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August 10, 2017 Issue 105
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Quickly go to the articles listed by clicking on the title below.
Use the QUICK LINKS at the bottom of this column to be easily directed to additional news.
Email Presbytery staff using the directory below.
When's the last time
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Ed Thompson
General Presbyter
Maureen Wright
Stated Clerk, Associate for Congregational Support
Rocky Poole
Financial Administration/Treasurer
Barbara Chalfant
Associate Presbyter for Mission
Susan Sharp Campbell
Associate for Educational Ministry
Nellie Howard
Resource Center Director
Mark Miller
Bluestone Camp Director
Amy Robinson
Office Administrator/Communications
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Prayer List for Churches
Week 33 - August 13
Harman Presbyterian Church
Kesler Memorial Presbyterian Church, Hico
McKinnon Presbyterian Church, Charleston
In Kenya: King'ong'o (Kay-nAWE'nAWE') Presbyterian Church
Week 34 - August 20
First Presbyterian Church, Morgantown
First Presbyterian Church, Parkersburg
Red Sulphur Springs Presbyterian, Ballard
In Kenya: Muringato (
Moh-ree-GAH'toe) Presbyterian Church
Week 35 - August 29
Spring Creek Presbyterian Church, Renick
Union Presbyterian Church
Comfort Presbyterian Church
In Kenya:
Nyamachaki (Nya-mah-chah-KEY') Memorial Presbyterian Church
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Nurturing Faith Ideas
Aug. 13, 20 and 27
Nurturing Faith Ideas are weekly suggestions and activities from the Presbytery's Nurture Committee to link worship and home and to nurture faith development in the family. They are intended for all ages and family types. Add one to your bulletin each week or put them in your monthly newsletter. They could also be sent via email or added to a Facebook page.
Ideas for the entire year can be found near the end of the documents page of wvpresbytery.org.
Read Matthew 14:2-32. When the disciples saw Jesus walking on water, they were afraid because they didn't know who it was or what was going on. Peter got out of the boat and started walking toward Jesus until he became frightened by the strong wind around him, and he started to sink; Jesus caught him. When have you been scared? Share what has scared you with a friend of family member. Give thanks to God that Jesus is with us in scary times and situations.
August 20
Read Genesis 45:1-15. Many years after Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, they came to him seeking food in a time of famine, and they did not recognize him. When Joseph told them who he was, he also told them not to be distressed for God had been working in all that had happened. As you think back over your life, what times has God worked in a surprising way? Give thanks to God for his never-ending care.
August 27
Read Matthew 16:13-20. At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked the disciples who other people were saying he was. Then Jesus asked the disciples the same question: "Who do you say that I am?" Peter declared, "Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God." Jesus asks that same question of his disciples today: "Who do you say that I am?" What is your response?
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A Word from our General Presbyter
Ed Thompson
This summer, I've been working through "The Beulah Quintet," five novels by Mary Lee Settle that trace one family's story from the time of the Puritan Revolution in England through their settlement on the frontier of West Virginia until the modern day. I'm currently in Book III, "Know Nothing," which is set in the years before the Civil War.
One sentence from the first part of the book really struck me. Click here to read more
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Register for the Small Church Conference!
The fourth annual Small Church Conference will take place 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, September 23, 2017 at Summersville Presbyterian Church. The theme is
"Where Two or Three are Gathered: Rethinking Worship for Small Churches," and Mark Parsons is the keynote speaker.
The conference is free, but registration is requested to help with food preparation and space planning. To register, contact Amy Robinson at 304-744-7634 or office@wvpresbytery.org.
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Sympathies
 Bob Shultz, the pastor at South Park Presbyterian Church in Charleston, passed away Monday after a long battle with cancer.
Click here to read his obituary.
The funeral is 11 a.m. Friday at Handley Funeral Home in Danville; visitation is 6 to 8 p.m. tonight. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to South Park Presbyterian Church Children's Outreach Program, Attn. Jim Sothen, 1108 Timberview Dr., Charleston, WV 25304.
Please keep the Shultz family and the church in your prayers.
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Creative Worship for Advent workshop
Registration deadline is Monday!
 Come to the Creative Worship for Advent workshop Friday, Sept. 8 and Saturday, Sept. 9 to help with your Advent worship planning and preparation.
Friday evening features an overview of Year B lectionary texts, and Saturday
looks more in depth at the texts as they inform our Advent preaching, music and visual arts. Workshop leaders will be Beverly Zink-Sawyer (preaching), Amy Parker (visual arts) and Mary Odin (music); participants will choose two workshops to attend, with workshop leaders providing advance assignments.
This event runs 7-9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at Village Chapel Presbyterian Church in Charleston. Cost is $75, due at registration.
Click here to register; registration deadline is Monday.
For those needing housing on Friday night, the WV Institute for Spirituality and John XXIII Pastoral Center offer reasonably priced accommodations.
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Check out the August Older Adult Ministry Newsletter for the Presbytery of WV
We invite you to print and include this newsletter in your bulletins, give it to your congregation and distribute widely. We hope it is helpful for your congregation and community. If you would like to add your name to the free subscription list, please email office@wvpresbytery.org.
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Report from the Huntington Cluster
Recently, the Huntington churches were asked, "What did you do this summer?" Cinda Harkless, pastor of Beverly Hills Presbyterian, noted the following:
- First Presbyterian switched from their annual Peru mission trip to Greenbrier County, where they worked with WVMAW.
- Highlawn and Bates Memorial volunteered together at the Cabell-Lincoln Work Camp.
- Kuhn Memorial's Rev. Patrick and Karen Ryan took youth to Montreat's Youth Conference.
- Kuhn and Highlawn shared Elder training responsibilities.
- Second Presbyterian has partnered with Advocate House, a drug- and alcohol-free home that supports people recovering from addiction.
- In addition, our Huntington churches responded to the Mayor's call for faith groups to gather and assess ways to address the drug epidemic in their area. Presbyterians Today interviewed pastors Cinda Harkless and David Richards (Second, Huntington). Find that interview here.
According to Harkless, "We may be smaller in number, but there is no lack of faith."
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Sisters: Bible Study for Women
 Are you looking for something new this fall? How about offering a bible study for women in your congregation or as a community ecumenical study class?
Sisters: Knowing God, Making God the Main Thing in My Life by Kimberly Dunnam Reisman may be just what you are looking for.
Sisters is a series of Bible studies for women by Reisman, with
Knowing God as the first of the series.
In this study, Reisman leads participants on a six-week exploration of their relationship with God, asking "Who is this God we believe in?," "How has our relationship with God unfolded in our lives?" and "Who are we in relationship to God?" Click here to read more
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Introducing New Resources
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Making Cents of Cents-Ability
 On Aug. 6 at Edgewood Presbyterian Church during a wonderful moment with the children of the church, we learned that some people in the world have far less than we do to eat and drink. The children invited everyone in the congregation to help feed people who are hungry by asking members to place all the change they had into coin cans. The plink of coins dropping into cans and the giggles of children filled the sanctuary. They were doing important work, worshipping, giving and receiving and praying for the hungry in our community and around the world.
If your congregation has not joined us in participating in the Cents-Ability offering, please consider doing so. It makes all the difference!
Click here to read more
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Stewardship of Creation Ministry Team News: Creation Care-themed movies
By Robin Blakeman
 Chasing Coral
I watched this last night and was alternately awed and moved to tears. It deals with the massive amount of coral "bleaching" around the world, particularly on the Great Barrier Reef. This is a great film for inter-generational audiences (4th grade and up) and provokes some very good discussion.
From the Ashes
This film deals with USA- and WV-specific environmental issues in a sensitive and timely way. It was shown and reviewed at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
In the Hills and Hollows
This is a WV-specific film made by award-winning documentary filmmaker Keely Kernan, who lived in the state for several years while making this film. It was an official selection of the 2017 American Conservation Film Festival.
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
 This documentary is a sequel to Al Gore's 2006 film, "An Inconvenient Truth." I
t contains much more hopeful notes at the end of the movie than would be expected. This film was released Aug. 4 and should be showing in movie theaters nationwide, but some have reported problems finding a showing in WV. Please contact your local movie theater to ask if/when it will be shown. It could be out on DVD or streaming services sometime in the fall.
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Peace & Global Witness Offering webinar
1 p.m. Sept. 7
PC(USA) will host a webinar for congregations regarding the Peace & Global Witness Offering at 1 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 7. Sign up for it here. Find additional information and resources here.
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Healthy Bodies/Healthy Spirits Conference
3rd Annual Statewide Healthy Bodies/
Healthy Spirits Conference
Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017
9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon
Concerned about your congregation's health?
Then this is the perfect place to be on Oct. 7!
Learn how to start and keep a Health Ministry in your congregation.
Registration, which includes lunch, is $20 before Aug. 30.
Click here
for more information and to register.
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Disaster Spiritual Care Training
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 18-19
Disaster spiritual care is one of the most unique and profound tools that can be used when a crisis occurs. It is critically important for those in the helping field to provide disaster spiritual care according to best practices, while adhering to local incident command protocols.
Pastoral Crisis Intervention is a combination of faith-based resources and traditional techniques of crisis intervention. The purpose of this two-day course is to assist the participants in learning how pastoral interventions and traditional psychological crisis interventions may be effectively integrated.
The course is sponsored by the Kanawha Pastoral Counseling Center and led by its executive director, Sky Kershner. It offers 13 CE credit hours and is free thanks to generous donors.
Click here to register
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Lay Academy of Religion
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Course textbook |
The Lay Academy of Religion will begin a course on Comparative Religions on Sunday, Sept. 3. It will be a journey through the world's religions to gain knowledge and understanding of their beliefs.
The course, taught by Dr. Robert G. Newman, runs weekly through Dec. 10, with the exception of Oct. 15, Nov. 19 and Nov. 26. Class starts at 4 p.m. in the First Presbyterian Church of Charleston's activities building dining room.
Lay Academy classes are free for audit and open to the public. Additionally, this course is available for credit through the University of Charleston (call the Student Solutions Office at 304-357-4800 to sign up for that).
For more information, complete schedule, course syllabus or to register, please call First Presbyterian Church at 304-343-8961. For a program flyer, click here.
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Univ. of Dubuque Theological Seminary CLP/CRE program begins Sept. 5
The University of Dubuque Theological Seminary will offer eight online courses in its Christian Leadership Program for Commissioned Ruling Elders this fall. They are:
Introduction to Old Testament,
Introduction to New Testament,
Christian Education,
Pastoral Care,
Introduction to Preaching,
Presbyterian Polity,
Reformed Theology and
Reformed Worship & Sacraments.
The fall term runs Sept. 5-Dec. 16. Tuition is $390. Register online here or contact Carla Gibbons at 1-888-207-8218 or CGibbons@dbq.edu. Also at that link, find an application form, program information and details on the school's Certificate in Congregational Leadership.
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Women in Ministry Conference
Princeton Theological Seminar will host a Women in Ministry Conference at the seminary Oct. 23-25. It will connect women in diverse lay and ordained ministries from around the world. The theme is "Telling Our Stories: Breaking the Mold, Taking Risks, Paving the Way."
Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, the first African American woman ordained in the PC(USA), is the keynote speaker. Choose 3 of 12 workshops, plus there are panel discussions, special interest groups and a marketplace.
Registration is $195 by Tuesday and $225 after that, which includes all conference programming, meals and a copy of the book "Faith of Our Mothers, Living Still."
Click here for more information on the conference, including workshop themes and leaders.
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Sign up for The Beech Tree
The Beech Tree, the Friends of Bluestone newsletter, is now electronic. If you wish to receive it, go
here
to sign up.
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*Also on the webpage
You will find located on the Home page of the website (scroll down past the photo) direct links to recent newsletters, Equipping Disciples events, Ministry Toolbox events, the Pray-For church list and Nurturing Faith Ideas for 2017, e-news Archives and more. Please let us know how we can improve the website and whenever you encounter any problem with it. Thank you.
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Editor's Note:
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In order to keep the PWV Newsletter
fresh,
articles sent
for publication will generally run for two consecutive issues.
If you wish for a piece to continue to run, please resubmit.
We encourage you to reword, add a photo (or different photo),
or change the piece in some way so that the news stays
fresh and interesting.
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Presbytery of West Virginia,
520 Second Avenue,
South Charleston, WV 25303
Phone (304) 744-7634, Fax (304) 744-7649,
Office Hours: Monday -Thursday 8:30AM-5:30PM
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