As I begin the second half of my episcopate in Idaho, I want to use my sabbatical time to identify the needs for Christian formation and education in our disbursed congregations, determine how best these needs might be addressed, and explore the variety of technologies available to connect the congregations across this diocese to one another in order to deliver high quality programs of Christian formation and to strengthen discipleship among the members.

I believe technology offers all of us the opportunity to deepen our relationships with one another as we use the resources available to us. Indeed, I suspect that a strong interactive communication network in the diocese will diminish my own sense of isolation, as well as that of others.

During this Sabbath time, I expect to do four things: 1) be part of several regularly worshiping communities for some period of time; 2) utilize the resources of a variety of organizations and persons to explore the identified needs of small congregations and the resources available to them for Christian formation; 3) investigate what some specific sites are doing to utilize technology in the delivery of programs and events; and 4) prepare to implement greater use of technology throughout the diocese and strengthen our experience of Christian formation and education through distance learning.