LOUISVILLE -- Presbyterian Bruce R. Kennedy, who led the expansion of Alaska Airlines as its chief executive before stepping down in 1991 to pursue humanitarian interests, was killed June 28 when the single-engine airplane he was piloting crashed in central Washington state.
The 68-year-old resident of Burien, Wash., was a longtime member and elder at John Knox Church in suburban Seattle, and served on the General Assembly Council (GAC) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from 1993-1999.
"While we are deeply saddened by the loss of someone we love and admire so much, we rejoice in the knowledge that Bruce is united with his Lord Jesus and take comfort in the fact that he died doing something he loved and in which he took great pleasure," his family, including his wife Karleen, said in a statement released by Alaska Airlines.
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(ENI) Rome-Geneva -- A new document authorized by Pope Benedict XVI restating Roman Catholic views that Protestant denominations are not churches 'in the proper sense' has been criticized as setting back the quest for Christian unity.
'An exclusive claim that identifies the Roman Catholic Church as the one church of Jesus Christ, as we read in the statement released today [10 July], goes against the spirit of our Christian calling towards oneness in Christ,' said the Rev. Setri Nyomi, general secretary of the Geneva-based World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The alliance groups together 214 churches with roots in the 16th century Protestant Reformation.
Nyomi made his comments in a letter to Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican's top official for promoting Christian unity, following the release in Rome of the Vatican document, which sets down questions and answers about the doctrine of the church.
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN -- Worship went show biz Thursday July 19 as Goose Chase, Inc. -- the highly inventive theatrical troupe that..
WEST LAFEYETTE, IN -- Their dramatic interpretations of Bible stories have been inspired throughout the 2007 Presbyterian Youth Triennium here, but Saturday..
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - More than 4,000 Presbyterian teenagers from all over the country and around the world streamed into the Elliott..
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - Nancy Sullivan is 86 years old. She is forced to use a walker to get around. She's 2,000..
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - In song, sermon and drama, the 4,400 teenagers attending the 2007 Presbyterian Youth Triennium grappled Wednesday (July 18)..
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - Mark Yaconelli tries to discourage those who call him the 'guru' of Presbyterian youth ministry. 'You know, we're..
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN -- More than 4,400 Presbyterian teenagers headed for home Sunday (July 22) after a "mountaintop experience" at the 2007..
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - The steady stream of Presbyterian high school students roaming around the College and Seminary Fair at the 2007..
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN -- Ever seen absolute silence out of 4,500 teenagers? After a week of vociferous, raucous, celebratory worship services at..
LOUISVILLE -- It wasn't your typical snapshot of a gathering of Presbyterians, or Lutherans or members of the Reformed Church in America, for that matter.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and the Reformed Church in America (RCA) joined together to sponsor and plan "A Racial Ethnic Multicultural Event" in Los Angeles, July 12-14.
The gathering of more than 600 people included a multitude of cultures, races, languages, traditions, and ages. With the theme "Spirit of Wholeness in Christ" as their backdrop, participants worshiped, danced, sang, studied and discussed what it means to be a multicultural church -- not only on paper but also in reality.
Delivering first-night sermons were the Rev. Bruce Menning, the RCA's director of global mission; Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA; and the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA).
Alluding to the Pentecost event in Acts 2, Hanson expressed hoped that the gathering would be a "three-day binge, not on the fruit of the vine, but on the Holy Spirit." Kirkpatrick added that the church today "desperately needs your particular gifts" if the church is to be "passionately on fire for the gospel."
The people of Pakistan have faced a series of crises in recent weeks and face daunting continuing circumstances, according to a report this week from Robert Johnson and Marianne Vermeer, mission co-workers in that country with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The siege at Islamabad's Red Mosque has ended, but tensions are high and some expect northern and western parts of the country, where the Taliban movement is strong, to experience further violence, according to Johnson and Vermeer. "This is a real fear, and this country needs your prayers for peace to reign," they write.
In addition to this crisis, several natural disasters also have occurred.
Commissioners to the 27th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church approved June 22 a proposal to ease the transfer of churches into the EPC from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The proposal, developed and approved by delegates to the New Wineskins Convocation this past February in Orlando, calls for the formation of a transitional, non-geographic presbytery. It will provide a "haven" for up to five years for PC(USA)-departing churches to explore whether the EPC is where they wish to join permanently.
SACRAMENTO -- The Synod of the Pacific handed down a ruling June 20 that overturns all four policies adopted by the Sacramento Presbytery as it sought to respond to actions of the 2006 General Assembly.
At stake were four resolutions approved at the SP's called meeting last Sept. 9. The presbytery voted 1) to require all candidates for ordination, installation, and or membership in the Presbytery to comply with all standards in the Constitution, i.e., allowing no "scruples;" 2) to not receive into membership, nor recognize as a member, any minister who had been ordained elsewhere, "under a scruple that is taking exception to any of the ordination standards;" 3) to allow churches to withhold per capita support of upper governing bodies and not to make up the difference for doing so; and 4) to allow congregations wishing to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to go with their property,
All four resolutions were overturned by the synod's permanent judicial commission.
Carol Bechtel has been elected vice-president of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America. The election was held June 11 at the General Synod meeting on the campus of Central College in Pella, Iowa.
She will serve a one-year term for the denomination's top governing body along with president, John Ornee. He is pastor of Peace Church in Zeeland, Mich.
Bechtel is professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary and attends Hope Church in Holland, Mich. She also is author of Above and Beyond: Hearing God's Call in Jonah and Ruth, the 2007-08 Horizons Bible study published by Presbyterian Women.
Patricia Gresham was finishing high school in Richmond, Va., in June 1967 when she came to work for The Presbyterian Outlook Foundation -- then a magazine and book service operation. Pat, now business manager, and the Outlook are celebrating her 40th anniversary.
James S. Brown, longtime Outlook business manager, hired Pat. He recalled in 1998: "I immediately recognized Pat as an excellent person." He cited her work as crucial to the Outlook's survival during times of struggle.
She continues to be a pivotal part of the Outlook's efforts.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY -- More than 360 Christian leaders from 60+ countries participated in the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE) Bi-Annual International Leadership Meeting, a week-long planning session that ended here June 22. The meeting was an opportunity for leaders to pray, plan, and work together toward Lausanne III: Cape Town 2010, the Third International Congress on World Evangelization to be held October 16-25, 2010.
The Budapest meeting of global Lausanne leadership discussed the potential barriers and opportunities of global evangelization, and how the Church can share the hope of the Gospel with every nation on earth. The Rev. S. Douglas (Doug) Birdsall, LCWE Executive Chair, urged the leaders to work together for the cause of Christ "because there is so much at stake. The task is bigger and the urgency more obvious."
LILLEY CORNETT WOODS -- Clifford Cornett has been gone for a long time, but his heart still knows every step of these woods.
His grandfather, Lilley Cornett, once owned this land in Letcher County in eastern Kentucky -- and as he walks the flatland, Clifford points out where the barn used to stand, where the iron clanged in blacksmith's shop, where the mill ground grain into flour and cornmeal. His grandfather once tried to dig out a lake in a swampy bottom, Clifford grins in remembrance. He just managed to sink a tractor instead.
The family grew or harvested everything they needed on this land -- traveling to town just twice a year to buy big sacks of sugar and staples.
His family moved away in 1966 so his father could work in the coal mines in Illinois, as did others from the region -- Clifford calls them "migrating coal miners."
MONTREAT -- How can a tiny alpine village of Switzerland or Austria transform itself into a host city for the winter Olympics? Only the local residents know for sure.
But the locals in Montreat, N.C., have an idea. Their tiny town -- 697 counted citizens in 2005 -- is hosting the funeral of Ruth Bell Graham today. Their preparations have taken on Olympic proportions.
When Mrs. Graham's health turned more precarious six months ago, the needed preliminary decision-making began. Through these months, Montreat leaders met repeatedly with leaders from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, based in Charlotte; with staff from the Billy Graham Training Center, i.e., "The Cove", based in nearby Asheville; with state and local law enforcement agencies, and with representatives of the U.S. Secret Service.
MONTREAT -- They affirmed the resurrection, proclaimed the gospel. The familiar, deep voice of George Beverly Shea was lifted in song once again. The crowd sang hymns and nodded in agreement to the preaching. Funny stories abounded -- the kind that sisters love to tell on one another, and that children love to tell on their famous parents. Put it together, and the funeral service for Ruth Bell Graham painted all the right colors and touched all the gathered hearts.
Ruth Bell Graham, one of the most famous Presbyterians of our day, was honored and her faith proclaimed in the Anderson Auditorium at Montreat Conference Center June 16.
(RNS) "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them," Jesus told his disciples. But should that include taking Communion?
A lot of people in the Christian Reformed Church think so, but a lot don't. So now a committee will help the church decide. The Faith Formation Committee has five years to come up with a statement on when youths should take Communion. At issue: whether children first must make a profession of faith, as now required, or whether being baptized is sufficient.
"This is an issue that gets to people deeper than who can serve in office, because it gets to the heart of the sacraments," said the Rev. Tyler Wagenmaker, of Hudsonville, Mich.
In a survey of CRC pastors, 25 percent said their churches' children take Communion before a public profession of faith. Children begin taking it anywhere from ages 5 to 18, said John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.
EOLIA, Ky. -- Sam Gilbert made his living mining coal from the mountains of eastern Kentucky -- that's how he fed his family and paid his bills. He lives in the hills along Rocky Branch on Black Mountain and loves this piece of heaven.
He also sees what's happening at the top.
Before he retired, Gilbert was a strip miner. Now, in the push to dig the coal out faster, driven in part by consumers' incessant push for "cheap" energy, the coal companies have speeded up the process by blowing off the tops of mountains to get at the coal seams. It's a technique, aided by big machinery, known as mountaintop removal. It is transforming the landscape in these hills.
On an overcast Friday afternoon, Gilbert -- tall and lean in his blue jeans -- stood in his neighbors' front yard, leaning against a tree, telling visitors from Yale University and from Crescent Hill Church in Louisville about his efforts to take on the coal company and protect his property. This spring, Gilbert and his wife, Evelyn, pushed elected officials from Letcher Fiscal Court to block Cumberland River Coal Company from dumping debris from the top of Black Mountain down the creek behind their house, and also into another nearby creek.
The Gilberts and their allies from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (www.kftc.org), a grassroots group working on justice issues, prevailed this time -- but stopped the dumping of mining debris into these two creeks only. The debris will be diverted to places where the coal company had already been at work.
LAWRENCE, Massachusetts -- The New England Conference of The United Methodist Church has issued its Divestment Task Force report, including recommendations for divestment from twenty companies identified as supporting the Israeli occupation in Palestine.
Based on the research and findings of the Conference's Divestment Task Force, the report outlines the process and the recommendations for divestment. The company listing with details on each company and the reasons for the divestment recommendation can be found at www.neumc.org/divest. The Web site also includes the original resolution, a full copy of the report and recommendations of the Divestment Task Force, and additional supporting documentation and resources, including statements from Jewish organizations in support of divestment.
The Divestment Task Force was created to implement Resolution 204, which was passed during the 2005 New England Annual Conference session (RS-204: Resolution on Divesting from Companies that are Supporting in a Significant Way the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territories). This resolution followed on the heels of Resolution 312, which was passed at the 2004 General Conference of The United Methodist Church.
An adult and three teenagers from Upland, California, congregations, including First Church in Upland, died June 23 in a church van -- pickup truck collision west of Barstow, Calif.
Rebecca Vetterani, 28, a seminarian intern at First Church, died in the three-vehicle accident that shut down U.S. 395 west of Barstow for hours, according to a Los Angeles Times report. Her husband, youth director Tom Vetterani, was severely burned and in critical condition following the crash.
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