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Participants roared with cheers and laughter at Anderson's point.

Anderson repeatedly used the phrase "I have a vision" about a church that places top priority on the Great Commission, that respects the consciences of those who oppose ordaining women as priests (but also recognizes ordained women), and that does not compel congregations to use only the most recent Book of Common Prayer.

"Can this church be birthed?" he asked. "In one sense it is here, right now, in this building."

Anderson repeated a workshop's earlier advice that congregations learn the legal history of their property, prepare for possible legal battles over property, and "build in disincentives" to discourage hostile takeovers by their bishops.

"Don't ask, Can we do this? Ask, How can we do this?" he said. "You are standing at the fulcrum of history. Press forward. Press hard. Maximum leverage occurs just before the stick breaks."

Anderson added, amid cheers, "This is your hour. This is your destiny. This is your church. We are the legitimate Episcopal Church of our fathers and mothers."

Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh guided participants through affirming each point of the conference's public statement, "A Place to Stand: A Call to Action."

In affirming the seven-point document, participants:

• Proclaimed the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as their life's highest calling.
  
  
• Repudiated General Convention's approval of Gene Robinson, a noncelibate gay man, as a bishop and of blessing same-sex couples.
  
  
• Repented of their part in the Episcopal Church's sins.
  
  
• Called on Episcopal leaders to "repent of and reverse the unbiblical and schismatic actions of the General Convention."
  
  
• Affirmed the 1998 Lambeth Conference's teaching on sexuality and marriage, which said that homosexual behavior is incompatible with Scripture.
  
  
• Pledged to "redirect our financial resources, to the fullest extent possible, toward biblically orthodox mission and ministry."
  
  
• Appealed to the primates of the Anglican Communion to discipline those bishops "who, by their actions, have departed from biblical faith and order"; guide the realignment of Anglicanism; encourage orthodox bishops who help besieged congregations outside of their borders; and "support isolated and beleaguered parishes [congregations] and individuals in their life and witness as faithful Anglican Christians."
  
  

In a question-and-answer style similar to the Episcopal Church's baptismal covenant, Duncan repeatedly asked participants, "Do you so affirm?"

"I do," participants said in a collective voice that echoed in the rafters of the Wyndham Anatole hotel's Trinity Hall.

Bishop Benjamin Kwashi of the Diocese of Jos, Nigeria, donned an oversized white cowboy hat before offering some closing thoughts to the conference.

The hat, Kwashi joked, indicated that he was a Texas millionaire. "My currency is not dollars," he said. "My currency is the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Kwashi called on conference participants to invest the gospel in their children and grandchildren and to make their churches "accessible to the lowest of the low."

And before delivering a passionate, tearful benediction of several minutes, he offered a challenge: "Will you be humble enough to come and study in Africa? Will you send an ordinand to spend a year with an African bishop?"

Douglas LeBlanc is an associate editor for Christianity Today.

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October (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47