One in the Spirit

One in the Spirit is a monthly email from Linda Valentine strengthening community between the General Assembly Council and Middle Governing Bodies.

Select Read More to read what is in this month's edition.

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Evangelism & Church Growth is offering a series of free monthly webinars produced by The Columbia Partnership. These webinars will discuss issues surrounding congregational transformation. On Tuesday, July 21, at 2 p.m. EDT, presenter Eddie Hammett, a leadership and discipleship specialist, will coach you on how to make shifts of transformative change within your church without making waves. Learn how to anticipate and then minimize those destructive comments that often come when change is mentioned. The final webinar in this summer series is August 18. Find more information or register.
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You are invited to join Mission Crossroads, an online community facilitated by Presbyterian World Mission's Equipping the Church for Mission Involvement (EMI) work area. With this site, EMI "seeks to bring Presbyterians together as branches of the same vine, connecting people with resources and tools for engaging with each other and with God's mission in the world."
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Celebrate John Calvin's Jubilee - John Calvin is well known by Presbyterians, but he is not necessarily well understood. As we celebrate the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth in 2009, we Presbyterians have an opportunity to reintroduce ourselves to Calvin's legacy - his monumental contributions to theology, church government, education, language, music and politics as well as the more troubling aspects - by participating in a conference on Calvin's legacy July 8-11 at Montreat Conference Center. We will explore Calvin's continuing influence on Reformed faith and life through lectures, panels, discussion and worship. Register or find more information.



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New Resources from the Office of Vocation - Three new publications are now available through the Office of Vocation, a shared ministry of the General Assembly Council and the Office of the General Assembly. On Calling a Pastor and Calling to Educational Ministries may be ordered at a modest cost through the Presbyterian Marketplace. The third resource, a new, updated version of Discerning Your Call and Your Gifts For Ministry of Word and Sacrament is now available for download. Also housed in the area of Vocation is the office for Financial Aid for Studies, which posted on its Web site last week new information about the Mariners Family Ministry Grant. Also of interest to Presbyterian students who may be seeking financial assistance to attend one of our PC(USA)-related colleges is the National Presbyterian College Scholarship, which will be available in the fall for rising freshmen.

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Online registration is open for World Mission Celebration '09: Branches of the Same Vine, a conference for Presbyterians passionate about mission. The event will be held October 22-24 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Celebration will be preceded by the month-long World Mission Challenge, which will send mission speakers across the country to tell how God is at work around the world. To date, 150 presbyteries, six more than participated in a similar effort in 2007, will be hosting speakers. There's still time for your presbytery to take part. E-mail Ellen Dozier to find out how.
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Important News about the Bible Content Exam - The PC(USA)'s Bible Content Examination will now be administered ONLINE ONLY. The online Bible Content Examination is a proctored examination administered at seminary testing sites. Test takers will need a computer with internet access in order to take this examination. The examination will be available in English, Korean and Spanish. The exam will be offered twice each year beginning October 2, 2009. Applicants must first read the instructions and explanatory material before visiting the new site which allows for online registration and payment for the exam.
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Stories of how an individual's life has been impacted by the programs, initiatives and activities of the General Assembly Council

Miatta Wilson - "All in the genes" 

ALLAS, Tex. (June 18, 2009) - A lifelong Presbyterian and the daughter of parents wholly dedicated to volunteer service - including eight years in the Peace Corps - Miatta Wilson was raised and nurtured in the company of great role models.

Born in Cleveland, Oh., between her parents' international assignments, Wilson spent her early years in Sierra Leone and Fiji. When her family relocated to Lexington, Ky., she immediately became active in Second Presbyterian Church. Ordained there as an elder while still in high school, Wilson consistently sought a healthy balance between her passion for drama and her commitment to the church. "I was trying to discern what I might want to do," she said, "trying to figure it all out."

Following four years at the PC(USA)-related College of Wooster, where she opted to pursue both interests by majoring in theater and minoring in religion, Wilson found herself at a crossroads. "I needed to know if I was being called to full-time church work," she said.

In conversation with the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Wilson discovered the Volunteers in Mission (VIM) Program. VIM laid the foundation for today's Young Adult Volunteer Program (YAV), which affords young adults 19-30 years of age a unique opportunity for spiritual formation and vocational discernment.

"A year-long program which would allow me to experience serving the church full-time was just what I needed while I was figuring out where I wanted to go to graduate school," Wilson recalled.

Since she already had international experience, Wilson chose a placement at a small church in the coastal town of Newport, Ore., where she served as youth director for nine months. On a modest stipend and without a car, Wilson rode her bicycle to and from work every day.

"It was a great experience in which I learned all kinds of things, especially dealing with people who think and work differently than I do," she said. "The whole of the young adult volunteer experience made very clear to me that I wanted to do my Master's in Christian education."

Enrolling in the Master's program at the Presbyterian School of Christian Education - now Union-PSCE - in Richmond, Va., in 1989, Wilson again sought placement through VIM for the summer between her two year course of study there. Not only did her three month experience in Cameroon confirm for her the call to be involved in international mission, it helped her to understand that part of that same call was to educate people in U.S. churches about "the rest of the world." "It was also 'mission to the U.S.' in that sense," she said.

After receiving her Master of Arts in 1991, Wilson served for sixteen years as Christian educator at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Dallas. In October 2007, she was called to First Presbyterian Church, Dallas, as Director of Children's Ministries, where she is a role model and mentor to young Presbyterians.

"Our church has just had another young person accepted into the YAV program," Wilson said. "I guess you could say that as a Presbyterian family, mission is all in the genes."