Thousands attend Houston revival planned by Presbyterians

Presbyterians in Houston, Texas, were instrumental in staging one of the largest faith celebrations ever in the Lone Star state, where the gospel of Jesus Christ came in the form of BMX bikers, skateboarders and concerts.

Luis Palau's CityFest Houston mixed evangelism with elements of a music festival, extreme sports and celebrity appearances to draw in a total of some 225,000 people to the modern-day open-air Christian revival, which was held Oct. 7-8.

Memorial Drive Church (see stories in pages 3 and 4) took the lead in organizing the $3.7 million multimedia outreach that was supported with volunteers and donations from about 600 Houston-area churches, including a throng of Presbyterian congregations. 

The family-friendly event was also backed by scores of high-profile city leaders, businesses and professional sports franchises like the Houston Astros baseball team and the Houston Texans NFL football team.

Praying to be an evangelist: Dave Peterson in Houston

Here is a prayer that Dave Peterson, pastor of a 4,500-member Presbyterian church, has taught himself to pray: Lord, make me an evangelist!

"When I started out in ministry, evangelism was literally No. 13 on the list," said Peterson, who leads Memorial Drive Church in Houston. Peterson is also co-chair of the steering committee of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s major fundraising drive, the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands, which is raising money for new church development and international mission work.

But as a young pastor, Peterson said, evangelism "was the last thing I was interested in."

Hearts & Hands “most important thing the denomination is doing”

Dave Peterson, the Houston pastor who's co-chair of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands fundraising campaign, is as curious as anyone about what will happen next.

The Hearts & Hands campaign doesn't have enough money in unrestricted donations to pay its operating costs for 2007 -- and the campaign's leaders hope the General Assembly Council can find a way to come up with enough funding soon to keep the $40 million campaign afloat.

talk to me about the waiting…

mostly I crouch, head bowed, eyes closed

against the soft black, safe in liquid suspense.

but even in the nothing there are constant somethings:

a fluid symphony, simmering, rolling, rushing past;

a metronome beating out the time,

world without end--and a voice:

hushed murmur, burbling laugh,

distant yet irresistible.

Memorial Service for William P. Thompson scheduled for Louisville center chapel

A Service of Remembrance for William P. Thompson, former Co-Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Stated Clerk of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., will be held in the Chapel on November 28 at 11:00am. Mr. Thompson died on April 27. This service, to be led by former colleagues of Mr. Thompson, had been envisioned for a time before the General Assembly in June, but now follows the service earlier in the year for James Andrews and the Centennial remembrances of Eugene Carson Blake. Mr. Andrews was Mr. Thompson's successor in the reunited Church; Mr. Blake his predecessor. The current Stated Clerk, Clifton Kirkpatrick, will participate in this service, as he did in the Thompson funeral back in May.

Statement of the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

November 8, 2006

Comments on David Ray Griffin's Christian Faith and the Truth behind 9/11

Louisville, KY--The Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC) has reviewed the decision to publish David Ray Griffin's Christian Faith and the Truth behind 9/11. The book was published by Westminster John Knox Press (WJK), a PPC imprint, earlier this year. "David Ray Griffin is a distinguished theologian who has published a number of books with PPC," said Kenneth Godshall, chair of the PPC Board of Directors. "This particular volume is not up to WJK editorial standards and not representative of the PPC publishing program."

The book makes the extraordinary claim that the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, were orchestrated by the federal government and made to appear to be the work of al-Qaeda. The book also challenges Christians to wrestle with questions raised by American foreign policy. "Griffin's theological reflections are helpful and timely," Godshall commented. "The Board believes, however, the conspiracy theory is spurious and based on questionable research." For more than 160 years the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation has published works that contribute to worldwide scholarship in the areas of biblical studies, theology, religion, and ethical issues of importance to the larger society. Under its WJK imprint, PPC publishes a theologically and religiously diverse selection of books that often extend beyond the Reformed tradition and the official policies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Scott Anderson enrolled as inquirer

Scott Anderson, the only openly gay member of the former Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, has been enrolled as an Inquirer under the care of the John Knox Presbytery after a unanimous vote of the presbytery on Nov. 14.

Ben Lacy Rose, retired pastor, professor, dies at 91

Ben Lacy Rose, professor emeritus of pastoral leadership and homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va. (now Union-PSCE), died November 13 at his home in Westminster-Canterbury Richmond Retirement Community.

Born Dec. 12, 1914, in Fayetteville, N.C., he was moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.) from 1971 -- 1972, and was a Presbyterian pastor for nearly 70 years. He served the Chinquapin, Bethel, and Beulaville churches in Duplin County, N.C.; Central Church in Bristol, Va.; First Church in Wilmington, N.C.; and Chapel on the Boardwalk in Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

Dr. Rose served as professor of pastoral leadership and homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia from 1956-1973 and was named professor emeritus following his retirement. He held three degrees from Union Seminary: He earned the bachelor of divinity (B.D.) in 1938; a master of theology (Th.M.) in 1950; and the doctor of theology (Th.D.) in 1955.

Benefits, drawbacks of visiting members

Most church officers would agree that personal contact with new people who are visiting the church and with members who have special needs is a good thing. Religious institutions are unique in that regard. Not too many organizations have ready access to people in the privacy of their own homes, and service providers and businesses are not expected to suggest that they have an obligation or a right to pay customers or clients a private visit.

In the church the desire to call on people in their homes comes from sincere Christian motives. Most church members know that this is one of the responsibilities of the pastors as they provide prayers for the people [W- 1.4005 a. (3)], offer pastoral counseling (W-6.3003), meet with prospective new members, visit those who are in the hospital, call on shut-ins in their homes or in senior care facilities, console those who have lost loved ones, and assist those with special health, mental, or spiritual needs (G-6.0202).

$250,000 MIJHH gift funds Forman Christian College posts

PNS) Two southern California congregations and Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands (MIJHH) steering committee member Chuck Ford have combined to fund two mission workers at Forman Christian College.

GA PJC reverses synod, presbytery courts in Heartland case

(PNS) The highest court of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has reversed two lower-court rulings in favor of a Kansas City, Mo., congregation that challenged a neighboring church in its ordaining as an elder a woman thought to be a lesbian.

The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) overturned decisions by both the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of Mid-America (SPJC) and the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Heartland (PPJC) in the case of Session of Colonial Presbyterian Church, Kansas City, Missouri v. Session of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church [GCPC], Overland Park, Kansas.

"At this stage of the proceeding, this Commission is compelled to accept as true the allegation in the Complaint that the (Grace Covenant) session may have had cause for further inquiry based on its professed knowledge of the life and character of the elders-elect," the GAPJC said in its ruling released in mid-October.

The case originated after the session of Colonial Church questioned whether the session of Grace Covenant Church violated the Book of Order when it ordained four elders in July 2004.

Form of Government Task Force begins work on Book of Order;
Seek to show trust, transparency

LOUISVILLE -- Say "Form of Government" or "Hey, there's a new task force working to revise the Book of Order," and watch people's eyes roll right back into their heads. It's not exactly "Deal or No Deal."

But "people are hungry for a simpler way to shape our life," Joan Gray, the moderator of the 217^th General Assembly, told the Form of Government Task Force recently. Presbyterians from the South remember when the Book of Order was a third of the size it is now, Gray said.

"If you come up with something that is useful and slim and flexible, it will be greeted with great rejoicing in the church," she said. "I don't think it will be a hard sell."

Mother’s dilemma: Send son away to save his life?

© 2006. Used by permission

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia - Eli Maria Alvarez Jimenez has persistent dark circles under her eyes.

She looks tired and anxious. And she is.

Her youngest child, Mauricio Avilez, 26, left Barranquilla two years ago for safety's sake and hasn't yet been able to return.  He cannot resume his life there without renewed death threats from right-wing paramilitaries who want to stop his efforts to help some of Colombia's 3.6 million displaced poor in the name of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (PCC).

So now she is telling him to go: To leave Colombia and to stay away until he is no longer hunted. And she has no idea when that may be. Neither does he.

Determining where to go, and then how to get there, are both easier said than done. Not to mention how he will fare in a strange place once he is gone.

10 Minutes With … Ingrid Mattson

c. 2006 Religion News Service

When Ingrid Mattson was elected head of the Islamic Society of  North America in August, she became not only the first female leader in the organization's 43-year history, but also its first North American-born president.

Mattson, raised as a Catholic in Ontario, converted to Islam nearly 20 years ago after meeting West African Muslims in Paris. Today she is professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn., and director of the seminary's Islamic Chaplaincy Program.

RNS spoke with Mattson about the significance of her election.