Interviews of Presiding Bishop Nominees

Trinity, Wall Street has provided us with video interviews of all seven nominees for Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Here's a few things that jumped out at me as I viewed these interviews:

The Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander, Bishop of Atlanta -
The priorities of the next Presiding Bishop will need to be attending to the House of Bishops, administratively, pastorally and programatically, and nurturing relationships among other provinces of the Anglican Communion. He emphasized that the Communion is primarily about relationships, not structures.

The Rt. Rev. Francisco J. Duque-Gomez, Bishop of Columbia -
The Presiding Bishop needs to help the Episcopal Church become more international, and learn from multicultural churches that are growing outside the United States.

The Rt. Rev. Edwin F. Gulick, Jr., Bishop of Kentucky -
He sees the role of the Presiding Bishop as one of "lending my eyes to the Church." It is a role that is not as much about authority as it is helping the Church see what is going on; to help refocus the Church's gaze on mission.

The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada -
The next presiding Bishop will need to call us back to the center. Priorities would include the Millennium Development Goals and making Isaiah's ideal of creation, seen in the vision of the banquet and the vision of shalom, a reality for the whole world.

The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Jenkins III, Bishop of Louisiana -
The Presiding Bishop expresses servant leadership, calling us to be not just a commandment church, but a commissioning church. Mission must be our priority, as mission is much more important than any of the issues that divide us.

The Rt. Rev. Henry N. Parsley, Jr., Bishop of Alabama -
The Presiding Bishop is the servant of the servants of God. Three primary roles are chief pastor, primate and overseer. The most important of these three in the current climate is chief pastor. The next Presiding Bishop will be called to be a unifier of the Church; calling us from a season of conflict to a season of mission.

The Rt. Rev. Stacy F. Sauls, Bishop of Lexington -
The Presiding Bishop needs to be able to articulate the vision of God and our response to this vision. Our mission must include a response to the needs of the poor.

Take a look. What did you see that is worth noting?

J.