Standing Committee in search process

In November, at the 2014 Diocesan Convention, the Rt. Rev. Rayford B. High, Jr., announced that he would be stepping down as the diocese’s provisional bishop at its 2015 Diocesan Convention.

In February, the Standing Committee issued a letter saying that it had determined, in consultation with Bishop High, that the interests of the diocese would be best served by electing a long-term provisional bishop to continue the work of reimagining The Episcopal Church in this area, a process that has been ongoing in the diocese since its reorganization in February 2009.

To that end, the Standing Committee is engaged in a search process for the next provisional bishop of the diocese. The guidelines under which they are working are:

• To continue our focus on the ministry of the church to the communities where we live and move and have our being
• To maintain the integrity and identity of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth
• To be open to different models of ministry for the episcopacy within our traditional framework
• To secure healthy long-term stewardship of the resources of our diocese without sacrificing the care we feel is needed from a bishop

The Standing Committee is working with the Office of the Presiding Bishop. It is engaged in a series of meetings and consultations with bishops across the Church. A meeting scheduled for the end of last week continued with Bishop High’s blessing, “The work of the diocese continues, even – and especially – in difficult times.”

The members of the Standing Committee ask for your partnership in prayer as they lead us forward into the future that God has for us.

Clergy members of the Standing Committee are the Rev. Curt Norman, president, St. Luke’s, Stephenville; the Rev. Amy Haynie, Episcopal Church of Wichita Falls; and the Rev. Carlye Hughes, Trinity, Fort Worth. Lay members are Mr. Norm Snyder, Good Shepherd, Granbury; Mr. Joel Walker, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Keller; and Mrs. Mollee Westfall, All Saints’, Fort Worth.