Newsletter
June / 12 / 2018
A Brief GA Reflection and Revelation
Blog Post by the Rev. Cedric Portis
Co-Moderator of Committee on Local Arrangements (COLA)
      
The 223 General Assembly is upon us. I’m confident that our preparation and planning will pay off this week as we welcome and host Presbyterians from all over the world.
 
These past two years I’ve had the privilege of serving as co-moderator of the Committee on Local Arrangements (COLA). As I continued my work as pastor of Third Presbyterian, there were times the work seemed overwhelming. It was then, in the middle of an already overloaded schedule, God gave me a revelation.  Continue here to read on . 
GA#223 Offering Enables Freedom
Working with local networks in St. Louis, the Arch City Defenders and the Bail Project, the offering taken during GA#223 Opening Worship will purchase freedom for people held under bench warrants and minor offenses as they await trial. This offering will get the detained back to their jobs, to their families and to their communities. If you are not able to be in GA#223 Opening Worship on Saturday, June 16, you can still contribute by clicking here
Our Presbytery - Our Work
Weekly Prayer Basket Update
  • Please pray for Kerry Rice, in the death of his son.
  • Please pray for our GA#223 Commissioners, our COLA Co-Moderators, COLA Staff and COLA volunteers for the amazing work that they have done and will do in the next week.
What's Happening? Did you know?..... .
GA#223
STAY CONNECTED NEXT WEEK
Below are several options to stay connected to GA and this presbytery

  • Social Media! Online-All the time, you can see daily highlights on our own Facebook feed here, Instagram here, Twitter here, or follow on PC(USA) Social Media Outlets.
  • Complete Program Book Found Here
  • Schedule of Events Found Here
  • Download the Guidebook App for your smartphone here.
Calendar Update
The 2018 Planning Calendars are delayed again! PCUSA returned them to the printer because of errors in content, and now the anticipated delivery date is late June. We are so sorry, and will update you again, soon.
PC(USA)
Quick Connect
Help Wanted
  • Interim Youth Minister
  • Volunteer Camp Support
  • Volunteer Musicians
  • Custodian Needed
  • Mission Director
Parish Paper
Text: PRESBYTERY to 22828 and sign up to receive the news each week

GA#223 Newspaper
Watch it Happen
Giddings-Lovejoy
Photos - Photos - Photos ..... We Want Your Help
Volunteering at GA? Share your story! We would love to hear your thoughts and see through your eyes! Throughout the week of General Assembly #223, Friday, June 15 through Saturday, June 23, text or iMessage photos and comments to:
(573) 578-3960, or email them to: communication@glpby.org.
Be sure to send your name for the photo credit.
We look forward to seeing your vision of GA#223!
General Assembly #223
Connect to COLA
"Draw the Welcome Circle Wider"

COLA has commissioned Mary Louise Bringle to write a hymn text for General Assembly 223. The new hymn “Draw the Welcome Circle Wider” incorporates the GA’s theme “Renewing the Vision: Kindom Building for the Twenty-first Century” with biblical metaphors, social justice themes, and even a surprising nod to the GA’s location in St. Louis. The hymn will be sung to the pentatonic shape-note tune BEACH SPRING.
Presbyterians from around the country are well acquainted with Mel Bringle through her hymns, her teaching at conferences and her service as chair of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song.
For more information about the hymn, and download, click here.
GA#223 Highlighted Events
There are many - many exciting events to participate in General Assembly, but here are just a few that you should plan to participate in, if your schedule allows:
  • Saturday, June 16 at 11 a.m. - Opening Worship in the America's Center- Hall 5
  • Monday and Tuesday, June 18 and 19 at 8:30 a.m. - Bible Study in America's Center Ferrara Theater
  • Monday, June 18, 5-8 p.m. - Hands & Feet Art Project for Tuesdays March in the America's Center Exhibit Hall
  • Tuesday, June 19 at 1:30 p.m. - Worship Without Worry Active Shooter Training in the Marriott Grand-Majestic A-C (FREE/register with GA)
  • at 3 p.m. - Hands & Feet Community Action Event at the America's Center
  • Thursday, June 21 at 7:30 p.m. - Kirk Whalum in Concert in StL America's Center Ferrara Theater (reserve your seat here)
  • Saturday, June 23 at TBA - Closing Worship to begin at the end of the Business Meeting in the America's Center- Hall 5
Map of the America's Center Meeting Spaces (Click button above)

General Assembly On-site registration will open on Friday, June 15 at 10:00 a.m. in room 123 of the America’s Center.
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., June 13
2 p.m. - PTCC (Oaks)
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Volunteer if able.
We will see you at GA#223

Next Week:
Mon., June 25
1 p.m. -DRAP (Ladue Chapel)
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Presbytery Office will be close on Mon., June 25, after a long GA#223 Week

Staff will still be accessing email and voice mail during the week, however with delayed response. General inquiries can be sent here.
Our Community Connected
Katherine Hawes Award Given to UPC-Belleville Youth
The Union Seminary awarded the First United Presbyterian Church - Belleville Youth, and Kaitie Kautz, the Director of Youth Ministries and Director of Equipping Ministries at UPC-Belleville, the Katherine Hawes Award. This award recognizes effective youth ministries that engage youth in all areas of the church’s mission and extend beyond the church into the community and the world.
The Union Seminary also awarded the youth of UPC-Belleville, $1000, to further develop their already outstanding mission and ministry. The general plan, not yet fully developed, is to use those funds to create a dialog between youth and adults that will enrich their individual faith, while joining in spiritual journeys together.
The “125 th Anniversary Celebration” of Gibson Heights Presbyterian Church

We’re celebrating an anniversary, 125 years no less. The congregation of Gibson Heights Presbyterian Church would like to invite you to our 125th Anniversary Celebration. Gibson Heights has ministered and sustained a continuous presence in the Grove Neighborhood in the city of St. Louis for 125 years. To celebrate this historic occasion, please join us Friday evening, June 22, at 7:00 PM when A Call to Conscience will present “ I’ve Been to the Mountain Top,” an interactive interpretation of the last speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to the striking sanitation workers of Memphis at Mason’s Temple Church of God in Christ on April 3, 1968. The production will also feature the Voices of Young Christian Servants gospel choir from our associated congregation, Everlasting Light Church. Refreshments and conversation with the cast will follow the celebration in the adjacent Fellowship Hall. Directions can be found here.
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.
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 erkanerva.gpc@sbcglobal.net no later than July 1st. 
Kaleidoscope will be held in St. Louis this year, and full details of the conference can be found here.
DEADLINE TO APPLY IS FRIDAY!

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.
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 david.oughton@slu.edu .
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 ( ukirkstl@gmail.com ) 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
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Seeking Interim Youth Minister
Trinity Presbyterian Church in University City is looking for an Interim Youth Minister for a four month period. Our permanent youth minister will be taking a leave of absence, beginning July 21 through November.  
This is a part-time position, handling elementary through high school programming, including Sunday morning Children's Worship, Confirmation class and youth groups. If interested, please contact Rev. Johanna Wagner at (314) 725-3840.
Volunteers Needed
YIKES! Our volunteers have left the property!! Due to the repeated natural disasters affecting our East Coast the Americorp Team scheduled to work at Mound Ridge Retreat Center has been relocated. We need your help to prepare for the busy season in our midst. CAN YOU HELP AFTER GA?? We need KITCHEN HELP (cooking, cleaning, serving) June 25-29 and CLEANING HELP (turning cabins around) June 28-29. Our resources are slimmer than ever but camp is especially breathtaking this year so…COME ON OUT!! Please let us know when to expect you, your youth group or team (no lodging available) www.moundridge.org 1-573-265-3098.
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 office@secondchurch.net , 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.