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Monday, April 21, 2008 Come to Presbyweb first it is the quick and easy way to miss nothing of All the National PC(USA) news Something we may have overlooked? Please, tell us

Ed Koster to stand for election as Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
	Advisors to Ed Koster announce that he intends to stand for election as Stated Clerk of the General Assembly. "We know Ed Koster, have seen his dedication to Jesus Christ and his Church, and have observed his skills in his work as stated clerk of the Presbytery," said Neil Cowling, spokesperson for Advisors to Ed Koster. "For eight months we have been advising, meeting with him, and praying with him as he has described his sense that God has called him to seek election. We believe that his call is genuine, and that if elected he will make an outstanding Stated Clerk." "Koster said, "I feel that God has called me to serve the Church in this way, to lift up issues I see from my experience in the church as pastor, attorney, and 13 years as Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Detroit. I believe that while our leadership has been faithful and competent, it has increasingly strayed from the core of the church. If I am called to serve, I believe I can make a difference."

Visionary Honolulu pastor honored / PNS Dan Chun recognized for work in church growth and transformation
	"The Rev. Dan Chun, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu, was honored April 3 in Honolulu for his work in creating and growing the Hawaiian Island Ministries (H.I.M). Dan and his wife, Pam, began this ecumenical organization 25 years ago to bring the churches of Hawaii together for encouragement, to provide tools for ministry and to promote collaborative Christian work. "Tom Taylor, deputy executive director for mission for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), attended the H.I.M. conference – a gathering of nearly 4,000 people – at the Honolulu Convention Center. “What Dan and his wife have done for the churches and for the people of Hawaii through Hawaiian Island Ministries over these years is nothing short of astonishing. It shows what God can do through humble people sold out for the cause of Christ,” Taylor said..."

Tammy Letts: In her own words Letss is GA vice-moderator candidate, Bill Teng's choice
	"...Bill’s message of hope and grace profoundly resonate with me. This invitation is an invitation to participate in God’s missional work in our church. I believe Bill is the kind of servant leader that is profoundly needed for our church. To be a partner and support for Bill is a great honor..."

New(s) from The Presbyterian Outlook
•	Painful lessons – by Jack Haberer "...a great way to run a war... a proven way to win an election... an awful way to lead a church..." "...No doubt, most of what Jeremiah Wright preached throughout his illustrious career was biblical, true, prophetic, and transformative. His leadership has produced fruit in the lives of thousands. But not all he said was factual. Some of his statements were exaggerated beyond any possible connection to reality. Those statements were spouted in a pulpit dedicated to the proclamation of the Word of God. "Let no one among us defend the telling of falsehoods from the pulpit..."
•	Big or small, local or international, churches work together in mission By Leslie Scanlon "...there are new efforts in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to try to cultivate intentional partnerships between bigger congregations and smaller ones, to explore ways they can work together in mission, both overseas and close to home. "The Association of Presbyterian Mission Pastors – a group that’s open to anyone but is mostly comprised of representatives from larger congregations – is working with the Wee Kirk ministry of Presbyterians for Renewal to try to nurture such conversations. When the mission pastors group met last fall, it paid to bring Wee Kirk representatives to the gathering in Louisville with the hopes of furthering the potential for such partnerships..."
•	Two Indianapolis churches find mutual ministry in the inner city By Leslie Scanlon One long-standing partnership between a big congregation and a smaller one is the local mission partnership between Second Church in Indianapolis – a suburban church that stands more than 4,000 strong – and Westminster Church, an inner-city congregation that’s dropped to just 22 active members. The partnership goes back to 1980, when Catholic, Baptist, and Presbyterian congregations in the neighborhood – a low-income area just east of downtown – decided to hold Vacation Bible School together.
•	A diamond in the dirt: Playing baseball in Nicaragua By Mark Englund-Krieger
•	The spiritual lessons of baseball – by Donald K. McKim My friend Bill is a seminary professor. He caught my interest when I saw he was teaching a graduate course called “Baseball as Metaphor.”
•	“Amnesty April” – by Tom Ehrich

Analysis fatigue – GA blog by Bob Davis My top ten GA issues
	"As of today, we are two months away from the convening of the General Assembly. I have been posting since mid-February about the business the Assembly and have only touched on a portion of it. Most of the last two weeks have been focused on the eight -- count 'em -- eight ACSWP papers that are coming. Five down, three to go. "I am experiencing analysis fatigue. "The prospect of looking at another ACSWP paper is disheartening. What's the point?

Scripture lessons for today – from the Lectionary
	"...Every day I will bless you, and praise your name forever and ever..." "The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died. The LORD said to Moses: Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is upon the ark, or he will die; for I appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat..." "...the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever..." "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven..."

Today in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study The Synod of Lincoln Trails
	"The Synod of Lincoln Trails Congregational Development Subcommittee consists of ten persons and represents eight presbyteries. The subcommittee makes recommendations designating more than $200,000 in the area of new church development and existing church redevelopment..."

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Praying for peace Pope Benedict XVI calls on American youth to put faith in action By Ann Rodgers / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
	NEW YORK -- Pope Benedict XVI received an ecstatic welcome from 57,000 faithful in Yankee Stadium for the final Mass of his six-day visit to the U.S., drawing applause when he spoke of protecting unborn children and when he called a new generation to priesthood and religious life. During this election year visit he has avoided politically explosive issues, putting most of his emphasis on world peace, aid for the poor and care for the environment. But, while calling young people to put their faith in Christ into action, he made his strongest statement of the visit regarding abortion. He asked them to uphold "truths which alone can guarantee respect for the inalienable dignity and rights of each man, woman and child in our world -- including the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother's womb," he said, to long, loud applause.

Benedict praised as candid, visit's impact unclear Summary of the pope's U.S. visit by Eric Gorski / AP
	Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. visit left behind the impression of a compassionate and candid leader who has made a successful transition from professor to pope. But it's uncertain whether the pontiff's six-day pilgrimage, which ended Sunday, will make a lasting imprint on a country he obviously admires. "In the short term, the trip was an enormous success, probably beyond anyone's expectations, including those of the pope himself," said Russell Shaw, a Catholic writer and former spokesman for the U.S. bishops' conference. "Whether the trip is going to have a significant outcome regarding the large problems facing American Catholicism, that's anyone's guess." In Washington and New York, Benedict sounded themes about truth trumping moral relativism, rich nations' responsibility to care for poor ones, and Catholics' call to live out their faith in the public square. Above all, the pope urged his audiences to find hope in Jesus Christ.

Hamas contradicts Carter on peace with Israel / AP
	GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: Hamas says it won't necessarily accept the results of any Palestinian referendum on peace with Israel. Earlier Monday, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Hamas wouldn't undermine Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel, as long as the Palestinian people approved it in a referendum. But Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman said Carter's comments "do not mean that Hamas is going to accept the result of the referendum." Related: Carter outlines Hamas' terms for peace deal / CNN "If President (Mahmoud) Abbas of the Palestinians and Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert reach an agreement for peace, and if it is submitted to the Palestinians and the Palestinians approve it... Hamas will accept it," Carter said in a Monday interview with CNN.

Thousands march to demand EU protection for Iraqi Christians
	BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – Thousands of people demonstrated outside EU headquarters Saturday to demand protection for Christians in Iraq, saying they were increasingly being targeted in attacks. Iraqi religious leaders led the protesters, whom police prevented from marching toward the U.S. Embassy. "Christians in the Middle East are being assassinated and massacred," Iraqi priest Jacob Idine said. "Above all, religious leaders, the archbishops and priests, are being killed in cold blood in Iraq." Islamic extremists have killed prominent members of Iraq's Christian community in recent weeks. Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians are believed to have fled since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Are children threatening the earth? The great liberal death wish strikes again By Albert Mohler
	Malcolm Muggeridge, a keen observer of the twentieth century and its horrors, used to speak of the "The Great Liberal Death Wish." Over the years, Muggeridge applied this explanation to a number of perplexing issues, especially the liberal embrace of abortion. If alive today, he would surely see the death wish at play in the April 21, 2008 edition of USA Today. In his periodic column for the paper, Oliver "Buzz" Thomas asks: "Might Our Religion Be Killing Us?" His primary concern is environmental, and his tone is apocalyptic. "We all remember the Aztecs," Thomas warns. "Some say their religion, with its penchant for violence and human sacrifice, played a critical role in the destruction of their civilization. We moderns are far more sophisticated, of course, but if we persist with some of our religious practices, we could be heading down the same disastrous dog trot." Well, it is unlikely that many would encourage a cultural future like the Aztecs' "disastrous dog trot," but what really worries Thomas is that religion – Christianity in particular – is encouraging us to have too many children. Related: Might our religion be killing us? – by Oliver "Buzz" Thomas / USA Today "...Of course, much of our environmental problem is due to overpopulation. There are simply too many people for the planet to sustain..."

Abstinence at Harvard – by Chuck Colson
	"Next to freshman biology class, there is nothing more universal on college campuses than the “hookup scene.” It is simply expected that students from state schools to the Ivy League will experiment with premarital sex. In the words of one Harvard student recently quoted in the New York Times: “For me, being a strong woman means not being ashamed that I like to have sex.” "Well, surprisingly there are growing numbers of students who have a much different definition of what it means to be a strong woman (or man). It means not being ashamed to say that they would like to have sex, but choose not to. "A relatively new student group at Harvard called True Love Revolution has urged college freshmen to resist the hookup culture by passing out flyers that read: “Why wait? Because you’re worth it.” "But what really makes this group stand out is not simply their catchy slogan, but their reason for choosing abstinence. Although many of the members of True Love Revolution claim a faith in God, their primary goal is to show their fellow students that choosing purity makes sense even without relying on religious convictions. Abstinence, they say, is the most rational choice..." Related: True Love Revolution web site

Bio-foolishness – Editorial / The Wall Street Journal Turning crops into fuel is hitting poor people in their (empty) stomachs.
	Poverty, famine and violence are among the supposed products of global warming in the future. Yet these calamities are with us today thanks to a key element of "green" policy, biofuels. This feel-good measure is becoming a real-world disaster. The prices of wheat and rice this year will have doubled since 2004. Soybeans, sugar, soybean oil and corn are expected to be 56% to 79% costlier than in 2004. Food prices will likely remain overinflated until at least 2015, the World Bank says. The result of these rising prices is that 100 million people could slip back into poverty, erasing seven years' worth of gains.

New(s) from The Christian Century
•	Church-closing rate only one percent – by John Dart "...A new study finds that only 1 percent of U.S. religious congregations go out of existence each year, "which is among the lowest mortality rates ever observed for any type of organization," according to an article to be published in the June issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion..."
•	Reform Jewish leader calls Hagee 'extremist' unworthy of support The president of the 1.5-million-member Reform Judaism movement called controversial Texas pastor John Hagee an "extremist" and urged fellow rabbis to shun his high-profile support of Israel.
•	Religious freedom panel says Bush should skip games or visit Tibet The Washington-based Commission on International Religious Freedom said in aa April 4 statement that if Bush decides to attend the games, he should first visit the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, or another Tibetan area "in an affirmation of the U.S. commitment to religious freedom for Tibetans, as well as for China's other growing religious communities."
•	NCC: Global warming will elevate relief costs Global warming will force faith organizations to significantly increase spending on humanitarian efforts – including refugee resettlement, food distribution and disaster relief – according to a new study by the National Council of Churches. More financial resources and volunteer services will be needed due to global climate change, which is expected to reduce the availability of food, shelter and water, especially among the poor, the study said.
•	Grace in the center – by Martin E. Marty Tim Goeglein, special assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison, was recently caught plagiarizing Dartmouth veteran Jeffrey Hart. At issue was a Hart editorial that included a quotation from Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, miscopied by Goeglein as Eugene Rosenstock-Hussey. While the administration wants to forget Goeglein, let me thank him for bringing to remembrance Eugen R.-H. I want to seize the opportunity to answer the New Yorker's punning question, "Rosenstock-Huessy, who is he?"
•	Choice terms – by Michael Lindvall The word jargon suggests needlessly obscure words that insiders use to dazzle and confuse outsiders. But if we call the same words "technical vocabulary," we're suggesting a precise and established way of speaking that emphasizes accuracy. Christians have lots of words like hermeneutical, ecclesiology and sanctification. Are they technical vocabulary or religious jargon?
•	The Wright context – Editorial We don't know if the United States is willing to elect a black candidate to its highest office. But it is already clear that many Americans are not interested in understanding the prophetic preaching of a black minister.
•	Seminary distress – Editorial Jesus taught his disciples in the outdoors, without a prescribed curriculum. His lessons were passed on by way of oral tradition before being written down. The way things are going, mainline seminaries may be returning to such informal models of theological training. At the very least, this is a time of great uncertainty in theological education, a time when students are more diverse, religious identities are in flux, financial support from denominations is down and education expenses continue to go up.
•	All in the family – by John M. Buchanan When I worry, as I often do, about the future of mainline churches, I will remember that Third Sunday of Easter and a small congregation of faithful men, women and children – and the thousands upon thousands of others like them – keeping the faith, holding on to one another, baptizing infants, being the church.
•	Food fight – by David Beckmann How international aid fails the poor

Dear disillusioned generation – The 'failed experiment' called the church still looks better than the alternatives. Katie Galli / Christianity Today
	If you've talked to 20-somethings lately, you've probably noticed we're disillusioned about almost everything – government, war, the economy, and most things having to do with The Man. We're especially disillusioned with church. Somewhere between the Crusades, the Inquisition, and fundamentalists bombing abortion clinics, we lost our appetite for institutionalized Christianity. A slew of recent books addresses this growing disenchantment. An oft-disillusioned (and hopelessly idealistic) 20-something myself, I picked up Life After Church: God's Call to Disillusioned Christians (InterVarsity), and Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation (Zondervan). I figured that I'd find writers who share my frustrations. But I was also hoping they would push me toward a deeper and richer relationship with the church – and in this, I was left unsatisfied.

Ed Cash wins big at BMI's Christian Music Awards / AP
	Ed Cash won songwriter of the year honors and his composition "Made to Worship" was named song of the year Saturday at BMI's 2008 Christian Music Awards.

Gospel Music Channel: Fastest-growing cable TV network By David Bauder / AP
	Only a few thousand families in Tennessee were able to see the Gospel Music Channel light when it began less than four years ago. Now it's television's fastest-growing cable network – available in some 40 million homes, more than a third of the nation. The Gospel Music Channel plays the gospel sounds of black churches, edgy Christian rock and rap, mainstream contemporary Christian pop and Latin gospel music. Radio station owners typically recoil from presenting so many forms of music, and some in the industry believed the Gospel Music Channel was making a mistake.

'Expelled' propelled to box office top 10 / WND Documentary scores estimated $3.2 million in opening weekend
	Opening on about half the screens of other top 10 movies, "Expelled," Ben Stein's documentary on academia's censorship of any ideas hinting of intelligent design, scored an impressive $3.2 million in its opening weekend – more than all but eight other movies. Related: • Expelled web site • Denouncers • Defenders

Letters from readers – email us
•	Winfield Casey Jones "I have two things to say about the announcement by Ed Koster that he is running for PC(USA) stated clerk..."