Left Episcopal Church after it approved gay man as a bishop - American Anglican chief has his roots in Alabama

Bishop Chuck Murphy, the chairman of the Anglican Mission in America, should have felt right at home during his group's meeting Wednesday through Saturday in Birmingham.

He's an Alabama native who spent his early years in Homewood and served as a priest in Alabama, following in his father's footsteps. But since leaving the Episcopal Church in 2000 and being ordained as a bishop by Asian and African bishops, he's become a lightning rod of controversy.

He left before New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, was approved by the Episcopal Church in 2003. He felt the Episcopal Church was too liberal long before then.

"It's big and deeper than that," he said of the homosexuality issue. "It's about the centrality of Scripture and the centrality of the person of Christ. Is He the way, or a way. Is it one of many options? It's a big theological crisis."

Murphy said he approached Asian and African bishops asking for their guidance. They are the ones that decided to make him a bishop and send him as a missionary back to the United States. "That was their solution," he said. "We asked them for a way forward."

Archbishops in Asia and Africa laud Murphy's work in starting American churches that are Anglican, biblical, evangelistic and mission-minded.

"I think Chuck is the key player," said Archbishop Datuk Yong Ping Chung of Southeast Asia. "He's a real anointed leader."

Murphy has close lifelong ties with many Episcopal Church leaders, in Alabama and elsewhere. "We've all been part of a large global family," Murphy said, but he seldom talks with them. "I stay so busy with what I'm doing," he said.

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