LOUISVILLE — Elizabeth “Lib” McGregor Simmons was installed June 1 as the first-ever permanent female pastor and head of staff at 171-year-old Davidson College Church [www.dcpc.org] in Davidson, N.C. In the process, she became one of only a handful of women across the country leading large Presbyterian churches with multiple clergy staffs.
LOUISVILLE — Tapping into a higher power, Limestone Church in Wilmington, Del., is installing a solar-electric generating system, which will make the congregation the state’s first church to draw its electricity from the sun.
“It was his youthfulness.”
“He’s the new Rick Ufford-Chase.”
SAN JOSE – The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has elected as its moderator, Bruce Reyes-Chow, the youngest candidate in the race, and the only one of the four candidates who did not wear a necktie. He is a technologically-savvy Asian-American who described himself as the pastor of a “funky urban church” in San Francisco.
SAN JOSE – This was a first for a Presbyterian General Assembly: an opening worship service (Sunday morning, June 22) held simultaneously in two locations in Silicon Valley, linked by the power of technology.
A same-sex wedding made possible by a recent California Supreme Court decision was held June 21 at the conclusion of the More Light Presbyterians’ traditional reception and dinner during the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
SAN JOSE - Surrounded by about 40 colleagues, friends and family members, Joseph D. Small was honored at a gathering of his peers June 20. Small was presented a Festschrift, a book of collected theological essays honoring Small’s achievements and leadership in the field of ecclesial theology.
More than 500 Christian activists, clergy, lay leaders, students, and scholars at the Envision 08: The Gospel, Politics & the Future conference held June 8-10 in Princeton, New Jersey, challenged each other to find unity in their diversity, and to move beyond side issues to a focus on God’s priorities of justice and reconciliation.
Why does a Presbyterian congregation in Roanoke, Va., care about the quality of pastoral ministry in Prestonsburg, Ky.? Or in Kane, Pa.? Or in Pasadena, Texas? Why would a congregation offer facilities, staff, homes, and members’ time to provide southern hospitality for eight ministers, most of whom had never been in Roanoke?
On April 5, the Presbytery of the James hosted a conference on evangelism. I found it a thought-provoking experience.
I am aware of yet another situation in which the Presbytery of “Wherever You Are” ought to be thoroughly ashamed of itself. The presbytery is about to drop the ball again by failing to exercise its rightful, mandated disciplinary action on behalf of God’s Presbyterian people. The presbytery is going to lose another talented, dedicated, and capable pastor because the Committee on Ministry is about to cave yet another time to the interests of a few well-heeled adult babies who find that the Gospel their pastor preaches is not the Gospel they want to hear.
SAN JOSE, July 22 – The woman stood in the bright afternoon sun, her head bowed, tears streaking her face. A Presbyterian minister – who had never met her before, who was in town for General Assembly and happened to be walking by – opened his arms and pulled her into a comforting embrace. Before long, tears streaked his face too.
To keep up on calendar management — a true art form in New York City — I recently switched my calendar to the “cloud,” a/k/a the Internet.
MONTREAT — Brought jumping and shouting to their feet by a rendition of “Amazing Grace” sung to the tune of the Lynyrd Skynyrd rock anthem “Sweet Home Alabama.”
MONTREAT — Participants in week three of the 2008 Montreat Youth Conferences here have been talking the last couple days about the power of sin to break relationships between people and God and the ones they love.
An unbound church must come to terms with its own chains. So said Christine Yoder, as she launched the first full day of the Church Unbound Conference in Montreat, N.C, on July 2.
July 9, 2008
Dear Friends,
I just got done reading a great post on prayer from Jan Edmiston, pastor in the DC area and her post, Praying for Enemies.
It got me thinking about the first two weeks* of my term as Moderator.
“We on the board believe that the church is changing. We don’t know exactly where it’s going, but the Outlook Foundation wants to be supportive of the church as it goes through these changes.” With those words, board chair Stacy Johnson welcomed 250 conferees to the Church Unbound Conference held on July 1-5 in Montreat, N.C. It was the first ever event of its kind.
Iran has been cast in our country's media as our presumed enemy. Distressing images and angry rhetoric on our televisions can make it challenging to remember that the Iranian people are just like us, created in God’s image. It is about those people — and not the politics — that this article is written; hopefully, it will give you a few other images to call to mind the next time you think of Iran.
MONTREAT — When friends would tell Bridgett Green about their dramatic conversion stories, she wondered.
MONTREAT — When the writers of the Westminster Confession penned the words Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God, “they thought even kids could understand that,” Patrick Laney told week three of the 2008 Montreat Youth Conferences this morning (July 8).
Ulrich W. Mauser, 81, the retired Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, of Trafford, Pa., died July 5.
“Kit Kittredge” hearkens back to an earlier time, the slow-paced days of the Depression, when little children played in tree houses, there was no television, and Momma had to take in boarders to make ends meet.
The initial reactions to the Authoritative Interpretation of G-6.0108 approved by the General Assembly in San Jose were dramatic. Some were rejoicing, others despairing, because they believed that the General Assembly, in approving the overture submitted by the John Knox Presbytery, had removed the impediment to the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians that had been declared by the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission in the case Bush v. Presbytery of Pittsburgh.
MONTREAT — With whoops and hollers, waving arms and happy feet, more than 1,300 high schoolers from throughout the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) kicked off the Montreat Youth Conference here Sunday night (July 6).
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