July 10, 2006

Glen Burnie Korean Presbyterian Church
100 3rd Avenue Southwest, Glen Burnie, MD 21061
(410) 760-0956

The Presbytery of Baltimore welcomes our newest member church, Glen Burnie Korean Presbyterian Church. The Presbytery of Baltimore, joined by the Atlantic Korean-American Presbytery and the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic, successfully overtured the 217th General Assembly (2006) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to transfer the GBKPC from the Atlantic Korean-American Presbytery, of which it was a member, to the Presbytery of Baltimore, effective with the adjournment of the GA.

On Sunday, July 9^th, GBKPC celebrated their 25^th anniversary. During the celebration they installed their first woman elder and hosted a special guest, Rev. No, a pastor now serving in L.A. who was raised in the church.

Rev. Chang Eun Chung began leading worship for the GBKPC community on the first Sunday in July of 1981 in the Harundale PC facilities. In 1988 the GBKPC community moved to a new building and in 1996 they added a new sanctuary and fellowship hall. The GBKPC has grown from a tiny gathering to have a membership of 200 people, including children. They have nine weekly Sunday School classes for people of all ages, from infant to adult. They also have a youth group for middle and high school students. GBKPC hosts and operates the Baltimore Bible College for Lay persons and the Korean School of Glen Burnie, a language school for children in kindergarten through the eleventh grade that meets every Saturday.

GBKPC supports a variety of missions. One of their local missions is the MD Korean Social Service center, through which they offer services, resources and training to Korean Immigrants. They are heavily involved in global mission, supporting overseas missionaries South America and Indonesia. They also support 15 World Vision orphans in Asia and Africa and participate in the Good Neighbors America program, which helps North Korean people. A particularly interesting mission that the church supports is the One Dollar Mission: every member of the church gives $1 per month to the mission which goes towards paying for blind people in Korea to regain sight through surgery. GBKPC helps 10 people to regain sight each year through this Christian charity.

Rev. Chung and his wife, Doris, were married in 1975 in Seoul, South Korea. Rev. Chung was ordained in 1977 in the Korean Presbyterian Church and served as a chaplain for a mission high school in Korea. He and Doris emigrated from Seoul in May of 1980. They have two daughters and one grandson. Rev. Chung has a weekly segment on Washington American Korean Broadcasting, a Korean-language satellite radio station.

Inside this issue

Take Note/Act Now

§ Middle School Retreat

§ Youth Council Help Needed

§ Correction from Pres. Mtg.

§ Seeking Web Designer

§ Adoption Info Request

§ Christian Ed. Conference

§ National Pastors’ Sabbath

§ Excellent Web Resource

§ Peacemaking Conference

Prayer Concerns

Mt. Hebron PC

People

The Rev. Richard Shreffler (Pastor Emeritus, First PC of Bel Air) is moving to Texas to be with his niece, Sara.

Sarah Schmidt, John Schmidt’s daughter, will be ordained July 23^rd and has accepted a call to Westernville, NY.

Dickey Memorial PC has a pizza garden. It’s fun. Ask Rev. Liz Johnson about it.

Prayer Concerns

Mt. Hebron PC

asks for prayers:

· that their open staff positions of Director of Christian Education and Organist/Choir Director will be filled soon with talented and dedicated people

· for their church driveway project that is moving along slowly, but steadily

Take Note/Act Now

Baltimore Presbytery Items

The 2006 Presbytery Middle School Retreat will be held at camp Wo-Me-To from October 13-15. More details will be available soon.

Youth Council is looking for Adults. We need more adults to help the youth with planning and running the retreats and rally. For more information please email Marla Youkers at myoukers@comcast.net.

Bill Pinches would like to correct a statement he made at the presbytery meeting last week. He said that Millie Kreider served on CPM for six years, three of them as chair. He should have said that Millie served for six years, four of them as chair. Bill would like to apologize publicly to Millie for the misstatement -- and, again, thank her for her extraordinarily faithful and diligent service to this presbytery.

Hamilton PC is looking for a web designer who will do pro bono work to help them create a site to highlight their new contemporary service. Anyone who is interested or who knows someone who might be should contact Rev. Daniel Pendergrass 410.426.1444.

From Rev. Elizabeth McLean, Woods PC: Dear Faith Community, I need your help. As you may have already heard, I have decided to pursue becoming an adoptive parent. While I hope and pray that parenthood is a part of God's plan for me, and am working with an agency and a lawyer, adopting domestically as a single parent is still a "long shot." So I would appreciate it if you would please keep your ears and eyes open for me for adoption opportunities, and keep me in your prayers. I would be happy to provide more information as needed. 410-647-2550.

Synod and GA items

Sankofa is a conference for all persons serving in educational ministry, hosted by the APCE. The conference will take place at the Philadelphia Marriot from January 31- February 3, 2007. For more information, see APCE’s website: http://apcenet.org

Save the Date! The PC(USA) will host the next National Pastor’s Sabbath from June 28 – July 2, 2007 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Later in the summer, when the site launches, Pastors may learn more about the event, speakers, and location at www.pcusa.org/pastorsabbath.

Other Resources and Articles

Cathedral College has a web page containing an extensive list of links to useful online resources for preaching and congregational leadership, denominational websites and more. Check it out at: http://www.cathedralcollege.org/pages/lnks.shtml

Other Events

Friends School of Baltimore and Stony Run Friends Meeting are co-sponsoring a one-day conference for educators, parents and concerned citizens: Peacemaking at Home, School & Community on Sat., Nov. 11, 2006 at Friends School in Baltimore, MD (info flyer).

Also on our website

Don’t miss all the new Local Church Announcements at: http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/announcements.html Presbytery Yearly Calendar

Past Issues of Tidings are available at: http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/midweekmail.html.

Peter Nord, Executive Presbyter

pnord@baltimorepresbytery.org

Bill Millen, Associate Executive

bmillen@baltimorepresbytery.org

Deb Milcarek

Associate of Mission and Justice

dmilcarek@baltimorepresbytery.org

Charles Forbes, Stated Clerk

cforbes@baltimorepresbytery.org