Current Position:
Rector, St. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Los Gatos, CA. 1993 to present

Education:
Master in Divinity, Nashotah House, Nashotah, Wisconsin 1975
Masters in Business Administration, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, CA  1972
Bachelor of Arts (Business Administration), Golden Gate University, San Francisco, CA  1969

Other Church Positions:
Assistant to the Rector, St. Michael and All Angels Church, Tucson, Arizona  1975-1979
Rector, Christ Church, Sausalito, CA  1979-1993

Service In The Wider Church:
Alternate Deputy to General Convention 1997
Convener, Board of Directors, Santa Maria Urban Ministry, San Jose, CA 1997-Present
Member, Diocesan Evaluation and Structure Committee, 2005-2006
Chair, Joint Process Committee, 2004-2006
Director, El Camino Foundation 2000-Present
Director, Diocesan Corporation 2000-Present
Chair and/or member, Budget Advisory Committee, Diocese of El Camino Real 1995-Present
President, Diocesan Council, Diocese of California 1993
Member, Clergy Wellness Committee, Diocese of California 1990-1993
Member, Department of Missions, Diocese of California 1986-1988
Member, Program and Budgeting Committee, Diocese of Arizona 1977-1979

Personal And Family:
Age 60, Second marriage to Nancy in 1984, A Graphic Designer. Two grown sons.
Enjoys cooking, reading, puttering around, playing with our new Cairn Terrier puppy

Parish Participation & Giving Trend Chart

Parish Web Resource:
http://www.stlukeslg.org/

His Remarks:

Anyone who has attended the parish I currently serve, St. Luke’s in Los Gatos, knows that I am big on templates.

Every Ash Wednesday, between the busy round of liturgical activities, I open the Book of Common Prayer to the Baptismal liturgy and read the Baptismal Covenant. It is the template I lay over my own spiritual development and maturity and Ash Wednesday is one of the times when I check to see how I am doing personally and how I think the community I serve is doing as we, together, seek to be faithful.

There are two biblical templates that I use in the same fashion:

“Looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12: 2), the template we lay over our own spiritual life and growth, and

“We are ambassadors for Christ since God is making his appeal through us” (II Corinthians), that we become living epistles of Christ’s reconciling power in the world.

In my personal prayer life I use an old-fashioned method of centering myself each day. It is a version of what is called the Sulpician method.

• Jesus before my eyes in adoration
• Jesus in my heart in communion
• Jesus in my hands in cooperation

These three templates constitute what I keep before my eyes, in my heart, and place in my hands on a daily basis.

Much of my work within the Diocese of El Camino Real has been focused on the importance of good governance in our common life. The practical pressures on Bishops to spend their time more and more exclusively with administrative concerns, institutional policy making, and crisis management can keep the Bishop from being the chief pastor, reconciler and leader that we need and deserve in our diocese. That is why collaborative leadership is so essential to our healthy functioning and why I am passionately committed to modeling this style of leadership.

The emphasis our diocese has laid on collaborative, mutually accountable servant leadership is not an innovation.  It reflects the best of our Anglican tradition with a capital T. At the heart of our collaborative work is part of the ancient belief that the bishop’s role grows out of, not apart from the community and that our diocese is a body of lifelong learners, constantly striving to live more fully the Christian way. As your Bishop you can be confident that I understand what administrative, policy, and management issues are before us and will insist on good governance in our common life.

What I am excited about is turning our vision from a place of remembered good times to a future where we receive a new self definition and a deeper and clearer understanding of our role in God’s plan for the future of the Diocese of El Camino Real.

Finally I want to say a word about the petition process and about when I was approached about being a petition candidate that I consented to be one. I believe that it is important for the people of this diocese to be able to choose from a slate of nominees, which includes at least one candidate from inside the diocese. This candidate would be someone who has been part of and exercised leadership in the work that has been done to bring us to this point, who possesses some institutional memory, and who knows and loves the people of this diocese and desires that we become the transparencies and reflections of God’s grace and love that we are called to be on the Central Coast of California.

Responses to Diocese of El Camino Real Questionnaire

We want our bishop to be the chief steward of God’s Mysteries, to be rooted in faith and
centered and faithful in prayer, deriving strength from a strong and mature spiritual life.
One who will be listened to and will listen to the counsel of others. To our clergy, our
bishop will be their coach, mentor and counselor; to the laity, their spiritual guide and
fellow traveler.
1. Briefly describe your personal journey to leadership in the Episcopal Church,
and your belief you are called by God to be a bishop in the Church.

When I first began the process of discernment as to whether I had a vocation to the ordained ministry, I did not have any understanding that vocation was something that continues throughout one’s life. I also did not realize that vocational discernment was collaborative, reciprocal, and mutual. Like many I thought that this was something that was internal, subjective, and intensely personal. As I lived into my vocation I came to understand that it is the church that calls people to ministry. I realized that notwithstanding my belief that I had been called by God to be in the ordained ministry, that call needed to be affirmed, directed and sustained by the People of God both lay and ordained.

As I moved forward in the process toward ordination I began to see how the reciprocal process between a personal sense of vocation and the recognition of that vocation by the Church is necessary for the maturation and development of a true and lasting vocation for all ministry both personal and corporate.

In spite of that insight, at the beginning of my ordained ministry I was very parochial in my outlook (no pun intended!). I was not that cognizant of the section in the liturgy for the ordination of a priest where the bishop in his examination of the candidate says “Now you are called to work as a pastor, priest, and teacher, together with your bishop and fellow presbyters, and to take your share in the councils of the Church ( BCP p.531, Italics mine). It was due partly to some bad advice from some clergy early on in my ministry, and perhaps some of the “lone rangerism” that influences a lot of clergy even today.

When I came back to the Diocese of California from Arizona, I was encouraged by Bishop Swing to “get out and play in the traffic”. For the first few years I still resisted, but what I now see as the prompting of the Spirit I began to become involved in the leadership of the Diocese of California. I began to see not only the necessity of doing this as an act of obedience to my ordination vows, but that I had certain gifts that allowed me to effectively serve the diocese in the areas in which I was asked to serve. What also became clear to me was how crucial and important a diocese is because it is a constant reminder that the parish church is a center for ministry and mission in the church, but it is not its circumference.

We seek a bishop who has the determination to address our many challenges such as our
declining church membership, reduced financial support for both the diocese and
congregations, and our great diversity—ethnically, culturally, economically and
technologically. Our bishop will identify and implement processes that will grow new
congregations and other ministries that are healthy and self-sustaining.
2. How have you encouraged church growth including evangelism, faith formation,
and stewardship in your ministry? Please give specific examples of how you
increased worship attendance, financial well-being, and spiritual maturity in
congregational settings.

In all the two parishes I have served, prior to St. Luke’s Los Gatos, I left them in a better condition than when I arrived. At St. Luke’s Los Gatos, we are experiencing health and vitality, in attendance, increased stewardship, financial health, and spiritual maturity.

In the years I have been a parish priest, the standards by which success is measured in the church’s life have evolved greatly. So too has the understanding of the role of the parish clergy, and who is responsible for doing ministry. My generation of clergy had the responsibility for implementing the last revision of the Book of Common Prayer. How successful we were is a matter of great debate. What we can say is that we can claim some credit for the face that throughout the Episcopal Church in most parishes the Eucharist is now the principal service of worship on the Lord’s Day, and not the practice of a minority of  “high church”, “Anglo-catholic” or “advanced” churches. In addition, we have recovered as central to our teaching and preaching the sacrament of Baptism and the Baptismal Covenant as the template we lay over our common life, personally and corporately. Baptism is our empowerment for ministry. These are enormous achievements for the spiritual growth of our parishes.

The congregational growth and health that has occurred under my leadership over the years in the parishes I have served has been the result of  “paying the rent”. Paying the rent means the pursuit of excellence in three main areas:

• Preaching
• Pastoral Care
• Administration

The parishes I have served have been the healthiest and shown growth when we have exercised collaborative leadership and have understood that being faithful produces fruit. I firmly believe that we are not called to be successful. We are called to be faithful. At St. Luke’s the clergy and lay leadership model faithful discipleship by doing the following

• Witnessing to an intentional faith as modeled in the Baptismal Covenant,
  BCP p. 304.
• Keeping the Sabbath and making a commitment to attending worship every Sunday.
• Honoring the tithe as the biblical standard of faithful financial giving to the church.
• Using his/her spiritual gifts in the work of the upbuilding of the church.
• Reaching out to others with the love of Christ.

To use the current vocabulary of church growth, what we have experienced at St. Luke’s is growth understood in four ways:

• Numeric The growth in attendance, budget, activities, more active members. stewardship.
• Maturational The growth in the stature and maturity of the parish members spiritually.
• Organic The growth of the congregation as a functioning community and able to maintain itself exercise mutual accountability and collaborative leadership.
• Incarnational The growth of the ability of the members of the parish to take on the meanings and values of the faith story and make them real in their lives and in the relationships they foster in the world outside the parish. To be the transparencies and reflections of God’s Grace and Love that they are called to be by virtue of their Baptism.

There is a lot of fear and anxiety around the issue of church growth and the alarming statistical information regarding the mainline churches and their decline. People can all to easily seek a quick fix. As the bishop, I would labor to maintain the sober realism that these studies require, but at the same time understand my job as affirming, sustaining, and supporting excellence in leadership, lay and clerical wherever it is seen and urge the people of the diocese to remember that we are called to be faithful to our Baptismal covenant and to pursue excellence in that context.

We want our bishop to be one among us and not one above us—a shared ministry
between our diocese and our congregations, between our clergy and our laity. Our
bishop will challenge clergy and lay to work together in a relationship of trust and
honesty.
3. What have you done in your ministry to resolve conflicts? In addition, describe
how your leadership has led to reconciliation in your congregation and across your
diocese regarding the important issues facing ECUSA today?

I believe I have a proven ability to be a reconciler in my ministry. I have labored to cultivate the necessary traits that a reconciler needs to be effective. In parish life and in diocesan life this means cultivating the ability to remain non-anxious in the face of the anxiousness and reactivity of others. To labor for clarity and direct communication in all relationships, and to believe that we are all people of good will, and that we mean what we say.

I have been involved in the leadership of this diocese for over 10 years. There are many areas in which I have had the opportunity to be a reconciler. Three of them are:

• My work on the Budget Advisory Committee
• My work on the Joint Process Committee
• My work as Convener of the Santa Maria Urban Ministry

At this past Diocesan Convention I was surprised and honored to receive the Bishop’s Cross. In the certificate that accompanied the award, it said in part, “David’s leadership of the budget process over the years has taken the Diocese from a confusing exercise to a clearly articulated process, which we can understand, participate in and support…David brings humility, intellect, and a great sense of humor to the committees on which he serves. He has the ability to see and articulate both sides of an issue and to make space for a decision.”

I was asked to become the Chair of the Joint Process Committee by diocesan leaders who were at odds with each other and the way to move forward. They told me that they both trusted me to move things forward without prejudice and with the best in mind for the health of our diocese.

Canon James Macleod asked me to be the convener of the Santa Maria Urban Ministry when he retired. I inherited a fractious body, hostile to the diocese, and unfocused as to its purpose. With other committed people I have been able to move the work of this ministry to one in which in the midst of continuous struggle for adequate personnel and financial resources, we have a united vision for this ministry and are continuing to move it to greater health and effectiveness.

Our baptism calls us to be ministers of reconciliation in the world. In fact, reconciliation is at the heart of our mission (p. 855, BCP). I believe all of us active in the work of this diocese want the best for this diocese and in the midst of our differences; we can come together and do great things.

We believe that we have an exciting and spirit-led diocese offering many challenges and
many rewards. We are blessed to be part of God’s people in one of the most beautiful
places on earth.
4. From your understanding based on the profile, what excites you about being
called as Bishop of El Camino Real?

I am excited about being part of seeing that the multiple visions of the people of the Diocese of El Camino become a reality.

I am excited about creating an environment where people feel confident about sharing their faith and are able to touch that thing which caused them to be Episcopalians in the first place.

I am excited about continuing the process of restoring competency and integrity to the Office of Bishop in this diocese.

I am excited about being a conscientious and effective pastor to the clergy and people of the diocese.

I am excited about using my preaching and teaching abilities to constantly draw the connection between spiritual maturity and increased generosity of time, talent, and treasure, and for providing the people of the diocese with the ways and means of commending their greatest place of safety and assurance in Jesus Christ.

I am excited about finding the ways and means of funding future ministry in our diocese.

I am excited about the recruiting competent, enthusiastic, and dedicated clergy for work in our diocese.

I am excited about continuing to foster the need for good governance and accountability in our common life.

I am excited about being part of the structural changes that present new challenges and opportunities for our diocese.

I am excited about the potential witness El Camino can be to the rest of the Episcopal Church in showing how a diocese can thrive with collaborative, mutually accountable, servant leadership.

I am excited about visiting the congregations.

I am excited about the possibility of building another high school in our diocese

I am excited about being an advocate for those who are on the margins and to “defend those who have no helper.”

I am excited about being part of the process that makes our diocese disciples on mission in many cultures not just in name but also in reality.

I am excited about once again having a companion diocese relationship with a diocese outside ECUSA.

I am excited about learning to be a bishop while we learn to be a diocese, or more to the point, building on the good work that has been done over the past two years.

I am excited, as a native Californian, about being a bishop in the context of our western values and realities.

I am excited about being a shepherd and bishop of the souls of the people of the diocese and finding ways to guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the church that is affirmative and not defensive. In other words, how do we continue to be instruments of reconciliation in the world and affirm that it is God’s plan that we all come into to His saving embrace?

I am excited about having the privilege to speak about our potential as the People of God on the Central Coast of California.

Web page last updated: 19 May, 2007