Contribute to Africa mission's 'net effect'

Mosquito net treated with long-lasting insecticide? $10.00 ... Helping West Texans control one of Africa's biggest killers? Priceless ...

A mission team from First Presbyterian Church-Midland will be headed for Uganda June 18-30. A full schedule of diverse activities will include the distribution of specially-treated mosquito nets to residents of that part of Africa - where mosquitos are FAR MORE than just a nuisance.

The efforts in Uganda by First Prez-Midland are part of an ongoing campaign - fought by a wide variety of individuals and organizations - against debilitating, even deadly diseases that plague the Third World. The fight against malaria, in particular, was documented in this article by Robert M. Poole, in the June, 2007 issue of Smithsonian Magazine. The article focuses particularly on former-President of the United States Jimmy Carter's efforts in Ethiopia, but it provides good insight into the mission and methods of this "crusade to eliminate malaria, an elusive and ever-changing killer" from the African continent.

"Now rare in developed countries," the article notes, "the disease kills more than a million victims each year in the world's poorest regions. At least 300-million people worldwide are incapacitated by malaria infections. The disease's aches, fever, chills and other flu-like symptoms not only inhibit economic productivity but also suppress immune systems in its victims, making them more susceptible to tuberculosis and AIDS — both of which kill even more people than malaria does — and other life-threatening ailments."

The new nets being distributed in Africa add a high-tech twist to the old protective strategy: they not only block the insects, but also kill any that come in contact with the nets, since they have an insecticide (one with no apparent risk to humans) woven into the mesh.

And they cost just $10 apiece. Won't you help? Please leave a contribution at First Prez-Midland, on the northwest corner of A and Texas streets, on the west edge of downtown Midland ... best if you enter from the Illinois Street entrance, across from Midland High School. For more information, please call Pastor Walter Thompson at 684-7821 (Ext. 115), or email him at wthompson@fpcmid.org

In the News ... "MISD Child Nutrition Services Summer Food Program Begins"

• Program locations include two Midland churches

Staff Report
KMID-TV

MIDLAND, TEXAS - The Midland Independent School District's Child Nutrition Services Office begins its Summer 2015 Food Service Program with locations throughout Midland. Meals will be provided free of charge to children through age 18. Officials say students do not have to be enrolled in MISD to partake in the program ...

• read the rest of this KMID report 

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:

They tell me H. is happy now, they tell me she is at peace. What makes them so sure of this? I don’t mean that I fear the worst of all. Nearly her last words were, ‘I am at peace with God.’ She had not always been. And she never lied. And she wasn’t easily deceived, least of all, in her own favour. I don’t mean that. But why are they so sure that all anguish ends with death? More than half the Christian world, and millions in the East, believe otherwise. How do they know she is ‘at rest’? Why should the separation (if nothing else) which so agonizes the lover who is left behind be painless to the lover who departs?

‘Because she is in God’s hands.’ But if so, she was in God’s hands all the time, and I have seen what they did to her here. Do they suddenly become gentler to us the moment we are out of the body? And if so, why? If God’s goodness is inconsistent with hurting us, then either God is not good or there is no God: for in the only life we know He hurts us beyond our worst fears and beyond all we can imagine. If it is consistent with hurting us, then He may hurt us after death as unendurably as before it.

Sometimes it is hard not to say, ‘God forgive God.’ Sometimes it is hard to say so much. But if our faith is true, He didn’t. He crucified Him.

• From A Grief Observed
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: June 10, 2015

PRESBYTERY OF LAKE HURON, MICHIGAN - First Presbyterian Church of Mount Pleasant, pastored by Rev. Andrew Miller, sits just five blocks from the main campus of Central Michigan University. This proximity to one of Michigan’s most popular colleges provides a perfect opportunity for outreach to student ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Word from Uganda: "Worthy of Worship"

Missionary teacher Natalie Rolfe writes, "'When He calls me, I will answer ... I'll be somewhere working for my Lord.' My call was Mbale, Uganda and that is where I have returned to serve for another year. Specifically, I am teaching phonics at Lulwanda Children's Home, an orphanage and school for 90 kids." Natalie also keeps an online journal of her service at the weblog, When He calls me, I will answer ...

Worthy of Worship


"WOW! The Lord is truly Worthy of Worship as I stand amazed looking back on the past two months and all that the Lord accomplished (and allowed our hands/efforts to accomplish)."

"As many of you know, we recently received 12 new little ones into the Lulwanda family. This was such a major step of joy. A team of 6 (including myself) spent over a week travelling to many areas in and around Mbale, sometimes up to 1.5 hours away, with the purpose of visiting and confirming the situations of children that had come to our attention through the pastors of the various Presbyterian churches, the government, or ministry friends ..."

 • read the rest of Natalie's post ...

 • help raise funds for Natalie's mission ...

In the News ... "Pastor overcomes wreck, prejudice"

OA Photo

• “Almost dying teaches you a lot."

By Bob Campbell, Reporter
Odessa American

ODESSA, TEXAS - Christian faith doesn’t guarantee an easy life, just that God will help you confront your problems with confidence and deal with them successfully, says the Rev. Cheryl Kincaid, who conquered a near-fatal traffic accident and prejudice against women to become a minister.

Kincaid said the “prosperity gospel” of the 1970s and ’80s led many people to believe faith would ensure their health, wealth and happiness, but that’s a misinterpretation of the New Testament. “Early Christianity went through 300 years of oppression before (Roman Emperor) Constantine made it legal,” she said, having been pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at 1401 N. Sam Houston Ave. since February ...

• read the rest of this OA report ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO MARY VAN DEUSEN: On how one responds to the diagnosis of serious illness and on four strategies for coping.

10 April 1959

I have just had Sister Hildegarde’s letter. My heart goes out to you. You are now just where I was a little over two years ago—they wrongly diagnosed Joy’s condition as uremia before they discovered cancer of the bone.

I know all the different ways in which it gets one: wild hopes, bitter nostalgia for lost happiness, mere physical terror turning one sick, agonised pity and self-pity. In fact, Gethsemane. I had one (paradoxical) support which you lack—that of being in severe pain myself. Apart from that what helped Joy and me through it was 1. That she was always told the whole truth about her own state. There was no miserable pretence. That means that both can face it side-by-side, instead of becoming something like adversaries in a battle-of-wits. 2. Take it day by day and hour by hour (as we took the front line). It is quite astonishing how many happy—even gay—moments we had together when there was no hope. 3. Don’t think of it as something sent by God. Death and disease are the work of the Devil. It is permitted by God: i.e., our General has put you in a fort exposed to enemy fire. 4. Remember other sufferers. It’s fatal to start thinking ‘Why should this happen to us when everyone else is so happy.’ You are (I was and may be again) one of a huge company. Of course we shall pray for you all we know how. God bless you both.

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
• Compiled in Yours, Jack

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: June 9, 2015

EASTMINSTER PRESBYTERY, OHIO - W hen Robert “Bo” Schneider was commissioned to serve the little Lake Milton Presbyterian Church, no one anticipated the impact their shared ministry would have on hundreds of women and men incarcerated in local prisons. Along with his wife, Judy, a ruling elder at Goodyear Heights Presbyterian Church in Akron, Bo was active in Kairos Prison Ministry with residents at Trumbull Correctional Institution in Leavittsburg and Northeast Reintegration Center in Cleveland. Members of the Lake Milton and Goodyear Heights congregations have baked hundreds of dozens of cookies for distribution to prisoners at both facilities. Jean Stout, a ruling elder at Lake Milton, has now become a member of a Kairos team ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

From ChinaAid: "NGOs create petition to secure release of China 18 member before daughter's July wedding"

The China Aid Association is a non-profit Christian organization - based in Midland, Texas - with a mission to uncover and reveal the truth about religious persecution in China, focusing especially on the unofficial church. They do this, they explain in their website, by exposing the abuses, encouraging the abused and equipping the saints to advance the kingdom of God throughout China.

NGOs create petition to secure release of China 18 member before daughter's July wedding
Distributed by ChinaAid, May, 2015 ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ti-Anna Wang, daughter of imprisoned democracy activist and China 18 member Dr. Wang Bingzhang, is urging global leaders to assist in obtaining her father’s release from a Chinese prison in time for her wedding in July ...

• more on this story from China Aid  

Contribute to Africa mission's 'net effect'

Mosquito net treated with long-lasting insecticide? $10.00 ... Helping West Texans control one of Africa's biggest killers? Priceless ...

A mission team from First Presbyterian Church-Midland will be headed for Uganda June 18-30. A full schedule of diverse activities will include the distribution of specially-treated mosquito nets to residents of that part of Africa - where mosquitos are FAR MORE than just a nuisance.

The efforts in Uganda by First Prez-Midland are part of an ongoing campaign - fought by a wide variety of individuals and organizations - against debilitating, even deadly diseases that plague the Third World. The fight against malaria, in particular, was documented in this article by Robert M. Poole, in the June, 2007 issue of Smithsonian Magazine. The article focuses particularly on former-President of the United States Jimmy Carter's efforts in Ethiopia, but it provides good insight into the mission and methods of this "crusade to eliminate malaria, an elusive and ever-changing killer" from the African continent.

"Now rare in developed countries," the article notes, "the disease kills more than a million victims each year in the world's poorest regions. At least 300-million people worldwide are incapacitated by malaria infections. The disease's aches, fever, chills and other flu-like symptoms not only inhibit economic productivity but also suppress immune systems in its victims, making them more susceptible to tuberculosis and AIDS — both of which kill even more people than malaria does — and other life-threatening ailments."

The new nets being distributed in Africa add a high-tech twist to the old protective strategy: they not only block the insects, but also kill any that come in contact with the nets, since they have an insecticide (one with no apparent risk to humans) woven into the mesh.

And they cost just $10 apiece. Won't you help? Please leave a contribution at First Prez-Midland, on the northwest corner of A and Texas streets, on the west edge of downtown Midland ... best if you enter from the Illinois Street entrance, across from Midland High School. For more information, please call Pastor Walter Thompson at 684-7821 (Ext. 115), or email him at wthompson@fpcmid.org

In the News ... "Abell-Hanger Foundation grant supports Buckner foster care program"

MRT File Photo by Steve Kuhlman

• Including recruitment and training for families, and care for children in the foster care system

By Megan Lea Buck, Reporter
Midland Reporter-Telegram

MIDLAND, TEXAS - A matching grant from the Abell-Hanger Foundation will double donations made to Buckner Children and Family Services this year. The foundation awarded Buckner a dollar-for-dollar matching grant up to $50,000 to support the nonprofit’s foster care program.

More than 1,000 children in the Permian Basin were in the foster care system in 2014 after being removed from their homes, according to Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. And a lack of foster families means many of those children are placed with families outside of the Permian Basin ...

• read the rest of this MRT report

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

On obedience.

In obeying, a rational creature consciously enacts its creaturely role, reverses the act by which we fell, treads Adam’s dance backward and returns.

• From The Problem of Pain
• Compiled in Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: June 8, 2015

PRESBYTERY OF DETROIT - Mission, mission, m-i-s-s-i-o-n; mission, mission, m-i-s-s-i-o-n.” These are the opening words of a tune sung by the Presbytery of Detroit each year during its October meeting, led by elder Francile Anderson, originator of the presbytery’s annual Month of Mission. Fran, as she was known, brought 8–10 missionaries to the presbytery each October to visit congregations and speak at the mission breakfast at the end of the month. Mission was her passion, and she provided constant reminders to the presbytery of the importance of our support for mission work. Fran died in September 2013 after a short illness.

One mission project dear to Fran’s heart was bringing clean water to villages in Kenya ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

Far away there appeared a red light. Then it disappeared for a moment and came back again, bigger and stronger. Then he could see dark shapes going to and fro on this side of the light and carrying bundles and throwing them down. He knew now what he was looking at. It was a bonfire, newly lit, and people were throwing bundles of brushwood onto it. Presently it blazed up and Tirian could see that it was on the very top of the hill. He could see quite clearly the stable behind it, all lit up in the red glow, and a great crowd of Beasts and Men between the fire and himself. A small figure, hunched up beside the fire, must be the Ape. It was saying something to the crowd, but he could not hear what. Then it went and bowed three times to the ground in front of the door of the stable. Then he got up and opened the door. And something on four legs—something that walked rather stiffly—came out of the stable and stood facing the crowd.

A great wailing or howling went up, so loud that Tirian could hear some of the words.

“Aslan! Aslan! Aslan!” cried the Beasts. “Speak to us. Comfort us. Be angry with us no more.”

From where Tirian was he could not make out very clearly what the thing was; but he could see that it was yellow and hairy. He had never seen the Great Lion. He had never seen a common lion. He couldn’t be sure that what he saw was not the real Aslan. He had not expected Aslan to look like that stiff thing which stood and said nothing. But how could one be sure? For a moment horrible thoughts went through his mind: then he remembered the nonsense about Tash and Aslan being the same and knew that the whole thing must be a cheat.

• From The Last Battle
• Compiled in A Year with Aslan

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: June 7, 2015

MINUTE FOR MISSION: RURAL LIFE - At 3:00 every Wednesday afternoon during the school year, about a dozen mostly middle school students, and an equal number of adult volunteers, bring a hubbub of activity to the fellowship hall at First Presbyterian Church of Nichols, New York. It is unlikely we would have anticipated this scene several years ago of Jesus Christ ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:

Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?

I tried to put some of these thoughts to C. this afternoon. He reminded me that the same thing seems to have happened to Christ: ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ I know. Does that make it easier to understand?

Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about Him. The conclusion I dread is not ‘So there’s no God after all,’ but ‘So this is what God’s really like. Deceive yourself no longer.'

• From A Grief Observed
• Compiled in Words to Live By

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: June 6, 2015

PRESBYTERY OF CINCINNATI - From 25 years of working in the day-care industry, Pat Compton, a deacon of the Presbytery of Cincinnati’s Pleasant Run congregation, knew that young families with small incomes often find it difficult to take care of even basic needs. Food-stamp assistance may provide food, but it doesn’t cover paper products, cleaning supplies, or personal hygiene items. And although having food on the table may be top priority, for a young parent caring for a child or for someone looking for work, items like laundry soap, shampoo, and toothpaste can seem just as essential.

So Compton looked around her community and decided that if no one else was doing something about this need, then she would ask her congregation ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

In the News ... "Five Questions with Emily Faglie | director of women’s ministry at Genesis Center"

Courtesy Photo

• Leading women into a personal relationship with Jesus

Staff Report, Reporter
Midland Reporter-Telegram

MIDLAND, TEXAS - Christian author Emily Faglie took over in April as director of women’s ministry at The Genesis Center. The recently married Midlander started volunteering at the nonprofit before becoming part of its staff. The Genesis Center, which opened last summer, provides transitional housing for women and children in a nondenominational Christian environment. Faglie graduated from Lee High School in 1995 and studied biblical counseling at Victorious Christian Life Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. Excited about her new role at the Genesis Center, Faglie answered our five questions so the community can get to know her better ...

 • read the rest of this MRT report ... 

MRT Photo by Tim Fischer

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO MARY WILLIS SHELBURNE: On how often one’s inner state differs from external circumstances; and on the proper attitude toward death and dying.

7 June 1959

I am sorry to hear that so many troubles crowd upon you but glad to hear that, by God’s grace, you are so untroubled. So often, whether for good or ill, one’s inner state seems to have so little connection with the circumstances. I can now hardly bear to look back on the summer before last when Joy was apparently dying and I was often screaming with the pain of osteoporosis: yet at the time we were in reality far from unhappy. May the peace of God continue to infold you. . . .

What a state we have got into when we can’t say ‘I’ll be happy when God calls me’ without being afraid one will be thought ‘morbid’. After all, St. Paul said just the same [Philippians 1:21]. If we really believe what we say we believe—if we really think that home is elsewhere and that this life is a ‘wandering to find home’, why should we not look forward to the arrival? There are, aren’t there, only three things we can do about death: to desire it, to fear it, or to ignore it. The third alternative, which is the one the modern world calls ‘healthy’ is surely the most uneasy and precarious of all.

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
• Compiled in Yours, Jack

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: June 5, 2015

SYNOD OF THE COVENANT - One clear expression of the Synod of the Covenant’s commitment to compassionate and prophetic discipleship is its Cabinet on Ethnic Church Affairs (CECA). This year CECA is celebrating 43 years of “advocating and collaborating for, and seeking liberation, justice, and reconciliation on behalf of, the community of Christ throughout the world.”

Historically, CECA has carried out its work through four racial-ethnic caucuses: African American; Asian American; Hispanic/Latino American, and Native American. In 2013 it gladly welcomed a Middle Eastern American caucus. All five caucuses come together twice a year to build community and make decisions that fulfill CECA’s mission ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

In the News ... "Pastor: Most miss Jesus’ humanity"

OA Photo by Mark Sterkel

• “Not negating what Christ did as the Son of God, I like to preach about his humanity ..."

By Bob Campbell, Reporter
Odessa American

ODESSA, TEXAS - Describing himself as “a redneck minister,” the Rev. Larry Dean Hood says his background as a native Odessan whose dad was a policeman and oilfield mechanic is often an asset in his work as pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Risen Lord and as a Home Hospice chaplain.

“I’m for those not very religious guys who say, ‘I don’t want a preacher,’” Hood said. “I’m in their comfort zone because I habla Odessa” ...

• read the rest of this OA report ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

On providence

"And we saw the words UNDER ME.”

The Knight laughed even more heartily than before.

“You were the more deceived,” he said. “Those words meant nothing to your purpose. Had you but asked my Lady, she could have given you better counsel. For those words are all that is left of a longer script, which in ancient times, as she well remembers, expressed this verse:

Though under Earth and throneless now I be,

Yet, while I lived, all Earth was under me.

From which it is plain that some great king of the ancient giants who lies buried there caused this boast to be cut in the stone over his sepulchre; though the breaking up of some stones, and the carrying away of others for new buildings, and the filling up of the cuts with rubble has left only two words that can still be read. Is it not the merriest jest in the world that you should have thought they were written to you?”

This was like cold water down the back to Scrubb and Jill; for it seemed to them very likely that the words had nothing to do with their quest at all, and that they had been taken in by a mere accident.

“Don’t you mind,” said Puddleglum. “There are no accidents. Our guide is Aslan.”

• From The Silver Chair
• Compiled in Words to Live By

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: June 4, 2015

SOUTH AFRICA - Between 1960 and 1990, South Africa was in turmoil. In 1960 we experienced the Sharpeville massacre, when Africans were shot for taking part in a church-backed protest against apartheid laws. In 1976 the Soweto uprisings began in response to the apartheid government’s decision to enforce the Afrikaans language in black schools. Amid political turmoil and violence, Christians were seeking God’s will (the Kairos Document being one example of Christian reflection on the situation).

With the help of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC)—a church for persons of mixed race or ethnicity—declared apartheid a heresy in 1982. When the DRMC synod met that year in Belhar, a motion from the floor opened the door to drafting a confession that would speak the truth about God, Christ’s church, reconciliation, justice, and obedience ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

In the News ... "Pledge encourages regular family dinners, benefits Meals on Wheels"

MRT Photo of Meals On Wheels by Tim Fischer

• Help make sure seniors have an opportunity to feel like a part of their families

Steve Kuhlmann, Reporter
Midland Reporter-Telegram

MIDLAND, TEXAS - The national Home Instead Senior Care Network is looking to do its part to encourage a better quality of life for Midland senior citizens, encouraging families to take the Sunday Dinner Pledge to have a sit-down meal once a week with their senior loved ones.

“Home Instead reviewed a study that basically showed that 50 percent of families who live near their senior relatives believe that they’re not sharing enough meals with their older loved ones,” said Midland Home Instead Senior Care Administrator Missey Chavez ...

... In addition to encouraging the family interaction, Chavez said that for every person who takes the pledge, Home Instead will donate $1 to Meals on Wheels until either the end of July or donations have reached $20,000 ...

 • read the rest of this MRT report ... 

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

[Lucy] turned on and found to her surprise a page with no pictures at all; but the first words were A Spell to make hidden things visible. She read it through to make sure of all the hard words and then said it out loud. And she knew at once that it was working because as she spoke the colors came into the capital letters at the top of the page and the pictures began appearing in the margins. It was like when you hold to the fire something written in Invisible Ink and the writing gradually shows up; only instead of the dingy color of lemon juice (which is the easiest Invisible Ink) this was all gold and blue and scarlet. . . . And then she thought, “I suppose I’ve made everything visible, and not only the Thumpers. There might be lots of other invisible things hanging about a place like this. I’m not sure that I want to see them all.” At that moment she heard soft, heavy footfalls coming along the corridor behind her; and of course she remembered what she had been told about the Magician walking in his bare feet and making no more noise than a cat. It is always better to turn round than to have anything creeping up behind your back. Lucy did so.

Then her face lit up till, for a moment (but of course she didn’t know it), she looked almost as beautiful as that other Lucy in the picture, and she ran forward with a little cry of delight and with her arms stretched out. For what stood in the doorway was Aslan himself, the Lion, the highest of all High Kings. And he was solid and real and warm and he let her kiss him and bury herself in his shining mane. And from the low, earthquake-like sound that came from inside him, Lucy even dared to think that he was purring.

“Oh, Aslan,” said she, “it was kind of you to come.”

“I have been here all the time,” said he, “but you have just made me visible.”

“Aslan!” said Lucy almost a little reproachfully. “Don’t make fun of me. As if anything I could do would make you visible!”

“It did,” said Aslan. “Do you think I wouldn’t obey my own rules?”

• From The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Compiled in A Year with Aslan

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: June 3, 2015

LESOTHO - In 1833, three French missionaries—Thomas Arbousset, Eugène Casalis, and Constant Gosselin—arrived in Lesotho. At the invitation of Moshoeshoe, the king of the Basotho people, they established a mission station at Morija on behalf of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (PEMS). The mission eventually became the hub of a network of parishes, schools, and health centers ministering holistically to the spiritual and physical needs of surrounding communities. It also became a base for evangelism in the region ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

In the News ... "Pastor left career as banker and accountant"

OA Photo by Mark Sterkel

• Got interested in the ministry while serving as a deacon

By Bob Campbell, Reporter
Odessa American

ODESSA, TEXAS - The Rev. Greg Morris [of Bethany Christian Church ] says contemporary society is highly stressful, but it presents a lot of chances to show one’s integrity as a Christian.

Noting he has been preaching on the Book of Daniel, Morris asked, “How do you have integrity, that peace, in a world of pressure that seems out of control?

“Most of us claim we have faith, but we don’t necessarily like to put it to a test,” he said ...

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C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:

What does it matter how this grief of mine evolves or what I do with it? What does it matter how I remember her or whether I remember her at all? None of these alternatives will either ease or aggravate her past anguish.

Her past anguish. How do I know that all her anguish is past? I never believed before—I thought it immensely improbable—that the faithfulest soul could leap straight into perfection and peace the moment death has rattled in the throat. It would be wishful thinking with a vengeance to take up that belief now. H. was a splendid thing; a soul straight, bright, and tempered like a sword. But not a perfected saint. A sinful woman married to a sinful man; two of God’s patients, not yet cured. I know there are not only tears to be dried but stains to be scoured. The sword will be made even brighter.

But oh God, tenderly, tenderly.

• From A Grief Observed
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: June 2, 2015

MADAGASCAR - Madagascar, a beautiful island with lovely people and unique biodiversity, has suffered a five-year political and economic crisis. Poverty has skyrocketed to 92 percent, leading to an increase in prostitution, human trafficking, and street children. It has precipitated an exodus of women to serve as domestic servants in countries such as Kuwait and Lebanon, where they are often abused.

PC(USA) partner the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM) is actively involved in prophetic and compassionate ministries in prisons and hospitals and among the marginalized ...

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From ChinaAid: "Legal training session in Yunnan successfully completed"

The China Aid Association is a non-profit Christian organization - based in Midland, Texas - with a mission to uncover and reveal the truth about religious persecution in China, focusing especially on the unofficial church. They do this, they explain in their website, by exposing the abuses, encouraging the abused and equipping the saints to advance the kingdom of God throughout China.

Legal training session in Yunnan successfully completed
Distributed by ChinaAid, May, 2015 ...

LICANG, YUNNAN, CHINA – The founder of the Chinese Christian Faith Legal Training Camp concluded a training session last week in China’s southwestern Yunnan province despite previous interruptions ...

• more on this story from China Aid  

In the News ... "Non-Profits Come Together to Help Residents"

KOSA Photo

• "... a huge blessing to go out and serve somebody else and love them ..."

Addey Gann
KOSA-TV

MIDLAND, TEXAS - The Genesis Center spent this afternoon helping one of their own.

The non-profit organization brought food to the Midland Soup Kitchen to pass out ...

• read the rest of this KOSA report ... 

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

On hope

Then Aslan turned to them and said: “You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be.”

Lucy said, “We’re so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often.”

“No fear of that,” said Aslan. “Have you not guessed?” Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them. “There was a real railway accident,” said Aslan softly. “Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

• From The Last Battle
• Compiled in Words to Live By

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: June 1, 2015

MOZAMBIQUE - "I was lucky to grow up in the Presbyterian Church,” Berta Sitoe says of her childhood in rural Gaza Province, where her father was an elder of the Presbyterian Church of Mozambique (IPM). “As I got older, I realized that I had a gift for teaching,” Berta recalls. “And I love to teach.”

Before long, Berta felt a call to ministry ...

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