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CDI Starts Ninth Class in December
 In December of 2012, 20 participants from ten churches gathered at Honey Creek to begin a two-year journey. They were led by three trainers from the Diocese of Milwaukee - Peggy Bean, The Rev. Gary Manning, and Stephanie Gadzik.
We came, recognizing that the world around us was changing, and acknowledging that we needed to learn how to be effective disciples in this new and challenging world we lived and worshiped in. We had a good mixture of Clergy and Lay leaders.
We became good friends with our fellow participants and we learned from each other. We experienced similar struggles with the material and how to apply it back in our home churches. By our fourth weekend (in May) we were ready (perhaps reluctantly) to apply what we learned by doing a project in our home churches.
We all learned a lot from that experience and shared it with our fellow participants as we started our second year the following December. We also welcomed 17 new participants into our midst from seven new parishes.
In our seventh year we offered CDI at Honey Creek and in Augusta.
 Since the beginning 126 participants have completed two years of CDI training from 40+ churches. There have been multiples teams from several of these.
We are expecting 18 returning participants at Honey Creek and 13 in Augusta in December. We can accommodate up to 40 at Honey Creek and 30 in Augusta. Several churches have already committed to send teams to Honey Creek, but we could still accommodate a couple more teams. We have openings for three new teams in Augusta where classes will be held at St. Augustine of Canterbury. The openings will be allocated based on the date applications are received, with the exception that churches attending for the first time will be given priority over a church that wants to send a second or third team.
The trainers this year will be: The Rev. Walter Hobgood (both locations), The Rev. Denise Ronn (HC), The Rev. Lonnie Lacy (HC), The Rev. Guillermo Arboledo (HC), Carey Wooten (HC), The Rev. June Johnson (Augusta), and Kelly Evans (Augusta).
To register, send a request to The Rev. Walter Hobgood with a copy to M J Harris (
mjharris@gaepiscopal.org
) in Savannah. We will need the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of participants.
After registration has been confirmed, please send tuition to the Diocese of Georgia in Savannah and, if attending at Honey Creek, book accommodations there.
The dates for this cycle are:
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Honey Creek
Dec. 7-8, 2018
Jan. 11-12, 2019
Mar. 22-23, 2019
May 10-11, 2019
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Augusta
Dec. 14-15, 2018
Jan. 18-19, 2019
Mar. 15-16, 2019
May 17-18, 2019
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Dates for the next cycle can be found on the Diocesan web site.
Ideally, parish team consists of one clergy person and three lay leaders. However, we can accommodate teams of varying sizes, so do not let the "ideal" preclude you from attending.
Tuition is $225 for a team of four for each cycle. It goes up or down in increments of $25 as participants are added or deleted from the team.
If you have any questions, please call me at 229-630-6444 or email me at
The Rev. Walter Hobgood
Diocesan Director of Leadership Ministries
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This Sunday's Lections
Last Sunday after
Pentecost
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2 Samuel 23:1-7
Psalm 132: 1-13 (14-19)
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18: 33-37
Or
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Psalm 93
Revelation 1: 4b-8
John 18:33-37
Go
here for the full text.
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At the conclusion of the 197th Convention of the Diocese of Georgia in Albany, the Standing Committee had the first meeting with the newly elected members to discuss the discernment process in calling the 11th Bishop of Georgia. The assembled elected the Rev. Al Crumpton, president and Skip Jennings as secretary. The Rt. Rev. Bishop Benhase was present at the meeting to offer input and shared information on resources that will be available for the process.
 The Rt. Rev. Todd Ousley, bishop for the Office of Pastoral Development of The Episcopal Church, is providing support for the process and coordinating the effort to secure a consultant who will work with the Standing Committee--and Search Committee when it is formed.
The Standing Committee is scheduled to meet with the consultant on November 29th with the goal of having a Search Committee in place before Christmas 2018.
As the process continues, the Standing Committee will be working with leaders throughout the Diocese of Georgia to identify potential candidates to serve on the Search Committee, those who will represent the rich diversity that exists within our parishes throughout the diocese.
To contact the officers of the Standing Committee, email
bishopsearch@gaepiscopal.org.
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How to Improve Your Collection
 The United Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of The Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Through the UTO, individuals are invited to embrace and deepen a personal daily spiritual discipline of gratitude. The UTO encourages people to notice the good things that happen each day, give thanks to God for those blessings and make an offering for each blessing using a UTO Blue Box. UTO is entrusted to receive the offerings, and to distribute 100% of what is collected to support innovative mission and ministry throughout The Episcopal Church and Provinces of the Anglican Communion.
The Episcopal Church's UTO board offers great ideas to make UTO collections fun. St Patrick's in Somerset, Kentucky increased their offering this year by 450% using a November Challenge to make the UTO offering fun and exciting. Each day of the week a different opportunity is used to show or be thankful for something in your life. Such challenges include a reflection on the Sunday lesson that focuses on gratitude, seek out a random act of gratitude, give thanks for an everyday blessing, write a thank you note to someone, do a creative project to help name your blessings, keep a gratitude journal to realize how blessed you are, and reflect and recharge by using TED talks.
All of the results can be shared with others. Participants will realize how blessed they are. By dropping coins, Washingtons or Jacksons (as Bishop Benhase says) in the blue UTO box, many blessings will grow into blessings and gratitude for others in need.
For more information and to find out how the Gratitude Challenge works, visit the national UTO website at
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/united-thank-offering.
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Bishop to Hold Diocesan-wide Bible Study
Bishop Benhase will lead a seven-part Bible study of St. Paul's Letter to the Romans for the entire Diocese of Georgia as part of the Good Book Club, a church-wide Bible reading initiative begun by Forward Movement.
The Bishop's study will be held on Wednesdays from 10:30 to 11:30 AM beginning January 9 at St. Peter's Church on Skidaway Island, Savannah. It will also be broadcast each week live here:
www.facebook.com/georgiaepiscopal from January 9 through the last session on February 20.
Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry supports and encourages individuals and congregations to join the Good Book Club as a way to engage in "Learn," one of the seven Way of Love practices for a Jesus-centered life.
Members of the Savannah Convocation are encouraged to participate in the Bishop's Bible study in person. Space will be limited, so please register by going here:
http://bit.ly/BibleStudywiththeBishop
The Good Book Club website lists the daily readings as well as resources to support people as they read the scriptures. Spanish resources and information are available at clubbiblico.org.
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From Joshua Varner, Canon for Children and Youth:
New Beginnings #53!
 New Beginnings, a retreat for youth in Grades seven to nine, took place this past weekend at Honey Creek. Over 75 adults, middle school participants, and high school staff gathered to pray, play, listen, and talk about God's unconditional love in their lives, even when that love is difficult to see. Youth who were on staff gave talks on different aspects of their lives, including Identity ("Who am I?"), Family, Siblings, The Church, and many others.
 One particularly powerful piece of the weekend is the Saturday night worship service, in which participants offer those things they want to turn away from, that is, their sins, to God by placing pieces of paper in the fire. (Photo at right) They then have the opportunity to go to one of several stations for prayers for healing.
The Closing Eucharist for this New Beginnings packed approximately 120 people into the Chapel, where they heard a sermon by Waverly Brown, of Christ Church, Frederica. New Beginnings #53 was led by Sarah Bianco, from St Thomas', Isle of Hope, and New Beginnings #54, which takes place March 22-24, will be led by Sera Davidson.
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The Rev. Yvette Owen, Deacon and one of the Spiritual Directors for the weekend listens to Lachlan Davison practice giving her talk about changes.
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Upcoming Youth Events include our Winter Youth Retreat for youth in grades six-12, January 11-13, 2019; Happening #101, for youth in grades 10-12, February 1-3.
Register here for the Winter Youth Retreat: http://bit.ly/2019WinterYouth. Staff applications for New Beginnings #54 and registration for all other upcoming events will be open soon!
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Around the Diocese
Priscilla Carrington of Christ Church, Savannah with the Rev. Michael White, Rector, following the service on Sunday when Carrington was given the the Deacons' Award which is given each year by the Deacons of the Diocese of Georgia to a lay person who embodies servant ministry.
The Diocese of Georgia was well represented at the ordination of the Rev. Amy Smith Bradley to the priesthood held at St. Augustine's Augusta.
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| The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) of St. Anne's Tifton participated in a string art workshop. |
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The Bishop's Visitation
Church of the Good Shepherd, Augusta
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Good Shepherd as it stands today.
(Jeff Scofield photo)
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The Church of the Good Shepherd, was chartered in 1869, consecrated in 1871, built in 1889, destroyed by fire in 1896 and reconsecrated in 1898. But it's not a church defined by dates and a disaster, instead in its long history Good Shepherd has embraced a mission to be a people of purpose, with a ministry that makes a difference in the lives of people and a difference in the community,
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Students from EDS work on a project.
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As the Rector, the Rev. Robert Fain says, "We understand that our building is not just for us. It's in use Monday through Sunday by community groups and students from Episcopal Day School".
Church of the Good Shepherd founded EDS in 1944 as a kindergarten and childcare resource for mothers working in the war effort. Today it's a co-educational day school serving children who attend preschool through eighth grade. But the parish was actually born in a school as the founders worshiped in a schoolhouse until the property was acquired and a new building erected.
Good Shepherd's outreach to the community includes being a partner in a homeless ministry through Family Promise, Augusta. Good Shepherd provides shelter for homeless families who sleep at the church one week at a time, three to four times a year. Volunteers from the parish provide breakfast, a sack lunch and supper as well as a mentoring class or family time in the evening.
 Making a difference in the community also means volunteers provide lunch for 100-150 at Christ Church, Harrisburg, one Saturday a month.
The Ladies Sewing Circle had a hand in raising funds for the church twice--for the first building and the present one. Today another craft ministry of the church, knitting prayer shawls, so far 300, has been a very effective pastoral outreach, according to Fain.
On Sunday, Bishop Scott Anson Benhase baptized, confirmed, received and reaffirmed the faith of 24 persons showing that Church of the Good Shepherd is making a difference in its congregation also.
The Rev. Sandy Turner, Deacon, Bishop Benhase, the Rev. Lynn Prather, Deacon and the Rev. Robert Fain, Rector, gather with those who were baptized, confirmed, received and reaffirmed in the Episcopal Church on Sunday.
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Prayers for Weekly Liturgies
Our one-year prayer cycle combines prayers for every congregation in the Diocese of Georgia with prayers for our ecumenical partners and for our Companion Diocese of The Dominican Republic. The 52 weekly prayers are available in one document
found here.
November 18-24
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Vidalia, the Church of the Annunciation. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Vidalia, especially Sacred Heart Catholic Church and for St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Reidsville. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Santo Domingo, especially St. Peter and St. Paul (
San Pedro y San Pablo).
November 25-December 1
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Waycross, Grace Church. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Waycross, especially St. Joseph's Catholic Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Santo Domingo, especially St. Ann's (
Santa Ana).
New Prayer Cycles
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Diocesan Office Update and News
Bishop Scott Anson Benhase
will make his annual visitation to St. Thomas' Isle of Hope on Sunday, November 25 at 10 AM. The bishop's
full schedule is available
Canon Logue is in Saluda, North Carolina, today checking on the Clergy Cottage and shutting it down for the winter.
There will be no noon, Thursday service at Diocesan House. Have a blessed Thanksgiving.
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Disc Golf Tournament at Honey Creek
Saturday, December 1, 2018
7:30 to
To register, go
here.
Diocesan Council
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Annunciation, Vidalia
Happening #101
January 31 (for staff) through Sunday, February 3
Staff register
here, candidates
here
Honey Creek Retreat Center
CreekFest
February 15-17
Honey Creek Retreat Center
Register
here.
Happening #102
Thursday, April 11 (for staff) through Sunday, April 14, 2019
Honey Creek Retreat Center
Diocesan Council
May 17-18
Augusta
Happening #103
Thursday, August 22 (for staff) through Sunday, August 25
Honey Creek Retreat Center
Diocesan Council
September 13-14
Savannah
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Gathered Together
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A cornucopia of vegetables and flowers on the altar of Christ Church, Savannah. Following services on Sunday, the produce was donated to Emmaus House, an interfaith ministry that serves breakfast to more than 200 people every week day. Begun in 1982, Emmaus House is located on the first floor of the Christ Church Savannah Parish House.
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