Newsletter
May / 29 / 2018
Spinning 45s
Blog post by the Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard
Transitional Leader of the
Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy
      

I spent a lot of my childhood in the Chicago projects visiting my cousins. My one cousin, Opal, loved to dance! She was older and would take all of us little ones, put on a stack of 45s, and line us up to teach us the latest dance steps. Wait, I guess I have to tell some of you what a 45 is! When a hit song would play on the radio, I could go to the record store and purchase the song on small wax disk with a big hole in the middle. The disk went on a record player and played at 45 rotations per minute (rpm)- a 45! Radio hit, record store, record player, and 45s are ideas that defined my youth, but are hard to find today.
Our Presbytery - Our Work
Weekly Prayer Basket Update
  • Please pray for our COLA Leadership as we are just over two weeks away from GA#223.
What's Happening?
Did you know?..... .
  • Read all about it! The General Assembly #223 News, published daily from June 16-23, is available for free email subscription by clicking here.
  • Dont' Forget about the Walk of Faith...PCUSA Walk for a Fossil Free World. Our faith calls us to love God, creation, and neighbor with our whole selves, and June 1-16, 2018 we will love creation with each step we take. Our walk will take us from Louisville, Kentucky (the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (USA)) to St. Louis, Missouri, in time for the PC(USA)’s 223rd General Assembly. Learn more here.
PC(USA)
Quick Connect
Help Wanted
Parish Paper
Weekly
Newsletter
2018-2019 Calendar
The 2018-2019 Presbyterian Planning Calendars have been ordered. To reserve your copy, please contact Leigh Porter by calling 314-772-2395 or by email at [email protected]
Ministry Team Updates & Highlights
Kaleidoscope Scholarships Available
The Stewardship Team approved ten $100 scholarships to the 2018 Kaleidoscope Conference.   Priority will be given to lay leaders. Names and contact information should be sent to Liz Rolf Kanerva [email protected] no later than July 1st. 
Kaleidoscope will be held in St. Louis this year, and full details of the conference can be found here.
Church Financial Literacy
and Leadership
Part of the Lilly Endowment Inc.’s National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders, helps to equip and train pastors and church leaders in their financial management and leadership for congregations. The opening for the acceptance of grant applications and the subsequent deadlines will be listed here.
These resources help pastors navigate the changing cultural context they face as they seek to strengthen the financial vitality of their congregations. Grants for finance-related educational activities are available, through Lilly Endowment Inc., as seen in the link above.
Families’ Together Camp - July 6-8
Escape to the hills and river for a replenishing weekend designed with you and your family in mind. This overnight camp is presented retreat style. All generations will enjoy the mix of rest and recreation we have planned as we fellowship, play, worship together and share our ‘stories.’ Individuals, groups and families (*whoever is family to you is family to us!) are welcome as Together we enjoy a weekend around the campfire, skipping stones, hiking, canoeing, swimming, practicing yoga on the beach and simply being in the spectacular Missouri treasure which is Mound Ridge! To register, click here.
Upcoming Team Meetings - Locations Listed
(Wednesday to Tuesday)
PLEASE NOTE: The Oaks Conference Room (Oaks) and St. Andrews Conference Room (St. Andrews) are both located at the new Presbytery office, 1001 Craig Rd., Suite 170, St. Louis, MO 63146.
(Oaks) is on the first floor (St. Andrews) is on the second floor
This Week....
Wed., May 30
3:30 p.m. - COLA Steering (1st-Kirkwood)

Next Week:
Wed., June 6
3:30 p.m. - COLA Steering (1st-Kirkwood)
Thurs., June 7
3:00 p.m. - Presb. Gath. Plan (Oaks)
Beware of meeting schedule changes for General Assembly. Most Ministry Teams will not meet June 11-25, so members can volunteer and participate in GA#223 activities. Staff will still be accessing email and voice mail, however with delayed response.
General inquiries can be sent here.
General Assembly #223
Connect to COLA
Want to Attend Some GA#223 Events?
Please see this Schedule of Events.
Volunteers Needed
COLA (Committee on Local Arrangements) encourages EVERYONE to go to the COLA website stlouisga.com , click on the Volunteer tab and link to Sign Up Genius to find the many ways where they can volunteer from June 14-23.
Help where you can, as often as you can!
Hands and Feet Celebration
featuring Kirk Whalum
Be sure to purchase your tickets to be part of the Hands and Feet Celebration featuring Grammy Award winning artist Kirk Whalum for Thursday evening, June 21, at the 223 rd Meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Tickets are $15 and can be purchased as a part of General Assembly Registration . For more information, continue here.
Our Community Connected
Museum Tour Available
The Interfaith Partnership will have a tour of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum on Sunday, June 24 at 2 p.m. This museum is at 12 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63146 . Directions can be found here .  Please email David Oughton for further details at [email protected] .
UKirk - St. Louis
Are you a college student spending the summer in the St. Louis area? UKirk (the Presbyterian Campus Ministry in St. Louis) hosts fellowship gatherings for college students like you! E-mail Pastor Miriam ( [email protected] ) to get on our contact list about planned events. (A June pool party is in the works!) Our last gathering for this summer is on July 31 from 7-9 p.m. at Trinity Presbyterian Church; we'll meet for dinner and an information session about the Montreat College Conference (January 1-5, 2019). 
Educational Opportunities
Leadership in Ministry (LIM) Workshop
 
The workshop will be held in Kansas City, and is a fall and spring commitment, be held October 22 - 24, 2018 and March 11-13, 2019, and is intended for pastors, rabbis, other congregational staff members, interim pastors, chaplains, lay leaders, denominational workers, pastoral counselors, public school counselors and early childhood educators.
The Leadership in Ministry workshops will apply Bowen Family Systems Theory as further developed by Edwin Friedman, author of Generation to Generation and A Failure of Nerve, to ministerial and organizational leadership. The majority of time is spent in small group case studies led by participants and facilitated by experienced faculty coaches. As such, participants work to apply the theory to the “real world” realities of their ministry context. More information can be found here.
Ministry Position Openings
AMEN Saint Louis – Seeking a Director
 AMEN Saint Louis is a Ministry Embracing the Neighborhood. They are a mission of Oak Hill Presbyterian Church, a small, urban church, located in South St. Louis, Missouri. They provide mission experiences and housing for church groups, youth groups, college groups, activists, and others seeking to serve in the city. Groups of all kinds stay in our AMEN House and head out on daily service projects with a variety of local agencies, and the AMEN St. Louis Director will coordinate all activities of the AMEN St. Louis ministry. More information can be found here.
Seeking Part-Time Custodian
The Second Presbyterian Church, located at 4501 Westminster Pl, St. Louis, MO 63108, is currently seeking a part-time custodian to work approximately 15 hours per week. If you, or anyone you know, might be interested, please email [email protected] , or call them at is 314-367-0366. 
Seeking Musicians
We provide worship services for several area nursing homes. Most of these people have been involved in worship all their lives, now they find themselves in nursing homes and unable to worship. So we are currently seeking a guitar player, a piano player, any instrument that the old folks can sing to!!! We are not fussy.
We have these opportunities to serve:
Tuesday at 2 p.m. in West country; Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. in DesPeres; the first and third Sundays in Kirkwood at 3:30pm.
If you find God calling you to use your skills in this very needed service, please call Jeanne Zimmerman at 314-707-4003.
Part-Time Administrative Assistant
Pacific Presbyterian Church in Pacific, MO, is requesting applications for the part time position of Administrative Assistant. The purpose of the position is to provide administrative and secretarial services to the pastor and other church staff. Continue here for more information .