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PRAYER OF PC(USA) LEADERS ABOUT THE TRAGEDY IN CHARLESTON, SC
"God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, God who has brought us thus far on our way, only you know why someone would enter into your house of worship and open fire on your children. Only you know why hate would run so deep that it would cause one of your creations to kill others you have formed. In our confusion over this senseless act, we appeal to you for understanding and courage to continue to fight for justice. We pray right now for the families of those who lost lives at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. on June 17, and ask that you would wrap your loving arms around them and the entire community. Likewise, we pray for an end to the continued racial unrest and violence that permeates the United States and the world, and ask you to guide us to work earnestly for change. Now unto you who is able to keep us from falling, we pray all these things. Amen." |
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HYMNBOX
Just Click the pictures to hear the hymn
It is Well with my Soul
Eternal Father, Strong to Save
Spanish - Cristo Amigo de Pecadores
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| BI-NATIONAL MISSION CONFERENCE WITH THE CHURH IN COLOMBIA IN EL PASO ON SEPTEMBER 23-27, 2015
Mark your calendar. For more information Contact Rev. Craig Meyers (325) 949-1515 or Rev. Jim Miles (432) 336-3346
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Here is the new electronic newsletter of Tres Rios Presbytery for June 2015.
Please, let us know your opinions, comments and suggestions, and forward the newsletter to all who may be interested in the work of our Presbytery.
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| THE PREPARATION OF A PRESBYTERY MEETING La Preparaci?n de una Reuni?n del Presbiterio By Marvie Burton
We started preparing for Presbytery after El Paso meeting. Although we have committee chairs, all of us help and work together under the guidance of our pastor Rev. Jobeth McLeod.
After planning meals, meeting rooms, child care, hotel accommodations, Friday night dinner and Star Party arrangements, the next thing done was spring cleaning of the church.
The Red Shirt Team was created for our members to be easily recognized by and available to help visitors. The goal of the Red Shirt Team was to make the meeting a blessing and an uplifting event for everyone in attendance.
It was a pleasure for me to meet, visit, share and learn with a number of the visitors. I wish there had been time enough to visit with all attendees.
Since we are a small church, it doesn't often happen that the pews are filled. The joy of hearing many voices lifted up in song and praise was a blessing.
I would like to send out a special thanks to Dr. Dan Saperstein and Dr. Hunter Farrell for their educational and informative presentations. I would also like to acknowledge and thank John Carnagey for his oversight of our IT needs.
Thanks goes out to all who donated time and effort to our Presbytery and to the Presbytery Office itself for the donation of drinks and chips.
For me, this meeting was a true reminder of Romans 12: 4-5.
As a member of the Red Shirt Team, I want to thank everyone for coming to FPC of Alpine. We understand that Alpine is a destination and not a short jaunt off the Interstate. I, as well as all of FPC in Alpine, feel fortunate to have made new friends from those attending. We believe that friends are one of God's ways of taking care of us. |
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HOPE ALONG THE BORDER
Esperanza a lo largo de la Frontera By Omar Chang & Amanda Craft, couple of Mission Co-Workers in El Paso   The ministry previously known as the Presbyterian Border Ministry (PBM) is experiencing a rebirth. The new ministry that was started in 1984 out of a joint venture between the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Iglesia Nacional Presbiteriana de Mexico (National Presbyterian Church of Mexico) has a new name - Presbyterian Border Region Outreach (PBRO) and a new purpose and mission. We are guided in our efforts by the Critical Global Issues (CGIs) generated by World Mission of the Presbyterian Mission Agency of the Presbyterian Church (USA). These three issues briefly listed as: addressing root causes of poverty, evangelism, and reconciliation among cultures of violence, assist the church in narrowing its mission focus to have greater impact in the areas mentioned above. One ministry site is located within Tres Rios Presbytery. The site, Pasos de Fe, is a shared ministry between El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. As a main focus of their work, Pasos de Fe supports and enriches a ministry with at-risk children and youth in the Colonia de Guadalajara in Ciudad Juarez. These children and youth come from homes have difficulty in feeding them sufficiently and in finding funds to send them to school. They have found an alternative to the struggles and chaos they would find on the streets. The ministry started on the day hermano Isaias Ramirez saw a group of young boys waiting to find work at a local mechanic's shop. He asked if they had eaten breakfast, and went to quickly buy a gordita (small tortilla sandwich of rice and meat) upon hearing that they had not. The next day he returned to the mechanic's shop looking for them. After learning where they lived, hermano Isaias went to ask them what they needed, what they hoped for. They explained that day labor in the mechanic's shop proved to be difficult physically and they were paid poorly for their time. The boys wanted to find a job that was dignified and paid enough to help with the family expenses. A thought quickly came to hermano Isaias. What was he going to do with his trade skills once he left this world? So, he decided they would be better invested if he would teach the boys these skills. A small group started coming to Isaias' small home to learn how to do electrical, plumbing, and duct work. The group quickly grew to 10 children and youth of boys and girls that come to his house 2 to 3 times a week for a meal, skill training, and assistance with their homework. They are growing with the program, enjoying what they are learning, and helping others. The income they have earned from jobs has helped several children with school supplies and uniforms. They are working this year to cover school costs for one of the older boys so that he can continue his formal studies. Pasos de Fe helps the program with financial support and lends space so that the larger group has a place to work more easily. The Presbyterian churches in Ciudad Juarez also assist with finding the group jobs and by buying different products they produce like metal dustpans. There is ongoing conversations within several women's groups of the churches to provide meals. Pasos de Fe is also working on securing several volunteers to assist the group with basic health check-ups and personal care, to provide computer training and English classes, and accompany the children and their families with spiritual support. God is guiding Pasos de Fe to be present in a new way through a meaningful ministry. We are grateful to see the ministry grow. |
| MESSAGE OF REV. TOBY BROWN AT THE PRESBYTERY MEETING IN ALPINE Mensaje del Rev. Toby Brown en la Reuni?n del Presbiterio en Alpine By Rev. Toby Brown, pastor in Sanderson, TX
 "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and all were made to drink of one Spirit." --1 Corinthians 12:12-13 ESV
If you stop to think about what is involved in our having a presbytery meeting, it can seem like a very strange thing. In this age of Skype, Facetime, streaming video, cameras on every phone and almost universal wifi and 4G, a group coming together from the four corners of a geographic region as large as West Texas might seem not only expensive, but downright crazy!
But Paul tells us that we exist, whether or not we choose to acknowledge it, within a living, breathing embodied community. Apart or together, our lives are joined within the church as our sustenance and protection in a lost, sinful world. Of course we are all very familiar with these words from the Word. This bodily metaphor is one of the most popular---and memorable--in Scripture, and for good reason. We are reminded that our spiritual life is physical and our physical life is spirit. They are interconnected and inseparable. Wherever a Christian goes, whether into a hospital room, a board meeting, a city council chamber or a presbytery meeting, that Christian goes with the whole Church in heaven and on Earth, united and living to insure that the Gospel is proclaimed and lived out.
So, when we come together for opportunities like a presbytery meeting, our Savior is in fact using these instances to encourage, strengthen and grow us into more faithful disciples that are a part of the Church. It's not the voting, the debate or the committee work or the conversation that does this, it is the Holy Spirit. When it comes to the Body of Christ, no effort to be together is ever in vain. To be alive for ministry means that we are all in the one, holy catholic and apostolic Church, one body for gospel ministry. And that is entirely worth the effort of coming together to demonstrate to the world and to remind ourselves that this is what what it means to be baptized for ministry.
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INTERN FROM PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY SERVING DURING THE SUMMER AT ST. PAUL CHURCH
Interna del Seminario Teol?gico de Princeton servir? durante el verano en la Iglesia St. Paul
By Rev. Tim Davenport-Herbst
St. Paul happily welcomes Christi K. Brennan as their Summer pastoral intern. Christi just finished her second year at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. Until this last week, she was a member of Trinity Presbyterian Church in McKinney. She has now joined St. Paul since her family has roots in San Angelo. This Summer, she is working with visiting shut-ins, learning about home communion, practicing preaching and designing worship, and many other tasks. Christi has most enjoyed being able to help people in concrete ways through our food pantries and assistance programs. She said it was eye-opening to see a hungry little girl go from being withdrawn to glowing when she learned her family would have food to eat that evening. Christi is a native Texan who claims roots all over the Lone Star State. She is the mother of three adult children and one precious grandchild. Christi is preaching on what Scripture has to say about intimate partner abuse this coming Sunday using the story of the "Levite's Concubine" in Judges 19 and the congregation is excited to hear her message. It was this sermon that the selection committee read and said, "Yup. She belongs here." Christi will continue serving at St. Paul through mid-August and then return to Princeton for her third year of the M.Div. |
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| LEARNING TO BE CHURCH - CROSS CULTURALLY! Aprendiendo a ser Iglesia - A trav?s de las Culturas By Rev. Cheryl Homsher, pastor 
Five and a half years ago Grace made the decision to welcome a congregation of Chin (Burmese) refugees into our lives by letting them use our building for their worship services. Within 18 months, the Chin church outgrew the original space we gave them as more refugees arrived in Midland. Their congregation is now larger than ours. I believe this is an extremely important ministry, and I have come to value growing friendships with these brothers and sisters who are making their home among us. I can't imagine how bad conditions must be to leave one's homeland for a place so foreign. "Church" for the refugees is in fact a refuge for them. In their church, in community, they have an island of "home." At Grace we've been on a learning curve, and it isn't as simple as we might want it to be. For example, in the Chin culture the older children learn responsibility by looking after the little ones. In the church building this often puts them out-of-compliance with our child protection policy. So we all do the best we can. We hold two joint worship services each year. Humor goes a long way to facilitate communication in planning these services. In the course of planning for our June service, one of the Chin leaders, Cho, suggested we have a combined choir. Everyone was excited about this - we hadn't done it before. But instead of continuing the discussion about how the best way to go about this might be, I took over - we'll get our choir director to pick a song, and our choir rehearses Wednesday nights at 7:00 - y'all come! American cultural bias is to get things done in the most expeditious way rather than do the harder work of negotiating, compromising and planning details together. Planning takes time - time for translating, time deciphering heavily accented English, time for explaining and reviewing and explaining again. It's hard - sharing space, being in relationship with the Chin. We make assumptions that are challenged constantly. The Chin are reserved and respectful. Americans in comparison seem like bulls in the China shop. After our recent joint worship service, Pastor Thang and I were ambushed by a passel of precious Chin children eager to shake our hands and say "God bless you!" These little ones are learning to be the church of Jesus Christ, I thought. And so am I! |
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