Posted on 05/01/2004 10:31:03 PM PDT by ahadams2
BOLIVIAN BISHOP BAPTIZES, CONFIRMS 330 AT NEW ANGLICAN PARISH IN ATLANTA
By David W. Virtue
ATLANTA, GA- The Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons, Bishop of Bolivia, baptized, confirmed, received, and reaffirmed over 330 people at two services into Holy Cross Anglican Church, Loganville recently, marking the first time an overseas bishop from the Southern Cone has moved onto US soil to perform ecclesiastical functions, a sign of the growing fragmentation of the Episcopal Church.
They were received into the church as Founding Members, said the Rev. Dr. Foley Beach the churchs new rector, and a recent refugee from the ECUSA.
More than 450 people worshiped at Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville, GA on Easter Sunday. When the church began it officially had only one member (a little girl who was baptized several weeks ago), said Beach
Holy Cross Anglican Church began on February 8th after the Rev. Dr. Foley Beach left the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta and was received into the Anglican Diocese of Bolivia and the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone by Bishop Lyons.
Bishop Lyons said that because of the state of the Episcopal Church, USA, he was offering temporary, emergency, pastoral and episcopal oversight to Father Beach and the people of Holy Cross.
The National Episcopal Churchs departure from Biblical Christianity on theology and morality was the basis for my leaving the diocese of Atlanta and receiving spiritual refuge and oversight from the Province of the Southern Cone and diocese of Bolivia, he told Virtuosity.
On this our 11th Sunday holding worship services, Bishop Lyons baptized 6 people, confirmed 38 people who publicly proclaimed their allegiance to Jesus Christ, received 44 people into the Anglican Communion, and accepted over 250 people from other Anglican or Episcopal churches who joined by Letter of Transfer.
Bishop Lyons preached on The Revelation of John and exhorted people not to lose their first love as they served the Lord and ministered at Holy Cross. He defined first love as ones relationship with Jesus and the joy and closeness people feel when they first come into a relationship with him.
Commenting on why people are excited about Holy Cross, Fr. Beach said: "We have a politically correct, compromised, and unBiblical gospel which has entered the Church in North America. God will not honor or bless a church which proclaims sin in His Name. Holy Cross proclaims the Gospel as taught by the apostles of Jesus Christ in the New Testament and affirmed by the historical Councils of the early church. We make no apologies for standing on the time-tested, Truth-proclaiming, and spirit-nurturing Word of God."
Said one parishioner following the Sunday service, "It's great to be under a Bishop who promotes Jesus instead of promoting sodomy."
Beach said the congregation was rapidly-growing and he expected the church would double within the next 18 months.
After two capacity services at a rented middle school cafeteria, the congregation celebrated at a dinner on the grounds of a ten-acre site recently deeded to the church free and clear. An 18,000 square foot Phase One building, with 14 classrooms and a temporary auditorium, will soon be built, said Beach.
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