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Note #8355 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Lunch transformed by hilarity
GA04063
June 29, 2004

Lunch transformed by hilarity

Redevelopment Network has no time for melon-choly

by Emily Enders Odom

RICHMOND, June 29 - "Transformation is like a watermelon!" one of the
Not-Quite-Ready for Transformation Players exclaimed midway through a
delightfully boisterous program of improvisation, "because it doesn't look
the same on the outside as it does on the inside."

Six players - Amy Fowler, Ann Philbrick, Heidi Weatherford, Joey Lee, Wilson
Gunn and Bill Lawser - performed their routine Tuesday during the Network for
Churchwide Transformation Luncheon, tickling the funny bones of more than 100
Presbyterians at the Marriott Hotel.

The lively troupe used humor and spontaneity to lift up the work of
redevelopment/transformation, while good-naturedly lampooning the church.

One, the Rev. William H. "Bill" Lawser, a congregational development
specialist for the Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois, also did a stand-up
routine as the "Rev. Knox Calvin."

"Remember the other night, someone asked the question when our new moderator
(said), 'It's like having a sixth sense,'" he said as "Calvin."  "Well, there
was a middle governing body person sitting near me, that leaned over and
said, 'I work in transformation; I have a sixth sense. ... I see dead
churches!"

The mission of the Network for Churchwide Transformation is to provide an
"organic web of relationships, support and education" for
redevelopment/transformation churches, practitioners, governing body staff
and committee persons.

It was announced during the luncheon that the network will hold its 2005
conference at Columbia University in New York City, from July 14-17. For more
information, visit the organization's Web site at
www.churchwidetransformation.org.

The Rev. Jean Marie Peacock, vice moderator of the 216th General Assembly,
attended the luncheon to greet the participants. Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase
said at the event, "The first reason I called Jean Marie was because of her
heart for transforming churches."

This story and many others may have photos, media, video clips that can be
found at http://www.pcusa.org/ga216/.

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