“Grace Notes” :  Rodger Nishioka, Benton Family Associate Professor of Christian Education at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., will be the convocation speaker for Synod School 2010, which will have “Grace Notes” as its theme. Synod School 2010 dates are Sunday afternoon, July 25, through Friday noon, July 30. Synod School runs at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. The evening worship leaders are Mark Davis and Barb Nish, pastor and worship leader at Heartland Presbyterian Church in Clive, Iowa, and the morning worship leader is Steve Plank, pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Omaha, Neb. Synod School announcements will be posted from time to time to the Synod School Facebook group: Synod School - “Is this Heaven? No, it’s Iowa!” 

 

To find the group, go to www.facebook.com . If you have a Facebook presence, use the search function in the upper right-hand corner. If you are not a Facebook member, you will need to joint first. The Synod School group has more than 100 members, and at least 70 pictures and three videos on the group page. Questions concerning Synod School can be directed to the synod office at 651.357.1140 or 800.328.1880. Questions can also be directed to Diana Barber, associate synod executive for leadership development, at dbarber@lakesandprairies.org.

-Compiled by Duane Sweep, Synod of Lakes and Prairies

 

Synod Fall Meeting:  The Synod of Lakes and Prairies will conduct its fall meeting Sunday through Tuesday, Sept. 27-29, at the Mt. Olivet Retreat Center in Farmington, Minn. In his note to synod commissioners prior to the meeting, Synod Executive Phil Brown indicated that both the church and secular society should step back from personal attacks and labels during disagreements. He wrote, “Working for the unity of the church, demonstrating to our communities locally and globally that there is something extraordinarily unique about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ appears to me increasingly elusive for us. Instead, the behaviors and attitudes we exhibit; the labels we so readily cast on others from the pews, from our session meetings, at all levels of the church, don’t seem very different that what we see and hear in our communities, our schools and politics. Who’s reflecting whom? Who’s reflecting Jesus Christ?”

-Compiled by Duane Sweep, Synod of Lakes and Prairies

 

 

EP, Build Home: When the executive and general presbyters in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies got together earlier this month in Kearney Neb., for their regular forum, they went to work, but in a slightly different way. They went to work for Habitat for Humanity. Bob Hauser, executive presbyter in Central Nebraska Presbytery, made the connection with Habitat through Roger Payne, a member of First Presbyterian Church in Kearney, who is active in the local Habitat organization. “In fact,” Hauser wrote, “he and his wife will be going to Vietnam with a group for a Jimmy Carter Habitat Blitz next year.” Hauser said he couldn’t take credit for organizing the work, noting, ” Actually the forum planning team suggested that Habitat might be a possibility and since I was more familiar with it than others in Kearney I pursued that. They worked for about three hours on three different houses while here in Kearney.”

 

Pastor Warns of Scam Artist: Scott Stapleton, pastor of Grace-Trinity Community Church in Minneapolis, wanted to share an experience that happened at his congregation:

“On Sat., Sept. 5, a neatly dressed African-American male, about 40, stole the one church directory we’ve kept on display in the church.  We put it near the phone in the downstairs kitchen.  With it, he has been calling people and saying that his car has broken down, it’s about to be impounded, etc., etc.  He’s also been saying that he was referred to the person he’s calling by another name in the directory.  Often, the connection makes no sense, and people’s suspicions are aroused.  But at other times the link sounds plausible, and when it does, he has relied on people’s inborn wish to help to get them to give him money.  It’s all a fabrication, of course, but a very slick one at that, and many people have been fooled.  He’s been calling people for over a week now.  In one case, he even knocked on someone’s door late at night.  By now, our congregation is aware of the scam, but it’s taken a while to inform them.  Our solution of the problem, in addition to keeping everyone abreast of it, is to never again put out a church directory. 

 

He has used the names Marcus Beal, Marcus Bell, Marcus Billing, plus other names altogether.  He lives in Bloomington near 40th and 15th Ave.  He’s given out a phone number, but calling it only produces an automated message that his voice box is full.  The police have told us that he can be charged with stealing a church directory, but unless he’s caught in the act of the scam itself, he cannot be charged with any other crime.

Let the congregations beware: unguarded church directories are a gold mine in the hands of a slick operator.”

 

 

Blogging pastor shares thoughts on Communicator Conference: Paul Moore, pastor of Chain of Lakes Presbyterian Church in Lino Lakes shared his thoughts on the recent Communicator’s Conference of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies on his blog.  Here are excerpts:

…I attended the first session of a two-day Communicators Conference that the Synod of Lakes and Prairies is offering. Approximately 25 of us gathered at a hotel in Bloomington to hear a presentation on Google applications by Sarah Moore-Nokes who is on staff at Winnebago Presbytery. (I missed the first worship presentation.) The general theme of the conference is “Doing more with less.”

 

I am thrilled that the Synod is offering resources to the church on informational technology. One phrase that I frequently use is “Jesus is the most innovative religious leader in the history of the world, but the church is one of the least innovative institutions in the world. Why the disconnect?” I don’t think the church is called to be on the cutting edge of technology, but I also find very troubling the resistance to using technology among church and yes, Presbyterian leaders.

If Jesus was alive in bodily form today, I don’t think that he would be calling his followers to use Facebook, blogs, Twitter, blog feeders, I-Google as a requirement of faith, but I do believe he would be using those features to share the gospel and promote community among his followers.

Sarah Moore-Nokes shared some very interesting thoughts on using Google tools. I learned:

• that Google has many tools that church leaders can use to be more effective and tools that will not be a barrier to communication and work. They have a tool for almost everything we do at work. Well almost everything. They haven’t invented an Internet stapler!

· about the concept of Cloud Computing. Instead of storing information on our own desktops, information will be frequently stored in another place-the Internet. We will then access that information. This could come in handy for me as I often work in different locations. I could access a sermon I’m writing from work, then when I go home and I don’t to bring my computer home. I could access it on any computer at home. If I had my I-phone and had 15 minutes I could access the information from my I-Phone and do 15 minutes of work on the sermon. We will be able to access information from multiple types of hardware.
· about I-Google. We can create our own personalized E-Google page that has the information on it for our work. For example, we can put a Google E-mail application on our personalized E-Google page. That application can read all of our individual E-mail accounts. This could come in handy. I have four E-mail accounts. I have one at church that I read frequently. I have a MSN account that I use for personal E-mail. I have a Yahoo account which I use to register on web sites. That account gets all my E-mail solicitations. I have an old AOL account that I look at once a month. Instead of logging onto four different E-mail accounts my Google application can keep me posted in one spot about new E-mails I receive from each account. I know, I know-this feature might not rock my world-but it will save me time-it will help me do more with less.
· blog feeds. Instead of sending information on a mass E-mail, we could have people sign up for a blog feed to receive information from the church. Actually this isn’t really a blog, but a way to communicate. I send E-mails almost every day to the folks in our church. I could have them sign up for a feed and then just put the information into a document that is automatically sent electronically to a group.

I know that much of this information that was shared is basic to some folks and confusing to others. For me it is interesting to learn how to use technological tools in our work in the church.

Shane Whisler  (the Communications Specialist for the Synod of the Sun) spoke about Presbyterian Neighbor News. Through Synod and Presbytery communicators he is working on setting up a network through a web site where local people write articles about happenings in their Presbyterian church and/or their Presbytery. The tag line on the web site says it best: “One Presbyterian stream flowing through every Presbyterian neighborhood.” We can sign up to receive information about the local events in our Synod. Check it out at: http://www.pnnews.org /

I am impressed that we have main-line communicators who are trying to engage new media and who are trying to figure out how to be effective in this new media. We’ve come a long way from the typed newsletter printed on a stencil! The church doesn’t have to be the bastion of communication methods used by our grandparents. Congratulations to Duane Sweep at the Synod Office for continuing to engage this important issue.

 

Moderator’s Report to Presbytery:  Rev. Jin S. Kim, the pastor of Church of All Nations Presbyterian in Columbia Heights and also the Moderator of the PTCA for 2009-10 shared his report to the Presbytery at the September 12 Presbytery meeting at First Presbyterian in Shakopee.  The report follows:

 

• Evaluations from the July 2009 presbytery meeting were very positive. Our elder commissioners gave a 4.3 out of 5.0 overall and our ministers gave a 4.7 out of 5.0. We are making progress, and will continue to find ways to make the presbytery meetings a more rewarding and redemptive experience for all.

 

• We should consider an omnibus consent agenda that includes the motions of every committee and task force. This will allow us to make space for serious decision making and the work of genuine discernment about our life together.
• The Office of Theology and Worship of the GAMC has launched an “Ecclesiology Project” to think through what it means to be church in the fast changing ecclesial landscape of this new century, a project I am participating in. Part of what I envision is for our presbytery as a whole to take stock of the Reformed tradition after 500 years and to discern together the outlines of what Time Magazine has recently called a “New Calvinism,” as one of the most important emerging ideas of the 21st century, and its implications on our congregational and specialized ministries.
• The ecumenical movement needs more serious attention. I currently serve as one of our denomination’s delegates to the National Council of Churches, which incidentally, will hold its annual General Assembly right here in Minneapolis Nov. 10-12 (I appreciate Richard Buller and Valley Community Church for hosting the NCC dinner for our Presbyterian delegation, which unfortunately conflicts with our next presbytery meeting). At the NCC, we recently celebrated 100 years as a movement in America, and there have been tremendous advances. On the other hand, our ecclesial divisions are just as painfully apparent now as they were a century ago, but the PCUSA remains committed to healing those divisions as our Book of Order states. Yesterday, I was at the Greater Minnesota Association of Evangelicals annual board retreat, and our board is revisiting the idea of bridging the denominational divisions within the evangelical world. If the work of reconciling Presbyterian and Baptist remains, if the Lord’s Supper is still not shared between Catholics, Mainliners and Pentecostals, can we allow the disagreements between conservatives and liberals in our little denomination to truly divide us?
• I serve on the GA Special Committee on the Belhar Confession, and we will have our second meeting Sept. 20-22 in Louisville. I commend “A Study of the Belhar Confession,” a wonderful and incisive workbook produced by our denomination’s Office of Theology and Worship, for study among our congregations and ministers. Belhar was published in 1986 at the height of apartheid in South Africa, and has powerful implications for our radicalized country and church here in America. If adopted, it will be the first non-Western confession in our Book of Confessions.

 

Josh Heikkila Heads to Ghana: The Rev. Joshua David Heikkila will serve as World Mission’s regional liaison for West Africa, based in Accra, Ghana.  Josh will facilitate support for the programs, relationships, and activities of PC(USA) partners. And he also provides support to PC(USA) mission personnel and helps connect partner churches with PC(USA) churches that want to be involved in ministry in the region. Josh, a member of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, has been serving as associate pastor at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul  since 2004. He also coordinated activity for the Self Development of People program in the PTCA.

Josh has a wide variety of overseas experience. He served as Young Adult Volunteer for the PC(USA) in a one-year term (2002-2003) in Ghana, where he learned the Ewe language. He also spent four months in Argentina during high school, six months in Hungary during college, and six weeks in Croatia while in seminary.

He was born in New York, raised in New Jersey, and feels at home in Chicago. Josh previously served as a Young Adult Volunteer in Ghana.

We wish Josh all the best in his endeavors.

 

Pastor Recovering in Minneapolis: Rev. Deal Seal, a parish associate at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, is in recovering  at Abbott-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis after collapsing on Thursday September 17.  According to Rev. Denise Dunbar-Perkins, a chaplain at Abbott-Northwestern, Seal was at the hospital on Thursday evening to pick up prescriptions when he collapsed.  

Rev. Tim Hart-Andersen, the Head of Staff at Westminster is requesting the Presbytery be in prayer for Dean and his family. We ask especially as we prepare for this Sunday’s worship, that the PTCA remember Dean and pray for his healing.     

Currently, Dean is recovering.  As of Tuesday, September 22,  he is up and talking.  His wife, Kirsten,  is asking that people not visit Dean at this time, since he needs to heal from his episode last week. 

Please continue to keep Dean, Kirsten and the rest of the Seal family in your prayers.

Self Development of People Grants Available : The Committee on the Self-Development of People of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area announces the 2009 Grant Cycle.

The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People is prepared to establish partnerships with groups in the Twin Cities Area who:

 

• are oppressed by poverty or social systems,
• want to take charge of their own lives,
• have organized or are organizing to do something about their own conditions,
• have decided that what they are going to do will produce long term changes for their lives or communities,
• will control the programs they own and will directly benefit from them.

The deadline to submit an application for funding is October 16, 2009. To Apply go to ptcaweb.org , or for further information, contact:

 

The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area

122 W. Franklin Avenue #508

Minneapolis, MN  55404

(612) 871-7281

 

 

PTCA Committee on Nominations looking for GA Commissioners: The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area is entitled to send 4 elder commissioners, 4 minister commissioners and a young adult advisory delegate (age 17-23) to the General Assembly, which will be held in Minneapolis,  July 3-10, 2010.  The Nominating Committee is now accepting applications from elders, ministers or young adult members of our congregations who are interested in serving in these positions.  Election will be at the January 2010 meeting of presbytery.
 
To be considered for nomination by the Nominating Committee, persons must complete an application form with a letter of recommendation from a session, presbytery entity, or minister member of the presbytery, and return it to the presbytery office by November 15th.  Forms are available at ptcaweb.org or in hard copy from the presbytery office.
 
Ordinarily, elders and ministers are eligible to be nominated by the Nominating Committee three years after ordination and with two years of membership in the presbytery or one of its churches.  Elders and ministers who have served as commissioners to the General Assembly shall ordinarily be again eligible for nomination by the Nominating Committee after fourteen years.
 
Interested elders from all congregations are encouraged to apply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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