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February Devotional |
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Living Out
Our Baptism
Vows
By Cheryl Child,
DCE
at Lake Hills
I am always amazed each year at how the
secular calendar functions. In December we
are bombarded with new recipes for Christmas dinner,
thousands of advertisements for Christmas gifts, and
ways to be the most accommodating host or hostess. We are taught to
give and receive, how to entertain, and what foods to
enjoy.
Everyone wishes one another a "Merry
Christmas."
In fact, we are friendly and loving to those who
are not our favorite people. The spirit of
Christmas encompasses us in all aspects of our lives and
continues until the first working day in January. Then, it all
changes.
To read the
rest of the devotional, click here. |
| Did someone share our
e-newsletter with you? |
 |
| Session Annual Statistical
Reports Due Feb. 20 |
|
REMINDER
Wednesday, February 20,
2008, is the deadline for submitting
on-line the Session Annual Statistical Report and the
Clerk's Annual Questionnaire for Year Ending December
31, 2007.
According to the Records Department at the
Office of the General Assembly, as of January 22, 2008,
only 13% of the churches nationwide have entered their
statistical data.
Save yourself some time and frustration by
getting your data entered early. As the weeks go
by, the system will get slower because of increased
usage.
If you need assistance, contact
Gwen Pyle at the Presbytery office (gwen@presbyteryeasttn.org; 865-688-5581 or
800-542-4246).
James
McTyre
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| PET Calendar |
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2008 Presbytery Meetings:
Tuesday,
Feb. 5 @ 10:00am - Sequoyah Hills,
Knoxville
Saturday,
May 3 @ 10:00am - Location
TBA
(packet deadline: Apr.
15)
Tuesday,
August 19 @ 10:00am - Location
TBA
(packet deadline: July
31)
Saturday,
November 15 @ 10:00am - Location
TBA
(packet deadline: Oct.
28)
February Clergy
Lunches:
Interims:
Thurs. Feb 14, 11am-1pm @ Ruby Tuesdays in Athens, just
off Exit 49
South Area:
Tues., Feb. 19, noon @ Second,
Chattanooga
Mid Area:
Wed., Feb. 20, noon @ Cracker Barrel in Athens, just off
Exit 49
February Mission
Team/Committee Meetings:
Committee on Preparation for Ministry -
2/1, 12:00pm @ PET office
Equip Mission Team - 2/11,
10:00am @ Mars Hill
Committee on Ministry - 2/12,
11:00am @ Mars Hill
Committee on Preparation
for Ministry - 2/21, 12:00pm @ David
Bell's
home
Events
at John Knox Center:
Dates for Summer Camp 2008 online at
the JKC web site. Once there, click on
Summer Camp.
Youth Summit - March 7-9,
2008 in Gatlinburg
Forms and flyers have been mailed to all
churches. For links to these forms,
click here. Early Bird Registration Deadline: postmarked
by Feb. 4, 2008
Regular Registration Deadline: postmarked by
Feb. 18, 2008
Loaves & Fishes
Experience
April 4-5,
2008 at Rivermont Presbyterian Church,
Chattanooga. Information packets with brochures
and registration materials have been distributed to all
churches. Link to Loaves & Fishes
2008 web site.
For
the latest meeting and events information,
go to the presbytery web site: www.presbyteryeasttn.org
and
click on the Calendar of Events link.
Church Info-Pak Deadlines
for 2008:
Jan.
18
April
18
July 18
Oct. 17
These Info-Paks include information
for pastors and sessions, notices of churchwide events,
resources for church educators, and the presbytery
calendar. Info-Paks are mailed to all churches,
affiliated colleges and agencies, at-large and retired
ministers, and current members of PET mission teams and
committees.
|
| 2008-09 Presbyterian Planning
Calendars |
|
|
Order by April 21 for
bulk discount
It is time to
order the Presbyterian Planning Calendar for
2008-09. The bulk price remains at $6.60
each. The order form and payment must be
received in the Presbytery Office by April 21 to be
included in the bulk order.
To print or download the order
form, click here.
|
| Register Now for Loaves &
Fishes 2008 |
|
April 4 & 5 at
Rivermont, Chattanooga
Get your registration in now for
Loaves & Fishes Experience 2008 to enjoy the
discounted rate. Loaves & Fishes will be at
Rivermont Presbyterian Church in
Chattanooga on Friday and Saturday, April 4 and
5. Early Bird Registrations must be
postmarked by Feb. 22 to receive the
discount.
For additional
information, click here.
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| PC(USA) and Board of Pensions
Resources |
|
The
PC(USA) and Board of Pensions have many resources
to assist you in your daily life and ministry.
Check some of these out:
Tax Guidance for
Ministers and Churches - Find resources for
navigating the complexity of changing tax laws and
regulations at www.pensions.org/taxes
|
| Montreat Workshops |
|
The Montreat Conference Center is offering
the following workshops in March and April, 2008:
Solo Pastor to
Multi-Staff - Mar. 30-Apr. 4, more info
here.
Associate Pastors
Conference - Mar 31-Apr. 3, more info here.
Montreat Artist's
Series - Apr. 20-24, more info here. |
| Spread the News! |
|
| Don't keep the good news of our presbytery to
yourself! You can easily forward this newsletter
to others (friends, family, church members, etc.) by
using the convenient "Forward email" link at the bottom
of this newsletter. To help them get on the list
to receive our newsletter directly every month, you
can tell them to go to our website -- www.presbyteryeasttn.org -- where we
have a sign up button right in the middle of our home
page. We appreciate your
help! |
| We Want Your News! |
|
|
The purpose of this
newsletter is to provide you with the
information and support you need to keep in touch
and connected with your fellow Presbyterians in East
Tennessee. This monthly publication features news
and events from around the presbytery, resources to
assist you in your ministry, and devotionals authored by
our members.
We invite you to share
your news with us! All articles and news
items must be submitted by the 20th of the month prior
to publication. Send your information to Dana
Hendrix, preferably in electronic format. Her
e-mail address is Dana@presbyteryeasttn.org. | | |
| New PET Website
Online |
|
By Alan Payne, Moderator of the
Connect Mission Team
Most of you have seen the new
and improved PET website (www.presbyteryeasttn.org). If
you haven't yet checked it out, I urge you to do so.
Your critique (both positive and negative) is invited
and welcome. This is a work in progress.
Indeed, to be useful it must
be fluid and regularly updated. We hope to keep the
format and style constant so that it is easy to
navigate, but the content will change as
needed.
Check your website often to
keep current on happenings in your Presbytery. I invite
you to do as I have done and make it the home page on
your browser. This way you will be reminded that we are
a connected church, and you won't forget to check for
the latest news and events.
PS - Don't forget to keep the
Presbytery office informed when you find things that
need changing, updating, or adding to YOUR
website. |
| News and Events Around the
Presbytery |
|
Center Church's Haunted
House Benefits Many
 The
Youth and Young Adult Group at Center
Presbyterian Church in Tellico Plains have had
a Haunted House in the old Center School across the road
from the church for 28 years. The proceeds
from the event go to purchase Thanksgiving and Christmas
food baskets.
They have averaged approximately $2,000 each year
in receipts; this year more than $3,000 was
collected. Ticket prices have remained at $1 and $2 since
the beginning.
Twenty-six Thanksgiving fruit baskets and 32
Christmas food baskets were delivered this year.
To read more, click here.
Madisonville Performs Live
Nativity
 A
few days before Christmas Day, when people tend to be
running around at their highest speed, catching the
sales and buying all sorts of things,
Madisonville Presbyterian Church asked
our town to slow down just for a couple of hours and
reflect on why Christmas matters. For two
evenings, we staged a Live Nativity on the lawn at our
church.
There were four stalls that
re-created the city of Bethlehem on that night so long
ago, each with a tradesperson and their wares. At
the beginning of each night, we began with an
interactive re-enactment of the Nativity. To read
more, click here.
Two Churches Install New Pastors
 The Rev. Keith W. Jones
was installed as the pastor at New Hope,
Chattanooga on January 6, 2008. Pictured
here with Rev. Jones are members of the Installation
Commission, left to right: Rev. Lina Hart, Rev. Joe B.
Martin, Elder June Little, Rev. Bud Little, Rev. Keith
Jones, Elder Mary McMillan and PET Moderator Jeff
Paris.
Concord
Presbyterian Church in Concord welcomed its new pastor, the Rev.
David Webster, on Jan. 20, 2008. David's
mom, Margee Webster, created this beautiful gingerbread
version of the Concord church. She baked the
sections in Spokane, WA, transported them to Knoxville
and constructed the church on site.
To see additional photos
from these installations, click here.
PET Leaders Learn About CT
(it's not a disease)
About 25 presbytery leaders gathered on
a mid-January weekend at the First Presbyterian
Church, Sweetwater, to learn more about
Congregational Transformation (CT) from consultant,
Steve Boots.
Churches of all size are waking up to the fact
that in order to respond to changing communities, new
attitudes in our younger generations and a variety of
other cultural shifts, they need to be transformed.
"Transformation," according to
Boots, "is not working harder, faster and smarter in the
same direction. It is about change and challenge,
leaving the past and looking ahead. It is about death
and resurrection." To read more, click here.
A tale of a start toward congregational
transformation:
First United
Presbyterian Church in Knoxville is a small,
struggling congregation with a long history. To read
about their journey into congregational transformation,
click here.
Lake Hills Offers
Opportunites for Enrichment
Lake Hills is hosting a
Presbyterian Women's Day Retreat on
Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008 from 9:00am to 3:00pm. The
Retreat will be held at Maryville College's
House in the Woods and will feature two large
group sessions led by Dr. Emily
Anderson of New Providence
church and a series of smaller workshops. Register
early (by 2/13) and pay $30; the fee is $35
thereafter. Lunch is included. For
additional information, click here.
Lake
Hills also invites you to attend their
14th Annual Enrichment Dinner on
Sunday, March 9, featuring guest speaker Tony
Campolo. Dinner will be at 6:00pm and Dr.
Campolo will speak at 7:30pm. Cost for dinner and
program: $20; Program only: $10. For more
information, click here.
Annual Youth Summit in Gatlinburg, March
7-9
Youth Summit is fast
approaching and it is time to get ready for the best
Youth Summit ever. The event will take place
March 7-9, 2008 in Gatlinburg and is
open to all youth in grades 9-12.
We will be staying the Glenstone Lodge, with activities
taking place at the Gatlinburg Convention Center.
Our special guest speaker will be Casey Thompson,
Associate Pastor for Congregational Life at Idlewild
Presbyterian Church in Memphis, TN. Brochures,
flyers and registration forms have been sent to all
churches. Registrations must be postmarked by Feb.
19. For links to these forms, click here.
Singing for THEIR
Supper - A Hunger Action Event at Westminster,
March 30
 "Singing for THEIR Supper" is a concert featuring
singer/songwriter and Hunger Action Enabler Bryan
McFarland. The concert will be held at the
Westminster Presbyerian Church in
Knoxville on Sunday, March 30, 2008 from 2:00
to 4:00pm. This multi-faceted event includes a
food drive, a Bread for the World Offering of Letters,
sales of hunger action oriented items, an offering for
Cents-Ability (Two-Cents-A-Meal), worship and
music. For more information about this
presbytery-wide event, please contact Deborah Phillips,
Hunger Action Enabler at (865) 335-0342.
 Annual Spring Gathering of PWP,
April 25
Save the Date:
Spring Forward at the Annual Spring
Gathering of Presbyterian Women of the Presbytery of
East Tennessee, April 25, 2008 at 10:00am,
Second Presbyterian Church,
Knoxville. Details to
follow.
Older Adult Ministry
Annual Spring Event, May 14 - Hey God,
Listen!
 The Older Adult
Ministry Group is bringing noted children's author Roxie
Gibson to speak at their annual spring event on May 14,
2008. The event will be held at Mars Hill
Presbyterian Church in Athens from 9:30am to
1:30pm. The cost will be $10 per person.
Churches will receive brochures and registration
forms by the end of March.
Maryville College Civic Arts Center
Update
 The bulldozers,
backhoes and dump trucks have finished with site
preparation and moved off the Maryville
College campus temporarily, but the heavy
equipment is expected to return in early March, when
construction begins in earnest on the $47-million Civic
Arts Center (CAC). The facility will include a
1,200-seat performance hall, a 250-seat recital hall, a
200-seat, flexible theatre, a grand lobby offering a
250-seat capacity dining area, three
gallery/exhibit spaces and an outdoor arts plaza
that can be used for special events. To read more,
click here. |
| One Great Hour of
Sharing |
|
|
By Deborah
Phillips, Hunger Action
Enabler
One Great Hour of Sharing is a
special offering that is taken up during Lent, Palm
Sunday and/or Easter Sunday and benefits three
ministries: the Self-Development of People ministry, the
Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Presbyterian Disaster
Assistance.
For tips on
conducting a successful offering or to find out more
about these ministries, click here. |
| New Vision's Advertising and
Marketing Program |
|
 The New Vision
Committee and the Equip Mission
Team have continued their advertising campaign this
month, with ads shown on both Comcast and Charter cable
companies.
Most are shown between 6:00-10:00 p.m., on
family-friendly stations such as TBS, HGTV, TNT, and
ESPN during some University of Tennessee basketball
games. The
advertising will increase during the Lenten season, and
assistance is available for churches who would like to
reinforce the television ad campaign with print and
other media advertising in their local
area.
To learn more about
the advertising campaign and how your church can
benefit, click here. |
| Resource Review: We
Believe Curriculum |
|
By Grace James,
DCE at New Prospect
Hi, my name is Grace James,
and I am the DCE at New Prospect. We are a very
small church with great potential for growth. I
have served larger churches in the St. Louis area and
the Korean Church here in Knoxville since
graduation. My internship in Richmond, VA was with
a moderate sized, community church.
The one thing in common with
all three was their use of Cook Curriculum. Having
studied about other curriculum in seminary, Cook seemed
to be the one used by these Presbyterian churches by
default. It was what they had always
used.
 Being a small church with a small
budget, the Sunday School teacher for the children was
creating her own lessons. She did an excellent
job, but when I came in, I found that with my other
full-time job, I did not have time to do a good job of
reinventing the wheel. I went to the Resource
Center at Presbytery and looked around. I found
the "We Believe" Winter packet for children's
classes. What a fantastic
curriculum!
To read more of this review, click here. |
| WANTED: Camp John Knox Summer
Staff 2008 |
|
 Are
you or is someone you know looking for a rewarding
summer ministry opportunity? Are you at least 18
years old? Our summer staff is comprised of amazing
Christians from around the country who come to Camp John
Knox each summer to serve. While living in a
Christian community we worship, grow, and laugh
together. Our staff is gifted at creating a
vibrant, exciting, compassionate Christian environment
where children are safe, included, and loved. We
are serious about our call to ministry each day, but we
also have fun doing it. Come for a fun, faith
filled summer experience serving children and creating
memories that will last a lifetime!
 Positions
available:
Counselors
Music Leader
Arts & Crafts Coordinator
Program Assistant*
Staff Training
begins May 27, 2008
*Program Assistant
position begins May 13.
 For
an application, click here.
Also Needed: Camp
Nurse
|
| From the Moderator of the
PC(USA) General Assembly |
|
 Hi Friends!
The 2008th General Assembly (June
21-28, 2009) is less than six months away. If you
haven't already start praying now! I encourage
every pastor or session to organize a prayer group or
galvanize the groups you already have in your church to
pray for our denomination. Sadly, I have found
that it is far, far more common for people to complain
about what they don't like in the PC(USA) than to pray
for it. This should not be so.
I plead with you to organize the
people in your congregation who care about the larger
church to begin now to bathe the 2008th General Assembly
in prayer. Here are a few suggestions to get you
started:
-
pray for all the commissioners
and for the youth and other advisory delegates who are
being elected in presbyteries all over the country
now. Pray for wisdom and good judgment in the
selection process for these important
people.
-
pray for wisdom and good judgment
as presbyteries consider and vote on overtures to the
Assembly.
-
pray for the Committee on Local
Arrangement in San Jose, California as they prepare to
receive and offer hospitality to thousands of
people.
-
pray for those persons who are
considering standing as candidates for Moderator of
the 2008th General Assembly; also for those
considering standing as candidates for Stated Clerk of
the General Assembly and for the search committee
which will present a nominee to the Assembly (Steve
Grace is chair of that
committee).
This is just the tip of the
iceberg; I will send more suggestions later.
But please begin now to rattle the
gates of heaven with our desire for God's perfect will
to be done at the 2008th Assembly and throughout this
little Presbyterian piece of the worldwide body of
Christ where God has placed us.
Grace and peace,
Joan
Joan S. Gray
Moderator, 217th
General Assembly (2006)
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To subscribe and receive
her e-mail update letters directly, click here. |
| Quick Links |
|
Mission Team
Blogs:
The Tool Box - Equip
Resources for ministry, conference
announcements, grant application forms,
etc.
Serve Mission Team
Information on mission
opportunities in East Tennessee and beyond, offers of
support and requests for assistance from PET churches,
etc.
Care Cafe -
Support
Special events for
clergy and their families, area clergy lunches,
conference info, link to BOP, etc.
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