After five years at "the Shepherd" . . .

What distinguishes Good Shepherd [from other parishes]?  Why aren’t we an ordinary Episcopal Church or an ordinary church for that matter?  Let me put it for you in a nutshell.  It is because we believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him at His Word.  I don’t know about other churches.  I don’t go there every Sunday.  I don’t know what this church was like before I got here.  I’m only responsible for it now.  And I can tell you unlike five years ago when I got here, I can now stand with a clear conscience, looking over this congregation, and with great joy say, “We believe it now.” 

I look out over a sea of faces and I know many of your personal stories in Christ Jesus.  It is a joy to be in your midst.  And hopefully it will be more of a joy, as the days progress, for all of us.  The purpose of this church is to equip you for the work out there – not for the work in here.  The purpose of this church is to be a beacon and a lighthouse – not so it can light our steps (though hopefully, as a secondary result, it does so) but so that we can be a light to those who are in darkness still. And increasingly, and sadly, that’s more and more people in our culture. . . .

What’s it been all about for five years?  It’s been about working in the Spirit to transform an Episcopal Church mired in concern for itself into a Christian center focused on mission and ministry for others.  We hold to the authority of the Bible, not because we’re fundamentalists; but because we’re serious about the fundamentals of the faith.  Not because we’re Jesus freaks, but because we take Christ seriously.  It isn’t that we’re no longer Episcopalians; rather, we’ve come to acknowledge that Christ Jesus means so much more. We want to build a new world on the basis of a new humanity because we’ve found the only Source of hope, the only true Saviour, the only Truth, the only Exit there ever was or will be in this world, and, His name is Jesus.  Amen. 

Fr. Todd+

Audio Files
Winter / Spring 2008 Highlights

Review of the Covenant of Membership: Pt. I Dec. 30, 2007 Pt. II: January 6, 2008 Looking Back Over the Last Five Years: January 20, 2008 Sanctity of Human Life Sunday: January 27, 2008 An Institutionalist is Confronted by the Gospel (Dr. Dave Barnett) February 17, 2008 February 24, 2008 The Spirit of God often makes you mad before he makes you glad. In the life of the Spirit you can only keep what you give away. Money cannot buy what the heart does not already own. Good Shepherd Sunday, April 13, 2008 (Dr. Dave Barnett) 6th Sunday after Easter, April 27, 2008 "You are my witnesses" Sunday after the Ascension, May 4, 2008 "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord"