"I'm what the world considers to be a phenomenally successful man. And I've failed much more than I've succeeded. And each time I fail, I get my people together, and I say, "Where are we going?" And it starts to get better." - Calvin Trager
Monday, November 22, 2004 Best news of the day is the marquee on Vintage Vinyl that says "New U2 ... Monday at Midnight". I know, I know ... it's been on MTV.com for a week or so. Call me a purist, I just like going to the record store at midnight, buying the CD and then listening to it twice ... once through and then once reading the liner notes. Kind of like the difference between reading the news online and cracking open a real, paper-and-ink newspaper over a cup of coffee in the morning. Anyway ... I'll hear it in 10 more hours.
Had diocesan convention this weekend. Terry Parsons, who is the national church officer for stewardship, was the keynoter and was dynamite. We have a desparate need to get our act together with stewardship ... not just from a financial standpoint (though that is true), but just from a spiritual formation standpoint. She was able to be in-your-face about it in a way that was sufficiently disarming that people heard it and even got excited about it.
Also we had a great Global Reconciliation Commission workshop ... used Sarah McLachlan's Worlds on Fire video (streamed from the website ) and heard great stories from people who had been to Sudan, Ghana, Nicaragua and Uganda as well as lots of practical ways individuals and congregations can get involved in global mission and international development. Got invitations from two congregations to come talk about All Souls Liberian Episcopal Church in Buduburam.
And ... in a really cool development ... in the middle of convention I get a call from Eddie Jennings, who is the seminarian at All Souls. They were at a vestry meeting and were thinking of us and really wanted to make sure we hadn't forgotten about them. We're starting to get the fundraising wheels rolling for them (thank you Tom and Leine McNeely!!!), so I hope to have a fund transfer to them by Christmas. You can donate by sending a check made out to Diocese of Missouri with All Souls in the memo line ... send it to me at
Rockwell House
7023 Forsyth
St. Louis, MO 63105
Didn't get re-elected as a general convention deputy, which was kind of a bummer. Our student ... an amazing freshman named Reynolds Whalen ... didn't get elected either, but he finished 6th, so if someone drops out he gets to go as first alternate.
Hayden is home sick today with some derrivative of hoof and mouth disease (not really, but it sounds like it) that he caught at the nursery. Good news is he should be OK by the time family starts arriving tomorrow night.
EGR resources and connects the church to embrace what one person, one congregation, one diocese and one church can do to make this mission of global reconciliation happen.
Want to find out more ... check our our website at www.e4gr.org.
"Christ's example is being
demeaned by the church if they ignore the new leprosy,
which is AIDS. The church is the sleeping giant here.
If it wakes up to what's really going on in the rest
of the world, it has a real role to play. If it doesn't,
it will be irrelevant."
- Bono
Episcopalians for 
