Curry
Evangelism will be on full display, replete with plenty of music and praise and one of the Episcopal Church’s most dynamic speakers, in February when the Diocese of Central Florida celebrates its golden anniversary.
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, who made worldwide headlines earlier this year when he delivered the sermon at the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, will be the guest preacher for the 2019 Diocesan Convention’s “Keep Saying Yes to Jesus” 50th Anniversary Revival on Friday, Feb. 1, at First Baptist Church in Orlando.
The convention business session convenes Saturday, Feb. 2 at Trinity Prep in Winter Park, with an address from Bishop Greg Brewer along with special presentations, elections, adoption of the 2019 budget, and other matters. A special luncheon also will be held.
“I’m thrilled that (Bishop Curry’s) official visit to our diocese will coincide with our 50th anniversary,” said outgoing Rev. Canon Tim Nunez, Canon to the Ordinary for the Diocese of Central Florida. “This revival is a tremendous opportunity to turn our focus from the past to our future – and the work that lies ahead to share and serve Jesus in our communities.”
The revival revolves around Bishop Greg Brewer’s advice to Central Florida Episcopalians and fellow Christians to continually seek out and have Jesus in their lives. Inspired by Curry’s revival service at the 2018 General Convention in Texas, Brewer has labeled the 2019 Diocesan Convention as a Kingdom-Worthy worship service that will include diverse music, stirring testimonies of faith, and thought-provoking preaching.
With Curry expected to deliver yet another energetic sermon on opening night, the Diocese of Central Florida reserved one of the area’s largest venues – First Baptist of Orlando – to accommodate what leaders say will be a huge crowd. An estimated 4,500 people are expected to attend the service on Feb. 1.
“I am very excited that Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is coming to our Diocesan Convention,” said Father Scott Holcombe, rector of St. David’s by the Sea Episcopal Church in Cocoa Beach. “Not only is it the 50thAnniversary of our Diocese, but the thrust of convention will be evangelism.
“I knew Michael Curry many years ago when we both served in the Diocese of North Carolina and we worked on a diocesan committee together,” Holcombe said. “I have also heard about the Friday evening service … and believe this will be a great opportunity to not only minister to our own folks, but that service may also be an opportunity for us to invite persons who have not yet made a commitment to Christ where they may hear and respond to the Gospel invitation!”
The Diocesan Convention will be, in fact, one of many revivals for Curry, whose speaking ability has inspired many around the world. “This year and next, Bishop Curry will hold similar revivals all over the country with the purpose of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and inviting people into the Jesus Movement,” Brewer said in his column in the September-October issue of the Central Florida Episcopalian.
The Jesus Movement originally began as an Evangelical Christian movement in the 1960s and 1970s on the West Coast of the U.S. before fading in the 1980s. That worldwide movement influenced and helped create other contemporary movements, including the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement.
In a video blog on www.episcopalchurch.org, Curry describes the Jesus Movement as: “When the Gospel is about to be read, the congregation stands up. Something is going on. And then more than that, as the Gospel moment is approaching, a deacon, if there is a deacon in the particular church, a person who has been ordained at the intersection of the church and the world, is asked to read or chant the Gospel. And they come down, sometimes with a Gospel book held high, and there is music and the congregation is singing as the Gospel of Jesus, the teachings, the life and spirit of Jesus enter, in a sense, the room through the readings of the Gospel.
“And then, on top of that, everyone in the room turns and reorients from wherever they are,” Curry said. “They turn and reorient themselves facing the place of the Gospel and stand for the reading of the Gospel, for hearing the teachings of Jesus. That Gospel moment, the Church has become the Jesus Movement, with life reoriented around the teachings of Jesus, and around His very spirit.”
The parallels between the Jesus Movement and “Keep Saying to Jesus” are obvious to many spiritual leaders and should help reinforce the importance of evangelism. “I think the message of “Keep Saying Yes to Jesus” is all about affirming that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and the one who directs our lives and ministries, which is what I believe the Jesus Movement is all about: following Jesus more boldly as his disciples,” said the Rev. Brian W. Turner, rector of Church of the Blessed Redeemer in Palm Bay, “especially in a country and world that continues to become more secularized and even at times antagonistic to religion and the Church.
“It’s a reminder not just to those in the Church, but also to those outside it that moving with and following Jesus is something we have to continually do,” Turner said. “Just like Jesus spoke about taking up our cross daily, each of us who follow Jesus have to keep saying yes to Him each and every day as we reaffirm our witness to his life-transforming death and resurrection and the ministry and mission that He calls us each to. And that’s really what discipleship and evangelism are all about.”
Father Brian Garrison, rector of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Deland, said there is nothing more transformable than the saving power of Jesus. And he is excited that Curry will be on hand to deliver that message.
“He is an electrifying speaker and will bring a lot of energy and excitement to our gathering,” Garrison said. “When our leaders start talking about Jesus, more people are apt to embrace the effectual power of the cross. Keep saying Yes to Jesus. There is no other way, where else are we going to turn?
“He has the words of eternal life,” Garrison said. “If we begin to listen and obey the words of Jesus, there is no doubt revival will take place. However, as revivals always are, it is bound to be different then we might expect. I hope and pray that we are indeed ready for the Spirit of God to once again breathe life into our dry bones.
“Who can resist the power and love of God?” Garrison said. “It is through the person and powerful work of Jesus in a person’s life that the Church will be built, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. Anything other than Jesus will soon crumble and wither away, but Jesus will always renew, revive, and build the kingdom of God, which has no end. May we be His people, May He be our God, that the world would see Jesus through us, His church.”