The Ninth Bishop of Texas

Sunday, May 19, 2013

The duty of a love that reaches out and grabs you

Sermon preached at Christ Church Cathedral and St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Houston, May 2013.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Once and Future Church: If You Can't Open It You Don't Own It

Bringing some thoughts together on the future of the church and what will be needed. With Shout outs to Bob Johansen, Brene Brown, and Simon Sinek. See if you can spot the references.

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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Celery Test

A shout out to Simon Sinek and the Celery Test from Start With Why, Sermon on Easter 5C, Palmer Houston

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Sunday, April 21, 2013

Nothing Can Snatch You From The Hands of a Loving God

Reflections on The Feast of Lights, Boston, and West tragedies. St Francis Houston 2013

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Things are not the way they are supposed to be

Trinity Longview 2013

Sermon on the resurrection appearance of Jesus on the shore of Gallilee.

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Quotes

"Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a life and a living process." Samuel Taylor Coleridge
"Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer." Oliver Wendell Holmes
"Perfection, in a Christian sense, means becoming mature enough to give ourselves to others." Kathleen Norris
"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." John Wesley
"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." G. K. Chesterton
"One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans." C. S. Lewis
"When we say, 'I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,' we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the church seldom asks us for forgiveness." Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
"Christians are hard to tolerate; I don't know how Jesus does it." Bono
"It's too easy to get caught in our little church subcultures, and the result is that the only younger people we might know are Christians who are already inside the church." Dan Kimball

Blog Autobiography

Husband, Father, Bishop, Author, Friend

As the son of an Episcopal priest, I grew up in churches around Houston. I have lived and worked for the Church in Austin, Temple, Houston and College Station. At Camp Allen, some of you were my counselors and some of you were my campers and now several of you serve as priests in the diocese. It was here among you, that I first heard a call to ministry. I pursued a degree in fine arts and then with the support of St. Paul's, Freeport and All Saints, Austin, I attended Virginia Theological Seminary and graduated in 1995. I was ordained at Christ Church, Temple. I have served the Diocese of Texas for more than thirty five years as a youth minister, camp counselor, priest, consultant, workshop leader, Canon to the Ordinary, and Coadjutor and Diocesan Bishop (2008).

JoAnne and I met at Camp Allen and were married in 1990. Our two beautiful girls, Caisa and Zoë, are the delight of our lives.

I am the author of Church, Unabashedly Episcopalian, Generous Community, Small Batch, and The Jesus Heist.