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20-June-1998 
98219 
 
    Presbytery and Synod News 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
KALAMAZOO, Mich.-The Presbytery of Lake Michigan will celebrate its 25th 
anniversary with a gala worship service Oct. 11 at Ottawa Hills High School 
in Grand Rapids. 
    Special guest speaker will be the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated 
clerk of the General Assembly.  The service will also include celebration 
of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, a massed choir and brass band and a 
parade of banners. The event will also include displays of member churches' 
mission projects. 
 
SPOKANE, Wash.-Several congregations of Inland Northwest Presbytery were 
actively involved in mission trips in June. 
    A group of 36 high schoolers and adult advisers representing seven 
churches traveled to northern Mexico to build two houses.  Participating 
churches, with some financial assistance from the presbytery's Youth Task 
Force, included Curlew Presbyterian Church; Fairfield Presbyterian Church; 
Faith Presbyterian Church in Hayden Lake, Idaho; Knox Presbyterian Church 
and Millwood Presbyterian Church, both in Spokane; First Presbyterian 
Church of Moscow, Idaho; and Community Presbyterian Church in St. Maries, 
Idaho. 
    Three of the presbytery's churches - First Indian Presbyterian Church, 
Whitworth Community Presbyterian Church and the Colbert (Wash.) New Church 
Development - took vacation Bible school to Gambell Presbyterian Church on 
St. Lawrence Island in Alaska (Yukon Presbytery). 
    And nine high schoolers and six adult advisers from Hamblen Park 
Presbyterian Church in Spokane traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, where they 
worked with a family to build their home.  The group also took a homemade 
quilt as a housewarming gift for the family and packages of hygiene and 
school supplies for the community there, and conducted a three-day vacation 
Bible school for children in the community. 
 
NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio-"Super Saturday," the leadership event of Muskingum 
Valley Presbytery, has been rescheduled for Nov. 14. 
    Keynote speaker is renowned biblical storyteller Dennis Dewey, who will 
also lead two workshops for Christian educators.  Other workshops will 
focus on stewardship, puppetry, parish nursing, domestic violence 
prevention, children in worship, elder training, mission in Mexico, the new 
catechisms and others. 
 
HOUSTON-The Christian Leadership School of New Covenant Presbytery has been 
slated for Oct. 2-3 at Grace Presbyterian Church here. 
    Keynote speaker Ben Campbell Johnson of Columbia Theological Seminary 
in Decatur, Ga., will speak on the conference theme, "Gathered in the 
Spirit."  More than 40 workshops on a variety of topics have been planned. 
 
TENNENT, N.J.-Chances are members of Monmouth Presbytery's First 
Presbyterian Church of Matawan don't bump into each other very much during 
the week.  Because the church serves many towns and communities in two 
counties, members have little opportunity to interact outside of church 
activities. 
    So the church has established a Neighborhood Parish Program, which 
gathers church members into small neighborhood groups.  Each of the 17 
"parishes" is led by a deacon.  Most groups gather on a regular basis and 
are a source of fellowship, service and caregiving for church members. 
 
WATERLOO, Iowa-Fifteen members of North Central Iowa Presbytery recently 
participated in the presbytery's Southwest Mission Study trip. 
    Among the group's stops were the Martineztown House of Neighborly 
Service in Albuquerque, N.M.; the Menaul School in Albuquerque; the John 
Hyson School in Chimayo, the only remaining Presbyterian Church-related 
elementary school in New Mexico; two hunger projects in Santa Fe; and Plaza 
Resolana and Ghost Ranch Presbyterian conference centers. 
 
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.-A leadership training event for lay leaders and clergy of 
East Tennessee Presbytery has been scheduled for Aug. 29. 
    Entitled "Transforming Hearts and Minds: Celebrating the Year with 
Education in the Presbytery of East Tennessee," the event will be held at 
Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church.  Keynote speaker is the Rev. Cynthia 
Campbell, president of McCormick Theological Seminary. 
    Workshops will address such topics as music in the small church, 
Presbyterian beliefs, computers in the church, funding mission on a small 
budget, a Bible study of Jeremiah, drama in the church and evangelism in a 
postmodern world. 
 
SAN ANTONIO, Texas-The Hispanic Ministries Council of Mission Presbytery 
has adopted three goals for Hispanic ministry in the presbytery.  They are 
    1) to secure installed full-time pastors in seven more Hispanic 
churches by the year 2008 
    2) to develop two one-year internship positions in partnership with 
seminaries, the presbytery and two selected churches by the year 2000 
    3) to identify and train commissioned lay pastors for every Hispanic 
congregation in the presbytery without an installed pastor by the year 
2003. 
 
YAKIMA, Wash.-Herb Miller, editor of "Net Results" magazine and author of 
12 books on evangelism and church revitalization, will lead a one-day 
workshop in Central Washington Presbytery Oct. 31. 
    The workshop, for pastors and leaders of small churches, is entitled 
"Moving Toward God's Vision When Worship Attendance Is Under 100."  It will 
be held at the 92-member Terrace Heights Presbyterian Church here. 
 
CHARLESTON, S.C.-Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery's Fall Festival of 
Learning, a training and educational event for church educators, is 
scheduled Sept. 12 at Heritage Presbyterian Church in Mt. Pleasant. 
    Plenary speakers are the Rev. Dennis and Anne Tedder, well-known church 
educators from Camden, S.C.  Workshops will be offered on such topics as 
adult education, arts and crafts in the classroom, church libraries, 
midweek educational models, music, the pastor as educator, planning and 
administering educational programs, recruiting and training church school 
teachers, storytelling through dance and drama and using media in the 
classroom. 
 
ELIZABETHTOWN, N.C.-The Division of Racial Ethnic Ministries of Coastal 
Carolina Presbytery is sponsoring twin workshops for those who "want to 
learn to communicate and work more effectively with others in a world of 
growing diversity." 
    The workshops will be held Aug. 29 at Bethesda Presbyterian Church in 
Aberdeen, N.C., and Oct. 14 at First Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, 
N.C. 
 
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.-Rodger Nishioka, the General Assembly's coordinator 
for youth and young adult ministries, will be the keynote speaker for the 
Presbytery of Tampa Bay's Aug. 14-15 Christian education conference at Hyde 
Park Presbyterian Church in Tampa. 
    Nishioka will speak on ministry with young adults and "passionate 
worship."  A host of workshops on all aspects of Christian education, with 
an emphasis on young adults, will also be offered. 
 
RICHMOND, Va.-What started as a yard sale almost 25 years ago is now a 
weekly "business" making thousands of dollars a year.  Hawkins Memorial 
Presbyterian Church in Ford, Va. (Presbytery of the James), held its yard 
sale in 1974 to help raise money for a fellowship hall.  With much 
merchandise left over after the sale, the church decided to open a thrift 
shop.  The shop is now open every Saturday. 
    Last year the shop raised about $6,000.  All money raised from each 
month's first Saturday is given to a local woman who recently underwent a 
bone marrow transplant.  The rest of the proceeds are used to pay church 
and thrift shop expenses. 

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