July 6, 2022 | Volume 12, No. 27

Cathy Stevens shared the impact of the Little Free Food Pantry at St. John's, Bainbridge, with the diocesan convention last November. The diocese will share many more ideas this November and we want to hear from you.

When the Diocese of Georgia meets in Convention this November, we will share ideas and experiences among congregations as one part of our theme Let Your Light Shine. Shared experiences can be outreach ministries, such as a soup kitchen or laundry love, or an evangelism idea, a particular ministry with children, or anything at your church that you think other congregations might benefit from learning more about.

In past years, we have seen how this type of cross-pollination has helped good ideas spread across the Diocese so that, for example, a school partnership in one congregation leads to others in very different places. Not every good idea is for every congregation, but the more we share, the more we can learn from one another and discover what could work in our own communities and contexts. We also want to learn about some of the hardships you encountered while forming this ministry. What were some obstacles and roadblocks? What were some new learnings for your congregation? The more information we can share, hopefully it can give other congregations a better understanding of the steps taken in order to create a similar ministry in their own community.

Tell us what your congregation is doing

We want to hear from you! Tell us about your ideas and ministries by clicking the "Let Your Light Shine" link below: 

Let Your Light Shine: Ministry Ideas and Experiences

Individuals and congregations are welcome to send in multiple ideas. Complete one form for each idea you want to share with others in the Diocese of Georgia.

The Diocese of Georgia’s newest deacon is the Rev. Ella Roundtree-Davis, who Bishop Logue has assigned to St. Matthew’s in Savannah. She and her husband, Enrique Davis, recently moved to the area from New York, where she was ordained as a deacon in 2013.

Roundtree-Davis was born in North Carolina. She moved, with her family, to New York City as a teenager. She attended City College of New York and majored in Physical Education. Deacon Ella also received a Master of Science Degree in Health Education from City College of New York, and a Master of Science in Administration and Supervision from the College of New Rochelle. She taught and coached sports in high schools for many years in Dutchess County and for the New York City Board of Education. She was the first college cheerleaders' coach to make Sports Illustrated Magazine with her team, and she won a national high school championship with her four-person shell in crew. Deacon Ella has also worked as a School Administrator, and a Director of a Substance Abuse Prevention Intervention Program in New York City School Districts. She retired after working thirty-two years in education.

Since her ordination in the Diocese of New York, she has served Trinity St. Paul's in New Rochelle, Christ Church in Bronxville, and from 2015-2022 at Christ Church Riverdale.

Deacon Ella is married to Dr. Enrique Davis and they have a blended family of four children. Two boys and two girls. All adults. Deacon Ella has found joy and deep soul satisfaction in being a Deacon and serving God's people. She is looking forward to becoming well acquainted, and working with the people of the Diocese of Georgia.

Happening #106 registration for candidates (participants) is now open! Happening, held at Honey Creek, is a weekend retreat for youth, led by youth. The weekend is focused on discovery and learning about yourself and your faith, all while enjoying fellowship and fun with youth from across the diocese. All youth and adults must follow the diocesan guidelines for youth events, which can be found here.

Who: Youth in 9-12 grade

When: August 12-14, 2022

How: Register here!

For more information, contact Happening Coordinator Sarah Brittany Greneker at sbgreneker@gmail.com.

During Family Camp families stay together in Lodge Rooms, and guardians remain responsible for their children throughout the weekend. Older children are able to go to different activities on their own, with their guardians’ permission. Every event is optional, so if your family most needs time to rest and recharge, it’s easy to take that time away.

Cost for Family Camp varies depending on how many people are attending and how many Lodge Rooms are needed. We recommend no more than three people per room, although four have occasionally squeezed into a room in the past, especially if some of them are small! When you enter the registration process, you will be able to select a number of participants and a number of rooms.

As with all Diocesan events that involve youth, we require that participants who are eligible be vaccinated, and that everyone wear masks while indoors. We also ask each participant to take an at-home covid test within 48 hours of arrival.

Arrival begins at 4 p.m. on Friday, and the event concludes after lunch on Sunday. Please contact Canon Varner at jvarner@gaepiscopal.org or Camp Director, Karen Bell at karenmackenziebell@gmail.com with your questions. 

The Registration Link is at www.honeycreek.org/camps. Scroll down the page to find the Family Camp link. If you prefer, the direct link is https://bit.ly/2022FamilyCamp.  

Georgia's first bishop converted in revival

As we approach the bicentennial of our founding in 2023, we will share the story of the Diocese of Georgia. This week we remember the conversion experience of Georgia's first bishop, Stephen Elliott.

The lawyer who would become the first Bishop of Georgia came to faith through a revival held at St. Helena’s Episcopal Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. Stephen Elliott Jr. was a local attorney when in 1831 he heard the Presbyterian evangelist Daniel Baker was coming to Beaufort and would be preaching in the Episcopal Church Elliott attended. 

Baker wrote of the event, “I received a pressing invitation to visit Beaufort. I went; and there being no Presbyterian church in the place, I preached alternately in the Baptist and Episcopal churches. The Episcopal minister, the Rev. Mr. Walker, was very cordial, and offered me the use of his pulpit. Knowing the peculiar views of our Episcopal brethren, I proposed standing below; but he insisted upon it that I should go into his pulpit.”



The Editor of the Beaufort Gazette, William John Grayson, published his account of the revival:

“The effect no one can conceive, who was not present. Politics were forgotten; business stood still; the shops and stores were shut; the schools closed; one subject only appeared to occupy all minds, and engross all hearts. The church was filled to overflowing; seats, galleries, aisles, exhibited a dense mass of human beings, from hoary age to childhood. In this multitude of all ages and conditions, there were occasional pauses, when a pin dropping might have been distinctly heard. When the solemn stillness was broken by the voice of the preacher, citing the impenitent to appear before the judgment-seat of heaven; reproving, persuading, imploring, by the most thrilling appeals to every principle of his nature; and when crowds moved forward and fell prostrate at the foot of the altar, and the rich music of hundreds of voices, and the solemn accents of prayer rose over the kneeling multitude, it was not in human hearts to resist the influence that awoke its sympathies, and spoke its purest and most elevated feeling.”

Of the eighty persons who experienced a conversion experience at St. Helena’s during that revival were eight men who became ministers. Among these was Elliott, who would a decade later become the first bishop of Georgia. Born in Beaufort, South Carolina, to one of the Low Country’s most powerful slaveholding families, Elliott attended his father’s alma mater, Harvard, for one year before coming back to study closer to home. He graduated from South Carolina College in 1825 and practiced law until his conversion experience when Elliott began to study for holy orders. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1836, having been ordained a deacon the previous year. He taught religion at South Carolina College from 1835-1841. 

Elliott was described in a biography as “A tall, commanding and majestic figure—the very impersonation of the Priests and Prophets of the past” with a “a clear, solemn and finely modulated voice.” He was not quite 35-years old when he was consecrated Bishop of Georgia in 1841. At that time, the diocese was composed of eight clergy serving five churches and two missions. 

Pictured above: Daniel Baker (above) and the Rt. Rev. Stephen Elliott, Jr. (below).

If you would like to have your submission considered for From the Field, it needs to be sent to Communications Manager Liz Williams (lwilliams@gaepiscopal.org) by noon on Tuesday.

Please note : the deadline to submit your your amendment will be August 15.

During the 2021 Diocesan Convention that met in November, delegates considered a package of changes to the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese. After passing two amendments and postponing a third, the Convention passed the resolution on a first reading. The proposed changes will come before the Convention this November.

Bishop Logue is appointing a Task Group to shepherd the process this year, allowing time for due consideration and a a way to propose additional amendments. The Constitution and Canons as voted on by Convention in 2021 can be viewed here.

The Constitution and Canons as voted on by Convention in 2021, with all changes tracked from the previous version, can be viewed here.

Propose amendments online

The Diocese will use a Google Form to facilitate the collection of proposed amendments to the Canons. Any member of the clergy or delegate to Convention (2021 delegates remain in effect until a congregation names new delegates) may propose an amendment using this form: Proposed Amendments to Canons.

If you have any questions, please contact Canon Loren Lasch at llasch@gaepiscopal.org.

Convention will be held November 10-12, 2022 in Savannah.

Hurricane season officially begins on June 1, and the diocese will once again use AlertMedia to stay in contact with parishes who may be affected by natural disasters. 

Send your updated information of Clergy, Senior, and Junior Wardens to Liz Williams at lwilliams@gaepiscopal.org.

The Canterbury Club in Augusta, along with members of St. Augustine of Canterbury, had a great time hanging out with youth at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in downtown Augusta last week.

The Rev. Ri Lamb (left) leads noonday prayer at St. John and St. Mark's in Albany. After the outdoor prayer service, everyone enjoyed a meal of hotdogs, chips, fruit cups, pound cake and ice cream. Children enjoyed the bounce house and several different two-person ball games. Adults visited and basked in the sunshine after a number of stormy days.

The Very Rev. Billy Alford with members of the Augusta Clericus (clergy group) with a photo taken by Bishop Logue of Honey Creek given as a gift. Rev. Alford retires at the end of this month.

The Rev. Katie Knoll Lenon (left) with some assistance from a camper at the Saints Joseph and Mary camp session at Honey Creek during chapel.

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Darien is seeking a part-time organist for Sunday worship and special occasion services. Hymns and service music are typically from the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal. There is also a Tuesday evening rehearsal requirement with the choir, all to total approximately 3-4 hours per week. Candidates should be familiar with an organ with 2 manuals and a pedal clavier, be music literate, and be willing to work collaboratively with the Rector and Music Director. Pay will be commensurate with experience. Interested parties should email their resume to standrew@darientel.net.

The Church of the Good Shepherd in Augusta is searching for a Director of Student Ministries. A resource size parish with a pre-pandemic ASA of 500, The Church of the Good Shepherd is seeking a full-time youth minister. The DSM has responsibility for all aspects of youth ministry and Christian formation for parish youth from middle school through high school, which includes Sunday School, Youth Group, mission trips, and other youth activities. A detailed job description can be found here. For further information, please contact the Rev. Ted H. Clarkson, Interim Rector at tclarkson@goodshepherd-augusta.org or call (912)230-9388.

St. Augustine of Canterbury in Augusta is looking for a Parish Administrator. For more information, contact the Rev. Jim Said at jim@st-augustines.org.

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 2022 one year prayer cycle is online here: 2022 Prayer Cycle.   

July 3 - 9

In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Richmond Hill, St. Elizabeth of Hungary. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Richmond Hill, especially Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church and St. Anne’s Catholic Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for St. Mary the Virgin (Santa María Virgen) in Monte Llano. 

July 10 - 16

In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Rincon, St. Luke’s. We also pray for our ecumenical partners, especially the Lutheran churches in Rincon—Jerusalem and St. John’s. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for Divine Grace (Divina Gracia) in Mozovi. 

Newly Revised 31-Day Prayer Cycles

We also offer 30-day prayer cycles for those who wish to pray daily for the clergy and clergy spouses: Diocesan Prayer Cycle and Clergy Spouses Prayer Cycle. (Updated 7/1/2022)

Please note that diocesan staff members will be traveling this summer for both work and personal time. Those updates will be noted in this section, along with the corresponding staff member to contact if there is a need.

Bishop Logue and Liz Williams will be at General Convention in Baltimore July 7-12.

To view Bishop Logue's full visitation calendar, click here. (Updated for 2023 - 5/4/2022)

Pictured: Bishop Logue attended Worship on the Water, a ministry of Christ Church in Cordele. Begun 19 years ago, the summertime service meets at a dock on Lake Blackshear.

Canon Lasch is on vacation this week.

Canons Varner and Lasch will be at Honey Creek this weekend for Family Camp. 

The office will begin the summer hours of operation, which will mean that the office will be closed on Fridays at noon.



The best way to reach a staff member is via email as we will always get back with you promptly in many cases and in 24-72 hours when working on more pressing matters. Staff e-mails can be found here with a list of responsibilities so you know who to contact for what.

You may also reach diocesan staff by phone at (912) 236-4279.

Top: Bishop Logue's first visitation - Trinity in Statesboro on August 15, 2021

Bottom: Bishop Logue with campers at Honey Creek on Friday at lunch which is a dress up day