“I think the impact in our presbytery is what I like to call ‘expanding the we.’ Who we are goes beyond the established churches that have been here but expands with different people and new communities, immigrant communities, places all across the Greater Atlanta region,” said the Rev. Aisha Brooks-Johnson, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, who described how 36 new worshiping communities allow the presbytery to be “diverse, unique, inclusive and creative.”
“The ministry you are called to serve may not even exist yet,” the Rev. Michael Gehrling said to a group of 18 seminary students and recent seminary graduates at a Discerning Entrepreneurial Ministry event held at Columbia Theological Seminary from Aug. 16–18.
“We all have accents, and really, an accent is nothing to be ashamed of but to be proud of because accents are beautiful,” the the Rev. Rafael Viana said during his plenary presentation for the “What’s the Secret Sauce?” conference in Atlanta last week.
A new video distributed exclusively on social media last week asked, “What’s the secret to creating successful partnerships with immigrant worshiping communities?” The 45-second video concluded, “It’s all in the sauce. The secret sauce … And yes, there will be barbeque.”
As a child, the Rev. Dr. Lindsay Armstrong loved Mister Rogers and his neighborhood of make-believe — especially the puppets King Friday XIII and Henrietta Pussycat.
