for Ordinations
Report of the Canons for Ordinations (The Rev. Jack Grubbs, Canon for Ordinations)
Report of the Constitution and Canons Committee
Report of the Constitution and Canons Committee
The Rev. Becki Neumann
The Shape of Our Mission as a Marginalized Church
The Rev. Dan Marotta is Rector at Redeemer Anglican Church in Richmond, VA. He was raised in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and graduated from The College of William & Mary with a B.A. in Family Therapy Psychology and from Denver Seminary with a Master of Divinity. In 2016 he moved to Richmond to plant Redeemer Anglican Church and currently serves as Rector there. Dan is married to Rachel (his high school sweetheart) and together they are raising four children and one hound dog.
Cold Water to a Thirsty Soul
The Rev. Dr. Liz Gray is Vicar at Incarnation Anglican Church in South Arlington, VA. At the last count, Liz was living in her 24th house on her third continent. In-between moving she has picked up degrees from Edinburgh University, Kings College (London), George Washington University, Nashotah House Theological Seminary and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Her husband is delighted she has now finished studying so she can hike more with him and their dog when she is not busy with church planting. Their three kids in the UK are flourishing, and their first grandbaby should have arrived by Synod.
The Gospel Made Visible: Foster Care, Adoption and the Local Church
Scripture is clear: God loves orphans and vulnerable children and he calls his people to do the same. Throughout history, answering this call to welcome children the world disregards has been a defining mark of God’s people. Today, across America and beyond, Christians are again earning this reputation in vibrant ways. In this workshop, we’ll touch briefly on this history: the compelling Scriptural vision beneath it, and inspiring examples of churches living it today. Most of all, we’ll provide key tools to start an orphan/adoption/foster care ministry in your church that wraps around adoptive and foster families, nurtures deeper community and discipleship, and ultimately helps make the Gospel visible to a watching world.
Jedd Medefind serves as President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO). Through CAFO, more than 190 respected faith-based organizations and a national network of churches unite in coordinated action, working together to inspire and equip people of faith to effectively serve vulnerable children and families. Prior to this role, Jedd led the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush, overseeing reform efforts across the government to harness the full strengths of community-based organizations and faith-based groups as full partners in all Federal efforts to aid people in need, from prisoner reentry to global AIDS. Jedd has written many articles and four books, most recently Becoming Home (Zondervan). Jedd and his wife Rachel live near Washington, DC with their five children and are members of The Falls Church Anglican.
Johnston (John) Moore and his wife Terri are the proud and happy parents of seven children that the Lord brought to them through adoption from the Los Angeles County Foster Care System. John is an award-winning writer, consultant and speaker who, after leaving a career in Hollywood (film and tv production and writing), dedicated his family to be used by God to promote adoption, foster care, and orphan care to the Church. Since that time, John has worked and partnered with such ministries as the Christian Alliance for Orphans, Focus on the Family, Hope for Orphans, Show Hope and more. He has written ministry-related materials for such leaders as First Lady Laura Bush, Francis Chan, Steven Curtis Chapman, and more. John is also a regular speaker at foster care and adoption conferences around the country, including the Focus on the Family “Wait No More” events. A strong believer in collaboration, John has spent the past two and a half years helping ministry leaders throughout Virginia start orphan care alliances in their local communities. The Moore family live in the Richmond, Virginia area, where they are members of Redeemer Anglican Church.
Great Art and Spiritual Formation
How can the visual arts serve as a catalyst for spiritual formation? By looking together at classic Christian art, we will see how focused experience of the visual arts can deepen reflection on Scripture. The concepts discussed here can be applied for individual use or for a class or retreat. We will look at great works of art and learn how different artists have depicted Biblical themes over the centuries.
The Rev. Mary Amendolia Gardner is a Spiritual Director with Coracle. Previously Mary served at The Falls Church Anglican (TFCA) for five years as a Pastoral Associate. While at TFCA she worked with immigrants and asylum seekers in Outreach, provided pastoral care for congregants and served as Pastoral Associate for Evangelism. She trained for ministry at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, England, the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics and Heythrop College, University of London. Mary earned an MA in Christian Spirituality with a focus on the visual arts and spiritual transformation and she also holds a BA in Art History. Mary loves to help others discover the good news of Jesus and introducing people to the visual arts through museum tours. She speaks at retreats, enjoys international travel, learning about other cultures and kayaking. She and her husband John are active in missions with Restoration Anglican.
Introducing the 2019 Book of Common Prayer
Introducing the 2019 Book of Common Prayer…The Anglican Church in North America’s new Book of Common Prayer 2019 is a tremendous resource for our churches and for our own personal devotions. This session will describe the convictions that guided its creation, explore its rich content, and explain some noteworthy differences from previous Prayer Books.
The Rt. Rev. John Guernsey, Bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, served on the bishops’ panel that reviewed in detail the work of the ACNA’s Liturgy Task Force, editing and preparing the various rites for approval by the College of Bishops.
Leaders are Made Not Born
This session will focus on developing a culture of leadership in the local church. We will discuss ways to recognize and develop leadership gifts in your parishioners; how to entrust ministry to emerging leaders without taking unreasonable risks; how to care for and develop new leaders; and ways to give a higher priority to developing leaders by building clear leadership pathways.
The Rev. Dr. Tom Herrick, Canon for Church Planting for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and Founder and former Executive Director for the Titus Institute for Church Planting. Tom leads the Great Commission Committee of our diocese, as well as training church planters, coaching pastors and planters, performing assessments for prospective planters, and aids in developing strategic plans for local congregations in the diocese. In addition, he teaches church planting for Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and serves on the Always Forward team to stimulate church planting throughout the Anglican Church in North America.
To be Silent: The Too Busy Church
A workshop on developing the spiritual discipline of devotional silence in your personal life and in the life of your church. For many of us, life has become busy and noisy and oh so demanding. Our minds race to figure out the latest puzzles of life while bombarded with overwhelming stimulation. This session will highlight the value of silence as a key resource in our spiritual formation to overcoming the power of the world. The purpose is to learn how to experience the transformational benefits of being silent in God’s presence—simple, but not easy.
The Rev. Dr. Craig Stephans has served as Rector at Church of the Redeemer in Camden, NC since 2010. He is the author of To Be Silent: The Too Busy Church, published by Anglican House in 2019. He graduated from Trinity School for Ministry and Asbury Theological Seminary. For the past 7 years, Craig has served as Chaplain to the Albemarle Pregnancy Resource Center in Elizabeth City, NC. He completed his doctoral dissertation on the project of “Spiritual Formation Training for Pregnancy Resource Center Staff.” He and his wife Missy have two children and two golden retrievers.
Sharing the Gospel with Muslims
Sharing the Gospel with Muslims…With more than 400,000 Muslims living in our region, how can we be better prepared to share our faith with our Muslim neighbors, friends and co-workers? This seminar will equip you with some tools to help you initiate spiritual conversations with Muslims and share confidently with them the love and hope of Jesus. You will also learn to avoid some of the common mistakes Christians tend to make in Muslim evangelism.
The Rev. Robert Watkin is the founder and president of the Oasis Life Network, an organization aimed at equipping and mobilizing the church for effective ministry among Muslims. Robert served for 15 years at The Falls Church Anglican, most recently as the Director of Outreach. In the 1990s, he lived in the Republic of Kazakhstan and taught English at Aktau University for five years, helped launch an educational center for the community and planted a multi-ethnic congregation with predominantly Kazakh leadership. He earned his M.Div. from Trinity School for Ministry and is currently completing his doctorate at Gordon-Conwell Seminary.
Antioch Clergy Initiative: Recruiting and Deploying Leaders of Color…
For a variety of reasons, the ordained leadership of the ACNA lacks ethnic diversity. This lack of diversity hinders our province’s evangelistic imperative. Remedying this situation will require prayer and intentional plans for expanding our clerical leadership so that it includes diverse voices with unique insight on what it means to reach a changing world. This workshop will discus an initiative to increase the diversity of ACNA clergy for the sake of evangelism to all authentic gospel witness.
The Rev. Dr. Esau McCaulley, Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, and Director of the ACNA’s Next Generation Leadership Initiative. He is working on a book tentatively titled, The New Testament and the Hopes of Black Folk for IVP Academic on the relevance of New Testament texts to the present hopes and concerns of Black Christians in America. He’s also editing a book for InterVarsity Press titled, The New Testament in Color, which he describes as a “multi-ethnic commentary on the New Testament.”
Ministry Opportunities with the Elderly
This workshop will examine how aging impacts the role of the elderly in your church, recognizing the challenges as well as the blessings that this season of life can present. We will share specific models of ministry in the church and outreach into the community, and discuss how this group can be a great asset in the life of your congregation.
The Rev. Georgette Forney, Deacon, is President of Anglicans for Life, the only global Anglican ministry dedicated to helping the Church eradicate abortion and euthanasia through ministry, education, pastoral care, and advocacy. She is also the co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, an effort to raise awareness about the physical, spiritual and emotional harm abortion does to women and to let those who are hurting from abortion know help is available.
Leaders are Made, Not Born
The Rev. Dr. Tom Herrick, Canon for Church Planting for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and Founder and former Executive Director for the Titus Institute for Church Planting. Tom leads the Great Commission Committee of our diocese, as well as training church planters, coaching pastors and planters, performing assessments for prospective planters, and aids in developing strategic plans for local congregations in the diocese. In addition, he teaches church planting for Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and serves on the Always Forward team to stimulate church planting throughout the Anglican Church in North America.
Strategies for Cultivating New Leaders
The Rev. Dr. Esau McCaulley, Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, and Director of the ACNA’s Next Generation Leadership Initiative. He is working on a book tentatively titled, The New Testament and the Hopes of Black Folk for IVP Academic on the relevance of New Testament texts to the present hopes and concerns of Black Christians in America. He’s also editing a book for InterVarsity Press titled, The New Testament in Color, which he describes as a “multi-ethnic commentary on the New Testament.”