Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 27. The Diocese of Ohio is holding its second Mission Summit, following last year's very successful event at which parishes and groups in the diocese got together to share their mission stories. This year's Mission Summit will be similar in some ways but it is also specifically designed to help you put your ideas into action.

The Christian Formation Office has developed a questionnaire that will provide a snapshot of the state of Christian formation programs in the Diocese of Ohio, much as last year's Mission Inventory did for mission work. "The survey will provide a way for each parish to know what every other parish is doing in Christian Formation in addition to assessing what training and resources people in the parishes want and need," said Susan McDonald, Christian Formation For All Officer for the Diocese.

The survey can be filled out online, and the results will be reported directly to the Office Christian Formation. You may also take the survey by phone with one of the Christian Formation interns. Please call 216-774-0460 or 800-551-4815, ext 460 for more information. A hard copy will also be sent in the next mailing on July 29, which can be completed and returned by mail or fax (216-623-0735), although for the sake of speed and accuracy, please use the online or phone option, if possible. Please allow the person most familiar with Christian Formation in your parish to complete the form.

Bishops at the Lambeth Conference began their first full week meeting in Bible study groups of eight and "Indaba" groups. Indaba is a method of intense engagement over a perceived problem, but it is not a method that seeks quick solutions. This week the Indaba groups are focused on Anglican identity, the role of bishops in evangelism and social justice, ecumenical relations, abuse of power, and sustainability of the earth. Next week the groups will deal with inter-Anglican issues, such as biblical authority, human sexuality, and the proposed Anglican covenant. About 650 bishops are at the conference. 

You can follow the events of Lambeth in several ways. The official Lambeth website will give updated information, and the right side of our website gives headline news from the Conference. A group known as the Blogging Bishops will be posting regularly. And Bishop Hollingsworth is also blogging. The prayer at the top of this page is the official Lambeth prayer. The calendar lets you know what each day’s activities are. By following the daily calendar, you can also pray for each of the ongoing events. Please keep all the bishops of the Anglican Communion in your prayers during the next three weeks. Photo:ACNS/Gunn. 

This year's route took riders from Defiance to Alliance for the 3rd Annual Bishop's Bike Ride. Record numbers turned out to make the trip with more than 40 different riders ranging in age from 6 to 77 from around the diocese participating throughout the five days. 17 people completed the entire route.

The bikers began on Monday, June 30 at Grace Church in Defiance, making their way towards St. Paul's Church, Maumee. They then headed to St. Paul's Church in Fremont on Tuesday, Church of the Redeemer in Lorain on Wednesday, and St. Paul's Church in Akron on Thursday before finishing the ride at Trinity Church, Alliance on Friday, July 4. 

Over $15,000 has been raised so far through the Bike Ride to go specifically towards supporting summer Youth Mission Trips.

For more photos from the ride, visit the photo gallery on the diocesan website. 

Bishop Hollingsworth, with the help of summer intern and Oberlin College graduate Andy Barnett, is spending the summer launching “How Many Light Bulbs Does it Take to Change an Episcopalian?”

The plan for the program is to replace all incandescent bulbs in all 95 churches throughout the Diocese with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). CFLs use 75% less electricity than incandescent bulbs, last 10 times longer, and are readily available. If even 25% of our congregants and churches participate, the energy savings (and cost) will be substantial, according to Barnett, who is a Minnesota native and is headed to Yale Divinity School and Forestry School this fall.

Executive Director of Cedar Hills Camp, the Rev. Pete Nielsen, III, changed the indoor bulbs at the camp and reported a savings of about 50% in electricity usage and a 30% decrease in cost. “It’s wonderful for both the carbon footprint of Cedar Hills and the budget,” he said.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) keep buildings cooler, last 10 times longer, use 75% less electricity, save $30-$70 per bulb, and are readily available¹.

According to the government's EnergyStar program, if every American home replaced their five most-used light fixtures with compact fluorescent the savings would add up to $8 billion annually in energy costs. In terms of green house gas emissions, that's like taking almost ten million cars off the road².

What about mercury?

When we install CFLs we actually reduce mercury emissions because we use less electricity and burn less coal. Ohio gets 90% of its electricity from mercury-emitting coal plants, which also release the carbon dioxide responsible for global warming³. Burning less coal is good news for the climate, and it means that even if we dumped CFLs in landfills we would reduce mercury emissions. We can keep that mercury out of landfills when we recycle these bulbs.

Each CFL contains roughly 4 milligrams of mercury--about the size of the dot⁴ on this ‘i’, or the amount of mercury in five cans of tuna fish⁵. Take all the mercury in 125 CFLs, and it would be equivalent to the mercury in one thermometer (500 mg).