Now that they’re both about three years into their work leading, respectively, the Office of Public Witness in Washington, D.C., and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations in New York City, the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins and Ryan Smith say they’ve found ways to work around a White House that often doesn’t welcome their input. Read more »
February 21, 2019
A workaround for the cold shoulder
Now that they’re both about three years into their work leading, respectively, the Office of Public Witness in Washington, D.C., and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations in New York City, the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins and Ryan Smith say they’ve found ways to work around a White House that often doesn’t welcome their input. Read more »
Every time my wife wants me to try a different recipe that she has prepared, I start finding a reason to say no. I want to ask her, “What is in the recipe? Why do we have to try something different?” These thoughts run through my mind before I eat the new dish. 
When leader Nick Pickrell heard that The Open Table KC would receive a $25,000 1001 New Worshiping Community growth grant from the Presbyterian Mission Agency, he said, “What? What!” 
It is not hard for visitors from the mainland United States to draw comparisons between Campamento El Guacio and Presbyterian camps back home. “You can just imagine kids there in the summertime,” says Bryce Wiebe, director of
Special Offerings for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, reflecting on the facility with the requisite dorms, dining hall and fields you expect at a summer camp. 
Online giving is steadily growing at “Decatur’s oldest church with the newest ideas,” according to the Rev. Dr. Todd Speed. He’s the senior pastor at Decatur Presbyterian Church, an 800-member multi-generational church in the east Atlanta metro area that has used services from the Presbyterian Foundation to collect online donations since 2012. 
Nearly nine years ago, the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People selected Belize as a focus country as a part of the new international funding strategy. After the first visits to the country, in 2011 it was decided to work mainly with grassroots communities in the southern part of the country because of the precarious poverty conditions in the region. 
Every year, the first Sunday in Lent is designated “Wear your blue T-shirt to church Sunday” as a testament of one of the ways that One Great Hour of Sharing makes a difference. 
When mission co-workers speak at churches around the country, they seek to educate. But sometimes they motivate, and that’s what happened to Nina Geist, a fourth-grader at Rogers Park Elementary, who attends First Presbyterian Church in Anchorage, Alaska. 
Young Presbyterians who enjoy camping and love spending time with friends in their church youth group have an opportunity during 2019 to do both — and help people who are living in poverty while they’re at it. 
When Doug Beach’s son suffered a mental breakdown on an overseas trip, he didn’t know what to do.
“We could have used a lot more help,” Beach said, recalling the event.
His church was supportive, but staff and clergy weren’t familiar with the resources available to help people with mental health issues and their loved ones. Last week, Beach was part of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) initiative working to change that.