Todd Hunter

UPDATE: Bishop Todd Hunter answers some questions regarding this recent move to ACNA.  [VIEW VIDEO]

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May 4, 2012

Over the past many months there has been much talk, publicly and privately, about who each of us will dance with in terms of Anglican connections. I have been slow in this process, like an awkward junior-high kid at his first dance, struggling to discern direction from God. I realized in the past day or so that I was asking the wrong question, that jurisdictional issues were not on the top of God’s mind for me.

Apparently I needed to seek God regarding more fundamental issues, matters of first cause. In so doing I realized that I am to “dance with who ‘brung’ me”— Unity and Mission. I brought Mission with me to this dance. We have been “friends from childhood”. When I walked across the dance floor and was introduced to Anglicanism three years ago I was told repeatedly that we were all working toward one, unified, missional, kingdom-oriented, Spirit-enabled Anglican church in North America. I took that vision into my heart and have pondered it since.

Today I am pleased to announce that I have brought unity and mission back together through the up-coming re-launch of Churches For the Sake of Others.
This morning I had warm and collegial conversations with Archbishop Bob Duncan,  Bishop Chuck Murphy and  Bishop Terrell Glenn. I articulated for each of them my vision of C4SO becoming a servant to all the various Anglican entities within North America. C4SO will happily plant churches in partnership with PEARUSA, TheAm and the ACNA.

I will carry out this work under the canons of the ACNA as a special bishop given a specific task under Archbishop Duncan.

Attached is my best attempt today at some anticipated questions. I will soon go to Pittsburgh to clarify as many small details as possible. But before we get to that, I’ve got a couple of related issues I would like to make public.

First, I have written Archbishop Rwaje asking his forgiveness for my part in actions, attitudes or communications that were hurtful to him or to my brother bishops in Rwanda. His Grace responded with a most gracious letter, forgiving me, stating his love for me, blessing me and releasing me to ++Duncan.

Second, a word about Chuck Murphy. In spite of our recent disagreements, I have respect for the positive aspects of Chuck’s leadership over the years. I refuse to be dismissive of anyone, to allow “dissing” in my heart at all. As my friend, Dallas Willard, has taught me over the past twenty years, “Our projects are not God’s projects. We are God’s project. The only thing God and we get out of this life is the kinds of persons we become as we execute our various tasks of ministry.” I am grateful to Chuck for his acceptance of me into the Anglican world, his investment in C4SO and his willingness to have a cooperative organization-to-organization relationship between theAM and C4SO.

“Todd Hunter is the only man I know who can talk about sin with an appealing easiness and, at the time, with an equally appealing candor.  I can almost guarantee that you’ll enjoy his conversation and end up very grateful for having had the chance to read it.”

- Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence

With more than thirty years of pastoral experience, Todd D. Hunter knows that most people – himself included – struggle every day with temptation.  All too often, we fail and fall, and some of us are at our wit’s end, utterly defeated.  What do we do to get a grip on the sin in our life and live like God wants?

Falling for temptation isn’t inevitable.  We don’t have to lose the fight.  In fact, we can win if we understand the root of the problem and what Christians have done from the beginning to beat it.  Our Favorite Sins shines a much-needed light in our lives’ dark corners and reveals the time-tested methods for getting victory over sin.

Purchase from Amazon

The New Testament Greek word telos can be best described as end. But not end as in “this is the end of the bench—move over any more and you’ll fall off!” But rather “the bench is finished being constructed. It is completed”. That is to say the intention the Designer/God had in mind is now fulfilled.  Telos also implies the purpose for which something exists. For example, a cup exists for the sake of holding liquid, water for the sake of hydration, books for the sake of reading. From telos, we get the everyday words like ideal, intention, purpose, function, or goal.

It has been well established that there’s a certain should-ness to life—that all things exist in direct alignment to their intended functions. This seems to be an obvious fact. Who can deny the frustration of a malfunctioning printer, or a car out of alignment? Or, who would fail to see the goodness of a well-functioning air bag?

But, from the point of view of Divine Intention, what is the telos for human life—for followers of Jesus? To what end are we to live? Just how should one live to reach that end? Philosophical and spiritual theories range from pleasure-centered hedonism to duty-bound and rigid ethics within religious legalism. We need a Divine-telos-based, simple and doable way forward. Here is my idea: Jesus, Our Master….we, his Apprentices.

One thing we know. Even a cursory review of Jesus’ life models for his followers would show two central practices: a journey inward, and a journey outward.¹ The former reveals the path to our spiritual transformation into Christlikeness. It suggests Christian spiritual exercises such as rest, silence, solitude, petition, friendship, self-control, worship, study and even leisure. The later reminds us that the pursuit of piety is never selfish, but always for the sake of others. These Jesus-traits are made manifest by his constant and loving care for others—his witness to God and God’s kingdom; his compassion, generosity, kindness, healing, deliverance, intercession, and sacrifice.

In short, the life of Jesus demonstrates a distinct pattern. Within his daily life we see spiritual rhythms and routines, directing and making possible both the inward journey of discipleship, and the outward journey of evangelism and care-for-the-other.

Telos Events aim to follow this Jesus-pattern, ultimately focusing our activities on two worthy ends:

DISCIPLESHIP: THE CHRISTIAN JOURNEY INWARD
EVANGELISM: THE HOLISTIC JOURNEY OUTWARD

For more information about TELOS Events.

Todd D. Hunter foreword by J. I. Packer

About the Book

Many are longing for historical connectedness and for theology that is “not tied to the whims of contemporary culture, but to apostolic-era understandings of Christian faith and practice.” They also yearn for rhythms and routines that build spiritual health. Still others are responding to a call to participate in worship rather than merely sitting back and looking at a stage. Liturgy offers all of this and more.

J.I. Packer & Todd Hunter

In this book Todd Hunter chronicles his journey from the Jesus People movement and national leadership in the Vineyard to eventually becoming an Anglican Bishop. Along the way he explains why an evangelical Christian might be drawn to the liturgical way. Curious about the meaning of liturgy? Come and discover what may be waiting for you there.

“There is something in the air today, something in the spirit of our age, something in the Spirit that is leading thousands, maybe millions, of people to reconsider liturgical forms of worship. Liturgical seekers cherish the confidence that comes from historical connectedness, from theology that is not tied to the whims of contemporary culture but to apostolic-era understandings of Christian faith and practice.”

NOW AVAILABLE

If you live in Orange County, you can join Todd Hunter most Sundays at Holy Trinity Church.

The Mission of Holy Trinity Church

We are apprentices of Jesus…
Learning how to do what he did…
Live as he lived…
For the sake of others…which includes all manner of mission, service and evangelism.

Also available on Kindle!

Blessed Advent to you and all whom you love!

In these moments, I wish that those who think my becoming an Anglican pastor to be an odd turn of events could see me. I wish they could see the awkward half-smile on my face as I type words I could not have foreseen writing even 18 months ago. I think my journey is an odd thing, too! In fact, I have set aside most of this month to write a new book for InterVarsity Press: The Accidental Bishop—My Journey From the Jesus Movement to the Anglican Church.

While my story is unique, here is a more powerful corresponding truth: me and my new Christ-following friends at Holy Trinity Church in Costa Mesa, CA are having a blast with Advent and Christmas. Who knew that one could celebrate Christmas for seven weeks? It’s been exciting to decorate the room Rock Harbor gives us. There are Advent colors everywhere, coordinated lighting, an Advent wreath, antiphonal seating (look it up! ) and Christmas Music. All this surrounds us as we sit with humility, and with loyal trust in Jesus, to respectfully listen to the Advent and lectionary readings, and then as we comment (better known as a sermon) on them with the goal of helping us to embody the story the readings tell—and to do so for the sake of others.

Hebrews 10 in The Message says:

…anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust…

This first Advent as Anglicans is teaching us at Holy Trinity to do just that with our lives. As we consider the first and second comings of Jesus and the crucial part they play in the overarching story of God, we are receiving the knowledge that God is indeed sovereign over history and that we can joyfully commit our actual lives to him with loyal trust…for the sake of others.