TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2026

Open Us to Wonders

Creator God, open us today to the wonders all around us. Invite us to discover your presence in each person we meet and each step we take on the paths of our lives. Give us faith and courage to listen to your call. Even if we are not sure where we are going, help us know that your hand guides us and your love supports us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. 

-Prayer of the Day by Katie Brendler

August 2, 2026 SCAPC Worship Service

Don Frampton to Preach this Sunday

This Sunday, August 9, we welcome the Rev. Dr. Don Frampton back to the pulpit as guest preacher. Don served SCAPC ably for 24 years as Senior Pastor, helped pastor this church and lead the community post-Katrina, and was made Senior Pastor Emeritus in 2019 upon his retirement. We are grateful that Don and Colleen Frampton are part of the SCAPC community and continue to participate in our life together, along with their adult children and grandchildren. Thank you, Don!

Update from the Associate Pastor Nominating Committee

The APNC is hard at work and has become very well-versed in acronyms! We are especially grateful that SCAPC recently completed the hard work of creating a new Strategic Plan. That document became our roadmap as we considered who we are as a church, where we are today, and where God may be leading us as we search for our new AP (Associate Pastor). Because the entire congregation participated in creating the Strategic Plan, the congregation’s voice is reflected throughout our MDP (Ministry Discernment Profile).

We spent our first month together crafting the MDP. It serves as both a job description and a portrait of our congregation. It describes who we are as a church, our mission, our values, our community, and both our strengths and opportunities for growth.

The Session approved our MDP at its June meeting. Next came approval from the COM (Committee on Ministry), the Presbytery committee that guides and supports congregations through the pastoral search process. We received COM approval in late June, and just before the Fourth of July we posted our MDP on the CLC (Church Leadership Connection), the Presbyterian matching and referral system.

Within days, dozens of candidates matched with us and submitted their PDPs (Pastor Discernment Profiles) for our review. We have also been reaching out to pastors recommended by colleagues, members of our congregation, and others. We are now in the very early stages of getting to know potential candidates, with initial conversations taking place over Zoom.

The APNC process is Presbyterian through and through—it is thoughtful, prayerful, collaborative, and committee-driven! We trust that God’s timing is the right timing, so while we are moving forward with purpose, we are not rushing the process. Our prayer is that, when the time comes, our congregation will joyfully and confidently say a resounding “OK!” to the person God is calling to serve as our next AP.

-Dawn Talbot, APNC Chair

New Staff at the Aden Program

This week we welcomed to the Aden Program for Elder Care Karen Crain who will seve as Assistant Director. Her previous career has been in fundraising, specializing in event management and client development. She has a passion for arts and is a natural hostess. To learn more about the Aden program, visit our Aden page.

YAF End-of-Summer Party at the Batture

As the summer wraps up, join the Young Adults & Families (YAF) for a celebration before the school year starts! We'll gather this Thursday, July 30, at 5 p.m. at The Batture (25 Walnut Street). Food trucks and yard games will be on site. All ages are welcome! Questions? Email Caitlin@scapc.org.

YAF Volunteer Morning at JLNO Diaper Bank

Join the Young Adults and Families at the JLNO Diaper Bank Warehouse as we volunteer to bundle diapers and pack period kits for distribution into the community! This is a family-friendly, social, community opportunity for anyone age 8 and older. We meet Saturday, August 8, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the JLNO Diaper Bank Warehouse (1109 N. Al Davis Road, Elmwood, LA 70123). Sign up on our YAF webpage.

Mahjong Monday August 3

Our next “Mahjong Monday” will be August 3 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Land Building! Know the basic rules of the game? Beginners through experts of all ages are invited to join a table or sign up a group on the SCAPC app or through our calendar page. This is a game night, not a tutorial program. There is no fee for the event.

Challenger Class (4th-5th Graders) Swimming Day

All 4th and 5th graders are invited to a Challenger Class Swimming Day on the Northshore next Sunday, August 9! Drop-off time at the church will be 11 a.m. and pick-up time at the church will be 5 p.m. Please contact Michele Murphy at michele@scapc.org to sign up.

Welcome, New Members

Please join us in welcoming the Horn and Kennedy families who became SCAPC members on Sunday!

Hanson and Betsy Horn with baby Bill

Michael and Cayla Kennedy

Youth Retreat at Our Sister Church in Cuba

Youth members of El Fuerte Presbyterian Church, our sister church in Cardenas, Cuba, sent us this picture of the youth retreat they held this past weekend. To learn more about our Cuba ministry, visit our Cuba ministry page.

Blessing of the Backpacks

Saturday's Blessing of the Backpacks at Okra Abbey was hot but blessed! Our thanks go out to all the volunteers who brought and helped serve food, brought and distributed school supplies, and generally brought joy to this fun day of fellowship with our neighboors in the Pigeontown Neighborhood. Co-General Presbyter Jeff Sims joined SCAPC and Berean Presbyterian Church members in celebrating. Our gratitude goes out to them as well as to SCAPC's Community Ministry Committee and Session!

Benji Brubaker, Director of Okra Abbey, wrote:

"It is hard to find adequate words to express our gratitude for all of your support of Okra Abbey over the past ten years. From donations to volunteers, prayers and hot meals for Grace and Greens, the members of SCAPC have demonstrated commitment, creativity, and collaboration every step of the way. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this beloved community a reality!"

Special PW Visit

Last week, members of the Presbyterian Women's Tuesday Evening Circle paid a visit to SCAPC member Frances McCall in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Frances served as the Bible Moderator for the Circle for many years. Shown here from left are Gwen Wertz, Mary Monsted, Frances, Martha Beveridge, and Darlene Guillot.

Seeing God All Over the World

Thank you to all who have sent us postcards sharing where you've seen God this summer! Send us a postcard or bring one to church to let us know where you've been moved by the spirit. We are sharing them on the bulletin board in Frampton Fellowship Hall. Here are a couple we received this week:

Lyn Fabacher wrote:

"While in Highlands, North Carolina to enjoy the cool mountains for the summer, I have been attending First Presbyterian here, a quaint and lovely church that was built in 1882 and is the town's oldest church. I have loved attending here!"

Stephanie Carter wrote:

"Sylvie and I are spending some of our summer in the Catskills and other spots in New York. We've enjoyed seeing groundhogs, chipmunks, foxes, turkeys, and deer - sometimes close up! Syl says she most feels God's presence when she sees these animals in the wild."

The Weiser family wrote:

"Our family has spent a week exploring and relaxing in the Georgia mountains, visiting multiple lovely towns, riding a scenic train, and hiking. We have found peace in God's presence rocking on our cabin's porch overlooking a valley, listening to the wildlife greeting the day, and experiencing multiple encounters with black bears. We stood in awe of his mighty power at the base of a 150' waterfall we hiked to, cresting over rocky terrain. What a gift it is to be able to set aside time to enjoy being together as a family!"

The Zander family wrote:

“Greetings from New Hampshire and Dartmouth College. The weather is lovely up here and the landscape is serene with evidence of God in nature.”