A lone candle in the middle of a darkened room greeted the small-group participants. They had gathered for an evening of identifying their gifts — not the spiritual kind of prophesying or speaking in tongues as Paul talks about in the letter to the Corinthians. Those sometimes perplexing and seemingly elusive gifts to the average Christian would require a more intense workshop. Rather, the gifts to be unwrapped were those disguising themselves as talents, passions, interests and even vocations, which could do much in building God’s kingdom.
Though she’s the reentry pastor of Hagar’s Community Church, the Rev. Riley Pickett has never been inside the Washington Corrections Center for Women. That’s because Pickett’s ministry begins when residents of the largest women’s prison in the state of Washington are released.
Presbyterian Pan American School president Doug Dalglish remembers a trip he took in 2016 to Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary—when he experienced again how the school he serves is preparing young Christian leaders (grades 9-12) for the whole world.