Jim Ferguson of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Newburgh, New York was recently checking out a do-it-yourself project on YouTube. Nothing unusual for him, since he is a long-time volunteer with the Habitat for Humanity PresbyBuild group in Hudson River Presbytery. The group is currently working on its 10th house and has raised almost enough funds for house 11. Read more »
April 14, 2021
My D.E.S.K. Mission
Jim Ferguson of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Newburgh, New York was recently checking out a do-it-yourself project on YouTube. Nothing unusual for him, since he is a long-time volunteer with the Habitat for Humanity PresbyBuild group in Hudson River Presbytery. The group is currently working on its 10th house and has raised almost enough funds for house 11. Read more »
What have I learned? An approaching birthday, one that ends in zero, has me thinking, not so much about academic knowledge, but more about the life experience sort of learning. The kind of observation-based wisdom I find in the book of Proverbs. The kind of practical stuff I might pass on to a grandchild or share with a friend. So I made a list. And here’s a sampling: 
The Presbyterian Church Myanmar (PCM) is asking for solidarity and prayer as Myanmar’s military uses machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades to attack peaceful protestors. 
Whether it’s reporting the news, anchoring a broadcast or providing expert input into the story itself, women are making “glacial” but generally steady progress in news markets across the nation and around the world. 
In the atmosphere of celebrating International Women’s Day on March 26, the Presbytery of Kigali organized a daylong workshop to remind women church leaders to continue fighting against the pandemics of COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS. Forty religious leaders were invited from the Rwandan Muslim Association, the Anglican Church, the Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Association of Baptist Churches, the Reformed Baptist Church and the Free Methodist Church. 
After seeing the Gallup Poll study, which came out during Holy Week, that for the first time church membership in the U.S. has declined to less than half the population, Presbyterian News Service reached out to the Rev. Brian Heron for some insight. As Presbyter for Vision and Mission in the Presbytery of the Cascades, located in Portland, Oregon, Heron lives and works in one of the least religious cities in the nation. 
After two days bringing a lot of new ideas to Compassion, Peace & Justice Training Days, the Rev. Dr. Cláudio Carvalhaes invoked an old hymn to start his third and final day of theological reflections. 
The year was 1903. The crowd was gathered on a street in Wilmington, Delaware. A Black man named George White had been arrested on charges of assaulting and killing a white girl. The man orating was a Presbyterian pastor named Robert Elwood. The mob broke into George White’s holding cell, dragged him out, then beat, hacked and burned him to death [a documentary about the lynching of George White, “In the Dead Fire’s Ashes,” directed by Stephen Labovsky, debuted at the Wilmington Film Festival in spring 2005]. 
As climate change continued to fuel natural disasters throughout the United States and around the world in 2020, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance responded with the help of partners and volunteers to bring help and hope to those in affected areas. 
While it is not a faith-based occasion, it is fair to argue that Earth Day should be a natural observance for Christians. In the first pages of Scripture, God calls us to care for Creation.