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Half-million teens to fast in support of world’s starving people

More than 500,000 American teens nationwide will take part February 23 in World Vision's 30 Hour Famine, forsaking food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world's poorest children and families face everyday.

Iraqi artists take refuge in Jordan

©2007.  The Media Line Ltd.  All Rights Reserved.

The sound of gunfire echoes in his head. The smell of gunpowder and flashing images of the dead haunt him like ghosts that can never be exorcised. He still hears the artillery pounding and the frightened children crying.

He could no longer bear to see his country plunged into the abyss of lawlessness.

When his paintbrush, and even his own fingers, would not obey his restless mind, Mohammad Mahredin, one of Iraq's pioneer contemporary artists, slowly and painfully abandoned hope of a sorrow-free Iraq and decided to bid farewell to his country.

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Former Executive of the Synod Of The Mid-Atlantic dies in traffic accident

The Rev. Roger Harp, pastor at First Church, Grand Island, Neb., and former Synod Executive/Stated Clerk/Treasurer of the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic died tragically Sunday afternoon in a traffic accident on Interstate 80 while on his way to pick up his wife in Lincoln, Nebraska.  His vehicle apparently crossed the median on the interstate and struck a westbound tractor trailer.

Roger served as Synod Executive/State Clerk/Treasurer at the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic (the Middle Governing Body of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A) from August, 2003 until December of 2006 when he began to feel led to "seek to conclude my ministry in a parish setting, if possible." 

U.S. religious leaders call for urgent Mideast peace effort

(ENI) NEW YORK -- Nearly 40 U.S. Christian leaders from traditional and Evangelical churches have joined in urging President George W. Bush to renew efforts to resolve the  Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, saying that ending the conflict needs to be an "urgent priority" for the United States. 

Retired missionary and her daughter killed in Kenya carjacking

LOUISVILLE -- A retired Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) missionary and her daughter were killed in a carjacking Saturday, Jan. 27, in Kenya.

Lois Anderson, former PC(USA) missionary in Africa, and her daughter, Zelda White, were shot in a village just a few miles outside the capital city of Nairobi, according to Doug Welch, the PC(USA)'s area coordinator for Africa.

Church defection rocks Montreat community

The mecca of southern Presbyterianism has been shaken, as the Montreat Presbyterian Church (MPC) has voted its desire to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). At a congregational meeting held on Sunday, January 21, the congregation voted 311 to 27 (with three abstentions) to request the Presbytery of Western North Carolina (PWNC) to dismiss them with property to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  

The terrible events of January 27, 2007

Editor's Note: All Presbyterians were horrified to hear of the deaths of longtime missionary (now retired) Lois Anderson and her daughter, Zelda White, after a carjacking in Kenya in January. (See the news report in the OUTLOOK issue of Feb. 19 and on this Web site under "Recent News Articles".) Lois' husband, William B. Anderson, has written a first-person account of that day, and its aftermath.

New Testament Scholar and Bible Translator Bruce Metzger Dies

Dr. Bruce Manning Metzger, New Testament professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary and one of the preeminent American New Testament critics and biblical translators of the twentieth century, died February 13, 2007 at the University Medical Center at Princeton, at the age of 93.

Christianity, Islam Battle for Souls of Iranians

Fereshteh Dibaj and her husband Reza Montazemi, a Christian couple in Iran, were released from an Iranian jail last October after spending 10 days in detention.

The charges against them are still unclear, but it is likely to do with their religious affiliation. They belong to Iran's little-known Christian population, a minority that constitutes less than one percent of the country's 70 million inhabitants.

According to Amnesty, Reza's mother, who owns the house in which they live, was reportedly ordered to sign a document two days before the couple was arrested, promising that no more Christian meetings for worship, prayer or Bible study would be held there.

It should come as no surprise that Tehran's religious authorities are concerned about the Christian community.

MySpace, Facebook: Churches learning new ways of communicating with youth

Here's a whiff of reality.

Half of all the communications that Rhett Smith receives on his cell phone are text messages.

Smith -- who's in charge of the college ministry at Bel Air Church in the Los Angeles area -- no longer posts much information on his church's Web site, because he knows that many young adults won't bother to look there.

Instead, Smith relies heavily on MySpace.com and other social networking sites to communicate with students -- they're already there, so he's created his own MySpace page. But increasingly he's seen folks migrating from MySpace to Facebook.com -- "Facebook has really exploded," Smith said -- so now he's there too. He understands: social networking, at whatever the hot place of the month, is the way to get out the word.

PC(USA) delegation shares thoughts, concerns from the Middle East

LOUISVILLE -- Sharing joys, concerns, hopes, and prayers was the focus of a letter sent January 19 by the members of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) delegation in the Middle East at that time. General Assembly Council (GAC) Chair Allison Seed, General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and GAC Executive Director Linda Bryant Valentine were visiting Lebanon, Israel, and Palestinian territories in an effort to show their continued support for the region's Christians and to get a first-hand look at the area's dynamics.

Presbyterian pastors establish Institute for Civility in Government

I (Tomas Spath) preached a sermon not too long ago in which I admitted I cannot speak with certain members of my family. When I open my mouth, I get either a loud verbal "NO!!!" or the silent treatment.

To my surprise, as the congregation left that Sunday morning approximately 85% of the congregants admitted that they too had a similar problem with their siblings or parents.

I shared this experience with my retired pastor father who was preaching at an interim post and he decided to do the same. He admitted from the pulpit that he was having difficulty maintaining a conversation with certain members of his family. To his surprise, about 85% of the congregants in his church also admitted the same!