As I have begun to look toward my future, I am aware there are some things I want to do before I must step aside as your bishop.

Most of you are probably not surprised to hear this, for I hope you have come to know me as one who seeks to expand the boundaries of our knowledge and our experience as we journey toward the Kingdom of God. And I still have a lot of questions and see a lot of opportunities for us in the Diocese of Idaho.

Part of this on-going expansion involves regularly asking ourselves why God has put our faith community on the corner where we live and work and love and worship. As I hope you have discovered, it is my sense that if all we do is live an insular life on our corner, then we have not only missed great opportunities to do ministry, but we have also misunderstood the Gospel which bids us be God’s representatives in the midst of his creation. However, it is my assessment that to one degree or another almost every congregation in our diocese is taking steps to be engaged in mission and ministry beyond the boundaries of their facility. And this is good.

But I have been pondering what I will tell my successor about each congregation when he or she arrives to become the next bishop of this diocese. What is your story, and how has this story shaped each member of the faith community and the community where you live?  And how is your story a part of the larger story of the Diocese of Idaho? Hence the talk about things I want to do between now and the time of my retirement. I have decided that one of my projects during these next fifteen months will be to build a book which endeavors to tell the story of life in each congregation. By doing this I hope to give my successor
an accurate picture of each congregation, what the mission is, what the challenges are, what the needs are, and how each congregation envisions bringing all of this about.

However, it is important for you to know that you are to be my partners in writing this book. When I make my visitation with you during the next year, I will be asking the congregational leadership to be in conversation with me as we shape the story of your journey and where you are at this moment. And I will be asking the leadership to discuss and share with me and my successor what they need from the other congregations in the diocese and what they bring to help other congregations (the diocese) move forward in mission.

I hope the leadership will engage you in preliminary conversation about this project, for you are the ones who have the story to tell. It is my profound hope that you and I will each find these discussions enriching and enlivening. And it is my hope that together we can describe your faith community, its life and
ministry, accurately enough that your next bishop can quickly discover how he or she fits into your journey and can encourage you to use your gifts for the
greater body we know as our diocese. I do look forward to this work, and I invite you to join me in doing it in ways that benefit us all as the journey goes forward.

Again I thank you for sharing the journey with me. I am humbled and privileged to journey with you thus far, and I look forward to the time we have yet to share. You have blessed me beyond imagining.