News Around the Mission

Pulling a fifth-wheel trailer behind them, Robin and Tim were just two days into a road trip from Central California to visit their son and daughter-in-law in Florida when Tim suddenly became ill. Just a few miles into New Mexico, he was forced to pull over and let Robin take the wheel.

Throughout the day, Tim's condition worsened. By the time they reached Kerrville, Texas, Robin found an urgent care clinic and helped Tim inside to see a doctor. The doctor immediately hospitalized Tim as his kidneys were beginning to fail and his breathing was labored. For emotional support, Robin called her sister, Ronda Perry, a member of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

"Robin asked me to begin praying as she had now found herself in a strange town with her fifth-wheel in the parking lot of the hospital and worried about her husband," says Ronda. "She was all alone."

Ronda looked up Kerrville on a map and saw that it was an hour away from a sister Anglican Mission Church, Grace Fellowship in San Antonio. She quickly called the Rev. Matt Kessler and Worship Leader Andrew Moreland to explain the situation. She asked if they'd be able to help despite the distance.

"Andrew informed me that an hour was nothing in Texas!" Ronda says.

By the next day, Ronda received a phone call from Lucy Rogers in Pastoral Care at Grace Fellowship. Lucy explained that she and others were ready to drive over to sit with Robin and provide whatever she needed. They had begun praying for Tim and Robin immediately but also wanted to bring Robin meals and even financial gifts to help with the unexpected RV rental space and incidentals.

"It was such a blessing for me to be able to call my sister and tell her that she had brothers and sisters in Christ who were anxious to come alongside her-people she never heard of from an unfamiliar denomination," Ronda says.

Unfortunately, Robin also began to be ill and the doctors declared both she and Tim to be contagious, preventing Grace Fellowship from making the trip. Still, Robin was overwhelmed by the church's kindness and generosity. Even though she didn't meet them face-to-face, the phone conversations she had with Lucy encouraged her greatly.

"I was so proud of our Mission!" Ronda says. "What a witness that we truly are mission-minded. When Robin asked why they would do such a thing, not even knowing her, I reminded her of Matthew 25:34-40."

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

In April, the Rev. Gerry Schnackenberg preached 15 times in 22 days, a personal record for the pastor of Epiphany Anglican Fellowship in Longmont, Colorado. He did so on a journey to visit Bishop Sospeter Ndenza of the Diocese of Kibondo in Tanzania, who welcomed Gerry to join them for a month of healing, prayer and celebration of the one-year anniversary of the Diocese.

Bishop Sospeter Ndenza was elected last year to be the first bishop for the newly designated Diocese, which emerged from the Diocese of Western Tanganyika. Until his appointment to the new role, Bishop Sospeter served as Assistant Bishop to the Diocese of Western Tanganyika and taught at St. Philips Theological College. During Gerry's visit, the two men deepened a close friendship and partnership in Christ.

Gerry's trip was marked by torrential rains, grueling travel, joyful receptions, beautiful singing and the power of the Holy Spirit poured out in ways he had never seen. Traveling over nearly impassable dirt roads, Gerry and his wife, Pam, visited several Anglican parishes around the Diocese and held services at each. Gerry enjoyed seeing the cultural differences like exuberant singing and dancing, and offertories that included chickens, eggs and sugar cane. During the services, Gerry participated in the Holy Spirit falling on many in attendance and delivering others from demonic influence.

"This sort of ‘Power Ministry' has been largely unknown to the people which means they are really, really open to it under the godly leadership of their Bishop whom they trust," Gerry says. "Bishop Sospeter told me last February after experiencing the evening of healing prayer at Winter Conference that this is what he very much wanted for his Diocese. I believe he is setting a pattern for healthy and powerful ministry of releasing the fullness of the Holy Spirit in a gentle, but moving way."

During his trip, Gerry also spoke at the graduation ceremony at the Diocesan Bible School and dedicated the cornerstone of a new rectory in a remote village.

"The hospitality of Bishop Sospeter, his wife and the others here is world class," he reported in an email to his congregation.

On April 14, Gerry was installed as Canon to St. Hillary's Cathedral and commissioned
as Bishop Sospeter's Commissary. He preached at the service and delivered practical gifts such as a laptop and projector to help the Diocese get on its feet.

On April 28, he attended the joyous One Year Celebration of the formation of the Diocese of Kibondo, along with Archbishop Kolini, Bishop William Mugenyi of Congo, Canon Kevin Donlon of The Anglican Mission and several Tanzanian bishops.

Amid the celebrations, Gerry mourned with the Tanzanian churches at the recent violence and killings of Christians at the hands of militant Muslims. Another bombing occurred at the end of the trip, and Gerry requested prayer from the entire Anglican community that God change the hearts of these individuals and protect the body of Christ.

Gerry returned to the United States on May 8 with a full heart. Of all the special memories abounding from the trip, he says the highlight was the relationships he built with Anglican brothers and sisters in Tanzania.

"When they saw me they beamed from ear to ear with heartwarming smiles and with vocal greetings of ‘Jambo'... then ‘Habare'... (Greetings....how are you?)," Gerry says. "I responded, "Jambo..."Mzuri, Habari" (Greetings...I am fine. How are you?). They loved it and I loved it. We are so blessed to be forming this relationship of friendship and love in Jesus our Lord and Savior."

Learn more at Epiphany Anglican.

With their Journey to Wholeness seminars, the Rev. Conlee and Signa Bodishbaugh have helped many Anglican Mission churches enter a deeper life of Christian spirituality and physical and emotional healing. Now, Signa is pleased to announce the release of her new book, Divine Conversations: The Art of Meaningful Dialogue with God. In it, she weaves her personal journey of transformation into exciting examples and opportunities for readers to discover the joy of hearing God. She helps them discern God's voice from all the others vying for their attention, and invites them to experience expectant, anticipated times of life-changing surprises as they recognize His presence in new ways.

Divine Conversations is available at JTWIC or Amazon.

Less than two weeks after the Rt. Rev. Dr. Todd McGregor was elected the new Bishop of the Diocese of Toliara in February, the southern half of Madagascar sustained a direct hit from Cyclone Haruna. Heavy rains and 125-mph wind gusts caused raging waters and collapsing structures, as well as many deaths and injuries. The McGregors, who for the past five years have served and coordinated the Anglican Church in an area the size of Florida, found themselves struggling to help the community recover from a natural disaster. Many roadways are still impassable; the water supply is disrupted. Thousands of homes, schools, churches, and buildings were destroyed and critical croplands remain underwater.

This month, Todd was able to visit St. Phillips church in Ambohitsabo, located on the north side of the city where a dyke broke and devastated the area. He was unable to drive all the way because the road was still impassible.

"I continued my journey on foot," Todd reports. "It was then that I began to notice the putrid smells of the village. I discovered the smell was coming from a newly-formed (because of the dyke breaking) lake which now replaced the road. The lake had a lot of debris in the water and it was clear the water was not moving. I did not want to consider what might be in it."

Stomach turning, Todd arrived at St. Phillips where 50-60 people had gathered for the church service. He immediately noticed a moldy smell and a waterline inside the church approximately 18 inches from the floor.

"It was as if someone came into the church with a muddy stick and marked the walls," he says. "Then I looked up to the ceiling and noticed that one whole side of the roof had been separated and raised up about eight to 10 inches. It was just a miracle that it didn't detach and go flying during the storm."

Noting the need for immediate repairs, Todd shared with the Malagasy congregation how happy he was that they had not been injured during the cyclone. However, at the end of the service, the vice president of the church council got up and said, "Bishop, we need your help. We are suffering. Some of us have lost everything. Our homes were destroyed and everything we had has been washed away. We have nowhere to sleep. Some of us sleep outside on the dirt. We have no food to eat and nothing to cook the food. Please help us because we are suffering."

Todd reassured him that help was on the way. He urged the homeless to live in the church as long as needed.

"I estimate that we have about 70 families either homeless or had their houses damaged as a result of the cyclone," he says.

The McGregors began distributing rice and materials for temporary housing in Ambohitsabo that weekend, amid health concerns due to the standing water and debris; seven people were diagnosed with cholera. The McGregors are asking for prayers and donations to continue relief efforts.

"We are hoping to raise $88,000," Todd says. "We are excited and thankful to report that we have already received several large donations. In God we trust we can do all of this through Him who strengthens us."

How you can help:

Pray for peace for the Malagasy people during this time.

Send funds which would cover the following, reaching out to over 1,000 people living in 14 communities:
$21,000 - Rice distribution. Five kilos for 1,000 people will last two weeks (we need to assist people for at least three months since crops have been destroyed).
$3,500 will provide rice for two weeks.
$ 4,000 - Medical supplies to help people.
$ 1,500 - Generator - to be used in these areas where there is no electricity
$ 4,000 - St. Phillips church destruction repair in Ambohitsabo
$ 5,000 - Christ Church repairs to roof destroyed, Andranovory
$ 5,000 - Repair of destroyed rectory in Sakaraha
$ 1,500 - Sakaraha church repair
$ 5,000 - Sunday school school building leveled in Andranovory.
$ 14,000 - 70 temporary houses for 70 families
$ 3, 000 - Cooking supplies and utensils
$ 2,500 - Clothing
$ 3,000 - Roof in Priest house in Ankilifaly
$ 14,000 - Seeds for agricultural purposes.
We have 70 families who have lost their crops as a result to the cyclones.
$ 5,000 for transport

Learn more at PeopleReaching.org.

Since 2003, the St. Andrew's Center, a nonprofit, faith-based multicultural center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, has helped the historic Highland Park neighborhood fight poverty, break down barriers and improve lives. Now, the Center houses a church with the same purpose: Highland Park Chapel, a site Mission Chattanooga planted in January to transform the neighborhood with the love of Christ.

Head chapel planter the Rev. Ben Ferguson believes St. Andrews is a strategic location for the chapel plant.

"Our desire is to discover what God has done in Highland Park way before we came and partner with Him," Ben explains. "St. Andrews is already doing that good work, including helping kids get their GEDs, reaching out to single Hispanic moms, starting a bike coop and a friendship class, among many, many others."

Ben, who also serves as Pastor of Discipleship and Education for Mission Chattanooga, planted the site with music director Jason Foster and worship leader Satoya Foster. The church meets at 10 a.m. on Sunday mornings in a space that seats 125 people and weekly draws 40-60 attendees. Some are visitors from the neighborhood; others came with Ben from Southside Chapel, Mission Chattanooga's main campus. As Ben casts the vision for their body of believers, the church's true charisma in the neighborhood is emerging from attendees' unique gifts and callings. Social workers, a medical physicist, a therapist, a teacher—all have a desire to plug in and contribute life to the community.

To that end, the church has already begun a mural outreach project that will be completed later this year.

"We are putting up half the money—St. Andrews the other half—to create a mural at a park across the street from where we worship," Ben says. "The park is a gathering place for the Guatemalan and Latino community to play soccer. We want to paint a mural that lets people know this is for them."

During the week, Ben and his team go door to door and tell residents about the project, asking questions like, "What's good about living here?" "What's hard?" "What is this neighborhood all about?" Through those conversations, they've gotten to know residents and met the leaders in the neighborhood: the head teacher, the city councilman and the people who regularly attend association meetings.

"The thing that has been on my heart is at the end of Colossians, where Paul says, ‘As you relate to outsiders, let your speech be full of grace and seasoned with salt,'" Ben says. "We want to take advantage of every opportunity."

Personally, Ben is doing just that. He and his wife Mary moved their family to Highland Park last year and immersed themselves in the community. One of their favorite activities is a food coop with four other families, in which four nights a week, a family cooks a meal for the whole group. People can come over and eat or take the meal to their own house, saving time and money.

"Most importantly, it creates community," Ben says.

The couple also hosts a weekly barbecue in their backyard, a space for people who are called to urban engagement to dream about what's on their hearts. Mission Chattanooga's vision is "to be an intentionally creative, diverse, and empowered community of faith seeking to reveal God and His kingdom by stewarding His goodness, truth, and beauty in our neighborhood, our city, and the world"—and the Chapel lives that out with its own multifaceted creative giftings.

"Part of our heartbeat is that we are culture creators in order to reveal the kingdom of God," Ben says. "That creativity piece is the heart of what we're excited about."

As Ben meets with 10-20 people a week, shepherding, discipling and caring for his congregation, he engages in the Celtic model of inviting people into the Kingdom community.

"It's a simple time for Highland Park Chapel: worshipping together, becoming friends, living our lives to the glory of God, living our faith in a way that's compelling to the world," he says.

Learn more at MissionChattanooga.org.

Chaplain Maj. Darren Duncan has been a Baptist pastor, a civilian pilot in the Air Force, a chaplain at two Air Force bases and deployed as a chaplain to the war zone. But his newest assignment is the biggest yet: Beginning in June, he will be working at the Pentagon for the Chief of Chaplains.

“This is the top strategic office answering all questions for worldwide Air Force chaplaincy,” explains Darren, ordained a priest in The Anglican Mission last December. “I’ll be a staffer for the two star general Chief of Chaplains.”

It’s a significant diplomatic role—all the problems in the entire Air Force chaplaincy find their way to the Chief’s office, where daily, overarching decisions are made and policies written. But Darren feels prepared for the task after serving for the past three years as branch chief of cadet faith communities at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There, he helped set the standard for religious respect, previously known as religious tolerance. In the early 2000s, the Academy, located near many evangelical megachurches and organizations like Focus on the Family, became an object of scrutiny for reputedly proselytizing to cadets.

“We began to look at it and say, chaplains are here to defend the First Amendment,” Darren says. “When I guarantee someone that, no matter what their faith background, I guarantee that Anglicans can have rights to come to worship and practice our faith in our chapel. I started seeing things from strategic standpoint. The whole world literally watches us here, our decisions.”

Darren, who currently attends Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Colorado Springs, got his first taste of Anglican liturgy while deployed as a chaplain to the war zone in 2003.

“It was just me, a Catholic priest and a chaplain assistant,” he says. “For the first time in my life, I learned the liturgy. Before that I couldn’t have given you a definition.”

Since then, he’s been on a long, slow pursuit of learning about the liturgy and falling in love with it. He was looking for his niche, his “flavor,” and he’s found a home in Anglicanism.

Moreover, Darren is excited to represent The Mission and his Anglican faith in the halls of the Pentagon, which his grandfather helped build more than 60 years ago. Though he expects to work 12-14 hour days, the work will be energizing.

“It’s being at a strategic level for the entire Air Force,” he says. “Every day will be different. Walking the halls and seeing the Secretary of Defense and the President coming through—that excites me.”

After teaching English to Deaf in India and several trips overseas as a sign language interpreter, Sarah Garner, a hearing member of Trinity Anglican Church in Atlanta, prayed that the Lord would give her opportunities to serve Him in the United States. A year later, she met Merry.

Merry was born deaf to a mother who was hard of hearing and a hearing father. Sarah offered to interpret the service at Trinity for Merry, and began picking her family up and taking them to church each week.

“She and I sat in the corner of the church with me interpreting for a year as she grew to call Trinity home,” Sarah says. “One day she started inviting her friends to church.”

For Merry, who was struggling with the loss of her father, Trinity became a place of familiarity and comfort.

“I want to go to church on Sundays because I really enjoy being there,” she says. “I feel very connected at Trinity, like I belong; I don't feel like a visitor.”

As Trinity’s Deaf community grew beyond just Merry and Sarah, they knew it was time to create a more established structure to serve them and meet their spiritual needs. They began the Deaf Ministry in April 2012, which now includes five or six regular volunteers and three to five Deaf people. According to Sarah, the Deaf do not view their hearing loss as a challenge or disability. Instead it’s something that links them to a culture with its own set of societal rules, behaviors and language.

Thus, Trinity does not treat deafness as a handicap. The Deaf Ministry seeks to engage the Deaf and hard of hearing members of the congregation in understanding the gospel, participating in worship and growing in community. One of their goals is to bridge the gap between the Deaf and hearing communities through providing an interpreter for services, a small group for the Deaf, ASL/Deaf culture workshops and more.

“My number one prayer, hope and vision for our Deaf community is that they would grow in the knowledge and love of Christ,” Sarah says. “I'd love to see some of them volunteering or leading in some capacity. I desire for them to be independent, vital members of our Body.”

As with any group, that will take time and discipleship, and Sarah knows she can’t do it alone. She is praying for the Lord to raise up others gifted in the area of Sign Language interpreting so she can focus more on the needs and relationships of Trinity’s Deaf.

“Developing friendships and being a part of meeting the needs of those in our community is my favorite part of the ministry,” she says. “For example, planning and executing funerals, hospital visits, and caring for the lonely Deaf who have found themselves in prison and connecting them with the resources to meet their physical needs.”

Through her efforts and those of other volunteers, the Lord is working powerfully in the Deaf ministry: growing dignity, changing attitudes, building connections and extending the Gospel in the Deaf community.

“It blows me away to see Merry’s comfort and pride at church,” Sarah says. “Last week I almost cried as she explained communion to our deaf visitor. Seeing the two of them exchange the peace in their language is amazing.”

Ultimately, Sarah says she is worshipping the Lord as she interprets the service each week. Sometimes the Lord even gives her a conceptual translation that changes and deepens her understanding of the message.

“Just as we were created to worship, I was created to communicate in sign language,” she says. “I believe that when we use our gifts to serve and worship the Lord it is a blessing to our Father as well as to us.”