October 11, 2022 | Volume 12, No. 41

Volunteer for convention

Convention 2022 is right around the corner and we need your help!

Every convention is able to run smoothly because of the preplanning of the diocesan staff, but also with the generous support of many volunteers. From assisting with check in, to helping direct delegates to the right place, volunteers help the diocesan staff pull off a successful weekend. 

We would love to have your assistance. If you would like to volunteer for this year's convention, please fill out the form linked below.

Volunteer Information Form

Convocation Council pre-Convention meeting dates

This year’s pre-Convention Convocation Council meetings will once again take place on Zoom. All Convention delegates and clergy are encouraged to attend. To follow existing canons, the vote taken at these meetings for a convocational representative on Diocesan Council will be limited to one clergy person and one vestry member from each congregation.

Convocation Council Meetings

Saturday, October 15:

10am - Southwestern & Albany Convocations

Sunday, October 16:

2pm - Savannah Convocation

4pm - Central Convocation

Saturday, October 22:

10am - Southeastern Convocation

Sunday October 23:

4pm - Augusta Convocation

For more information, contact Canon Loren Lasch at llasch@gaepiscopal.org.

Save the date for Episcopal Youth Event 2023

Every three years The Episcopal Church puts on the Episcopal Youth Event. This is an incredible gathering of hundreds of Episcopal youth from all over the world. Youth who are currently in high school can go this summer. Approximately 1500 people will come together for worship, play, workshops, small group discussions, and presentations designed to help young people claim their call to leadership in the Episcopal Church. Bishop Logue hopes to be present for the event, as are many other Bishops of the Episcopal Church.

Save the date now! E.Y.E. is scheduled for July 4-8, 2023 at The University of Maryland, College Park, MD. More information will be coming soon!

Hurricane Ian left most of our diocese unscathed, but hit our neighbors in Florida. Episcopal Relief & Development has long contributed funds to disaster relief, including the Diocese of Georgia when we have had areas impacted by storms. 

ERD has the ability to get funds directly to dioceses affected by Hurricane Ian quickly, and we here in Georgia know how time is of the essence when dealing with the aftermath of a storm. If you would like to donate to ERD's hurricane relief fund, click here.

To read ERD's full press release regarding hurricane relief funds, click here.

Fill out the vendor application here.

Registration now open!

Each delegate, guest, and clergy spouse must register individually. This is an important and is a necessary step in order to have the appropriate contact information for each person registered. Parish administrators may register a delegation, but will need to use the delegate's cell number and email address in the registration. 

To register for convention, click here. If you are receiving an error message when you click on the link, switch to a different browser.



Convention Reports

Convention reports that are to be printed in the convention booklet are now due. Email them to Communications Manager Liz Williams at lwilliams@gaepiscopal.org.

Elections

The following have accepted a nomination to run for a position in the Diocese. Please note that we are electing deputies for the next General Convention, which will be held in 2024 in Kentucky. Nominations are open until they are closed on the floor of convention and will continue to be updated in From the Field and online until November 8.

This year's Nominations Chair is Ms. Katie Grant from Church of the Good Shepherd in Augusta. We will elect persons to the following:

Board of Officers of the Corporation – 1 lay person

Church Disciplinary Board – 2 clergy persons & 1 lay person

Clergy

The Rev. Eric Biddy

Diocesan Council – 1 lay person or clergy

Clergy

The Rev. Terri Degenhardt

The Rev. Ri Lamb

Standing Committee – 1 lay person & 1 priest

Clergy

The Rev. Becky Rowell

Lay

Molly Stevenson

Trustee of the University of the South – 1 lay person

Whit Davis

General Convention Deputies – 4 clergy deputies and 4 clergy alternates; 4 lay deputies and 4 lay alternates 

Clergy

The Rev. Michael Chaney

The Rev. Ted Clarkson

The Very Rev. Al Crumpton

The Rev. Leeann Culbreath

Archdeacon Yvette Owens

The Very Rev. Tom Purdy

The Rev. David Rose

The Rev. Kelly Steele

Lay

Andrew Austin

Cissy Bowden

Jody Grant

Molly Stevenson

Liz Williams

To make a nomination, click here.

Once nominated, nominees will need to fill out the nominee form that can be found here.

To view full nominee bios, click here.

Three conventions required to elect a new bishop

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 election of the Rev. C.K. Nelson as the Third Bishop of Georgia.

Finding a successor for the Second Bishop of Georgia, the Rt. Rev. Bishop John Beckwith proved difficult. In May 1891, the convention of the Diocese of Georgia elected the Rev. Thomas F. Gailor, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the South at Sewanee over two other candidates for bishop–the Rector of St. Paul’s, Augusta and the missionary bishop of North Texas. Gailor declined the election saying that he felt called to his work at the university.

That July, the convention met again with two bishops on the slate–the missionary bishop of Northern California and the missionary bishop of Wyoming and Idaho. Bishop Ethelbert Talbot was elected and a two-person delegation was sent to Laramie, Wyoming, to meet with him. For three days the Rev. F.F. Reese and Mr. W.K. Miller talked repeatedly with Talbot, who would neither accept nor reject the offer. Finally the delegation headed back to Georgia offering him an additional thirty days to make up his mind. In September, Bishop Talbot declined the call, writing to the Diocese of Georgia that he felt “deeply committed to the missionary operations of the Church in this new and growing West.” 

The convention reconvened on November 11 with four priests of the Diocese of Georgia on the slate along with the rector of Christ Church in Detroit, Michigan, and the Rev. Cleland Kinloch Nelson, rector of the Church of the Nativity in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Nelson received majorities in both houses, with scattered votes for Johnson and the four Georgia clergy.

Nelson was consecrated as Bishop on February 24, 1892, in St. Lukes’ Church, Atlanta. That May he addressed the annual convention saying, “The proper attitude of the Church in Georgia is best described by the word aggressive…we, the Bishop and missionary clergy, are charged with the responsibility of awaking to life dormant stations and entering immediately upon a lively campaign in quarters where the Church has as yet no foothold.” 

He named areas which needed “to be attacked (to use the warlike phrase proper to a militant church), and to be strongly manned.” These were Cordele, Abbeville, Tifton, Montezuma, Butler, Guyton, Tennile, Sandersville, Rockmart, and Jesup and he added beyond these were “a hundred other towns of 600 to 2,500 population” as a mission field. 



With a practical view to the financial responsibilities which such an expansion would bring, in 1892 Bishop Nelson asked for, over and above regular annual missionary funds, $2,500 from each convocation, for a total of $10,000 (which is $317,700 in 2022 dollars). The missions themselves did contribute a total of almost $21,000 to the budget for their maintenance and improvement that same year. Georgia was at that time a largely missionary diocese, with just twenty-six parishes that were fully self-supporting out of a total number of 138 congregations. 

Bishop Nelson chose Atlanta for his cathedral city, saying that the capital of the church should be in the capital of the state. St. Luke’s became the Diocese of Georgia’s first cathedral. Two years later the cathedral site was changed to St. Philip’s.

Pictured: Bishop C.K. Nelson. The articles in this series are also online here: Bicentennial 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: November 17-20, 2022

How: Register here!

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

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.

Parishioners at Our Savior in Martinez ready for the Blessing of the Animals.

St. Patrick's and St. Paul's in Albany hosted an Ultreya, a Cursillo reunion group, that had representatives from Albany, Americus, Fitzgerald, Waycross, and Brunswick.

The Rev. Terri Degenhardt enjoys some one-on-one time with a four-legged parishioner at St. Augustine's of Canterbury in Augusta, while another furry friend looks on.

Elias Lasch, with dad the Rev. Ian Lasch, reads at the Blessing of the Animals at St. Francis of the Islands in Savannah.

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.     

October 9 - 15

In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregations in Thomasville, All Saints, Good Shepherd, and St. Thomas and for their work at the Oak Street Episcopal Mission. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Thomasville, especially St. Augustine’s Catholic Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for St. Luke (San Lucas) in Santiago. 

October 16 - 22

In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Thomson, Holy Cross, and for our ecumenical partners in Thomson, especially Zion Lutheran Church in Guyton and Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Lakeland. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Santo Domingo, especially the Cathedral of the Epiphany (La Catedral de la Epifanía).

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)

Bishop Logue will make his visitation to St. Mark's in Woodbine on Sunday.

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

Pictured: Bishop Logue with the Augusta Convocation Rectors and Priests-in-Charge.

Canon Varner will be serving on staff at New Beginnings this weekend at Honey Creek.

Canons Easterlin and Lasch will be attending the Convocation Council meetings on Saturday and Sunday.

Canon Lasch will be celebrating and preaching at Good Shepherd, Pennick on Sunday.

Executive Assistant to the Bishop Maggie Lyons is on maternity leave.

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.

The Rev. Al Crumpton blesses an exuberant member of the congregation at Our Savior

in Martinez.