By Lynn Milograno

Synod 2013
November 15-16, 2013
All Saints' Church, Woodbridge, VA

The family of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic gathered together last weekend at All Saints’ Church for our annual Synod. How wonderful to join with over two hundred sixty clergy and lay members of the Diocese as we began by celebrating Holy Eucharist together on Friday evening! The worship was led by Jamie Brown and Simon Dixon and the worship team from The Falls Church Anglican, with sound production directed by Andrew Schooley. You will find a link to the sermon, preached by the Rev. David Drake, rector of Church of the Resurrection, Baltimore, as well as other talks from the weekend, here.
 
Official greetings were brought to the Synod from:
• The Rt. Rev. David Hicks, Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Diocese of the Northeast and MidAtlantic,
• The Rt. Rev. Dave Bena, on behalf of The Rt. Rev. Julian Dobbs, Bishop of the CANA East Diocese, and
• The Rev. Canon Donnie McDaniel, on behalf of The Rt. Rev. Steve Breedlove, PEARUSA.

Saturday was filled with teaching, elections, reports and fellowship. The Rev. David Hanke gave a report on the Global Anglican Fellowship Conference in Nairobi last month and the Rev. Dr. John Yates, II gave an overview of the Provincial Assembly which will be held next June, 2014.
 
The Synod joyfully voted to admit All Nations DC, as a congregation of the Diocese and New Creation Church, Hagerstown, MD as a mission of the Diocese.
 
The Rev. Clancy Nixon, rector of Church of the Holy Spirit, Leesburg, VA and chair of the Great Commission Committee, (GCC), described the work of the GCC over the past year and the exciting launch of the new church planting website, www.L10-2.org. The Rev. Tim Howe reported on the prayer initiative which supports church planting efforts in the Diocese and now has over 140 intercessors praying for church growth.
 
The fruit of those prayers was evident as 14 church planters were introduced to the Diocese! You can hear their presentations at this link.
 
Later that day, elections were held by ballot vote for two diocesan committees, the Standing Committee, and the Constitution and Canons Committee. Those elected include:

Standing Committee: Elected for three-year terms
The Rev. Jim Beavers (Christ Anglican Fellowship, Orange, VA),
The Rev. Patrick Ware (Winchester Anglican),
Mrs. Chloellen Miller (Immanuel Anglican, Woodbridge) and
Mr. Ed Speare (All Saints’ Church, Woodbridge).
Bishop’s appointments to the Standing Committee for one-year terms are:
Dr. Graham Walker (Waterford Anglican Fellowship) and
The Rev. Peter Frank (Church of the Epiphany, Herndon)
Committee on Constitution and Canons:  
William Barto, (Truro Anglican Church, Fairfax),
Ron Doucette, (Church of the Holy Spirit, Leesburg), and
Brian Walsh (Truro Anglican Church, Fairfax)
The Synod also voted for delegates to represent the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic at the Provincial Assembly which will be held June 24-28, 2014 at St. Vincent College, La Trobe, PA. Elected delegates include:

Clergy Delegates
David Drake
Michael Guernsey
David Hanke
Tom Herrick
Dan Morgan
Clancy Nixon
Wright Wall
Lay Delegates
Scott Buckhout
Patrick Cunningham
Chloellen Miller
Suzy Speare
Sam Thomsen
Graham Walker
Mal Young
Youth Delegates
Collin Chartier
Bryan Dougan
Kari Edwards
Rebecca Harper
Brianna Meeks
Chris Rothgeb

After lunch, Treasurer Gary French presented, and the Synod adopted, the Diocesan budget for 2014.
 
Clergy, delegates, and guests then attended a wide variety of workshops which were recorded and will be available on the diocesan website (see Cross-section of Workshops offered at Synod in this issue of The Mid-Atlantic Messenger for more information).
 
The Rev. Jack Grubbs closed out our afternoon by describing the ordination process for the Diocese.  After a final hymn and prayer, the Synod was adjourned.
 
We are so grateful for the army of volunteers who helped make this event a success. From providing a welcoming smile, manning the registration table, counting ballots, overseeing our audio-visual needs, to serving lunch and so much more, these folks’ gracious ministry was a wonderful support for the weekend. Thank you also to All Saints’ Church for their warm welcome and continuing ministry of hospitality to the Diocese.

See more photos from the weekend on our Facebook page! Friday is here and here and Saturday is here.  More are on their way!
 
We are already looking forward to Synod 2014 and invite you to join us. We will meet next year on November 14-15, 2014, at All Saints' Church, Woodbridge, VA. We hope to see you there!

Lynn Milograno is the Administrator of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.