(PNS)  World Mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) announced announced Feb. 8 it has named Luciano Kovacs as the new area coordinator for the Middle East and Europe. Kovacs is filling the position that became available when Phillip Woods became associate director for strategy, program and recruitment. “Luciano’s international ecumenical experience gained through his work with the World Student Christian Federation, and his background in the prophetic witness of the Waldensian Church (our Reformed Church partner in Italy) will be invaluable to World Mission as we align ourselves with General Assembly’s call to be a Matthew 25 church,” said Woods. “Luciano particularly impressed us in his presentation on how World Mission could embody PMA’s strategic objectives, drawing on his experience of transformative mission and walking the talk through ministry with homeless people in New York while working with Jan Hus Presbyterian Church.” Most recently, Kovacs served as executive … [Read more...]

(PNS) The Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has spoken out against a bill which would allow state and municipal governments to punish entities that boycott, divest or sanction Israel in support of Palestinian rights. The bill passed the United States Senate 77-23, Tuesday. “It’s unfortunate that one of the first things the Senate has done following the government shutdown is pass a law that threatens the constitutionally-protected right of Americans to engage in boycotts in support of human-rights causes,” the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, said in a statement. “However, we are encouraged by the number of Senators who opposed this unjust law.” The provision was tacked onto a bill that, among other things, reauthorized $3.3 billion in annual military support to Israel over the next 10 years. The provision, known as Anti-BDS, was drafted by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Joe Manchin III (D-West Virginia). “It is designed to see that the BDS is tamped down … [Read more...]

DECATUR, Georgia (PNS) Juan Felipe Herrera stepped up to the microphone Thursday at Decatur Presbyterian Church and started telling stories. There was his father, born in 1882 — “another time,” Herrera said —  when he could hop on a train to Denver with little more than a corn cob in his pocket to find work. Herrera recalled his father, Felipe Emilio Herrera, telling him he saw snow for the first time in Denver, and when he spit, it came out ice cubes. There was his mother, María de la Luz Quintana, who came to the United States as a teenager during the Mexican Revolution in 1918 and filled their home with songs, stories, and photographs. They would make toys out of wood that his uncle would paint and sell at a furniture store to make money. Then there was Herrera’s own story of his lunch the first day of school: a flour tortilla and potatoes. Some days, he said, he’d get a tomato sandwich, which turned the bread pink. For years, Herrera felt ashamed of the … [Read more...]

(PNS) On Feb. 6 the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) A Corporation authorized its President Search Committee to conduct a search for a president and to engage Boardwalk Consulting, a national firm that specializes in recruiting chief executives and senior leaders for nonprofits and foundations. The board of the A Corp, the principal corporate entity of the General Assembly, announced its actions following a closed meeting. In other action Wednesday, the board approved a leadership profile, which spells out the qualities the board is looking for in the president. The profile includes these key responsibilities and essential functions: Developing a “customer-centered service organization” to deliver “high-quality, efficient, and effective administrative services” to various PC(USA) entities, including the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency. That will include the development of translation services. Promoting … [Read more...]