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Greetings Presbytery Family!
As we embrace the end of summer and the start of a new school year, may our presbytery community find renewed energy and inspiration for the journey ahead! This edition of Staying Connected shares information for hurricane season, reminders about the August Clergy Gatherings and other upcoming events in our presbytery.
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Hurricane Debby
If your church sustained any damage from Hurricane Debby, please let us know by calling the presbytery office or sending us an email. If there are any needs your congregation may have, please let us know those as well. Let us keep those recovering from the storm in our prayers.
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Mutual Mission: JEMM
Jamaica Ecumenical Mutual Mission asks for continued prayers for Jamaica as they continue to recover from Hurricane Beryl. Our partners in Kingston are doing okay. Watch the video below to learn more about the devastation.
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Hurricane Checklist
Make sure you are prepared for hurricane season. Click here for a hurricane checklist.
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News From Around the Presbytery | |
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Clergy Gatherings
Our most recent cluster gatherings have been a huge success. Save the dates, below, for the next round of gatherings. If you are planning to come, please let David Rollins, Lead Presbyter, know.
- Gainesville Area -- August 12, 12:00 p.m. at Metro Diner (2130 SW 34th St.)
- St. Augustine Area -- August 21, 1:00 p.m. at Memorial PC
- Jacksonville -- Area August 22, 12:00 p.m. at Scramblers (1500 University Blvd.)
- Ocala area -- August 28, 11:30 a.m. at Cheddar's (4065 SW College Rd.)
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Board of Trustees: Opportunity to Serve
The board of trustees carries out an important function: To care for all the properties held in trust by the congregations of the presbytery. What does this mean? It means they review requests for loans to congregations and all requests to sell or lease real properties held in trust by the congregation. The Board of Trustees meets once a month on the fourth Tuesday of the month via Zoom. Meeting materials are sent out ahead of time to help keep meetings to an hour.
There are two vacancies for the class of 2025, three vacancies for the class of 2026 and two vacancies for the class of 2027, leaving the Board short of members. This is an invitation for you to prayerfully consider serving as a trustee for the 2025, 2026 and/or 2027 class. This is serving God’s people in another way. If you have any questions and are interested in serving, please contact Ana Lugo, president and chair.
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PC(USA) International Peacemaker Visit
Zoughbi Zoughbi, Founder and Director of Wi'am, the Bethlehem Center for Non-Violence, will visit our presbytery September 26 through October 2. The opportunities to meet and hear from Zoughbi Zoughbi are below:
- September 27 -- Palestinian Dinner and Talk, Memorial PC at 6:00 p.m.
- September 28 -- Potluck Lunch and Talk with Islamic Center, Fort King PC at 12:00 p.m.
- September 30 -- Conversation, Westminster Woods at 2:00 p.m.
- October 1 -- Presbytery Meeting, Palatka First PC
For more information and to RSVP, please contact Ervin Bullock.
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Presbytery Youth Retreat
The Presbytery Youth Retreat will take place October 4 through 6, at Montgomery Center. This is a retreat for youth in grades six through 12. Click here to register your group by September 15.
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Prayer Corner
Please pray for the Lord to guide the following church (its staff and session) this week:
Murray Hill Presbyterian Church
Leadership
Jesse Bozeman
Jim Black
Shelley Bozeman
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Annual Summer Gathering & Bible Study Kick-Off
Registration
Save the date for the 2024 Annual Summer Gathering and 2024-2025 Bible Study Kick-Off! This year's Summer Gathering will take place on Saturday, August 24, at Montgomery Center. The event will feature updates from the Churchwide Gathering in St. Louis, worship, officer training, team building fun and an overview of the new study by Rev. Amy Camp (Memorial PC).
The cost, for the Gathering, is $30. The deadline for early registration is this Friday, August 9. Registrations submitted or postmarked after August 9 will be $35. Click here to register online or download the flyer to mail in your registration. Don't forget to share this information with your PW members.
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Bible Study
The 2024-2025 Bible Study is, Let Justice Roll Down: God's Call to Care for Neighbors and All Creation, by Patricia K. Tull.
This PW/Horizons Bible study is an invitation to explore and to act, with all hearts, in responding to an issue that impacts all life on God’s earth. Readers will learn about ecological systems, the challenges we face in this time of accelerated climate change and the possibilities available to address or counter the impact of human-made stress on our environment. Further, readers will explore theological questions that point them to act and engage, in large and small ways.
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Justice and Peace Calendar
Click here to view the 2024 PW Justice and Peace Calendar.
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News From Montgomery Center | | |
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Cruising with Montgomery
Do you love Montgomery? Do you enjoy cruising? You can now combine those passions on an Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Caribbean Princess. This cruise departs from Port Canaveral on January 6, 2025, with ports of call Nassau, San Juan and Grand Turk, returning to Port Canaveral on January 12. Staterooms start at $494 and are filling fast! A portion of your cruise fare will be given back to support the vision and mission of Montgomery Center. Don't wait to book. Come vacation with us!
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Training Thursdays: Mission Insite
Join us on August 22, at 2:00 p.m. for our Training Thursdays webinar! The Training Thursdays webinar for the month of August will be on Mission Insite. This webinar will feature special guest, Drake Hoffman, from ACS Technologies. In this session, Drake will uncover how we can discover where people live (both our congregants and our neighbors), how to best communicate and ways to minister to them that meet them where they are. We will take a closer look at geography and see the story that the data tells us in our area to better serve our community. Click here to register on Zoom.
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Positions Available In Our Presbytery
Check out the many ministry opportunities throughout our presbytery here.
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Blessings,
Steve Crowley, Moderator of the Presbytery
Charlie Evans, Stated Clerk
David Rollins, Lead Presbyter
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Previous Staying Connected emails are available on our website.
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