Driven to Reach Excellence & Academic Achievement for Males (DREAAM) is excited to report on a recent international experience that was aimed at enhancing excellence in achievement, engagement, and behavioral and mental health among boys and young men ages 3–24 years old.
Family and friends recently remembered the Rev. Dr. Otis Turner as a justice-seeker and a strategic, compassionate soldier for racial justice in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and in the larger society.
Turner, the first Black faculty member at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, who later worked for 25 years on the national staff of the Presbyterian Church, died Aug. 2 in Jacksonville, Florida. Sardis Missionary Baptist Church in Dawson, Georgia, hosted his service, which was livestreamed.
Oct. 16 is World Food Day. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization theme for 2024 is “Right to Foods for a Better Life and a Better Future”:
The world’s farmers produce enough food to feed more than the global population, yet hunger persists. Around 733 million people are facing hunger in the world due to repeated weather shocks, conflicts, economic downturns, inequality and the pandemic. This impacts the poor and vulnerable most severely, many of whom are agricultural households, reflecting widening inequalities across and within countries.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) recently held a White House Faith Leaders Convening on Climate, Clean Energy and Environmental Justice.
The event, attended by Jessica Maudlin, associate for Sustainability and Earth Care Concerns in the Presbyterian Hunger Program, along with other board members and staff of Creation Justice Ministries, gathered faith leaders and representatives of faith-based organizations from across the country, with the goal of discussing opportunities to benefit from and further engage their communities on President Biden’s climate, clean energy and environmental justice agenda.
The PC(USA)’s Office of Christian Formation has collected and updated resources for congregations of all sizes wishing to mark Christian Formation Week, which was designated Sept. 8–14 but can be celebrated anytime.
With Ephesians 2:10 as their scriptural basis, the co-moderators of the 226th General Assembly, the Rev. CeCe Armstrong and the Rev. Tony Larson, joined the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Rev. Jihyun Oh, to lead a recent hybrid worship service in the Chapel at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville. One by one, the three recently elected denominational leaders spoke on “Created,” “Called” and “Commissioned.”
MaryB. Safrit, a communicator, creator, coach and the host of the Found Family podcast, did the hosts of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” a favor in a recent broadcast, appearing as the guests of Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe on an episode of “A Matter of Faith” called “Knowing Ourselves (and Singleness).” Listen to their 67-minute conversation here.
At times, do you have negative thoughts playing in your head that conflict with the biblical statement, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”?
If so, you’re not alone, according to the Rev. Laura Mariko Cheifetz, transitional associate pastor for Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church in Sunnyvale, California.
Answering the question “Who needs a heart?” was the Rev. Cindy Kohlmann’s task during the opening plenary of the 2024 Presbyterian Women Churchwide Gathering, which was recently held in St. Louis.
Kohlmann, co-moderator of the 223rd General Assembly (2018) and the connectional presbyter and stated clerk of New Castle Presbytery, came on to Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”
With a selected preaching text of 1 Kings 19:4–8, the account of Elijah asking God for death and God instead providing an angel to minister to the prophet for the long journey ahead, the Rev. So Jung Kim delivered a homily during a recent Chapel Service for the PC(USA)’s national staff filled with encouragement to care for one another in similar ways.
