GAFCON: Less than I expected -- more than I hoped for

Less than I expected -- more than I hoped for

I have learned over the last two years that arriving a day or two early helps to get over jetlag and troubleshoot local logistics (ie: power convertors and transformers for my eight separate gadgets). As portable as AnglicanTV is -- having everything working before the opening Eucharist is a hard fought accomplishment in a foreign land.

Sometime during the planning process the organizers of GAFCON discovered how expensive it is to hire a videographer. A good price is around two hundred dollars an hour, so I was not surprised to learn they didn't hire anybody and I would be the only person taping every open session. However, when I arrived the GAFCON leadership approached me to see if I could provide them with copies of my tapes and put the entire conference on DVD. I mistakenly said yes and instantly tripled my daily workload normally needed to videotape, edit, produce, stream, archive and blog an event live.

This added work also meant I had to work with the local audio technicians (who spoke almost no English) and every day they sent a new technician who would change all the settings that fed audio to my camera. By the third day I had translated a sign into Arabic and Hebrew that said; "Don't touch!" The sign worked.

On the flight over I had finished the "The Truth, The Way, and the Life" (A Gafcon Publication). I was largely disappointed with the book as it was written not about the future or about the book's title, but only about the past. The book seemed to be setting up the conference to be GAPCON (the Global Anglican Past Conference) – dooming itself to be just another meeting.

My fears about the conference faded quickly at the Opening Eucharist on Sunday where Archbishop Akinola laid the foundations for something new.

Hopefully you have all watched the video coverage from the week and have followed the emergence of a new movement within the Anglican Communion. This is not what I expected: To be honest I expected a final GAFCON declaration to recognize Common Cause as the new Anglican Church of Canada and the United States, and (based on what I read from the GAFCON book) I also expected the meeting to be seven-day gripe session and a bunch of "whoa is me" speeches. In fact, the sinful side of me even expected GAFCON to toss Canterbury, Lambeth and the ACC as failed instruments of unity. Good thing I wasn't on the statement committee huh?

The Jerusalem Declaration ended up being more than I hoped for. It was a statement built on prayer, wisdom and perseverance. In final form the declaration will only be disliked by those who would rather see the entire Anglican Communion dissolve rather than lose their power. (I refer you to the statements by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Presiding Bishop Jefferts-Schori to add clarity to my statement).

In three weeks I will be traveling to the Last Lambeth. Please keep me in your prayers.

Sharing His Victory

Kevin