Region I is comprised of 19 churches in the center of the Diocese. A wide range of churches is represented including small country churches, rural churches, suburban churches, city churches, historic churches, new churches, traditional churches, and conventional churches. The Region extends across Caroline, King George, Louisa, Madison, Culpeper, Spotsylvania, and Stafford Counties; into the northwestern corners of Westmoreland and Essex Counties; and includes the City of Fredericksburg. This diversity challenges our efforts to coordinate, cooperate, collaborate, and communicate. But this diversity also strengthens our ability to offer help and insight to one another.
Our September meeting was not held at a church, but in a house on the site of our new church plant in North Stafford. Our meeting was followed by the presentation of a wooden cross to the new mission. The cross was made from the original floor beams of historic Christ Church in Spotsylvania. We pray that this new mission will soon become the first new Episcopal Church in rapidly growing Stafford County in over 200 years (Aquia Church was founded in 1757). The Region is committed to planting this new church and others in Stafford County.
Region I had five meetings during 2002. One of the meetings was the Annual Dinner at which Bishop Jones was our honored guest and keynote speaker. The dinner was hosted by St. George’s Church, Fredericksburg.
The Very Rev. Ron Okrasinski was appointed Dean of Region I and a new slate of officers began their terms: Lt. Col. Milton Carey as President and Don Metheny as Vice President. The Rev. Brad Jackson continued as Secretary and Anna Lou Flynn continued as Treasurer. The Rev. Jeffrey Packard began his term on the Executive Board and Pat Piland was appointed as the new youth leader for the Region.
On a sad note, our beloved friend and Regional President, Lt. Col. Milton Carey resigned this fall due to failing health. Milt has always been a gifted leader and energetic force in the mission of our Region and his involvement will be missed.
Subsequent to the acceptance of Milt’s resignation, Don Metheny was elected and installed as President at our November meeting.
The mission of Region I is “to help enable the local parish and the Diocese in carrying out their mission to the world as witnesses to God’s love and to be a visible and stable presence of the Body of Christ.” The Region is dedicated to the challenge of our mission with the resolve to better organize the human resources within this Region and to utilize the God given talents of our clergy and delegates in the performance of our mission.
Thanks to the untiring efforts of Jackie Drumheller, St. James’ Church, Louisa, our newsletter, The Harbinger, is published four times a year. The Harbinger contains information on what is happening within the Region, church news, and articles written by Region I members. It is mailed to senior wardens, delegates, alternates, and clergy. The Harbinger is an important communication tool designed to meet the challenge to communicate between a diverse group of churches.
Another vital tool for communications is the Region I Directory maintained and published by Bill Wick of St. Peters, Port Royal. This document contains information on every church in the Region, along with names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers and email addresses of clergy, regional officers and committee chairs, annual council and regional delegates and alternates, senior wardens, ECW leaders, music leaders, and youth leaders for each church. To make the directory even more useful as a reference, the standing rules of the Region I Council are included.
The Region I Mission Committee, led by the Rev. James Reed, Church of the Messiah, Chancellor, made allocations totaling $5,250. Recipients were Mary Washington College Campus Christian Center, Mary Washington College Canterbury Club, Episcopal Relief and Development Fund, Diocesan Fund for Human Need, Transitional Mental Health Prescription Program, and Region I Youth Mission Scholarship.
The Region I council approved a budget of $11,900 for 2003. The
budget included $5,250 for Missions and Outreach and $5,250 for Programs.
From available 2002 funds the regional council allocated $3,000 for the
needs of the new mission in North Stafford and $2,000 to set up a sabbatical
fund for clergy in the Region. Additionally, the churches of Region
I have set a goal of providing $15,000 per year over the next three years
to support the new mission in North Stafford. The mission has thus
far received $23,000 from the churches of Region I.
Submitted by
Don Metheny, President