August 21, 2024

Greetings Presbytery Family!

Grace and peace to you this week as we journey together in faith, supporting and uplifting one another in Christ's love. This edition of Staying Connected shares updates from the PW Churchwide Gathering, a reminder about our Training Thursdays webinar and other upcoming events in our presbytery.

News From Around the Presbytery

Presbyterian Planning Calendars

The 2024-2025 Presbyterian Planning Calendars are now available. The price is $15 per calendar. Click here to order.

Hurricane Checklist

Make sure you are prepared for hurricane season. Click here for a hurricane checklist.

• Bulletin Insert

Clergy Gatherings

Save the dates, below, for the upcoming clergy gatherings. If you are planning to come, please let David Rollins, Lead Presbyter, know.

• Jacksonville -- Area August 22, 12:00 p.m. at Scramblers (1500 University Blvd.)
• Ocala area -- August 28, 11:30 a.m. at Cheddar's (4065 SW College Rd.)

Board of Trustees: Opportunity to Serve

The board of trustees carries out an important function: To care for all the properties held in trust by the congregations of the presbytery. What does this mean? It means they review requests for loans to congregations and all requests to sell or lease real properties held in trust by the congregation. The Board of Trustees meets once a month on the fourth Tuesday of the month via Zoom. Meeting materials are sent out ahead of time to help keep meetings to an hour.

There are two vacancies for the class of 2025, three vacancies for the class of 2026 and two vacancies for the class of 2027, leaving the Board short of members. This is an invitation for you to prayerfully consider serving as a trustee for the 2025, 2026 and/or 2027 class. This is serving God’s people in another way. If you have any questions and are interested in serving, please contact Ana Lugo, president and chair.

PC(USA) International Peacemaker Visit

Zoughbi Zoughbi, Founder and Director of Wi'am, the Bethlehem Center for Non-Violence, will visit our presbytery September 26 through October 2. The opportunities to meet and hear from Zoughbi Zoughbi are below:

•  September 27 -- Palestinian Dinner and Talk, Memorial PC at 6:00 p.m.
• September 28 -- Potluck Lunch and Talk with Islamic Center, Fort King PC at 12:00 p.m.
• September 30 -- Conversation, Westminster Woods at 2:00 p.m.
• October 1 -- Presbytery Meeting, Palatka First PC

For more information and to RSVP, please contact Ervin Bullock.

Prayer Corner

Please pray for the Lord to guide the following church (its staff and session) this week:

Orange Park Presbyterian Church

Leadership

Sandra Hedrick

Albert Plunkett

Presbyterian Women

From the PW Moderator

2024 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women

First off, I would like to send my most heartfelt THANK YOU to you all (the presbytery) for allowing me to represent you and Presbyterian Women.

The 2024 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women was held in St. Louis, Mo. August 8 through 11, with business meeting on August 7. This year marked the return of an in-person Churchwide Gathering, and it did not disappoint. There was lots of energy and enthusiasm. We had 10 attendees from our presbytery attend, and I was very proud of that!

The business meeting consisted of a few changes to the by-laws, report of the audit, the budget and election of new officers. Participants of the Gathering came together as we reflected, learned new things, felt new things, celebrated and were inspired and hopefully inspired others over the few days we were together. There were many workshops that ranged from Bible study topics for the next few years, justice, empowering women and girls, prayers and litanies.

Everyday opened with a morning plenary session and the day ended with an evening plenary session. There is something heart warming and peaceful about being around 1,000 women worshiping, shopping at the bookstore, sharing a cup of coffee, riding the elevator or just simply have a conversation.

Again, thank you for this opportunity.

Nancy Carlton

PW Moderator

Annual Summer Gathering & Bible Study Kick-Off

Registration

The 2024 Annual Summer Gathering and 2024-2025 Bible Study Kick-Off is this weekend! Click here to register online.

PW Bible Study

The 2024-2025 Bible Study is, Let Justice Roll Down: God's Call to Care for Neighbors and All Creation, by Patricia K. Tull.

This PW/Horizons Bible study is an invitation to explore and to act, with all hearts, in responding to an issue that impacts all life on God’s earth. Readers will learn about ecological systems, the challenges we face in this time of accelerated climate change and the possibilities available to address or counter the impact of human-made stress on our environment. Further, readers will explore theological questions that point them to act and engage, in large and small ways.

Justice and Peace Calendar

Click here to view the 2024 PW Justice and Peace Calendar.

Learning Opportunities

Training Thursdays: Mission Insite

Join us on August 22, at 2:00 p.m. for our Training Thursdays webinar! The Training Thursdays webinar for the month of August will be on Mission Insite. This webinar will feature special guest, Drake Hoffman, from ACS Technologies. In this session, Drake will uncover how we can discover where people live (both our congregants and our neighbors), how to best communicate and ways to minister to them that meet them where they are. We will take a closer look at geography and see the story that the data tells us in our area to better serve our community. Click here to register on Zoom.

Certificate in Fundraising

Have you ever wanted a certificate in religious fundraising? Wouldn’t it be great to help the organizations you work with better utilize their financial resources? There is a great opportunity being offered, in the Presbytery of St. Augustine, at Riverside Presbyterian Church. Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising (ECRF) training will be September 16 through 18. As part of a covenantal church relationship, there is a HALF-OFF registration rate for members of the Presbytery of St. Augustine (both clergy and laity). These spots will go quickly, so please register as soon as possible.

Click here to register.

Youth Ministry

Presbytery Youth Retreat

The Presbytery Youth Retreat will take place October 4 through 6, at Montgomery Center. This is a retreat for youth in grades six through 12. Click here to register your group by September 15.

Cruising with Montgomery

Do you love Montgomery? Do you enjoy cruising? You can now combine those passions on an Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Caribbean Princess. This cruise departs from Port Canaveral on January 6, 2025, with ports of call Nassau, San Juan and Grand Turk, returning to Port Canaveral on January 12. Staterooms start at $494 and are filling fast! A portion of your cruise fare will be given back to support the vision and mission of Montgomery Center. Don't wait to book. Come vacation with us!

Key Events

• Aug. 22 – Clergy Gathering at 12:00 p.m. at Scramblers (1500 University Blvd.) in Jacksonville
• Aug. 22 – Training Thursdays: Mission Insite
• Aug.24 – POSA Presbyterian Women Summer Gathering & Bible Study Kick-Off at Montgomery Center
• Aug. 28 – Clergy Gathering at 11:30 a.m. at Cheddar's (4065 SW College Rd.) in Ocala
• Oct. 1 – Meeting of the Presbytery
• Oct. 4 through 6 – Presbytery Youth Retreat at Montgomery Center

Positions Available In Our Presbytery

Check out the many ministry opportunities throughout our presbytery here.

Blessings,

Steve Crowley, Moderator of the Presbytery

Charlie Evans, Stated Clerk

David Rollins, Lead Presbyter