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pentecost offering
Still reveling in the season of the Pentecost Offering, the guests on Monday’s Between Two Pulpits told host Dr. William McConnell about the ways their church uses the 40% of the Special Offering it retains to serve young adults, youth and children at risk. Watch the guests from Heritage Presbyterian Church in Mason, Ohio, tell their story here.
Monday’s Between Two Pulpits, an online conversation put on each week by Special Offerings’ interim director Dr. Bill McConnell, was a how-to in effective after-school ministry, as told by two pastors who decades ago co-founded Rising TIDE at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Long Beach, California.
“We plan and God laughs” is identified as a Yiddish proverb, the title of a book or two and the headline of multiple online articles meant to help people navigate periods in life when personal plans seem to disintegrate in front of their eyes. When we hear or read the proverb, it can be difficult not to nod along, especially when the phrase encapsulates something most of us have experienced: a perfect resume or proposal sent, but no word back; a flawless itinerary dissolved by the smallest delay; an event set to begin, upended by a storm; a setback or an entirely “new normal.”
Although the branches of their respective family trees are heavily laden with Presbyterian pastors and elders, Akilah Hyrams and Noah Westfall — both alums of the PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer program — are pursuing a different calling.
At least for now.
Like most kids, Josh Davenport-Herbst has always had a hard time saying no to his parents, especially when it came to showing up for stuff at church.
The pandemic has indeed nixed the planned in-person Presbyterian Youth Triennium this summer. But youth leaders across the country are coming up with local and regional gatherings and other offerings for youth and young adults, including six presbyteries in Pennsylvania planning an event they’re calling the Presbyterian Youth Tri-PENNium, to be held at the Krislund Camp & Retreat Center in Madisonburg.
It’s one thing to watch the heartbreaking plight of new immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers unfold on the evening news.
It’s quite another to meet Lissy H. in person.
During an appearance on “Between Two Pulpits” that mostly focused on education, the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson began to reminisce about his mother teaching him the 23rd Psalm.
The PC(USA)’s annual Pentecost Offering supports children, youth and young adults at risk through many ministries.
When it came time to minister to the families of recent asylees from Central America, it turns out a global pandemic was no match for the 60 or so members and friends of Beechmont Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.
