Letter From the Standing Committee

Beloved in Christ,

On Wednesday, April 17, Bishop George Sumner called for the election of a bishop coadjutor for the Diocese of Dallas. Our bishop coadjutor will serve alongside Bishop Sumner until he retires, and then succeed him as our eighth diocesan bishop.

The electing convention will be held on Saturday, May 3, 2025 – two weeks after Easter – at a time and location to be announced.

This week, the Standing Committee unanimously appointed Father Clayton Elder to serve as chairperson for the Search Committee. As the outgoing President of the Standing Committee, his continued work in this new role will ensure a seamless continuation of the election process.

In the coming weeks, the Standing Committee will choose and begin to work alongside a consultant from the Episcopal Church to ensure that our process and timeline follows all the right steps and best practices for seeking a new bishop.

Then, Fr. Elder will work closely with the Executive Council and Standing Committee to form the Search Committee, made up of twenty voting members – six clergy and six lay persons appointed by the Executive Council as well as four clergy and four lay persons appointed by the Standing Committee. The Chancellor serves as an additional ex-officio member. We will appoint a Transition Committee at a later date.

Over the next year, the Search Committee will listen, pray, build a profile, accept nominations, and discern a slate of 3-7 nominees that they will present to the diocese for election. Then, during Lent, we will enter into a period of intentional discernment together and meet the nominees.

The Standing Committee and Search Committee are committed to regular communication and transparency. We will send updates by email and post information on a forthcoming website that will be the hub for us to participate in the work of discernment over the next year.

We believe that this search process is an opportunity for us to come together – to hope and dream cooperatively about our future, to discern with honesty our own identity as a diocese, and to pray for God to send us a pastor who will continue to lead us into the future faithfully.

Participate in this shared discernment with open hearts, hope, and joy. And in the meantime, please keep our diocese, Bishop Sumner, and all our leaders in your prayers.

In Christ,

The Standing Committee

of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas

Father Clayton Elder

Lee Spence

Father Perry Mullins

Jolayne La Cour

Father Terry Reisner

Tom Graves

Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, as you and he are one: Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Bishop George Sumner's Letter to the Diocese

William Hobart Hare

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in our risen Christ. I am writing to inform you that I have asked the Standing Committee to begin the process of discernment leading to the election of a Bishop Coadjutor. He or she would assist me in episcopal oversight, to include both a share of episcopal visitation and administrative work usually assigned to a Canon to the Ordinary, until such time as I retire and the coadjutor becomes diocesan. I have spoken with Bishop Todd Ousley at the national church. There would be an election in 2025. After the consecration, Bishop Michael Smith, to whom I am immensely grateful, would return to being an assistant bishop.

Of course I have no role in the electoral process, other than praying! Father Clayton Elder, president of the Standing Committee, will be explaining to you what happens next, canonically and practically.

Part of our Christian lives is always to discern the right time. First, while we have our challenges, I believe we as a diocese are in a solid position. Second, a year ago, I led a Lenten series called ‘Being Old and Being Christian’, which I now need to apply to myself, as I think about the next phase of leadership. Third, we would benefit from the perspective and energy the new bishop would bring.

I know that a great deal of attention now moves rightly to the electoral process. But I will continue working assiduously on all the on-going diocesan projects we have begun together. These include Church planting, supporting our Cairo missionaries, an annual lecture on theology and AI, the new Spanish offerings for the Stanton Institute, filling vacancies, and helping smaller congregations collaborate. The work of standing bodies such as the Commission on Ministry continues apace. Stephanie and I continue to enjoy visitations.

Expressing my gratitude to you all is for another day further down the road. Most importantly, we all press on day by day toward the goal of the prize of the upward call in Jesus Christ.

Peace

+GRS

Bishop George Sumner's Letter to the Diocese En Espanol 

William Hobart Hare

Quieridos Hermanos y Hermanas,

Saludos en nuestro Señor resusitado.  Yo escribo para anunciar que he pedido el Comite permanente para commencer el proceso de discernir pora elección de un obispo coadjutor.  El o ella va asistirme en el trabajo de vigilancia.episcopal . incluye compartir en la visitacion y la administracion de un canon ordinario, hasta yo me jubilee y el coajutor sea obispo. He hablado con Obispo Todd Ousley. De la iglesia nacional. Hara una elección en 2025.  Despues de la consecracion, Obispo Michael Smith, a quien estoy agradecido, va a regresar como un obispo asistente.

Por sopuesto no voy a participar en este porceso proximo, excepto orar!  Padre Clayton Elder va a explicar lo que seguie por ustedes, sobre los canones y prarcticamente.

En nuestras vidas critianas, necesitamos discernir el tiempo derecho.  Primero, aunque temenos desafíos varios, generalmente estamos en un lugar fuerte. Secundo, hace un año, enseñe un curso llamado ‘ser viejo y ser un Cristiano.’ Ahora necesito aplicarlo en mi vida, sobre la temporada proxima del mnisterio.  Tercero, la perspectiva nueva de un lider nuevo ayudarianos.

Entiendo que ahora mucha atencion va a dirigirse al proceso de la elección. Pero voy a continuar a trabajar continualmente en todos los projectos los que hemos comenicido. Ellos incluyen plantar una iglesita, apoyar nuestros misioñeros en Cairo, una lectura sobre IA y teologia, el programa nuevo en Español de enseñaza, llenar posiciones de las paroquias, y ayudar congregaciones pequeñas para compartir. El trabajo de comites permanentes continuan, especialmente de la vocación, a Stephanie yo gustan visitar congregaciones mucho.

Agradecidos son por un otro dia en frente. mas importantemente, nosotros proseguimos hasta el fin de la primera del llamado de arriba en Jesus Cristo.

Paz,

+GRS