Nags Head Acolyte Festival March 24-25

The Diocese of East Carolina and St. Andrew's By-the-Sea in Nags Head, NC, invite your acolytes to participate in the 8th annual Acolyte Festival in Nags Head March 24-25. All acolytes, directors, youth ministers and parents are welcome and encouraged to attend. Participants will return home with both new skills, a renewed enthusiasm for liturgy, and the rich, participatory tradition of Anglican worship. Cost is $45 per person and includes all meals, snacks, activities, workshop materials and a t-shirt. Per diocesan requirements, one adult chaperone is required for every six youth. For more information contact Debbie Luke, 252-599-6997 or lukecrew@hotmail.com. Click here for a registration form. 

 

2017 Missional Voices National Gathering

The 2017 Missional Voices National Gathering will be held April 21-22 at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA. It brings together church leaders, seminarians, church planters, entrepreneurs, artists, and everyday innovators to discuss innovative ministries and missional communities both within and outside of the traditional church context. Missional Voices is a weekend of thinking, planning, and dreaming about the future ministry in The Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. It is a place where dynamic incubation of new ideas is the norm - not the exception - and where people doing uncommon ministry find support and encouragement. Cost is $99 and includes meals, free to current seminary students. Learn more at www.missionalvoices.com.

 

Calling the Future Church Conference: Leading from the Middle; Leading Like it Matters

Province III of the Episcopal Church is hosting this conference featuring the Rev. David Gortner, Ph.D., May 1-2 at the Holiday Inn in Martinsburg, WV. What patterns of choices has the Episcopal Church made in its selection, formation, development and deployment of ordained leaders? What is the impact of those choices on mission? Might we "move the dial" by fostering religious leadership practices to reshape and redirect congregations in their culture and engagement in the public practices of evangelism, witness and community partnership? Registration is $75. Click here for more information and registration.

Episcopal Veterans Fellowship

The Episcopal Veterans Fellowship (EVF) and the Hospitallers of St. Martin, a new monastic Christian community, have been established for veterans ministry. Together they equip Christians for missional ministry to veterans through prayer, hospitality, and reconciliation. They offer educational workshops, consulting, and coaching so churches can reach out with God's love to veterans who live in the community. Learn more at their website, www.episcopalveteransfellowship.org. 

ECW collects over $800 for UTO at Annual Council

By Ronda Toll, Diocesan UTO Coordinator

On behalf of the ECW, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who attended the Annual Council. You filled our famous United Thank Offering (UTO) blue boxes most generously! $820 was donated during the Council to UTO and the mission-driven, Christ-centered ministries that UTO supports. Thank you!

125th Annual Council: Stewardship resources; Bishop's address; elections; resolutions

Southern Virginia's 125th Annual Council convened February 10-11 at the Williamsburg Lodge.

	Timothy Dombek

Keynote speaker
The Rev. Canon Timothy Dombek, Canon for Stewardship in the Diocese of Arizona, shared his wisdom, experience and vision in two presentations and his sermon at the Council Eucharist. Canon Dombek's presentations and handouts are available on the Stewardship page of the diocesan website.

Bishop Hollerith's Address to Council
Bishop Hollerith addressed Council on Friday morning. He remarked on the tumultuous and unsettling events of the past year and what that could mean for the Church - "I sense us entering a period when more and more people will be turning to the church for answers and for meaning and for community." He also spoke about the Executive Board's Social Justice Task Group, Chanco on the James, and announced the addition of the Rt. Rev. James Magness to the diocesan staff beginning in late March. Bishop Magness is the retired bishop of the Armed Forces & Federal Ministries. He will assist, part-time, with visitations and explore the possibility of a new church plant. Click here to read Bishop Hollerith's address.

Bishop Hollerith with members of the Youth Delegation to Council

Elections
The following elections were made by Council. For more information about these positions and the nominees who were elected, go to the Annual Council page of the diocesan website.

Standing Committee:  

Lynn Farlin, Ascension, Norfolk 

The Very Rev. Susan Grimm, St. Timothy's, Clarksville & Trinity, South Boston

Disciplinary Board:  

John Rector, St. Paul's, Suffolk 

The Rev. Ronald Ramsey, St. Cyprian's, Hampton 

The Rev. Stewart Tabb, Ascension, Norfolk

Provincial Synod: 

Gay Forloine, Hickory Neck, Toano

General Convention: 

Lay Deputies: Sam Webster (Head of Deputation), Ascension, Norfolk; Alice Webley, All Saints, Virginia Beach; Toni Hogg, St. John's, Hampton; Isabel Burch, Bruton Parish, Williamsburg. 

Lay Alternates: Matthew White, St. David's, Chesterfield; Cara Kinsey, Emmanuel, Chatham 

Clergy Deputies: Julia Messer, Eastern Shore Chapel, Virginia Beach; Willis Foster, St. Stephen's, Petersburg; Samantha Vincent-Alexander, St. John's, Hampton; Cameron Randle, St. George's Parish on the Eastern Shore 

Clergy Alternates: Dale Custer, St. John's, Chester; Ronald Ramsey, St. Cyprians', Hampton; Jennifer Andrews-Weckerly, Hickory Neck, Toano; Mark Wilkinson, St. Aidan's, Virginia Beach 

Resolutions
For more information on these resolutions, go to the Annual Council page of the diocesan website.

Resolution C-1, Parishes at Risk, PASSED 

Resolution R-1, Changes to Rules of Order - WITHDRAWN 

General Convention Resolutions - PASSED AS READ 

Go to the diocesan Facebook page, or search #Diosova125, to find lots of pictures from this year's Annual Council.   

Register now to be part of the Episcopal Youth Event delegation from Southern Virginia

	EYE 2014 delegation from Southern Virginia

The next Episcopal Youth Event (EYE17) will be held in partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma from July 10-14, 2017 on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond. EYE17 is geared for youth in grades 9-12 during the 2016-2017 academic year and their adult leaders.

 

"Path to Peace represents both the inward and outward actions we are called to engage as members of the Jesus Movement," explained Bronwyn Clark Skov, Presiding Bishop's Staff Officer for Youth Ministry. "Embracing this theme, the 2017 Episcopal Youth Event will focus on helping participants identify how they can engage peacemaking and reconciliation in their communities."

 

Complete information and registration forms are available on the Youth Events page of the diocesan website. The deadline for registration is Wednesday, March 15, 2017. Questions may be directed to Ashley Scruggs, Youth Missioner at ascruggs@diosova.org.