November 30, 2022 | Volume 12, No. 48

Happening #106

"Let everything you do be done in love"

Two weekends ago, 26 participants and 22 staff gathered for Happening #106 at Honey Creek. Participants and staff came from all over the Diocese and beyond. During the weekend they heard staff offer reflections on Faith, Reality, Piety, and more. They gathered in small groups to reflect together, played games, sang songs, and wrote prayers.

At the closing Eucharist Jon Matlock-Cater, from Griffin, said “I didn't know what to expect this weekend, but I knew God had a plan for me and my next step in my faith.” Maddie Yarbrough, from Christ Church in Valdosta, said, “Camp was my opening to my relationship with Jesus, New Beginnings was more like a how-to on what you need in your life with Jesus, but Happening is where I feel like my relationship with Jesus has been solidified," and Greyson Epting from St. Thomas Isle of Hope in Savannah, said, “This weekend has been a helpful break from my worldly frustrations.”

Jake Diamond, from Christ Church, Valdosta, was the Rector of Happening #106. He selected 1 Corinthians 16:14 as his theme for the weekend: “Let all that you do be done in love.” The theme was personified throughout the weekend by staff showing love, care, and understanding to the participants and each other.

Happening #107 will be March 24-26, with staff arriving on the 23rd. Applications for staff for Happening #107 can be found here. Staff will need to attend the staff lock in meeting in Augusta in addition to arriving to the Happening weekend on Thursday evening.

Participant registration will be open soon!

Feast of Feasts online

The Diocese of Georgia is offering daily devotions written by Bishop Frank and Victoria Logue for a 7-week study from Advent through Epiphany. The short daily readings use the lens of Franciscan ideals including humility, simplicity, and peace as a focal point of each week. This will be perfect to enjoy as a solo study, a small group, or as an offering for the whole congregation. The devotions are posted online daily on our website and social media channels.

You can find each week's devotions, as well as the accompanying video for the week, on our website. Click on the day of the devotion, and it will expand with the day's reading.

You can find additional ways to acquire the full PDF online or the book on our website here.

Music library giveaway

The music office at Christ Church Episcopal in downtown Savannah is paring down its choral music library. Rather than throwing away several hundred pieces of music, we would like to offer these scores to any church, school, or community choir who could put them to good use. Most are in good condition, with various pencil markings from use in the music program over the past 40-50 years. The number of copies of each piece vary, and all details can be found in the spreadsheet linked here. To inquire about picking up scores, please contact Director of Music George Fergus at george.fergus@ccesavannah.org. Please share this notice with anyone in your community who may benefit. Scores will be available until early January.

Camp Reese on St. Simons Island

As we approach the bicentennial of our founding in 2023, we will share the story of the Diocese of Georgia. This week we remember Camp Reese, the precursor to Honey Creek.

For 30 years, the Diocese of Georgia enjoyed summer camp sessions on St. Simons Island. These began as a modest offering when the Rev. W.A. Jonnard, an associate at St. John’s in Savannah, took 14 young people for a two-week stay on the island. That summer and in the years until the Diocese built a camp, the group lived in rooms at a beach motel. 

In 1932, the Diocese purchased ten lots of land a few hundred yards from the Atlantic Ocean using a gift of $7,500 from Mr. and Mrs. Charles Chapin of Thomasville and $2,300 in diocesan funds (a total of $218,000 in 2020 dollars). The Diocese built Chapin Hall at the Camp Reese named for Bishop Frederick F. Reese, who was the Bishop of Georgia at the time of the purchase. 

Eleven additional lots were added and buildings given in subsequent years. St. John’s Church in Savannah built Jonnard Cottage in 1933. The next year, Christ Church in Savannah built Wright Cottage in honor of their Rector, the Rev. David Cady Wright. St. Paul’s and Good Shepherd in Augusta added the Augusta Cottage in 1936. Funded from various gifts in 1938, Aiken Cottage was named in honor of Frank Aiken of Brunswick. Also in 1938, the Young People’s Service Group built Alexander Cottage in honor of Deaconess Anna Alexander who worked at the camp in the summer to raise money to support the school in Pennick. Alexander Cottage was described as a servants’ house for the camp.

In a Living Church article in 1945, the Rev. James Lawrence reported, “From the scant beginning when Mr. Jonnard and his handful of campers rented a beach hotel the camp has grown and so contributed to Church life that it has been described as ‘the powerhouse of the diocese.’” That same year, the Diocese reported a camp enrollment of “457 persons comprising different youths and adults who attended that summer.”

Rita Griffeth, a Glynn County native who lived in Savannah, served as the diocesan secretary of religious education at this time. Each year from 1925 to 1950, she drove the backroads of central and south Georgia to personally find counselors and campers and then tirelessly run the program. 



During the post World War II years, the Diocese added two new buildings, a chapel and a recreational hall, the latter a memorial to Lt. Carl Schuessler, a U. S. Marine who lost his life in the Pacific after serving seven years on the staff of the camp. A tabby outdoor altar under the branches of a majestic live oak served as a beloved outdoor chapel, named Barnwell Chapel, for Bishop Reese’s successor, the Rt. Rev. Middleton Stuart Barnwell.

The Diocese added an annual Layman’s Conference in 1949 as noted in a report to convention that “Much of this lay interest in the Church had been engendered over the years at special conferences and retreats at the Diocesan assembly, Camp Reese.”

By 1954, the buildings were becoming out-moded and the original privacy of the Camp was being lost as a result of continued residential construction adjoining the Camp. The Convention voted to sell the property. In the years between Camp Reese and Honey Creek, the diocese held youth conferences at Kolomoki State Park in Blakely and at Abraham Baldwin College in Tifton.

Pictured: The beach near Camp Reese (top); the outdoor altar at Camp Reese, painted by Tisha Chambers (bottom).

Saint Paul's in Augusta

St. Anne's in Tifton

Holy Comforter in Martinez

St. Thomas Isle of Hope in Savannah

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.

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.     

November 27 - December 3

In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Waynesboro, St. Michael’s. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Waynesboro, especially Sacred Heart Catholic Church and our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Sylvania. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Santo Domingo, especially St. Margaret (Santa Margarita).

December 4 -10

In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Woodbine, St. Mark’s. We also pray for our ecumenical partners, especially the Catholic congregations of Holy Family in Metter and St. Bernadette in Millen. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Santo Domingo, especially Holy Trinity (Santísma Trinidad).

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 11/30/2022)

Bishop Frank and Victoria Logue will be in Key Largo, Florida, this weekend for his niece, Jessica Neill's, wedding

To view Bishop Logue's full visitation calendar, click here. (Updated for 2023 - 8/30/2022)

Picture: Bishop Frank and Victoria with the Rev. Donald Holland and members of St. Andrew's in Douglas.

Executive Assistant to the Bishop Maggie Lyons and Canon Katie Easterlin are on maternity leave.

Canon Lasch will be celebrating and preaching at St. Luke's in Rincon on Sunday.

Communications Manager Liz Williams will be on vacation December 6-12.

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.

Roxie, Christ Church Dublin's newest member of the Altar Guild, proudly poses in front of the altar after assisting the altar guild in switching the altar fronts to Advent.