The 116th annual convention of the Diocese of East Carolina met Feb. 11-13 at a hotel in Fayetteville, N.C. Seventy-two churches and five deaneries were represented by 177 lay delegates and their clergy. The theme was "Give Us an Inquiring and Discerning Heart."

The Ven. John Pritchard, Archdeacon of Canterbury, opened the convention with a teaching session. The Eucharist followed at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church. Organist Richard Rhoades (St. Andrew's-on-the Sound, Wilmington) and director Larry Cook (St. Paul's, Wilmington) led the congregation in worship with brass, diocesan choir, liturgical dancers, banners and incense. The sermon of the Rt. Rev. Clifton Daniel, Bishop of East Carolina, called delegates to be "pilgrim people."

Bishop Daniel's address noted the completion of a retirement feasibility study which would be brought to the convention, the extension of work with Hispanic ministry, particularly with the formation of a new Episcopal Hispanic Ministry Board, and a renewed support for the life of the clerical community. The bishop informed delegates of a stewardship shortfall this year and noted that diocesan giving is on a voluntary pledge basis rather than by assessment. Bishop Daniel also presented his vision for the diocese. Of this portion, he remarked, "I stand at this moment in the unenviable position of a mosquito in a nudist colony: so much territory ... so little time."

The first of his three goals is a call to evangelism. He called for a doubling of the size of the diocese, to 32,000 or more people by 2005. "We have the resources ... do we have the will?" he asked.

Secondly, he envisions for the diocese an Anglican Academy, a learning institution for "equipping the saints" at all levels, lay or ordained.

His third vision is for the congregation to establish a cathedral for the diocese at Trinity Center, to be the spiritual heart of the diocese, "large enough to hold God's heart and small enough to hold yours and mine."

Convention passed a $1.7 million budget for 1999.