Who is Archbishop-elect Foley Beach?

Bishop Beach at his Consecration

I hope to add links to any information I can find. For now:

In 2004, Bishop Beach wrote about why he was leaving the Episcopal Church:

I am forty-five years old and for thirty-four of those years I have been an active participant in the Episcopal Church. I was baptized, confirmed, married, ordained a deacon, and ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. It has served to shape and form me spiritually and it has taught me tremendous aspects about worshiping Almighty God.

The Church has been a place of stability and refuge, although it has always been in need of reform. But recent actions of the Episcopal Church have taken spiritual depravity to new depth for the modern era.

The Church which taught me the Gospel has now adopted a new Gospel which reduces Jesus to nothing more than one option among many. The Church which introduced me to the Word of God has now rewritten the Word of God to placate cultural and political pressures put upon it by intellectual extremists.

The Church which taught me to confess and repent of my sins has now embraced and endorsed certain sins which have become culturally accepted. The actions of the 2003 General Convention in approving the consecration of a non-celibate homosexual person to be a bishop in the Church, and its approval of a method by which liturgies may be used for same-sex unions in the Church is the presenting issue of a much deeper theological and moral problem within the Church.

While these decisions are clearly in contradiction to the teaching of the Bible, the lessons of Church History and Tradition, and the mind of the world-wide Anglican Communion, they demonstrate a clear obsession with reinterpreting the Scriptures and an amazing disregard to the consequences of their actions on other Christians throughout the world whether Anglican or not.

A revisionist philosophy has overtaken the ethos of the Church which interprets the Scriptures, Church History and Tradition not according to what they actually say, but according to how one is made to feel and in order to be pastorally sensitive. I cannot be apart of such forsaking of Christian teaching and morality.

To remain in the Episcopal Church is on some level affirming the direction the church has taken whether I agree or not. To remain in the Episcopal Church is to pretend that I am not a participant in this abomination before the Lord.

To remain in the Episcopal Church would be to knowingly violate my conscience, and that I cannot do and keep my soul intact. To remain in the Episcopal Church and take communion with those who teach and practice this false teaching would be a clear violation of the Scriptures (For example, 1 Cor.5). Some say that I must stay and fight for reform and change the direction of the Church. This has been my battle cry for the past 24 years.

I have come to the conclusion that the best way to reform it is to leave it and allow the devastation of embracing sin to run its course. I must be about preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and teaching the principles of the Word of God. My calling from God is not to lead or participate in an ecclesiastical fight which will evolve to litigation in the secular courts over sacred idols and mammon.

While that may be the call from the Lord for others, my calling is to help people discover the most wonderful gift in the world — a living, dynamic, personal, and saving relationship with Jesus. I cannot do this and be a part of an organizational structure which now at its core denies the very things which I hold dear. The Apostle James wrote that to know the right thing to do and not do it, is sin (James 4:17). For me this is the right thing to do and not to do it would be sin before God.1

Bishop Beach maintains a ministry called A Word from the Lord; the website is here.

In July, 2012, Bishop Beach called for prayer for revival in America:

When a nation turns away from the Lord, the Lord withdraws His very Presence, and the people are “turned over” to the very evil they desire (See Romans 1) inheriting the consequences of such evil. It is as if God says to the nation: “So you don’t want me around, ok. I will withdraw from the affairs of your nation.” And when God is not present, not only is His divine protection removed, but His wisdom, counsel, guidance, and blessing evaporate. Evil prevails. Injustice rules. Wisdom and wise counsel are no where to be found. The innocent suffer.

Our nation and the nations of the world are facing serious issues which have the potential of destroying all that we love and cherish. Politics aside, our whole way of living is hanging in the balance. Economically and socially our nation is at the brink. It is time for the followers of Jesus to wake up, and turn back to the Lord. As important as elections, laws, and public policy are, the root of our nation’s problems is our turning away from the Lord. Only a national repentance and revival will stop the flow of evil and destruction flowing through our land.2

Bishop Beach defined what a bishop does in this article:

  1. Teaching the Word of God, the Bible.
  2. Defending the Christian Faith. We have a faith which has been handed down since the days of the Bible.  The bishop is supposed to guard that Faith.
  3. Evangelist. The bishop leads in proclaiming the Gospel and leading others in to a relationship with Jesus Christ.
  4. Apostolic Leadership. Like the apostles of the New Testament, the bishop is called to expand the Kingdom of God to places where the Gospel is not present on a local basis, but also through missions to other parts of the world.
  5. Pastoring.  The bishop pastors not only his own flock, but he is called to pastor the clergy, the other ordained ministers within the diocese.
  6. Sacramental Leadership.  The bishop is the designated person in the Church to ordain men to the ministry, and the bishop is the person to confirm new members in the church.  A bishop is not just ordained for his diocese, but he is ordained as a bishop of the whole Church so he will also participate the consecration of other bishops as well.
  7. Administrative.  The Bishop works with other leaders in the diocese, both clergy and lay persons to oversee the administration of the ministry of the diocese.  The bishop will also serve in the College of Bishops of the Province which meets at least once a year to oversee the ministry of the whole province.


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