The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), via its Office of Public Witness, has joined 30 other faith communities endorsing a letter to President-elect Trump urging him and his administration to prioritize issues of climate change, the environment and justice. Read more »
January 12, 2017
PC(USA) signs on to climate and justice letter to President-elect Trump
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), via its Office of Public Witness, has joined 30 other faith communities endorsing a letter to President-elect Trump urging him and his administration to prioritize issues of climate change, the environment and justice. Read more »
If every waiter is said to be an aspiring actor, might every barista somehow be a future campus minister? Such was almost certainly the case at last week’s College Conference at Montreat, where on Wednesday morning, Jan. 4, some 30 campus ministers from across the country were served their morning coffee by a group of keenly interested and highly motivated seminary students. 
January 11 is designated as annual Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the United States. In understanding human trafficking, it’s useful to start with a game of word association. When people think about the concept of “human trafficking” their responses might include prostitution, pornography, massage parlors or nail salons, southeast Asia, inner cities or the Super Bowl. 
Presbyterian churches located within a few miles of the Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport are still trying to wrap their minds around last Friday’s shootings that left five people dead and several injured. The suspect, Esteban Santiago, 26, appeared before a federal magistrate judge on Monday and could possibly face the death penalty. 
“Hidden Figures”—the movie about a group of brilliant female African-American mathematicians that aided NASA during the space race—took the second spot at the box office in its first weekend of wide release, narrowly bested by “Star Wars: Rogue One.” The movie features the story of Katherine G. Johnson, a longtime Presbyterian and 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee. 
At the conclusion of Valarie Kaur’s Jan. 4 electrifying keynote address at the College Conference at Montreat, the tandem lines on either side of Anderson Auditorium were at least ten deep with students all but on fire to have her respond to their questions. 
In a recent denominational survey, nearly three-quarters of Presbyterians said that “Jesus Christ is the only Savior and Lord,” a finding that stands in contrast to an earlier study on Presbyterian views of salvation. 
A recently released report by the Pew Research Center for Religion & Public Life shows the composition of the 115th U.S. Congress is losing members from historically mainline Protestant groups in favor of modest gains by evangelicals, Catholics and representatives from other faith traditions. 
Stepping again into the pulpit—and alternately striding across the stage—at the College Conference at Montreat on Jan. 3 and Jan. 4, the Rev. Paul Roberts Sr., president of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Georgia, continued to explore the conference theme, “Beyond Babel,” based on Genesis 11:1-9. 
The Rev. Tony Aja returned to Cuba last October for only the second time since he fled the country with his father in 1967. Strolling through his old neighborhood he remembers all too well how his family and friends suffered during the Cuba revolution, but as a minister of the gospel he clings to the hope that forgiveness and reconciliation will come eventually, even at the political level.