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RACIAL ETHNIC UNITY SUNDAY |
The seven racial ethnic congregations in Foothills Presbytery - Bethesda, Mattoon, Nicholtown, Rock Hill, Salem, Walkers Chapel, and Westminster Saxon - will gather together on Sunday afternoon, June 8, at 2:30 p.m. in the Eastminster Presbyterian Church for a Unity Sunday Service. The Rev. Danny Murphy(pictured), Associate for Mission and Evangelism in Trinity Presbytery, will be the speaker for the day.
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| Jubilee! Luke's Gospel for the Poor |
The Center for Lifelong Learning at Columbia Seminary offers three opportunities this summer for women to examine the idea of "jubilee" in the Gospel of Luke. This study is for women who will teach the series but is open to anyone interested in this topic. Participants will explore the texts; make personal connections with the themes; and receive practical ideas for teaching. The dates and costs are July 28- August 1 ($90); August 4-6 ($90); and August 8-9 ($70). Register online at www.CTSnet.edu or call 404-687-4587. |
| Outstanding Youth at Presbyterian College |
Presbyterian College invites churches to nominate a youth from your congregation for the outstanding church youth leader award. This annual award is given to inspire youth to continue in service and commitment to Jesus Christ through the Presbyterian Church (USA). Scholarships are awarded to recognize and celebrate outstanding youth leaders, and all of the nominees are recognized on Youth Day, November 15, at the PC vs Coastal Carolina football game. Click here to read and print the Nomination and Reference forms.
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| Prayer Requests This Week |
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Remember Susan Tompkins, Director of Children's and Family Ministries at First Greer Church. Her father, Keith Bridger, died this week after a battle of several months with cancer. Susan is at 100 School St., Greer, 29651.
Outdoor Ministries Director, Kevin Cartee, and his family moved this week to their new home in Laurens. It is an exciting, but stressful, time for them with a new home and camp season getting underway very soon. Keep them in your prayers.
Church of the Week - Honea Path Presbyterian Church is a congregation of 79 members. They are very involved with hunger ministries and helping the disadvantaged. They will be bidding farewell to their pastor, the Rev. Jim Moss, and his wife Margaret and sons Benjamin and Samuel this week. Jim has accepted a call to the Tirzah Presbyterian Church in Providence Presbytery. |
| General Assembly News |
To stay informed on the happenings at this year's General Assembly, you may visit www.pcusa.org/ga218 for up to the minute details on GA happenings. The Assembly will take place June 21-28 in San Jose, California. You also can log on to PC-Biz to review all of the overtures and issues being discussed in preparation for the meeting. |
| Presbyterian Church Administrators |
The Presbyterian Church Business Administrators Association will have their 2008 Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, July 12-14. The purpose of this association is to gather together church administrators for a time of renewal, learning, and fellowship and for reviewing the latest resources. This year's conference will offer a Polity Course and a workshop entitled "Taking Your Church from Good to Great." The evening banquet will feature the Rev. Dr. Todd Jones, Pastor of First Presbyterian Nashville, as speaker. If you are interested in learning more about this association and attending the conference, go to www.PCBAA.org
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| June Calendar |
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What's Happening in Foothills Presbytery
June 1 - 6:00 pm - Pre-Inquirer Meeting
June 2 - 6:00 pm - Ghana Team
June 2 - 7:30 pm - Mission Team
June 3 - 10:00 am - Staff Meeting
June 5 - 6:00 pm - COM
June 8 - 2:30 pm - Unity Sunday at Eastminster
June 8 - 3:00 pm - Mary Morrison's ordination at St. Giles
June 8 - Summer camp begins at Camp Buc
June 9 - 12:00 noon - Administration & Staff Team
June 12 - 4:30 pm - New Church Development
June 12 - 5:30 pm - Education Team
June 16 - 12:00 noon - Inspiration & Support
June 16 - 6:30 - Cultural Context at John Calvin
June 18 - 12:00 noon - Nominations
June 19 - 12:00 noon - Examinations Commission
June 21 - General Assembly convenes in Calif.
June 26 - 12:00 noon - Committee on Preparation | |
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ECO-SERMON WINNER
Warren Wilson College of Asheville issued a challenge to pastors to write an "eco-sermon" exploring "a Christian understanding of our place in creation." Winners of the Eco-sermon Challenge were announced recently, and the Rev. William Seel, pastor of Easley Church, won third place for his sermon entitled, "Stewards of Creation: Caring for God's World."
Warren Wilson College is one of the leading schools in the nation for environmental studies and sustainable practices. In this sermon challenge they discovered how much the sermons submitted had in common in their theories of how humans have gotten things so wrong, possible avenues for repentance, and which passages in Scripture can help us with these important questions.
Excerpts from Mr. Seel's sermon read:
But this is our sin, this is our failing before God and before our fellow creatures: we have allowed these two tasks (tilling and keeping) to become separated, divided, pulled apart...we have come to employ an economic and ecological practice in which we first work the land by exploiting it, devastating it, stripping it bare and crushing it; and then, when we are done, try to keep the earth by launching extraordinary rescue efforts to clean up and restore the damage we have done....
The result is a sort of cultural schizophrenia in which one minute we are almost gleefully lopping off the tops of mountains and paving over meadows, and then the very next wringing our hands in remorse over the mess we have made and worrying about global warming.
God meant for working and keeping the earth to be one and the same thing---a single way of living upon the face of the earth that would sustain life as well as sustain beauty. This is our sin....that we have turned working and keeping into enemies---and so have harmed the garden God gave us to tend.
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