Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center, related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has appointed David Evans as chief executive officer, effective Jan. 15.
“We have to be about the business of taking care of young people. It can’t be all about just us here within the church confines. It’s got to be about other people,” said the Rev. Dr. Ralph Galloway, co-pastor of Liberty Community Church.
The Rt. Rev. Sally Foster-Fulton, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, recently took her turn in front of the “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” microphone, chatting with hosts Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe about some of the ways the “Mother Church” and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are similar and yet different. Listen to their 53-minute conversation here. Foster-Fulton is introduced at the five-minute mark.
Ahead of the publication of their Westminster John Knox Press book “Wounded Pastors: Navigating Burnout, Finding Healing and Discerning the Future of Your Minister,” authors the Rev. Carol Howard and the Rev. Dr. James Fenimore told the hosts of the podcast “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” that one helpful step congregations can take to help ease the anxiety present in many congregations is to stop blaming their pastors for not doing enough.
Virtually every adult American knows that Mahalia Jackson sang at the 1963 March on Washington and that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech there on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Present both online and in person, nearly 70 people recently turned out for a special screening at the Presbyterian Center of the brief film “1963-Still: Same Shot,” which was filmed by and featured youth ages 6–18. The film was made last summer through a partnership among the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); its Louisville neighbor, the Roots 101 African American Museum; Media Pros Productions; Upcoming Storytellers; and the Louisville Central Community Center.
The Presbytery of Boise took up the Matthew 25 challenge last year by moving outside its walls. Each of its 2023 presbytery meetings included a Matthew 25 field trip to learn about community needs and ministries that were helping to meet those needs.
This day begins the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The theme: “You shall love the Lord your God … and your neighbor as yourself” from Luke 10:27 answers the question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” How am I assured to have life with God beyond this life? Jesus’ simple (yet not so simple) answer was to say: Do what’s written in the law: Love God with all of who you are, and your neighbor like you love yourself, and you will live. I often wonder about the “as you love yourself” command. Does that mean that we don’t love ourselves because there are so many hurting and suffering people in the world? People to whom we do not show mercy and kindness?
“The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love, we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.” — bell hooks (Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations, 1994)
