"I hope, as a diocese, that we could make the move, and not just as a parish, and I am encouraging him to move in that direction," he said.

Bishop Lillibridge is not a Network bishop, but he is a Windsor bishop and is solidly committed to the Windsor process and the Windsor Report as well, said Collins.

The evangelical rector of St. John's, New Braunfels, about 20 miles from San Antonio, said The Episcopal Church has walked apart and he is obliged to take a stand for the sake of the gospel and his conscience. The Rev. Chuck Thebeau told VOL that he was not taking his parish out of the diocese but he was "severely concerned and hopeful that Bishop Gary would be a Windsor compliant diocese."

He said his 700-member parish was trying to move in a way to be an encouragement to the diocese. "We believe he stands solidly on the faith once delivered and a repository of the apostolic faith. We are aware of the many pressures that Bishop Lillibridge faces, we want to be an encouragement to him as he stands for Windsor compliance."

At the parish's website, Fr. Thebeau wrote: "In response (to GC2006) St. John's declares to you that we will not continue with The Episcopal Church in her departure from the Christian Faith and the Anglican Communion," Explaining this to VOL, Thebeau said, "We want to follow the leadership of Bishop Gary and the Anglican leaders as they provide for us an alternative to the TEC and its present course of direction."

"Our congregation was very prepared and aware of the situation in The Episcopal Church. I have been sharing with them since after GC '03. Our disappointment as parish leadership is that so many others seemed to be unaware of the severity of the situation and have admitted to being caught by surprise!" said Thebeau.

At Christ Church parish's website the Rev. Collins wrote about GC2006: "It's obvious that today's Episcopal Church is not the church many of us signed up for. I'm sad to tell you that our church has become more interested in denouncing the war in Iraq, apologizing for slavery, and instructing us against the anti-Jewish biases of the Bible than proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church that has largely forgotten its mission and is more interested in exerting political pressure on our government than bringing people to God through Jesus Christ."

"Our national church, gauging from this and recent General Conventions, has lost respect for the authority of Holy Scripture. As the Archbishop of Canterbury said a few weeks ago, "The presenting issue may be human sexuality but the real issue remains the Word of God." Over the past 40-50 years the once unthinkable is now commonplace: some bishops outright reject the basic tenets of the creeds and persecute priests in their dioceses who disagree with them. Politeness and tolerance have replaced truth and God's Word as our highest values, and as theologian Tom Oden said, "the very thought of asking about heresy has itself become the new arch-heresy."

Collins notes that what is true of the Episcopal Church is largely not true in the rest of the Anglican Communion. "While the Episcopal Church has slowly collapsed under the weight of revisionism, the core values of Anglicanism have remained strong throughout the world. While the Episcopal Church has shrunk in size to an almost insignificant number of Sunday worshippers, Anglicanism worldwide is exploding in numbers and evangelistic zeal. While we've left the foundations of our theology and practice for new understandings, the Bible continues to be respected by Anglicans worldwide as God's inspired Word. I am hopeful, very hopeful in fact, to partner with other Episcopalians who have a vision for being Anglican in a way that's far bigger and far more exciting than the Episcopal Church alone."

"I believe the answer to the crisis confronting us is to find a way to be Anglican apart from the Episcopal Church. There's no turning back our history on what the Episcopal Church has decided to be and do. You've heard it said that the General Convention was coerced by special interest groups into making certain decisions, and that they will soon regret their noncompliance with the Windsor Report. I don't believe this for a minute! There is absolutely nothing that I see that would indicate that we will reverse the decisions that separated us from the Anglican Communion," he said.

Collins admits that the solution isn't at all clear in how we can we relate to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to the Anglican Communion apart from the Episcopal Church. "We shouldn't move until things become clearer, but various possibilities are coming into view." The Archbishop of Canterbury has proposed a two-tier membership in the Anglican Communion that would allow churches like Christ Church and dioceses like ours to enter into a covenant relationship with Canterbury.

"This would allow us to continue as a "constituent church" in Communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of Anglicanism. It's not a question of us "leaving" the Episcopal Church; let's be clear that schism and leaving is what already occurred when the Episcopal Church ignored the advice of the rest of the Communion and ordained a non-celibate gay man to be bishop of New Hampshire.

"Instead, it means relating to or realigning with the Anglican Communion by another means. What the Archbishop proposes does not require us to leave, but rather to subscribe to Anglicanism via another route besides the Episcopal Church. I am absolutely confident that Christ Church will continue to stand strong for mainstream Anglicanism and for our mission statement and core values that guide us."

West Texas Bishop, Gary R. Lillibridge, in a prepared statement at the diocesan website had this to say: "I do not believe that it is an overstatement to say that there is a growing struggle to possess the Episcopal Church or be the expression of "Anglicanism" in America. I am deeply concerned about the whole agenda and drift of the national church. From where I sit we seem hell-bent, as a national church, on self-inflicted wounds and apparently are not all that concerned with the consequences to many of our own members, let alone Anglicans around the world. We need serious theological reflection about our common church life as American Episcopalians, about the moral theology that guides this church, about the authority and interpretation of scripture, and about how we govern ourselves and conduct theological business at General Convention. At General Convention, we saw all too clearly the spirit of American arrogance that drives our current engine."

Wrote Lillibridge: "I am convinced that we need massive institutional reform if we are going to cross the wilderness in our own day. It is important to remember that Jesus prayed for his disciples' victory, not their escape -- so I am going to work to change what I see as a diseased system. I am not resigned to accepting things as the way they must be."

Lillibrige said he was:

* scripturally centered and Gospel focused.

* sacramentally grounded.

* committed to the missionary call of Jesus Christ.

* positive and hopeful for a fresh emergence of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

* Actively engaged in empowering creative and innovative leadership.

* Committed to spiritual growth (formation) and numerical growth (evangelism).

* I fully believe the promise I made at my ordinations that "I do believe the Holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation."

"From where I sit, talk of separation and leaving the Church simply isn't necessary in West Texas, for we are a diocese tied closely with our Anglican heritage and in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and there are many conversations on a local, national, and global level that give me hope."

"I myself am part of many conversations with Windsor bishops about how we will move forward in and through our present difficulties. On this, you are going to have to trust me and give this process time; in other words, exercise some Godly and historic patience."

END