June 19, 2006

GA is underway!

The 217^th meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), is well underway. Delegates and staff members from the Presbytery of Baltimore are in Birmingham, Alabama participating in this important bi-annual all-church meeting which started on Thursday, June 15^th and will continue through Thursday, June 22^nd.

Peter Nord has been writing a daily report on GA, "Letters from Birmingham". You may read Peter’s commentary detailing the events of the past few days via links on our homepage: www.baltimorepresbytery.org. Check back to our homepage each day after 11am for new postings by Peter.

The 2006 delegates from the Presbytery of Baltimore attending GA are: Rev. Mary Gaut, Maryland PC and Rev. Ron Hankins, Sr., Trinity PC (minister commissioners); Elder Catherine Blacka, First PC of Howard Co., and Elder Jenifer Rucker, Madison Avenue PC (elder commissioners); and Kati Ruark, First PC of Cumberland (youth advisory delegate). To learn more about our delegates, check out their bios in the whitebook from the January meeting of Presbytery (#816). Presbytery staff members and officers Peter Nord, Charles Forbes, Deb Milcarek, Florence Henderson and Anita Hendrix are also attending the GA proceedings.

We also invite you to visit the PC(USA) GA website to read about the proceedings of the General Assembly. You can look at professionally-taken photos, watch excellent quality live feeds of the general sessions, read the schedule of events, read about the next moderator of GA, Joan Gray, read news stories from each day's proceedings and more.

Keep checking back to our homepage throughout GA for links, news and updates. Don't forget to pray for our leaders and delegates!

Love in Christ,
Janice Kominski, Coordinator of Communication

Inside this issue

Events of the Week:

General Assembly of PC(USA)

Birmingham, AL June 15-22

Take Note/Act Now

§ Urgent Call for Volunteers

§ Gulf Coast Volunteer Coord.

§ The Big Event 2/17/07

§ Ordination Exam Readers

§ General Assembly

§ Ecumenical Institute

§ Justice for Children & Families

Prayer Concerns

Christ Our Anchor PC

People

Please pray for Alice McGee who is recovering from hip surgery.

Pray for safety and wisdom for our delegates and staff members who are in Birmingham for the 217th GA through this Thursday, the 22^nd.

Congratulations to St. John’s UPC ($1M), Catonsville PC ($1M), and Faith PC ($400K) on their successful fundraising efforts.

Prayer Concerns

Christ Our Anchor PC

asks for prayers:

· for the youth mission trip to Pennsylvania

· for VBS in July

· of Thanksgiving for the children of the church

· for ongoing support of local, national and international mission work

· for their new Labyrinth

Take Note/Act Now

Baltimore Presbytery Items

Urgent call for Volunteers! It has come to our attention that a potential deadline is being imposed upon the City of New Orleans. Homeowners will have to have their homes “gutted” or cleaned out by the anniversary date of Hurricane Katrina (8/29) or they may be destroyed. There are long waiting lists for homeowners trying to get this work done. This is not much notice to arrange for a large church group to travel; however, the Presbytery of Baltimore’s Gulf Coast Volunteer Coordinator, Pete Berlowitz, is available to help assist small groups, families and individuals who wish to arrange to answer this call for help. Please contact pberlowitz@baltimorepresbytery.org for information.

Read about the Presbytery of Baltimore’s new Gulf Coast Volunteer Coordinator, Pete Berlowitz. He is already at work, assisting some of our congregations with their Katrina recovery mission trips. (Read more about Pete and his role from Deb Milcarek).

Please enter Saturday, February 17, on your church's 2007 Planning Calendar – the date for The Big Event at Woods Presbyterian Church – a week earlier than in the past. We are thrilled to announce that the key-note speaker will be best selling author and leader in the Emergence Church movement, Rev. Brian McLaren (More re: workshops & Brian).

The Committee on Preparation for Ministry is in need of some ministers and (especially) elders who would be willing to serve as readers for the standard ordination examinations (more details). Readers must be elected by the Presbytery; it is the committee’s hope to elect three readers at the June Presbytery meeting. Contact Rev. Bill Pinches at 301-689-3538 or billpinches@gmail.com as soon as possible.

Synod and GA items

The General Assembly will convene on Thursday, June 15^th. Read about our delegates on the Presbytery homepage: www.baltimorepresbytery.org. Also, Presbyterian Elders in Prayer have created a prayer resource for use before and during GA; a link is posted on our homepage.

Other Resources and Articles

The Ecumenical Institute at St. Mary’s Seminary and University is offering a summer shadowing program for prospective students June 26-29. Registration for fall classes opens July 10^th (more information).

Other Events

On Saturday, July 8, The Committee on Justice for Children and Their Families of the National Council of Churches for Christ is sponsoring A Call to Prayer and Public Witness in Washington, D.C. The day will include a service of prayer and worship, workshops, and a call to advocacy on behalf of children (flyer with local announcement).

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