THE BISHOP ELLIOTT SOCIETY
2006-2007
President’s Report
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The Episcopal Church and global Anglicanism have had another very turbulent year, as we
are all aware, and the season of our discontent shows no signs of abating. Yet even in times
that are frustrating for many of us, the opportunities for witness, mission and education
abound, and that is what our Bishop Elliott Society (BES) is about. Beginning in December
we entered our fourth year of renewed activity, and we have good reason to hope that what
we have planned for the coming year will provide a beacon from the Lord for many souls on
the stormy seas of our times.
The Bishop Elliott Lectures. We continued the central ministry of the BES providing
lectures in both the spring and fall. In May our then Suffragan Bishop-elect David M. Reed
gave a presentation on Bishop Elliott himself in Corpus Christi, hosted at the Church of the
Good Shepherd. In November St. Thomas’ Church, San Antonio, was the host for the fall
lectures with the Very Rev. Dr. William Stafford, the dean of the School of Theology at the
University of the South, who addressed historical perspectives on church divisions and
debates under the title “Yet She on Earth Hath Union with God the Three in One:” Conflict
& Division, Peace & Union in the Church in Past & Present. Both sessions were very
well attended and gave an opportunity for worship and fellowship for which all present
expressed gratitude and appreciation.
Associates. Each summer we conduct our primary annual campaign to contact clergy and
lay leadership in the Diocese of West Texas through mailings and E-mail contacts to over a
thousand households, to invite them to participate in the BES. Our brochure was updated,
and over 120 persons have now contributed to the Society and accepted Associate or Friend
status, for total contributions in 2006 of $37,344. That includes 17 Life Associates, each of
whom has contributed at least $1,000.00. A total of 36 clergy committed themselves to
support of the Society this year.
The Christmas Clergy Book Selection. Clergy of the BES Board assisted with
contributions to provide the active clergy of the Diocese for a second year with a gift copy of
the Rt. Rev. Dr. N.T. Wright’s book, Luke for Everyone, chosen by the Book Committee.
Many of the clergy expressed their thanks for this text, which will apply to their preaching
for the entire year, since Luke is the proper gospel for 2007. This is an important method of
helping affect the teaching of the Gospel in all the congregations of the Diocese, and we will
sustain this work as a key teaching ministry.
The Anglican Communion Institute. In January of 2006, we hosted a national conference
of the Anglican Communion Institute, and we have been proud and grateful of their work in
the months since, as they have contributed mightily to the formulations of the Camp Allen
Bishops, the Anglican Primates and the Archbishop of Canterbury, as they strive to maintain
TEC within the communion of the Anglican churches worldwide. We remain in touch with
these scholars and will continue to support their work as we can. With their inspiration we
were able to help the diocese organize quiet days for prayer and intercession last June before
the General Convention, and we should continue to seek ways to deepen our spiritual
response to the crises of our times.
Website. Our web site on the Internet makes available a number of resources for the
Society. Web advertising of the lectures with detailed information about the speakers, as
well as resources for continuing education, links to other sites with similar interests, and
information about our mentor, Bishop RWB Elliott are all on view at www.bishopelliott.org.
Copies of the lectures are posted there, as is the list of our contributing associates. We hope
in the months to come to begin to offer teaching essays from some of our BES leaders
addressing the spiritual and theological needs of our generation as well.
Resolutions for Council. As we have the past three years, we coordinated the creation of
another resolution in support of the Windsor Report (and the Camp Allen bishops, including
Bishop Lillibridge) for the 103rd Diocesan Council. While the resolution was tabled this
year, we were gratified that the resolutions on the Bishop’s Address encompassed all that we
could have wanted in expressing the mind of the Diocese in support of the Windsor standard
of communion in Anglicanism. This will continue to be a central focus in the struggle to
keep TEC faithful to its heritage and its Lord for the years before us.
For the future. The BES will abide in its ministry of teaching, witness and mission. The
Lord Jesus Christ is more present to us daily in our struggles when our human resources and
imaginations fail. He calls us to persistent, fearless faithfulness. If we give him that, he will
change our lives and those around us. He will continue to convert his Church—and every
generation has needed that, not just our own! To help us abide, the Board has set aside
funds for an endowment that will help establish these ministries for the decades to come.
Let me urge you to support that effort, and seek out friends who share your concerns to do
likewise. God reigns. Christ is Lord. He will preserve a faithful people for his Church.
With that assurance, we can only return to our work with confidence and hope, not in
ourselves, but in the one who sent us. Come Lord Jesus!
Frank E. Fuller
President