Simply Christian LIFE with Bishop Michael Hunn

In his 2026 address to the Diocese of the Rio Grande, Bishop Michael B Hunn reflects on Jesus calling the first disciples to leave familiar work and follow into change, then reviews diocesan trends from recent parochial reports. After COVID disruption, average Sunday attendance grew from 2,621 (2023) to 2,893 (2025), online attendance continues rising, and Easter attendance increased to 5,802 (2025), with growth in large, mid-sized, and small congregations. At the same time, one-priest church economics are shifting: full-time single-priest congregations declined from 28 (2018) to 16 (2026), while part-time and supply reliance increased, leaving nearly three out of five congregations without a full-time priest. Narrative data highlights expanded online ministry, increased lay participation, strong outreach, and concerns about aging membership and clergy access. Looking ahead to a “brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible” future, he urges renewed daily Morning Prayer alongside Eucharist, stronger networked diocesan support and lay training, flexible models for priestly ministry, and continued work on phases three and four (“Life Is Changed Not Ended” and “A Church for Our Children and Their Children”) to build long-term financial capacity, while emphasizing that property is not the ministry and calling the diocese to faithful, adaptive discipleship.

00:00 Welcome and Gospel Call

01:14 Diocese Snapshot and Trends

01:58 Attendance Growth Stories

04:00 Small Churches Matter

06:20 One Priest Economics Shift

07:59 Narrative Insights and Challenges

10:45 Future Back Thinking

12:12 BANI World and Church Response

16:30 A Networked Diocese Vision

17:43 Reviving Daily Prayer

20:42 Building Lay and Clergy Capacity

25:10 Life Is Changed Not Ended

27:35 Phase Four Funding the Future

28:50 Camp Stoney and Bishops Ridge

32:28 Property Is Not Ministry

33:04 Closing Charge and Invitation

Inside Border Detention: Bishop Michael Hunn & Chaplain Ana Reza on Prolonged Detention, Family Separation, and Pressure to Self-Deport

Bishop Michael Hunn of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande speaks with Diocesan Border Chaplain Ana Reza about current conditions in two El Paso detention centers visited weekly through Rio Grande Borderland Ministries. Reza describes detainees held for over a year despite having work permits and following legal processes, including a young man awaiting a habeas petition and a woman seeking bond review in the Fifth Circuit, and emphasizes they are not criminals. She recounts family separation and trauma affecting children, plans to attend court for support, and details a faith leader detainee repeatedly processed for deportation—shackled, transported, and returned—apparently to pressure self-deportation while her habeas case continues amid poor medical care and mail barriers. They discuss for-profit detention, a recent protest at Camp East Montana, and third-country removal agreements with about 35 countries with little oversight.

00:00 Welcome and Introductions

Circuit-Riding Priesthood in West Texas: Five Episcopal Communities in the Big Bend Traveling toward Marfa, Texas, Bishop Michael Hunn follows Episcopal priest Mike Wallens as he describes serving a wide Big Bend circuit that grew from a part-time call at St. Paul’s in Marfa to weekly ministry across Marfa, Alpine, Fort Stockton, Terlingua, and Lajitas, with long drives between each. He explains adapting worship to local needs, including Roman Catholic devotions and culturally rooted celebrations in Terlingua, community outreach through Otra Vez, and a Saturday congregation at Lajitas where baptisms and a border festival begin with Eucharist in the Rio Grande. Wallens says the rhythm of travel is life-giving, offering time for prayer and renewal, and he outlines how each town’s distinct culture—art and racial history in Marfa, a college and tourist hub in Alpine, ranching and arts in Fort Stockton, and border communities near Big Bend—shapes his priesthood.

00:00 Life Giving Ministry

00:43 Meet The Circuit Priest

01:37 Three Town Sunday Route

04:15 Terlingua Traditions

07:51 Lajitas River Baptisms

08:30 Why This Works

13:08 Marfa Culture And History

17:03 Alpine College Town

19:59 Fort Stockton Community Arts

23:37 Terlingua Guadalupe Revival

27:05 Border Eucharist Fiesta

31:46 Adventure Ministry Wrap Up

Big Bend Borderlands Ministry: Water Conservation, Rancher Collaboration & Creation Care in Marfa Traveling between Alpine and Marfa, Texas, Bishop Michael Hunn of the Diocese of the Rio Grande rides with the Reverend Mike Wallens, who serves Borderlands Ministry and five Big Bend congregations, as they head to Mexico to meet the mayor of Ojinaga and visit two shelters the ministry has supported for years. They discuss environmental work in the Big Bend focused on drought and grasslands, including collaboration with Sul Ross State University’s Borderlands Research Institute and interim head Billy Tarrant, who convenes water conservation efforts, encourages measuring ranch water levels to assess aquifers, and promotes land practices that slow runoff, reduce flooding, and recharge groundwater to sustain streams and bird migration habitat. Wallens also describes a Creation Care grant-funded tree-planting project in Marfa’s low-income housing, with trees provided and planted with help from an Apache group and maintained by church members and residents.

00:00 Road to Marfa

00:31 Bishop on the Borderlands

01:18 Water and Grasslands

02:28 Ranchers and Aquifers

03:14 Wildlife and Migration

04:13 Restoring Water Flow

05:19 Tree Planting in Marfa

06:25 Closing Reflections

Weekly Update: Memorial Day 2026, Border Wall at Mount Cristo Rey, and Honoring Mary Jewell

Bishop Michael Hunn shares a weekly update for Memorial Day 2026, reflecting on Memorial Day’s origins and urging prayer for elected leaders to use military force responsibly and not squander the sacrifices of service members amid a current conflict with Iran. He then gives a borderland update, warning that federal plans to extend the border wall over Mount Cristo Rey near El Paso would damage a major Christian pilgrimage site, harm the environment, and disrupt the area’s cultural and visual landscape; he notes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces is organizing efforts to stop it and he is exploring Episcopal participation. Finally, he highlights BEST (Bishops’ Executive Secretaries Together) and shares a tribute video honoring Mary Jewell for 20 years of service, praising her guidance, institutional memory, pastoral support, and ministry with young people across the diocese.

00:00 Weekly Update Kickoff

00:48 Memorial Day Reflection

02:34 Praying for Leaders

04:40 Border Wall in Southern New Mexico outside El Paso TX

05:02 Why Mount Cristo Rey Matters

07:13 Call to Action

08:01 Introducing BEST

08:56 Honoring Mary Jewell

11:34 Gratitude and Blessing

Why a Border Wall in Big Bend Could Harm Wildlife, Ranchers, and Tourism

Traveling to Terlingua and Lajitas, Texas, Bishop Michael Hunn speaks with Mike Wallens about proposed border wall expansion in the Big Bend near Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. Wallens argues a physical wall is unnecessary and impractical because the Rio Grande’s winding course would force construction inside the U.S., cutting ranchers and farmers off from water access, blocking wildlife movement, and potentially undermining tourism and river guiding by restricting access to the river and emergency routes. They discuss migrant rescues and deaths in the rugged canyons, and contend the wall offers little operational benefit in remote areas where response-time delays are meaningless. Instead, they point to existing technology—sensors, cameras, drones, and solar-powered rescue beacons—as the effective “wall,” noting broad local opposition that has united residents across political divides.

00:00 Road Trip Setup

01:24 Why a Wall Fails Here

02:37 Humanitarian Reality

03:51 Ranching Wildlife Tourism Costs

04:26 Community Unites Against It

05:42 Security Logic in Remote Terrain

07:57 Tech and Rescue Alternatives

09:15 CBP Agents and Final Verdict

Here Be Dragons (Meditation 3): Trusting God in Silence and Darkness

Bishop Michael Hunn of the Diocese of the Rio Grande offers the third meditation in “Here Be Dragons: three meditations on the apophatic Way,” reflecting on Jesus’ raw prayer in Gethsemane and the apophatic experience of Holy Week where praise turns to abandonment and silence. He argues Christian leadership keeps tending earthly responsibilities while remaining open to God’s will, practicing costly trust rather than resignation. Hunn critiques the urge to fill hospital rooms and church meetings with easy answers, insisting darkness and silence are not empty but the soil of resurrection that strips away false images of God tied to success or influence. He urges shared resources across a wealthy church and describes cyclists navigating dark tunnels by lightly touching shoulders, a metaphor for staying connected in risky ministry, reaching out, listening, and trusting God is quietly at work.

00:00 Welcome and Series

Intro 00:37 Gethsemane and Surrender

02:07 Silence and Trust

03:42 Tomb Silence and Resurrection

05:20 Ministry Beyond the Map

06:53 God Is Good All the Time

07:55 Sharing Resources in the Church

08:48 Peloton Through Dark Tunnels

10:19 Leadership in Apophatic Times

12:53 Keep Searching and Closing Silence

Here Be Dragons (Meditation 2): When God Says No—The Apophatic Way and the Church’s Stripping Away Bishop Michael Hun of the Diocese of the Rio Grande reflects on the Episcopal Church’s shift from mid-20th-century cultural confidence and institutional influence to a present season of decline, financial strain, and uncertainty, describing it as an apophatic “stripping away” in which familiar supports, plans, and programs fail and God seems to say “no.” He argues this is not a verdict of worthlessness but a clarification of vocation: willingness to follow Jesus without the future, security, or success once imagined, focusing instead on the people, place, and work actually given. Drawing cautious historical “rhymes” from the German church under Nazism and the Roman Catholic Church in Chile under Pinochet, he warns against trading the gospel for respectability, silence, or political co-option, and calls the church to speak publicly about bodies, violence, and justice while discerning how to proclaim gospel truth so people across a polarized spectrum can hear it.

For more on Dietrich Bonhoeffer : https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...

For more on Chile and the Church see: William T Cavenaugh's book, Torture and Eucharist : Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ.

00:00 Welcome and Series Setup

00:38 The Church We Remember

04:13 Facing Decline and Uncertainty

06:36 When God Says No

08:07 Vocation in the Wilderness

10:25 Germany and Bonhoeffer

15:24 Chile and the Churchs Voice

16:48 Gospel Not Partisan Politics

20:05 Incarnation and Public Witness

21:14 Choosing Faithfulness and Silence

Here Be Dragons: Lent Meditation 1 — This Is Not God (The Apophatic Way) Bishop Michael Hunn of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande introduces the first of three Lenten meditations, “Here Be Dragons,” exploring the apophatic way of faith beyond the “map” of confident religious language. He contrasts cataphatic theology, which makes positive statements about God, with apophatic practice, which clarifies what God is not and leads into silence, darkness, and mystery when words fail. Using images of stars, road signs, and medieval maps, he explains that God-language points rather than contains. Lent is presented as an apophatic season of stripping away comforts through fasting, self-denial, and simplification so attention can rest on God alone, with the Book of Job as a key biblical example. He closes with the church’s invitation to a holy Lent and shared silence.

For a good introduction to apophatic theology throughout Christian history check out : The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism by Denys Turner.

00:00 Welcome and Series Setup

00:39 Here Be Dragons Metaphor

01:43 Cataphatic God Talk

03:19 Signs and Star Pointers

06:09 Words Prepare Encounter

07:31 Entering the Apophatic Way

08:59 Lent as Stripping Away

10:42 Job at the Edge

13:40 On Not Fasting for Attention

14:31 Invitation to Silence

Here Be Dragons: Lenten Meditations on the Silence and Darkness of God

Bishop Michael Hunn introduces a series of three meditations titled "Here Be Dragons," focusing on Lent, the silence and darkness of God, and wilderness times, and exploring the APHA tradition of theology as a way of speaking about God when there is little to say. The meditations are designed as an audible experience available on both podcast and YouTube, with simple visuals, and listeners are invited to settle in with coffee or tea, perhaps light a candle, and pray along. The speaker offers gratitude to the seminarians and faculty of the Seminary of Sewanee, University of the South, who invited the meditations and first prayed them together on Ash Wednesday 2026, and also to the clergy of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, with the hope that the meditations will be edifying and support a holy Lent.

00:00 Lenten Meditation Series

00:13 Here Be Dragons Theme

00:26 How to Listen and Pray

00:54 Gratitude and Dedication

01:22 Closing Blessing for Lent