Bishop John W. Howe

Bishop John W. Howe, PhD.

Third Episcopal Bishop of  Central Florida, retired

Currently: Pastor of the multi-denominational  Lake of the Woods Church

Mourning the Passing of a Friend 

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die…”  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Dear Church Family,

            On the night before Pentecost Sunday one of my very closest friends went to be with the Lord, following a battle with brain cancer over this past year.  His name was Peter Moore, and I met him during my first week in seminary back in 1964.  Somehow, he heard I would be attending his alma mater, Yale Divinity School (I never did learn how!), and he said he stopped by to wish me well and offer his encouragement.

Peter had recently become the Director of the Council for Religion in Independent Schools, and in that capacity, he preached, lectured, and taught in many preparatory schools throughout the country, especially in New England.  Peter’s presentations were always engaging and following them he would often be surrounded by students (and sometimes faculty) who wanted to know more.  “Why don’t you join me for a week of vacation in New Hampshire, where we can explore these things together?” he would ask.  And many accepted the invitation.

My seminary field work was with college students through Inter-Varsity, and Peter thought Karen and I would be good contacts for private school students heading off to college. He invited us to join him for one of these “house parties” as he initially called them.  We had not known the private school world previously, but we were immediately taken with the wonderful young people we met, especially as we saw so many of them expressing a genuine desire to know more about Jesus.

When a 3 x 5 card appeared on the YDS bulletin board, announcing that the Loomis School was looking for a Chaplain, I applied and was selected for the position.  I had two years at Loomis and three more at Miss Porter’s (two years with boys and three with girls).  Bringing students with us to Peter’s “house parties,” both in the summer and at Christmas break, led to scores of them coming to know Christ.

Karen and I joined Peter in establishing “University and Private School Students” (UPSC) which quickly evolved into the Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools (FOCUS).  In the half-century since then, thousands of students have given their lives to the Lord as FOCUS has expanded to a nation-wide ministry with a home base on Martha’s Vineyard.  FOCUS sponsors conferences and special events year-round in many parts of the country.

When Peter and Sandra were married in 1968, they gave me the great honor of preaching at their wedding.  And when our daughter, Kathy, was born a year later Peter and Sandra became her godparents.

Peter and I worked together in establishing the Fellowship of Witness (the American branch of the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion), and later in founding Trinity School for Ministry, where Peter served as Dean/President before he and Sandra moved to South Carolina.

I’m sharing this for two reasons. 

First, to give thanks for the life, ministry, and friendship of one of the great Christian leaders of the past century.  Thanks, especially, for his befriending me way back when, and for sticking with me across these many years.  Peter was a gentle, humble, very bright scholar, administrator, and evangelist.  He leaves an enormous legacy of lives won to Jesus, and leaders changing churches and communities.  It has been a privilege to know and work with him.

And second, because I am deeply struck by the way one thing leads to another in any of our lives.

Peter’s friendship led me into prep school ministry.  One of my students there introduced me to her pastor, John Guest, who invited me to share in parish ministry with him in Pennsylvania.  That led to a call to serve as Rector of Truro Church, Fairfax, which then led to my being elected Bishop of the Diocese of Central Florida.  It was through one of my colleagues in Fairfax that Karen and I first learned of Lake of the Woods and the church by the same name!

As Robert Frost put it, “Way leads on to way.”  And the friendships that accompany us along the way are precious; savor them!  At any moment God may be doing life-changing things through what we regard as chance encounters. 

What a wonderful saga of shared life and ministry I’ve had with my friend Peter.  Thanks be to God. 

And thank you, Peter.  I’ll see you at Supper.

My love to all of you,

John