Ms. Nancy Barrick
Outstanding Lay Ministry in the World
Ms. Elizabeth "Izzy" Winn
Outstanding Lay Ministry in the Church
The Rev. Adrien Dawson
Outstanding Priest
The Rev. William "Chip" Lee
Outstanding Priest
The Church of the Epiphany, Odenton
Outstanding Mission Initiative
St. James', Monkton
Outstanding Congregation
The recipient of the 2007 Bishop’s Award for Outstanding Lay Ministry in the World goes to a person who has a long history with Baltimore. A graduate of Dunbar High School, this person also received a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Coppin State College, and a Master’s Degree from Loyola. A retired Educator from the Baltimore County Public School System as a Reading Specialist, our recipient is also an accomplished actress, having spent over 50 years with the Arena Players of Baltimore. She currently serves as a Docent at the Reginald Lewis Museum in Baltimore. This mother of two daughters and grandmother of five, has been married for 46 years and yet managed to find the time to serve her parish on the Vestry, in the Sunday School, and as Warden of St. Agnes Guild, in St. James’, Lafayette Square.
With a quiet, yet persistent manner, our recipient has brought her teaching talents to bear on our Diocese, as she co-authored a resolution on Reparations for Slavery, and has, for the past three years, chaired the Reparations Task Force of the Diocese. Humble and loving, yet forthright and strong, the recipient of the 2007 Bishop’s Award for Outstanding Lay Ministry in the World is Nancy Barrick. In honoring you, Nancy, we honor ourselves.
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The recipient of the 2007 Bishop’s Award for Outstanding Lay Ministry in the Church goes to a person who is a dreamer, an artist, and a writer. A life-long Episcopalian, this person spent formative years in Ohio, and college years in upstate New York, before settling in the State of Maryland. Active in the Cursillo Movement, our recipient has the unusual distinction of having been Rector of three different Cursillo Weekends, one of them in Ghana! This may indicate a pattern of some kind, as our recipient also has the unusual distinction of having served two non-consecutive terms as First Vice-President of Diocesan Council.
In her own parish: St. Margaret’s, Annapolis, this person has written and edited the Parish Newsletter, served on countless committees, including the Vestry, and is currently the Grants Administrator for the Grants Program. Our recipient is always ready to pitch in where needed, and provided additional leadership for the Diocese as one of the four Co-Chairs of our recent Capital Campaign. With a wonderful sense of humor, and infectious, joyful energy, this person continues to look for ways in which she can faithfully and creatively serve God and God’s people. The recipient of the 2007 Bishop’s Award for Outstanding Lay Ministry in the Church is Elizabeth “Izzy” Winn. In honoring you, Izzy, we honor ourselves.
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Over the years many of these Bishop’s awards have been given to senior clergy who have served the Diocese of Maryland for years or even decades. They celebrate gifts and talents refined by experience and measured by the obvious health and vitality of the ministry served. Sometimes, however, remarkable talent is visible even before it has had years of experience to develop.
If all of the clergy in the Episcopal Church under the age of 35 were evenly distributed, Maryland’s share would be about one percent. As it is we are blessed to have almost five percent of the Church’s young clergy in our diocese and furthermore blessed by their commitment to meet and work together for the benefit of the diocese. The priest we recognize in this award is one of the leaders of this most exceptional peer group, and represents the outstanding talents they all share.
Nominated by a parishioner, this priest is a strong preacher and liturgist, effective at marshalling the efforts of volunteers, committed to education, outreach and evangelism. Gifts of discernment, compassion and faithfulness are evident for all to see, as are creativity and an artistic bent grounded in a deep spirituality. A particularly visible talent is the ability to bring energy and dedication to ministry tasks, because (as a colleague has said) “every good idea eventually devolves into hard work.” Those of us who have worked with her on diocesan committees are also aware of her ability to see the big picture and to be reflective about the theological groundwork of ministry as well as the details of getting it done – but that’s what you’d expect from a “Johnnie!”
This award for Outstanding Priest in the Diocese of Maryland goes to the Reverend Adrien Dawson, of Trinity Church, Towson.
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His career and his calling both date back to high school. He knew he was going to be a priest when he was a sophomore, but he kept putting it off until in 1986, he could no longer ignore it.
For 30 years -- from the 60s until 1986, he worked in radio stations across the country, in minor and major markets. Radio had him hooked.
He began his career in radio when he was a junior, just a year later. He would go across the field to the local radio station after school, sweep the floors, rip and read the news and play dinner music until sign off.
But he has not totally abandoned broadcasting. He set up his own home audio production studio and today continues to do production work for area radio stations.
In fact, he is sharing his audio and visual expertise and his mellifluous voice with the world through a unique ministry that reaches into the battlefields of Iraq and beyond.
His parish Web site productions of Sunday Eucharists and daily Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer and Compline are heard worldwide by chaplains and members of the Armed Forces (including Comptroller Karen Stewart's daughter) as well as anyone else online. One parishioner now in China calls the live Sunday services "her connection to home."
His celebration of Morning Prayer now gets close to 15,000 hits a month. More than 3,000 listen to his sermons. He plans to upgrade the live Sunday feeds by starting a Media Club at the local high school, to train students to operate more cameras -- if the funds can be found. (We use a single cheap Wal-Mart camera now... he says.)
How does he do it all? He calls it a "self-learning project continuously in process." and "making it up as I go along."
On Sundays during the summers, he literally runs to get to all three churches in time for four services, putting 500 miles a week on his car.
He was featured in a 1998 NY Times article about an emerging telephone answering technology called a Virtual Assistant. According to the article his calls were answered by an angelic female voice named Portico.
This year’s recipient is the Rev. William “Chip” Lee, Missioner of Garrett County Episcopal Mission and Rector, St. Matthew’s, Oakland and Vicar, St. John’s, Deer Park.
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This year we have a new award, the Bishop’s Award for Outstanding Mission Initiative. We in the Diocese of Maryland are deeply committed to racial justice and reconciliation. We are seeking to repair the tragic damage done by slavery and the resulting culture of racism that still divides us. A critical component in our mission is to have communities of faith that actively witness to racial reconciliation. This congregation is fully an inter-racial congregation with hospitality, worship, formation and service that embraces all of God’s people.
Tradition in the church is about memory, and churches as communities of memory are critical links to understanding the sins and great deeds of the past and how they impact our times and what we are still called to do. This congregation has a deep sense of its own history and how it is linked to the communities it serves and to a large military institution. Its building, while recently remodeled, contains a living history museum to its past. They remember in order that they can live into the missionary charge given by the then Bishop of Maryland, the Right Rev. William Paret, that this church must be “a home away from home for all people.” The church has not lost that missionary vision and seeks to be home to all of God’s people. Far from simply stating the words, this congregation by its actions, by its life and in its witness is truly a home for all who come.
In the work for racial justice we must have communities of faith whose life and witness reflect that radical hospitality that Christ Jesus demands of us. This radical hospitality was manifest to young men who were called up in World War I when this congregation began. Today this radical hospitality is manifest in a church whose community is truly the house of prayer for all of God’s people.
The first recipient of the Bishop’s Award for Outstanding Mission Initiative is the Church of the Epiphany, Odenton.
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Discernment is the essential link between our Baptismal promises and later actions. When a young person from this congregation traveled to Honduras and visited an orphanage, she returned to share the experience with the congregation. This was the beginning of a partnership and collaboration that not only supported the orphanage but resulted in the building of a cistern and chlorination plant. While some distance from the various correctional institutions in Maryland,
this congregation created a ministry called “The Book Lady” and has to date collected 30,000 books for inmates in the twenty-two correctional institutions in Maryland. Recently a faith-based food distribution network was started through the work of a parishioner who was able to be a recipient of United States Department of Agriculture food stamps. Soon this distribution network, through cooperation of two of our city congregations, will offer fresh vegetables as part of existing food distribution programs. Over the past several years this congregation has been singled out by many for both the person power and the financial support given to vital social justice ministries.
Discernment is also the essential link to how God wants us to use our talents and our gifts. This congregation has a pioneering effort to have discernment be the foundation for congregational leadership. Elections to the vestry are not about who is willing to run but about who is called. This is true for everything else: altar guild, Christian formation, committees and even who will tend to what appear to be the most ordinary of tasks.
Discernment is also about seeking the resources and having the formation to best serve God and God’s people. Ministry requires and demands formation and discernment and is about committing ourselves to seeking the necessary gifts we need. This congregation has a strong Christian formation program, biblical, spiritual and practical. Christian formation is for all ages – throughout one’s life. Christian formation is also expressed in one of the outstanding parish day schools, a kindergarten through eighth grade school that is regionally and nationally acclaimed.
This year’s recipient for the Bishop’s Award for Outstanding Congregation is St. James, Monkton, and My Lady’s Manor.
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