PCUSA
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What Came First – the Mentor or the Mentee?
Originally posted on The Presbyterian Leader on May 30, 2012 . . . Last week, I was at the Korean-American Clergywomen Conference at San Francisco Theological Seminary. For the past twenty-one years, this group of women have been meeting to provide support, advocacy, and resources for each other in a world where they receive few to none.…
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A Moderator’s Instruction Manual
Originally posted on The Presbyterian Leader on May 17, 2012 . . . Depending on your presbytery, the job of the moderator can vary. However, we are living in a time when most of our presbyteries are facing some serious challenges: financial, church dismissals, staff restructures, struggling congregations, and more. In many cases, it has…
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The Accidental Leader
Originally posted on The Presbyterian Leader on May 3, 2012 I call myself an accidental leader, not because I don’t feel that I possess the necessary skills, temperament, and experience, but because I came about being a leader quite on accident and not by choice. I think many of us have had that experience sitting…
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Urban Ministry: Making the Switch
It seems that parish ministry is a challenging line of work these days, whether you are in a rural, suburban, or urban context. Parish ministry gets even more interesting if you are serving a church that is considered a new development, a redevelopment, or in transition of figuring out what their future is. At some…
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What If Churches Were Missional Outposts?
In March, we were able to hold our 2nd Urban Legacy Gathering, where twenty-two San Francisco PCUSA churches gathered together. This time we were able to gather ALL 22! Since this was the second gathering, we wanted to continue the energy and excitement from the last gathering. While the first gathering focused on getting to…
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Is There a Different Way to Do Presbytery Meetings?
I began my moderator year for the Presbytery of San Francisco January of this year. My focus for this year is to change the way we meet during our Presbytery meetings. Like most presbyteries, we sit in pews for 5-7 hours listening to reports and voting on important issues. What is clear is that people…
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United We Stand, Divided We Fall
22“No!” the other woman shouted. “He was your son. My baby is alive!” “The dead baby is yours,” the first woman yelled. “Mine is alive!” They argued back and forth in front of Solomon, 23until finally he said, “Both of you say this live baby is yours.24Someone bring me a sword.” A sword was brought, and Solomon ordered, 25“Cut the…
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The World Is Flat or Is It? – Changes in Presbytery & GA
9 The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. (John 2.9) Jesus chose as his first miracle to change water into wine. Seems like a mundane trick to choose as your first “hey guys, look what I can do”…
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Help the Children: Empower or Save?
13 Some people brought children to Jesus so that he would place his hands on them and pray. But the disciples scolded them. 14 “Allow the children to come to me,” Jesus said. “Don’t forbid them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these children.” 15 Then he blessed the children and went away from there. (Matthew 19.13-15) Recently, there…
