Just ahead of the final gift she’ll give to Presbyterians from around the country — training and encouragement during the annual Moderators’ Conference Nov. 14-16 — the Rev. Tricia Dykers Koenig was on the receiving end of expressions of thanks for her work and well wishes as she retires from her role as Associate Director for Mid Council Relations in the Office of the General Assembly and, more visibly, as parliamentarian at recent General Assemblies.
For the final time, the Rev. Dr. Tim Hart-Andersen recently took to the pulpit at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis, a church he has served as senior pastor and head of staff since 1999.
Last summer, together with his partner, Troy, the Rev. Brian Ellison, executive director of Covenant Network of Presbyterians, crossed three countries off his bucket list with a visit to the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In Latvia’s capital, Riga, they visited the new Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, which “tells the story of a healthy functioning democracy” in a country that was occupied from 1939–89 by first the Soviets, then the Germans and then the Soviets again.
That’s what the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Rigby, the W.C. Brown Professor of Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, asked the people attending the recent Covenant Conversation at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. Rigby was the keynote speaker.
This summer, together with his partner Troy, the Rev. Brian Ellison, executive director of Covenant Network of Presbyterians, crossed three countries off his bucket list with a visit to the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In Latvia’s capital, Riga, they visited the new Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, which “tells the story of a healthy functioning democracy” in a country that was occupied from 1939-89 by first the Soviets, then the Germans and then the Soviets again.
“Do you feel like you belong?”
That’s what the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Rigby, the W.C. Brown Professor of Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, asked the people attending Saturday’s Covenant Conversation at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. Rigby was the keynote speaker.
The three presbyteries in Oklahoma — Indian Nations, Cimarron and Eastern Oklahoma — are partnering with Covenant Network of Presbyterians to hold a Covenant Conversation on Aug. 27 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. That event, set for 10 a.m. through 4 p.m. Central Time, will be held both in person and online and features a plenary by the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Rigby, the W.C. Brown Professor of Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
It was the summer of 1997 when founding co-moderators John Buchanan and Robert W. Bohl, a committed board of respected church leaders, and Covenant Network of Presbyterians’ founding executive director, Pam McLucas Byers, united Presbyterians from all theological backgrounds to pursue justice for LGBTQIA+ Presbyterians.
Amid a rash of recent legislation “intended to criminalize the existence, presence and stories” of people in the transgender and LGBTQIA+ communities, a four-member panel convened on Saturday discussed, as host Adrian White said, “how we can create space and come together to have a conversation about what we can do in response.”
The Rev. Dr. Mark Achtemeier, who a few years ago changed his view completely on whether to fully welcome LGBTQIA+ people into the life of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations and mid councils, including leadership, calls these Bible passages “The Clobber Texts.”
