Be To The Flock A Shepherd

In the pulpit the pastor is king. He can say anything uninterrupted; with many parishioners believing he can say no wrong. He enjoys unbridled support. He experiences little or no contradiction.

John Howe, a former Episcopal bishop is a preacher in the finest tradition of evangelical Anglicanism. It is not surprising that he has enjoyed unbridled support for his Bible-based ministry. He has the added advantage of a commanding presence in the pulpit.

He has been an Episcopal priest and bishop for most of his life, most of it in central Florida.

For young wannabe priests and pastors who see the pulpit in their future, this volume will inspire and encourage, perhaps even cajole you into seeing God’s call on your life. And God only knows America needs biblical preachers as never before with millions of Americans walking away from the church, many because they did not hear the bread of life from the pulpit. During his years in the ministry, he joined Sharing of Ministries Abroad (SOMA) which opened his eyes to the global church situation.
Howe has conducted preaching and teaching missions throughout the US and in some 17 countries around the world. His publications include three books, two monographs, and numerous magazine articles.

Hosea cried, ‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge;’ John Howe has spent his life reversing Hosea with amazing success. He has preached the need for knowledge, sound teaching, unequivocal belief in God’s inerrant word. Thousands can testify as to his faithfulness to Scripture.

For the evangelical bishop it has not been a straight line. The book deals with the twists and turns of his early life, his conversion, meeting evangelical Episcopalians and reaching out to the world with the gospel, his pushback on heresy with two long-shot legal attempts to change the church’s revisionist trajectory, neither of which succeeded. Eventually Howe cast his lost with the Anglican Church in North America, joining a host of former Episcopal bishops who saw the handwriting on the wall.

He watched as his beloved denomination went off the rails over the definition of marriage and, following the passage of resolution D012, he took a courageous stand and resigned from the Episcopal Church and entered into the embrace of the ACNA. It was not taken lightly, but his conscience would not allow him to stay.

The break point from TEC began in 2012 with the authorization and blessing of same-sex unions, then “trial rites” in 2015 and in 2018 when it became mandatory. He watched as Albany Bishop William Love refused to comply. It was the final straw for Howe. He writes; “In that decision, the Episcopal Church redefined both marriage and the nature of the episcopacy. A bishop could no longer be a bishop as had been historically understood.” He sent a letter to PB Michael Curry requesting release from the ordained ministry of the Episcopal Church. It was granted.

“ACNA is the Church I had so hoped TEC would become,” he wrote.

But his ministry was not over. Following his “retirement” he got the call from a multi-denominational church, Lake of the Woods in Locust Grove, Virginia, to become their pastor. As 2021 drew to a close, he stepped down after six years of serving as senior pastor of the church.

John Howe has been a life-serving minister of the Word for his Lord, faithfully preaching the gospel upon which he will, one day, hear those words, “well done thou good and faithful servant.”

It is not surprising that the book comes recommended by such evangelical luminaries as Archbishop George Carey, Bishop C. FitzSimons Allison, Rev. Dr. Laurie Thompson former president of TSM, Bishop Keith Ackerman and others.

END

BE TO THE FLOCK A SHEPHERD

By Bishop John W. Howe
Holt Publishing, 228pp
Available at Amazon, $12.50
https://www.amazon.com/Be-Flock-Shepherd-John-Howe/dp/B0D7TD7RNX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=WW9NPQCYXBG3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GdeQGJnoRVWSIvBagSzDbg.H-rdjdhVyV5kywEIh2tOwjZZHTJCBMSm-4SqL3bPyao&dib_tag=se&keywords=be+to+the+flock+a+shepherd%2C+bishop+john+w.+howe&qid=1723472371&sprefix=be+to+the+flock+a+shepherd%2C+bishop+john+w.+howe%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-1

Reviewed by David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
August 12, 2024