Apr 18, 2016 - We are sad to hear this, yet, at the same time, we wish him Godspeed; he will have served us well and fai
THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF EAST TENNESSEE The Rt. Rev. George D. Young, III Bishop
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814 Episcopal School Way ▪ Knoxville, TN 37932 865-966-2110 ▪ http://DioET.org The Rev. Canon Patricia Grace Alex Haralson The Rev. Canon Robert Hartmans Beverly Hurley Hill The Rev. Brad Jones Laura Nichols Vikki Myers Kirby Purjet Lisa Whitacre
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April 18, 2016 My dear sisters and brothers of the Episcopal Church in East Tennessee, I'll never forget first reading your profile in the spring of 2010 and thinking – wow, what a wonderful group of God’s people. And I was right – you are an incredible people! That began my relationship with you, a relationship that continues to be deep, exciting, intimate, loving, faith-filled, fruitful, and much more. And fun! Thank you, thank you, thank you for every moment of that! We have followed Jesus together, prayed, worshipped, convened, retreated, camped, met, planned, worked, played, celebrated, discerned together – and God has blessed us in many, many marvelous ways. I am more grateful to God and to you than I could ever express. I am writing today to share with you that I have decided to retire as your bishop. The next chapter of my life will be focused on my family and our life together. I want you to know that there is no health issue, no crisis – I am simply moving into the next season in my life. I will be 62, with almost 30 years of ordained ministry. Bishops, and other clergy for that matter, are serving shorter tenures these days than in the past, and there is much good about that. At this point I do not have a plan for the future beyond enjoying a period of renewing and re-creating retirement. Some of you have memories of this process, and know that it will take just shy of two years before another bishop is in place. So, we have much more time and work and ministry together, to which I passionately look forward. The Standing Committee has already begun its work in this process, and they will be communicating clearly with you in the days, weeks and months ahead. We have a remarkably skilled and faithful diocesan staff who will continue to serve us all in our life together. Thank God for each and every one of them! Your next bishop will come to a vital, exciting, organized, healthy, flexible, spirit-filled diocese, and she or he will be a very fortunate person. Hopefully you will elect that person in August 2017, and she or he will be ordained and settled with you on or around January 2018, after which I will end my time with you as your bishop. The time will come down the road to say goodbyes; that time is not now. We have much good and important work to do, following Jesus together. We will continue to celebrate and focus on our Missional Network initiative: “Going Local,” on supporting and expanding the ministry of Grace Point, on discernment and formation with those in the ordination process, on baptizing and receiving people into the Body of Christ, on working for justice in our communities, and on furthering the Jesus Movement in this part of God’s creation. As I said in my most recent convention address, if my legacy of those seven years with you is that there is a clear missional focus among the Episcopal Church in East Tennessee, I will be eternally grateful. Let’s continue working together to make that happen. God bless you! Peace in the risen Christ,
The Rt. Rev. George Dibrell Young, III
LOVE GOD. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR. CHANGE THE WORLD.
THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF EAST TENNESSEE
814 Episcopal School Way ▪ Knoxville, TN 37932 865-966-2110 ▪ http://DioET.org
The Rev. Peter Keese, President Standing Committee
Standing Committee: Sister Michael Julian Davidson The Rev. Taylor Dinsmore Ms. Elizabeth Jones The Rev. Jay Mills Ms. Andrea Odle, Clerk
April 18, 2016 Greetings, Sisters and Brothers of this wonderful Diocese, We have been blessed to have George as our Bishop for a season. As you know, he has decided that it is time for him to retire. We are sad to hear this, yet, at the same time, we wish him Godspeed; he will have served us well and faithfully for seven years by the time of his retirement. The purpose of this letter is to let you know of plans for the next year and a half. You may know that the Standing Committee is charged with the responsibility of overseeing the entire process: conducting a thoughtful search for a successor Bishop; seeing to the orderly transition, including the Ordination of the newly elected Bishop; and attending to all pertinent financial considerations. We have already begun to discuss the various steps we will need to take. Very soon, we will appoint a Search Committee, and contract with a trained consultant to assist us through this process. In due time, we will also appoint a Transition Committee. When the search Committee has identified its choices, we will announce the Nominees, and the Transition Committee will then be responsible for introducing them to the Diocese and for planning the Ordination and surrounding events. A preliminary time-line looks like this: April/May 2016, appointment of, and charge to, the Search Committee; (as soon as these Committees are formed, we will publicize the names of all the members). Late Spring 2017, the Standing Committee announces the nominees; Summer 2017, the Transition Committee introduces the nominees around the Diocese (the “walkabout”); August 2017, the Diocese meets in Convention to elect a Bishop; December 2017 or January 2018 (actual date determined by the Presiding Bishop) the Ordination/Consecration and Institution of the newly elected person. It will be a busy time for these committees. I’m sure you can expect to hear soon from the Search Committee: they will want your input as they develop a “profile” of this Diocese. We ask for your prayers for us, for this diocese, for the committees charged with this important work, for our bishop, and for those who will be discerning whether they may be called to this ministry. Cordially and praying God’s blessing, we are,
The Rev. Peter Keese, President of the Standing Committee; Ms. Andrea Odle, Clerk; the Rev. Jay Mills; Sister Michael Julian Davidson; the Rev. Taylor Dinsmore; Ms. Elizabeth Jones.
LOVE GOD. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR. CHANGE THE WORLD.
