Sunday, June 22, 2014

Who is Bishop Foley Beach?

Joel Wilhelm has provided a great profile of the newly elected Archbishop, Foley Beach, over on his blog, "A Living Text."  You can read it here...

ACNA's Second Archbishop, The Right Reverend Foley Beach


Fresh of the wire from ACNA...

LATROBE, PA (JUNE 21, 2014)——The College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America elected today the Rt. Rev. Dr. Foley Beach of the Diocese of the South.  Bishop Foley Beach will succeed the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, the first archbishop for the Anglican Church in North America.
“The election occurred Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the College of Bishops three-day conclave where they met in the crypt of the basilica at Saint Vincent Archabbey,” said the Rev. Andrew Gross, Communications Director for the Anglican Church in North America.  The new archbishop will serve a five-year term and is eligible for re-election.
“I am delighted by this election and how the College of Bishops, after much deliberation and prayer, came to a unanimous decision,” said Archbishop Robert Duncan.  “This is a happy day for the Anglican Church in North America, a happy day for the Anglican Communion, and a happy day for the Christian Church.”
Though the current archbishop is stepping down from his role as archbishop of the North American province, he will continue in his role as bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Archbishop-elect Beach served as the Rector and Pastor of Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville, GA, from its founding in February 2004, until December, 2013. On October 9, 2010, he was consecrated in Atlanta, Georgia as the first Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the South in the Anglican Church in North America.
Dr. Beach is a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the School of Theology at the University of the South, and Georgia State University. He has served in ministry with Young Life, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Church.
His passion is to share the Word of God in such a way as to help others discover the incredible living Jesus. Married for more than 30 years, he and his wife, Allison, have two grown children and make their home in the Metro-Atlanta area.
The new archbishop will officially take office at the conclusion of the Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America which begins on Wednesday, June 25, 2014, at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, with a formal investiture to follow in the coming months.
The Anglican Church in North America is recognized as a province by the Primates of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, which is composed of over 50 million Anglicans.
The Anglican Church in North America consists of 112,000 Anglicans in nearly 1,000 congregations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Habemus Archiepiscopus

The Anglican Church in North America has a new Archbishop!  Details to follow.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Waiting for "White Smoke" from St. Vincent's

Praying for those who will be selecting the 2nd Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America this weekend:
Almighty God, giver of every good gift: we thank you for miraculously raising up a new Anglican Movement and giving us a courageous Archbishop, Robert Duncan, to lead our Anglican Church in North America these past five years. Look graciously now on your Church, and send your Holy Spirit to guide the hearts and minds of the College of Bishops who will choose an Archbishop for our Province, that we may receive a faithful Apostle who will lead us in mission and evangelism with our brothers and sisters around the world, and who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries in North America, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Though I have two who I'm hoping to see installed, I know that the outcome is in the hands of the Almighty.  Proverbs 16:33 reminds us "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD."

Friday, June 06, 2014

June 6, 1944 and the Greatest Generation's Baptism of Fire

It was only 70 years ago, an incomprehensible amount of time to many in the low-information crowd, when a tsunami of men, steel, and lead came crashing down on a remote beach in Hitler's fortress Europe.  Son's of the British Commonwealth and nephew's of Uncle Sam, by the thousands, waded and ran into a wall of gunfire that was being unleashed by the German defenders of the Norman coastline.  Wave upon wave hit those beaches that day until the Allies established a firm beachhead.  It was also a costly victory too as more Americans and other allies perished than in all the action of the passed 13 years in Southwest Asia.

It's hard to comprehend, in this age of the pajama-boy, of the raw and unbridled courage that was demonstrated on that morning by men as young as 18.  Living in the age of 30 year old boys, this level of valor can be tough to get one's head around.  It's also hard to imagine an American president who could boldly lead a Republic into prayer without the fear of some atheist with their knicker's in a wad being offended.  For those unfamiliar, that prayer is captured on the video below.

The youngest of those men who landed on the Normandy beaches are quickly approaching their 90th birthday's.  They're deserving of our thanks and our gratitude.  To those brave American's, Canadian's, Brit's and free French warriors, I say thank you and may our LORD bless and keep you all the day's of your lives.