Encouraging, challenging and equipping congregations to thrive spiritually and be apostles for reconciliation
From the General Presbyter No Pastor? No Problem. Happy New Year! For the next few months, I will be running a series on the state of the church today. Each midweek will include articles or videos. Topics will include but are not limited to: Today’s topic includes some ideas for congregations who do not have […]
From the General Presbyter In September I attended the Stewardship Kaleidoscope conference in New Orleans. This annual conference is sponsored by the PCUSA, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ECLA) and I would highly recommend it. I attended several workshops, but at one seminar, I sat next to a woman who was coughing. She […]
From the General Presbyter “People need the Lord People need the Lord At the end of broken dreams – He’s the open door People need the Lord 2x When will we realize – People need the Lord?” The first time I heard this sung was at a friends Baptist Church. During the anthem time, an […]
From the General Presbyter “God is on our side..today” Happy Black History Month! The verse above is from the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” sung in many congregations during the month of February. I lift up this particular verse because it speaks of the audacity of Black Americans who claim their cause of securing […]
From the General Presbyter When I discovered ChatGPT, I shared my enthusiasm with Frank, our communications manager. He responded with something to the effect of “it’s a great tool but be aware; sometimes it makes stuff up.” In seminary several students walked out of my Old Testament class when the professor proclaimed the story of […]
From the General Presbyter Just returned from the Stewardship Kaleidoscope conference in Portland, Oregon. A good time was had by all, and I have asked Frank to create a Stewardship Resources page on the website where I will deposit some helpful and interesting resources from the conference. The first plenary was a panel discussion from […]
The Presbytery, the Strategic Plan and You Summer Series From the General Presbyter The Cabinet started devising this plan in 2022 which starts with identifying our core values. The first value is “Promoting Justice.” Merriam Webster defines “just” as acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good. Justice rarely exists outside […]
From the General Presbyter “Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another right now.” – Get Together by the Youngbloods, 1967 Really? If you are like me, you are wondering if this might actually be the apocalypse. War in the Middle East, thousands of Palestinians starving and […]
From the General Presbyter One day during Advent in New Castle Presbytery, the Administrative Assistant and I were talking with our volunteer Treasurer about our holiday plans. This gentleman who, upon discovering that his whole family would descend at his house on Christmas Eve, said “I need to go to the store so I can […]
From the General Presbyter How do we keep Advent from feeling like Groundhog Day? You know, doing the same thing over and over. Answer, we don’t. Yes, we can freshen up traditions, update language, use contemporary illustrations. But we are waiting, and waiting and waiting for God’s love to be revealed in the flesh. We […]
