Posts by Steve Grenzow (Page 25)
POSTPONED: Christian Formation Table Talk on Saturday, May 24
The christian formation table talk event scheduled for Saturday, May 25, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Keller has been postponed and will be rescheduled.
It’s not too late to bring TENS to your congregation – Good news for leaders
Your congregation can host the June 6-7 webcast of “Walking the Way,” the stewardship conference presented by The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS). Vestries, stewardship teams, preachers, and Christian formation teams can learn from top stewardship practitioners. Four key one-hour workshops, plus worship and three keynote addresses, can be viewed live or delayed anytime in the month of June, for as little at $75 per site.
Get ready for summer with Safeguarding – Good news for leaders
Safe church trainings are offered in multiple congregations around the diocese during May, June, and August, just in time for mission trips and vacation church school.
“Growing in Faith Together – Creating & Sustaining Healthy Congregations” workshop June 20 & 21
The June 20 & 21 workshop will help you explore signs of thriving congregations, habits of health-promoting leaders, marks of healthy congregations, adaptive challenges, and more, drawing on presenter Peter Steinke’s exploration of churches as family systems. See the workshop schedule and register
Learn the Book of Common Prayer online – Good news for leaders
Starting in mid-May, Bexley Seabury seminary and ChurchNext are offering an eight-part series on the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer that will be easily available to anyone with a computer, tablet or smartphone and an internet connection. The classes can be used by individuals or by Christian formation classes, and promise to inspire lots of engaging conversation.
Chrism Mass and reaffirmation of vows
The Chrism Mass and reaffirmation of vows for the bishop and diocesan clergy was at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 at St. Luke’s in the Meadow Episcopal Church in Fort Worth. The Rt. Rev. Rayford B. High, Jr., officiated and preached. A luncheon was served afterward in the parish hall. View more photos on Flickr. Read the Bishop’s sermon.
Bishop Rayford High’s Chrism Mass Sermon April 15, 2014
John 12:20-36 I am grateful that you all are here this morning on this Tuesday in Holy Week to join with your sisters and brothers in ordained and lay ministry. I am especially grateful you have taken the time out in this busy, frantic, holy of holy weeks to share Christ’s presence in the bread and the wine, to share a meal together, to share a conversation with each other. As with the old 1928 Prayer Book, our Gospel for…
Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth Responds to the Heartbleed Bug
There has been much in the news recently about the discovery of an internet security issue known as “Heartbleed,” a serious vulnerability that affects almost every site, service, and application connected to the internet. A solution to the problem was created almost immediately by the people who discovered it, and the fix was released publicly along with the announcement of the problem. The diocesan communications team has analyzed diocesan internet activity and found there is no evidence of any data…
Bishop High to stay through 2015
At its April 7, 2014, meeting, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth asked the Rt. Rev. Rayford B. High, Jr. to stay on as provisional bishop through 2015, and he agreed. “We are all very happy about this,” said Elinor Normand, president of the Standing Committee. “We really appreciate how he is helping us to grow as a diocese and to stay focused on our mission and ministry.” Bishop High, retired bishop suffragan of the Episcopal…
The deadlines are coming! – Good news for leaders
Do you want to nominate someone for election to the diocesan standing committee at the November 2014 diocesan convention? Do you have a resolution to place before the convention? Are you required to submit a report on your ministry’s activities to convention? Would you like to see an article of our diocesan constitution be revised? Do you think our diocese should vote to support an initiative at The Episcopal Church’s 2015 General Convention in Salt Lake City? If any of these are important to you, you need to know more about canonical deadlines.
Diocesan litigation moves forward in two courts
At a hearing on Thursday, April 24, 2014, Judge John P. Chupp of the 141st District Court denied the Episcopal Parties’ motion to stay, or stop, proceedings in the diocesan case in the district court and granted the breakaway ACNA parties’ motion to set aside the supersedeas order that had imposed conditions for the ACNA parties to maintain possession of the church property during appeal. The breakaway parties agreed to give notice before selling any church property in their possession. This ruling…
Bring the TENS annual conference to your congregation – Good news for leaders
For $75 to $150, you can bring the Atlanta-based annual conference of TENS (The Episcopal Network for Stewardship) to your parish hall, or anywhere else you have internet access. The Walking the Way conference can be accessed live in real-time, or delayed anytime between June 6 and June 29.
Motion filed in 141st District Court on April 21, 2014
On Monday, April 21, 2014, attorneys for Local Episcopal Parties filed a Motion for Stay and Response to Motion to Set Aside Order on Defendants’ Motion to Set Supersedeas Bond. The motion begins, “Four years ago, Defendants argued to this Court: `[A] substantial amount of the Court’s time and the parties’ money must be spent—and potentially wasted—if the . . . claims must be tried before there is an appeal.’ The same is true today. Although the Texas Supreme Court reversed this…
Mark you calendars for local CPG workshops – Good news for leaders
Clergy, lay employees, and lay leaders who deal with finance, employee insurance and pensions, and budgets will want to mark your calendars for September 10 and 11, when Church Pension Group (CPG) representatives will visit the Diocese of Fort Worth. The CPG presentations will cover a wide range of topics, selected to address the needs of people in the diocese.
Join the Holy Conversation: Money, Church, and Millennials – Good news for leaders
Stewardship and adults under age 40 are the compelling focus of a Holy Conversation hosted by Brite Divinity School (http://brite.edu/) May 21-23 at the Bass Conference Center in the Harrison Building, 2925 Princeton Street, Fort Worth, Texas. “Let’s talk about connecting the church to young people and helping everyone connect their values to their spending,” reads the invitation from the Center for Faith and Giving, convener of the conversation.
Heartbleed Bug – Answers, Information, and Advice from the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth
You may have heard on the news or in other media about a recent internet-security vulnerability known as “Heartbleed.” The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth does not have the capability or the desire to become a tech-support provider or a primary source of internet-security information. However, we are taking several actions with our own applications in order to secure them against this vulnerability, and we feel it may be helpful to provide information about what we are doing and why,…