The Anglican Church in North America Inaugural Assembly begins today, and you can see much of it at their shiny new web site.
Developed by yours truly, the site features two video streams - one with live-coverage provided by AnglicanTV, and one with archived coverage for those who missed live streams or just want to review what’s been taped.
The site is also mobile-friendly. I hope I’ve made it so it’s useful to everyone on their iPhone and Blackberry. No video streams are available on the mobile version, but the assembly schedule and news items are.
The assembly’s communications team will be on Twitter at http://twitter.com/acnaassembly
If you’d like to talk to me about web site development for your church or organization, please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) offline.
Also, if you’re in Bedford and using the site - especially the mobile version - your comments and suggestions are welcome.
Bravo, Greg! Superb job Very attractive, very user friendly.
David Handy+
Very nice!
Great job!
I saw that earlier and thought it was very nice before I knew you’d designed it.
n.b.: I think “Not for delegates” should be “Note for delegates”? It shows up several times on the schedule.
Actually James, “Not for Delegates” is correct. Those events take place at times when the delegates are in session .
Thanks, Peter.
Great site! The embedded links in “Who We Are” don’t work, however… at least on my computer. All the other ones do, however.
ASP,
The PDF file that’s linked in the “Who We Are” section is pretty big - takes a while to download.
I have been baptized.
Greg,
Very nice. But I do have one (very small) criticism. It would be very convenient if the Assembly Schedule section of the main page had a notation at/near its top that said “All times {zone}”, where {zone} is replaced with the name of the time zone (Central?). Particularly useful for deciding when to “tune in” to the live feed.
Thanks and pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
“I have been baptized.” Brilliant, Greg. When you start channeling your grandfather (or movies you’ve seen), we’ll start to worry about you.
speaking of ACNA coverage, please also consider yourself helping cover the ACNA event in prayer, if you use Facebook or Twitter: http://anglicanecumenicalsociety.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/tweet-prayers-for-the-acna-assembly/
It is beautiful the new site that is and I’m sorry Greg but I just have to post this here. It is too important…maybe it can get its own thread….???????
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnbd
Robert Duncan was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 “Sunday” program yesterday. Says the ABC encourages him to apply for formal membership in the Anglican Communion through the Primates as soon as they are organized and that the ABC would support this move.
It takes a little while because it is in the program schedule be patient it is worth hearing.
TLD,
What’s the minutes and seconds where that discussion occurs?
Greg…I’m listening to it right now looking for it….I’ll post as soon as I see and hear it at the same time of course…. ;>)
Never mind - I got it. It’s at 17:03. Give me a few and I’ll make it into its own post.
Greg and all it is at 17.09
We’ve been focusing on prayer for this assembly at the the Anglican Ecumenical Society - for ourselves, in Second Life, but as I posted above, also mentioning possibilities for Twitter and Facebook. I realized that not all will have accounts at any of the above, so have also posted an article that can act as a live feed for anyone who would like to pray there, or read other prayers for this important assembly - at http://anglicanecumenicalsociety.wordpress.com/
OK, back to admiring the ACNA site…
Greg said:
“Give me a few and I’ll make it into its own post. “
Would you please tell us where to find it?
Marie
Well that was a helluva debate on the fundamental declarations. What was that—one question and maybe three minutes total?
Greg…the new site is beautimous!
veritas,
Thank you, and to everyone else who took the time to leave a compliment.
I have been baptized.
yes, beautiful site, Greg.
And what a beautiful sign of cooperation - a TEC dude building the site for the ACNA!
Greg, great site. One problem, now the actual ACNA look pretty bad by comparison. They should make the assembly site the permanent site for ACNA. Have they contacted you about doing there provincial site?
ACNApriest,
I have a number of ideas I think the new province would benefit from. Perhaps some hints and nudges from those who appreciate my work might be persuasive?
Great work, Greg! May I suggest that you pin this thread/link, along with a couple of the other links to Assembly coverage, at the top of the SF home page?
blessings-
Excellent work, Greg!
bb
Wonderful work, Greg! THANK YOU!!!
Hey Griffith, are you trying to cut me out of the honor and glory I should receive for hiring you for this important task?
And all my clever ideas, such as “I want a video feed!”
New website is a big improvement, and very easy to navigate. Thanks Greg!
Peter,
You forgot “Make magic happen.” 
Very nice indeed. And in addition to the video feeds, it includes written news, which is nice for people like me stuck with low bandwidth.
Somewhat off topic, but maybe Greg can make this its own thread:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/24/breakaway-called-a-historic-event/
BEDFORD, Texas | The Rev. Rick Warren brought hundreds of former Episcopalians to their feet in applause Tuesday when he called their exodus from the denomination “a historic event” and said God was “calling you out” of the Episcopal Church.
“I jumped at the chance to come here,” Mr. Warren, evangelical pastor of the 24,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., told delegates to the constitutional convention of the newly created Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). “We will stand with you in solidarity as God does something new in your midst.”
...
Yes Greg, yes I did. I try to keep my powers to inspire cloaked.
Thanks, AndrewA, for the link. As the article points out, it’s very rare for Warren to accept such speaking engagements.
Yes, Rick Warren appears on fairly often on Larry King, etc., but despite receiving countless invitations to speak all over the place, “America’s Pastor” turns down almost all of them. So the fact that he accepted the invitation to speak at the Provincial Assmebly is more significant than it might appear at first sight.
And all the more so, when you recall that Warren likewise accepted the invitation to be the keynote speaker at the “A Hope and A Future Conference” that +Duncan organized in Pittsburgh in 2005.
Warren, like Billy Graham before him, is trying to stay out of politics (despite praying at the inauguration, as Billy also did on many occasions), and that includes being careful to avoid entanglements in church politics (even in his own denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, where he’s quite a maverick). He doesn’t need to seek the spotlight to satisfy some need for fame and public recognition (like say, a certain “simple, country bishop” we all know about). He’s generally as well focused as a laser beam, so it’s no small honor for the ACNA to have him come and lend his support to this brave new venture.
One little known aspect of Warren’s ministry that is highly impressive: he’s always been a fervent, deeply committed supporter of church planting. To his credit, Saddleback has started at least one daughter church EVERY YEAR since it began almost thirty years ago. That’s incredible. No other major megachurch can match its astounding record in that regard, and yet despite (or perhaps because of) hiving off so many other churches, Saddleback has continued to grow and grow.
I would guess that Rick Warren admires and takes special interest in purpose-driven leaders like +Bob Duncan, +Martyn Minns, +Bill Atwood, +Chuck Murphy, and +John Guernsey, who aren’t just planting new churches, but who are boldly planting a whole new denomination in North America.
As a big Rick Warren fan, I’m delighted and thrilled that Warren came and gave his hearty endorsement to the ACNA. Very little that he said was new. A lot of it was just a rehash of his standard, well-known, purpose-driven rhetoric.
But his chosen biblical text to start from, Isaiah 43, was highly appropriate. And so was his repeated emphasis on one of my favorite Rick Warren one-liners:
“A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will make a great church.”
Or a great Christian.
Or a great “communion” or denomination.
So true. May it be so with the ACNA.
David Handy+
Greg:
Is there a problem with the live streaming? It’s after 10:30 on Wednesday a.m. and there’s nothing being broadcast.
Larswife
The Orthodox have just declared TEC persona non grata.
His Beatitude, the Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) announced recently that his church has ended its ecumenical relations with The Episcopal Church, and will establish instead formal ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
Good news, AndrewA. Thanks!
I was wary of Warren until I more personally of his church’s ministries and how he lives. He is the real deal. His church filled an important niche in Southern California and has helped introduce thousands to Christ. It sponsors, 7 days a week, in-depth discipleship and Bible studies directed at every segment of its membership. There is nothing superficial about Saddleback’s approach to its membership.
As a liturgical church, the ACNA can benefit from “cross-training”, i.e., learning more about the church building and evangelical work of evangelical leaders like Warren.
What a blessing! Our cup runneth over.
His endorsement of the ACNA is not without risk. He did not have to do it.
Andrew A (39)-
Thank you for this post! Since ACNA was only created this week, things are moving quickly. It is a great encouragement to me.
larswife,
Currently, all live video at the site is being handled by AnglicanTV. You can check the streaming schedule at anglicantv.org for details, but I did notice that the morning plenary session with Metropolitan Jonah was being streamed about an hour ago.
BREAKING NEWS (from MCJ)
“His Beatitude, the Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) announced recently that his church has ended its ecumenical relations with The Episcopal Church, and will establish instead formal ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
Metropolitan Jonah of the OCA made the announcement June 24 at a plenary session of the ACNA’s founding convocation at St Vincent’s Cathedral, Bedford, Texas.”
An autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, the OCA was established by eight Russian monks in 1794 on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Known as the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America, it was granted autocephaly, or autonomy, by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1970. The OCA has 700 congregations, monasteries and communities spread across the United States and Canada.
Asked what the OCA’s stance toward ecumenism might be under his tenure, Metropolitan Jonah said, “If the matter concerns The Episcopal Church USA, then this dialogue has stopped.”
Baby Blue is reporting: The Province of Uganda has officially recognized the new ACNA province.
Greg, wouldn’t mind working with you on serving up media stuff on the sites. One of my pet passtimes is internet media serving. Nice job on the site - solid aesthetics and function.
btw mobile-friendly is less necessary for the iPhone - especially the streaming and video recordings.
Not sure the best place to post this, but I was honored to attend the Investiture of Archbishop Duncan tonight at Christ Church - what a glorious service. Really incredible. Bonuses: Got to meet Baby Blue and Kevin Kallsen in person (hi!) and get a kiss from Bishop Ackerman. Does that rock, or what? So awesome to see history made. (Mary’s live blogging of the service was really great.)
Is anyone else struck by how much the first ACNA confab got done in four days and how little GC 2009 is planning to do in eleven?
Mousestalker (#48),
Brilliant observation. Yes, the difference is like day and night.
The same contrast could be drawn between the fruitful GAFCon event last summer and the Lambeth Conference, which was such a huge waste of time and money.
David Handy+