Convention workshops announced

The 2016 Diocesan Convention is November 11-12 at All Saints’ Episcopal School. On Fire with the Spirit is the theme of this year’s convention. The convention will feature workshops open to all comers.

Is your congregation struggling for ways to help deal with poverty in your area? Have you looked for ways to connect across a racial, class, or income gap, whether at church, at home, or at work? Have you wondered how to help the rest of the church understand the hard lessons of the last seven years since the diocese reorganized? These three workshops are designed to help answer these questions and more.

These three workshops will be at 1:30 pm on Saturday.

The Rev. Eric Law will also present a training on Friday afternoon, also at 1:30 pm, for people involved in parish leadership, on different material from his Saturday workshop. If you’re involved in leadership in your congregation, consider attending the Friday training as well and indicate this on your registration form.

What is Open Table?

Open Table is a church based, life changing model where members of a congregation form a relationship with a person in poverty for a period of one year. Meeting weekly during the year, participants identify and work on their goals with the assistance of trained congregational members. The mission of Open Table is to “train congregation members, through the Open Table Model, to form communities – called Tables – that transform their vocational and life experiences into tools our Brothers and Sisters in poverty can use to develop and implement plans that create change. This workshop will be presented at 1:30 pm on Saturday, November 12.

Presenter: Catherine DeForrest Lillibridge is the Episcopal Leader for The Open Table, a ministry model offered in churches of all denominations around the country. She serves on the boards of the Commission For Women’s Ministries in the Diocese of West Texas and Magdalena House, San Antonio, a transition home that serves mothers and children who fled dangerous and abusive lives. She completed Education for Ministry (EFM) with an online group of Bishops’ spouses in May of this year. Catherine lives in San Antonio, Texas and was raised in the Episcopal Church. Her passion is helping women and children become empowered to be all that God created them to be. She leads groups in contemplative practices and recognizes that simple acts of contemplation, prayer and mindful action have the power to center us, improve our relationships, and make our work more meaningful. She and her husband, Gary, Bishop of the Diocese of West Texas, have been married for over 30 years and have three grown children. She enjoys outdoor activities, journaling and learning new crafts.

Building the plane as we fly it

Presenter: The Rt. Rev. David C. Rice is the provisional bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. Rice was formerly the diocesan bishop in the Diocese of Waiapu in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Polynesia. Before that, he was dean of the Cathedral of St. Paul’s in the Diocese of Dunedin in New Zealand. Prior to becoming dean, he was vicar of Mt. Herbert Parish on Banks Peninsula in the Diocese of Christchurch also in NZ. He was a United Methodist minister before becoming an Anglican priest in 1997. Rice has a M. Div from Duke Divinity School, Duke University and a B.A. from Lenoir Rhyne University, both in North Carolina. He has been a competitive cyclist and runner.  He loves fly fishing (understatement)! He loves to travel and enjoys exploring ways he and his wife Tracy can connect with family and friends who live all over the world. They have a son, Ian, and a daughter, Zoe, and a golden retriever, Lexi.

Holy Currencies

Based on the holistic model for congregation vitality and stewardship called Holy Currencies, Canon Eric Law will engage participants in the exploration of six “currencies” that are essential for sustainable and missional ministries. The holy currencies are money, time and place, gracious leadership, relationship, truth and wellness. Learning how to flow and recirculate these currencies to form a cycle of blessings will empower congregations to strengthen their internal relationships and to reach out and connect with the diverse populations in their neighborhood.

Presenter: The Rev. Canon Eric H. F. Law, DD is the founder and executive director of the Kaleidoscope Institute, which provides resources to equip church leaders to create sustainable churches and communities. The Kaleidoscope Institute offers consultation, intensive training institutes and local workshops delivering comprehensive leadership programs which include intercultural competency, anti-racism training, building inclusive community, media and faith, community transformation, stewardship and congregation vitality.

Law has been a consultant and trainer for over 30 years working with the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, United Methodist, Presbyterian, American Baptist, United Church of Christ and Lutheran Churches in the United States, Canada, Asia, Australia and Europe. He is the author of 9 books including Holy Currencies, Holy Currency Exchange, The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb (also available in Spanish), The Bush Was Blazing But Not Consumed, Inclusion:Making Room for Grace, and The Word at the Crossings. Law is an Episcopal priest, a composer of church music, a photographer and a playwright. He writes a weekly blog called The Sustainist: Spirituality for Sustainable Communities in a Networked World.