They came from the four corners of the earth. From Tibet to Bolivia, from Southeast Asia to Florida, from East Africa to Pennsylvania, nearly 1,000 evangelically driven Anglicans and Episcopalians gathered at Ridgecrest Conference Center near Asheville, NC to pour the new wine of the gospel into new wineskins for global mission.

It was a defining moment, made more so by the knowledge that a few miles down the road the massive Billy Graham center for world evangelization draws thousands in similar attempts to press ordinary folk into spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Under the theme, "I'm an Anglican and I care about world missions..." scores of clergy, vestry, youth leaders, potential missionaries and a handful of Episcopal and Anglican bishops heard speaker after speaker energize and motivate parishes and individuals to become more on fire for Christ and world missions; learn how to pray for missionaries; how to get to the mission field; how to send missionaries and available education resources.

To stimulate their missionary juices they heard statistics of Anglican Church growth around the world. Former Nelson, New Zealand Bishop Derek Eaton trumpeted that "our God is a missionary God" and said that daily some 8,000 new adult Anglicans were entering the Anglican fold, born anew, with 400 new Anglican churches opening each week. "There are more Anglicans in church on Sunday in Nigeria than all of the churches in the UK, North America and Australasia put together. There are 90,000 new Christians each day on the world; 20,000 new Christians in Africa and 28,000 new Christians each day in China," he told a stunned and excited audience.

This is hardly a comforting note for liberal Episcopalians whose gospel of inclusion and pansexual acceptance is actually emptying churches not filling them. Statistics don't do not lie.

For this group of liturgically driven, ecclesiastical Anglicans, the need to press both evangelism and the Anglican Way, this conference was a way to help people discern their vocation and prepare for missionary service.

Speakers like the Rev. Tad de Bordenave told how it was possible to reach the unreached with the gospel, and asked the question, "'what are our responses for the unreached, for partnerships, for strategies and for global evangelization in this new missions world'?" The conferees heard Rev. Prof. Stephen Noll share the explosion of university education around the world. The Bishop of the Diocese of Peru Bill Godfrey pleaded that all he needed was more missionaries to reach millions for Christ in his country, while Dr. Peter Moore, former Trinity School for Ministry president explored the roots of Post-Modernism to see how Christians should take neither a hostile nor friendly position to this movement. How can we communicate the gospel effectively in a culture with "no absolutes", he asked? How does one reach a whole generation for whom the gospel has virtually no meaning or impact? AMiA Bishop John Rodgers fleshed out the question, what is evangelism? How does a congregation develop an evangelistic lifestyle was the burden of The Rev. Alison Barfoot, assistant for International relations to the Archbishop for Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi. She told of numerous Muslim conversions to Christ especially among Imams and sheihks, giving the lie that the conversion of Muslims is not possible. It is happening.

I have written a number of stories in today's digest on this conference, including a painful story of an African priest who was imprisoned for his faith in Saudi Arabia.

In the midst of the conference came word that the Rev. Neil Lebhar, rector of Redeemer Anglican Church in Jacksonville, Florida, had lost his case in the courts and will have to turn over his $4 million parish property to Bishop John Howard. Ironically, Lebhar started out his clergy ministry at Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia, a church now under siege by Bishop Peter Lee. His background (and of course the Lord) has lead him step by step to where he is today, wrote a vestryman from Lebhar's parish. The plus for Howard, if you can call it that, is that he will inherit a lot of empty buildings, while Lebhar will take all 300 plus parishioners and start over. You can read that story in today's digest. It should not pass without being said that Bishop Howard welcomed the Archbishop of Canterbury's Panel of Reference investigators when they came to examine facts in the dispute after Redeemer Church's appeal to the Panel. When the recommendations were not to his liking, he apparently changed his mind on Anglicanism. Howard had received a personal and confidential letter from Dr. Williams urging him to adopt the Panel's recommendations to resolve the dispute, and drop the lawsuit. Bishop Howard blew Archbishop Williams off. The Diocese of Florida is slowly being reduced to missions and small churches with little evangelistic zeal and scarcely any money. Howard might be winning in the earthly courts, but the victories are for the most part pyrrhic. The heavenly courts will have their final say on this man.

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY was in Niagara, Canada, just a few miles from the U.S. border, conducting a one-day retreat for the Canadian House of Bishops this past week. At a press conference he reiterated that Lambeth 2008 would take place dispelling rumors that it might not occur owing to increased tensions over unresolved homosexuality issues that has the majority of African bishops angry at the Episcopal Church's intransigence over demands it repent. Of course it doesn't mean that that is by any means the last word. We have yet to hear from Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola and the CAPA bishops about their intentions regarding Lambeth. Stay tuned. Williams did say it was an 'open question' as to who will be invited to the bishops' gathering in Canterbury next year. He told the Anglican Journal in an exclusive interview, "Yes, we've already been considering that and the answer is no. We've been looking at whether the timing is right, but if we wait for the ideal time; we will wait more than just 18 months."

You can read a story from Sue Careless of Anglican Planet about what was said at the press conference Dr. Williams gave in Toronto. Dr. Williams also said he would also visit the U.S. House of Bishops after taking much criticism for not doing so. In recent days Williams has taken a load of caustic criticism from the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, and retired American bishop John Shelby Spong. They have called his leadership indecisive and weak. Why Williams would want to come to the U.S. to take yet more blasts from revisionist TEC bishops, like Gene Robinson who say that he has prevaricated on sodomy and his leadership is lacking, is a mystery. The Americans have been pressing for an urgent conference since February when senior Anglican archbishops imposed an ultimatum on them to turn back from their non-scriptural policy toward homosexuals.

While in Toronto, Williams said that a vote by the Canadian Synod to bless same-sex unions in June would tear the church apart and if Canadian Anglicans vote to authorize such blessings, "I don't think it takes rocket science to work out that this will cause problems." Williams opined that the Anglican Communion has been sapped by its bitter conflict over homosexuality and may well face irreconcilable differences that could lead to its breakup.

Later Williams told Anglican divinity students at the University of Toronto, in a closed meeting, that he found unacceptable a draft covenant presented to the primates, that would allow the communion to boot out member churches deemed to have stepped out of line doctrinally on issues such as sexuality. Such a move would be a first in Anglicanism's 400-year-old history.

He also told the students that conservative Christians, who cite the Bible to condemn homosexuality, are misreading a key passage written by St. Paul almost 2,000 years ago. He said the oft-quoted passage in Paul's Epistle to the Romans was meant to warn Christians not to be self-righteous when they see others fall into sin. "Many current ways of reading miss the actual direction of the passage," Williams said. "Paul is making a primary point not about homosexuality but about the delusions of the supposedly law-abiding."

If you want to read a theological response to Dr. Williams then I invite you to click on this link http://robgagnon.net/ArticlesOnline.htm and read what the Rev. Dr. Robert Gagnon has to say about Dr. Williams' theology of Romans. Dr. Gagnon's book The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001; 520 pgs.) the best book on the subject extant.

AT THE SAME TIME, Canadian evangelicals stepped up the heat on their liberal pals. Anglican Essentials Canada has written an open letter to bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) in advance of the ACC House of Bishops' spring meeting. This appeal is based on the potentially devastating consequences of resolutions developed by the Council of General Synod to be addressed by delegates at the ACC's General Synod this June. (These resolutions can be accessed at: www.anglican.ca/about/COGS/highlights/2007-03-11.htm.)

From the DIOCESE OF CENTRAL NEW YORK came word this week from attorney Raymond Dague that a New York Court has limited how much participation the National Church Episcopal Church can do in a property case between the diocese and St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Syracuse. The New York court's April 10 ruling limits the national church's right of action in cases involving the Dennis Canon. The court ruled that the DFMS could observe but not materially participate in the prosecution of the case. This is huge news, and the first time a judge has ruled that the DFMS had no legal interest the property and "only asserts that St. Andrew's property is held in trust for the benefit of the Episcopal Church as promulgated by certain Episcopal canons, and as such, the court finds its legal interest to be insufficient." Lawyers for the diocese would serve as lead trial lawyers for the plaintiffs, and the DFMS "may not individually conduct any discovery without the express permission of the court." You can read the full story here: http://tinyurl.com/345tob

THE DIOCESE OF SAN JOAQUIN'S Standing Committee has asked its bishop, the Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield, to help restart the nomination process leading to a primatial vicar. They are harking back to the Tanzania communique, which proposed a pastoral scheme for dioceses and parishes that request alternate oversight. This diocese is one of seven dioceses, which have requested alternate primatial oversight. Now what are the odds of this happening? Most unlikely. The whole idea of a primatial vicar got thumbs down last month after the U.S. House of Bishops declined to endorse the creation of a pastoral council which the primates envisioned overseeing the work of the primatial vicar.

CANON DAVID ANDERSON, president of the American Anglican Council, took a hearty swipe at Colorado Bishop Rob O'Neill this week over his persecution of orthodox priest Don Armstrong. "In the U.S. legal system, there is for the accused a presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction, and we would hope that this presumption would be extended to ecclesial jurisdictions as well, not only de jure but also de facto. We are alarmed at statements coming from the bishop of Colorado's office that accuse a priest of tax fraud, for instance. I wonder if the Diocese of Colorado hasn't gotten on the wrong side of both slander and libel of the cleric it is accusing. It may well be another indication of the exalted position that TEC's revisionist bishops feel they have, believing that they determine both civil law and tax law, as well as ecclesiastical law."

IN A LUNCHEON at the parish of the Rev. Don Armstrong at Grace and St. Stephens Church, now a CANA parish in Colorado Springs, Bishop Martyn Minns who was guest of honor, a question was posed to him, "Do you think that the Church of England, as it is constituted today, is becoming irrelevant?" His lengthy answer enumerated examples of parallels between the CofE hierarchy and TEC problems. He did state, however, that one of his goals was to attempt to gather together and unify the 90+ orthodox splinter groups in the U.S.

ST. JOHN'S ANGLICAN (nee Episcopal) Church in Petaluma [www.sjpet.org/about.html] which left the Diocese of Northern California last year is taking it on the nose from that new bishop Barry Beisner. Former Bishop Jerry Lamb had played hardball with the departing priest David Miller after he requested Letters Dimissory to the Diocese of Argentina in the Province of the Southern Cone, under the jurisdiction of The Most Reverend Gregory Venables. Lamb of course refused. Miller started a new parish with the majority of the old congregation. Now the new Bishop, in a fit of pique, has planted a renegade liberal parish to draw away the foolish from the Anglican congregation. You can read that story here: http://tinyurl.com/ywgoq9 Ah, brotherly love.

CBS RADIO broadcaster Don Imus got an earful from two Chicago Bishops, William D. Persell and Victor A. Scantlebury, this week after Imus made racially and sexually derogatory terms about the women of the New Jersey-based Rutgers University basketball team. The two bishops got into a real lather about this and issued a statement saying his comments were racist and insulting to these young women and an offense to their dignity as human beings. "As a society, we cannot accept the use of the airwaves to promote and practice hate against any person or group. This is an abuse of our freedom of speech," they said. "As Christians, we are called to Love our neighbors as ourselves. We call upon the members of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Chicago to use this moment to discuss and reflect upon our own insensitivity as a community towards persons of different races, gender and culture. This is an opportunity to look at ourselves in the mirror and to see our own prejudices and to commit ourselves to doing something about them. We also urge each of us to analyze our own reactions to this controversy for what they tell us about ourselves." Really. Then perhaps these two bishops could lead the way and call on the HOB to repent of their racism towards African bishops who disagree with them over sodomy. There has been an enormous amount of criticism (read racism) of African Primates that began with PB Frank Griswold and continues on to this day! Perhaps the HOB should look at themselves before criticizing others.

A NEW BOOK by Pope Benedict XVI criticizes the "cruelty" of capitalism's exploitation of the poor but also decries the absence of God in Marxism. In his first book as pontiff on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ called "Jesus of Nazareth," Benedict touches on themes that have begun to emerge in his 2-year-old papacy: the spiritual weaknesses of modern materialistic life, in which people seem to think they can do without God.

The book also points to a concern of Benedict from his days as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, when he sought to stem support for "liberation theology"-the theology of salvation as liberation from injustice, popular in Latin America. Benedict stresses that the book, which he began writing in 2003 when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is an expression of his "personal search for the face of the Lord" and is by no means an official part of Roman Catholic Church doctrine.

A RECENT SURVEY, of the Church of England by researchers at the University of Wales, showed that only 60 percent of its clergy believe in the virgin birth of Jesus and one out of 33 Anglican priests doubts the existence of God. It is no wonder the CofE is spiritually powerless and following the American Episcopal Church into oblivion. The stench of death hangs over both churches. A church cannot go around promoting sodomy and preaching that the atonement is abusive behavior of a loving God and hope to win converts. It is not going to happen.

IN NEWS OUT OF ASIA, a reader told VOL that he had a chat with the ultra-liberal Primate of Japan, Nathaniel Makoto Uematsu, who told him that there would be no official welcome mat or invitation for V. Gene Robinson if the homosexual American bishop shows up in that country. However, he says he will meet privately with Robinson, but nothing public. Has the Japanese Primate become a swing vote and moved to neutral territory because he sees which way the wind is blowing? Don't hold your breath, but it is interesting that liberals are not nearly as united as one is often led to believe. One can never be sure who is pushing whose buttons as we go down to the finishing line.

BY CONTRAST to Dr. Williams' statement in Toronto about homosexuality, a former pastor, who spent six years on the staff of a pro-homosexual church, recently dispelled the myth that homosexuality is compatible with Scripture. He opens his new book, "The Gay Gospel? How Pro-Gay Advocates Misread the Bible, Joe Dallas dissects the rhetoric of the gay Christian movement" with "I remember clearly, and with inexpressible regret, the day I convinced myself it was acceptable to be both gay and Christian." Speaking at a Focus on the Family conference, "Love Won Out", Dallas said, "To stay relevant means to understand the prevailing errors and problems of our time and to be equipped to answer them from a Biblical perspective." CitizenLink spoke with Dallas about his book and the importance of being armed with truth and in a question, "How did you come to such familiarity with this issue?" Dallas replies: "This subject is of both professional and personal interest to me. It's a professional concern, because as a pastoral counselor, I work with people whose sexual desires are at odds with their beliefs as Christians. So what the Bible says about sexuality is critical to my work. But on a personal level it's even more significant to me, because I spent six years as a staff member of a pro-gay church, where I promoted the idea that "gay" and "Christian" were compatible. That, of course, made me very familiar with the gay-rights movement and with most pro-gay arguments."

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN ORTHODOX PARISH, VirtueOnline is delighted to inform you that: www.shelterinthestorm.org church list has grown to over 1300 churches. Each state now comes up on its own page with links to all the other states including Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe and South America. Shelter in the Storm has gone international and they are ready to start receiving listings to add, writes Kay Lewis.

Among today's stories you can read about the New Wineskins conference I attended and the news out of Canada., VOL's columnist Dr. Peter Toon of the Prayer Book Society expounds on the need to hold on to the doctrine of Justification by Faith. Canon L'Hommedieu also takes a hard look at liberalism in a fine piece; "I'M GUILTY: YOU REPENT - The spiritual Impulse of Liberalism." Both are must read articles.

WELCOME TO VIRTUEONLINE. Please take a moment to go to our website: www.virtueonline.org where you can find more stories, search through our immense archives, join any number of forums and comment on stories as they appear at the website. You can also read VOL's columnists Dr. Peter Toon, Dr. Rob Sanders and Canon Gary L'Hommedieu who bring their brilliant minds to bear on the issues of the day.

We have recently undergone some major website renovations and changes. VOL has taken a significant step forward embracing the work and ministry of the British-based Barnabas Fund and its work among churches that are being persecuted in Muslim countries. We at VOL believe that this will be the wave of the future. Not only are Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic churches being persecuted by liberal and revisionist bishops and archbishops in the West, we are also seeing orthodox gospel driven churches in the Global South under attack by Muslim extremists.

The Barnabas Fund with its McLean, VA, headquarters in the U.S. is the world leader in this effort to expose how Christians are being treated in countries dominated by Islam. We have devoted a significant portion of the website to this ministry and we invite you to familiarize yourself with this vital ministry and to read their stories.

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