Prayer, Fellowship, and Buc-ees

Dear Friends,

Father Logan, Deacon Erica, and I spent the first 60% of this week in Navasota, which is not too far from College Station. Just outside of Navasota is Camp Allen, the beautiful retreat and conference center (as well as the summer camp) of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.

Every year the clergy of the Diocese of Dallas drive to the camp of the Diocese of Texas for our annual Clergy Conference. And yes, we obviously stop at Buc-ees on the way, because we are proper Texans going on a proper road trip.

This year’s Clergy Conference contained little urgent church business. The big thing this year is a thing we already know about: we are electing a bishop in May. Fr. Mike Klickman also got a nice shout out from the bishop for his good work filling in at St. John’s in Pottsboro while that parish is without a Rector. While we’ll be happy to have Fr. Mike back with us at St. Andrew’s when the time comes, his continued care for that congregation is a real blessing to them and the diocese more broadly.

Mostly though we didn’t talk about diocesan business. Mostly we spent the time in prayer and worship, eating and fellowshipping with one another, and listening to a series of lectures on disability and technology in the church.

While I am always glad to spend the time with my fellow deacons, priests, and bishops in the broader church, I also left with renewed gratitude for St. Andrew’s specifically: for your faithfulness to our Lord Jesus Christ, for your boundless energy, for your commitment to serve our community, for your generosity with the resources God has given you, and for the bright minds and breadth of talents you share. Not every place is like this, and I’m grateful to God to be here with you.

In Christ,
Fr. Andrew