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Marcy Stroud, the warden at the minimum-security Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, remembers very well the day she received a cold call from the Rev. Trey Hegar, pastor of First Presbyterian Church.
Henry County, the home of First Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, lacks an animal shelter — but not for long.
Community partners both inside and outside the church are working on what they call “Mission Pawsible,” the campaign to build All God’s Creatures, which when it opens will accommodate about 12 dogs and 50 cats, have medical exam space and quarantine areas, dedicated rooms for training, house a trap-neuter-release program for stray cats and kittens, and more.
“We all have accents, and really, an accent is nothing to be ashamed of but to be proud of because accents are beautiful,” the Rev. Rafael Viana said during his plenary presentation for the recent “What’s the Secret Sauce?” conference in Atlanta.
A day ahead of celebrating the varied facets of its Matthew 25 work, First Presbyterian Church of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, recently shared some of the key people in both the congregation and the community to discuss their work and future plans with Presbyterian News Service.
As they prepared to lobby on Capitol Hill about the climate crisis, food insecurity and other significant ills, Ecumenical Advocacy Days participants took in an online session on the role that climate finance can play in securing enough food for everyone.
Today, June 25, marks 72 years since the Korean War broke out. Throughout that June, skirmishes along the division border led to North Korean forces crossing the border en masse on the 25th. Most U.S. Americans believe the war then ended in 1953; however, only an armistice agreement was signed at that time. This means outright fighting in the war has paused, but the state-of-war itself has continued for 72 years.
The “What’s the Secret Sauce?” conference sponsored by the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities and the New Church Development Commission of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta recently welcomed more than 80 participants in a dozen languages with barbecue from three countries and a joyous worship service. Colleagues in the Office of General Assembly and the PMA’s Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries were also partners in the event.
In the Presbytery of Charlotte, which the Rev. Dr. Jan Edmiston serves as general presbyter, seven churches predate the United States. “People in our churches run banks and universities and hospitals and seminaries. I feel really fortunate to be here,” she told the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty of the Presbyterian Foundation during a recent episode of Leading Theologically, which can be viewed here or here.
When the pandemic shut down plans last year for the epic every-third-year event, its fearless and flexible organizers pivoted to take the theme, the swag, the funds and the fun to places where smaller groups of young people could gather safely and share where they saw God in their lives, their relationships and in their larger communities.
In honor of Earth Day in April, I had the opportunity to take out 70 students and faculty from Menaul High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a guided hike and day of service on the Caja del Rio, one of the most significant cultural, historical, archaeological, spiritual and wildlife landscapes in the American Southwest. Sadly, it’s also considered one the most endangered landscapes in New Mexico as it faces huge threats from climate change, mining, illegal dumping and shooting, poaching, vandalism and theft of ancient petroglyphs and unlawful off-highway vehicle use that disrupts wildlife and cultural sites.
