MIDLAND, TEXAS -“Be Our Change” is our positive, inspirational segment. This time, we’re highlighting a nonprofit that’s been in the Basin for more than three decades. Its volunteers are passionate about making a difference.
“That’s what Helping Hands does,” said Debra Northcutt, a volunteer of five years. “It gives those people just a little bit of hope.”
It’s very emotional and personal for volunteers like Northcutt. ...
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States.The CRS Briefing is a monthly service to our supporters. We aspire to keep you informed of our progress and up-to-date on issues that affect the people we serve in more than 100 countries around the world.
January 2021 ... Do you hunger for peace
Our Monthly Prayer
A Cry of Peace: Let us pray that peace may touch all corners of our world. And so we pray ... Pray with us ...
Is your car on its last wheels?
Add even more miles by giving it away—and turn your wheels into a vehicle for change. Donate your car ...
We Hunger for Peace
Help end global hunger and poverty and promote peace throughout the world this Lent through CRS Rice Bowl. Order your free CRS Rice Bowl ...
MIDLAND, TEXAS - The Rev. James Archie grew up going to a church pastored by his father, the late Rev. O.J. Archie, and he has been preaching since he was 11 years old ...
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.
Today in the Mission Yearbook: January 18, 2021
WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY - The Presbyterian constitution directs believers “to manifest more visibly the unity of the body of Christ” (G-5.0101). Our daily reading from Ephesians suggests the way of Christian unity is made by speaking truth with love in a way that grows the body of Christ. Sunday’s readings included Paul’s writing to the church in Corinth where Paul is constantly challenging natural divisions with a greater goal of being the Body of Christ ...
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.
Today in the Mission Yearbook: January 17, 2021
RACE RELATIONS DAY/RACIAL AND INTERCULTURAL JUSTICE - I’ve been spending a lot of time with Genesis 11:1–9 lately, or the story of Shinar and the so-called “Tower of Babel.” It’s a popular Sunday School lesson, an etiology we recount to children to explain why humanity is so varied in language and location. We don’t engage it as much when we get older. For that reason, how we read and are taught the story as children often stays with us well into adulthood ...
MIDLAND, TEXAS - The West Texas Food Bank, 1601 Westcliff Drive, Midland, has scheduled Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday ...
SAN ANGELO, TEXAS - Faith briefs may be submitted by emailing News@GoSanAngelo.com. Briefs are published in print on Saturdays and the deadline to submit an entry is noon Wednesdays ...
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.
Today in the Mission Yearbook: January 16, 2021
Photo by the Rev. Mark Adams
'FRONTERO DE CRISTO' BORDER MINISTRY - The impact of mission delegations is said to be like the rock that hits the water and ripples outward.
That’s what Gene Ryan of Western Theological Seminary said about a previous trip to the border with his seminary class to visit Frontera de Cristo (FDC), a Presbyterian border ministry located in the sister cities of Agua Prieta, Sonora and Douglas, Arizona ...
Amidst the changes and chances of the COVID-19 pandemic, churches and entities throughout the The Synod of the Sun found ways to not only survive but also find unique and beautiful ways to minister to God's people in need. Mission and ministry takes form in supplying basic necessities to caring for the environment. Connections have been made via video feed and blankets. Love is supplied via learning how to read to dArive-in diapers.
How has your community found ways to continue to minister when "the church has left the building"? Send us your Good News Stories ideas! Contact Thomas Riggs, Communication and Administrative Coordinator or the Matt Curry, author and story collector.
Keeping it Light!
By Matt Curry
BIXBY, OKLAHOMA – An Oklahoma husband-and-wife pastor team uses its love for theater to share the Good News with the congregation, providing sermons as plays that often feature modern and humorous takes on biblical stories.
Revs. Elana Keppel Levy and Lucus Levy Keppel recently took their creative gifts to a new level, with the help of other pastors from across the country. “Keep it Light” is an 18-minute video retelling of the Parable of the 10 Bridesmaids (Matt. 25: 1-13), presented as a zoom call between a wedding planner and the bridesmaids.
“Is someone singing ‘Time After Time’? Or am I 2,000 years too early?” asks one participant as planning begins.
While keeping it light and humorous throughout, the production wrestles with serious biblical questions such as:
- Who is wise?
- Who is foolish?
- What do you do with all that time waiting for the bridegroom to arrive?
“We have to make the stories our own,” Pastor Elana said.
Spoiler Alert: At the end, all are met with the grace and love of Jesus Christ, as the bridegroom assures those who were ultimately shut out of the wedding that they can repent and try again: “When you live in love, you abide in me and I in you. I am with you even to the end of the age – so keep awake, trust and believe.”
The co-pastors have served together at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bixby, a member of the Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery, since 2016. They met at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, where they were involved in a theater group. When Pastor Elana put out the casting call for “Keep it Light,” former classmates like the Rev. Susan Carter Wiggins were eager to sign up.
The bridesmaids in the parable are depicted in the play as virtues and vices, such as wrath, envy, kindness and diligence. Wiggins, draped in pearls and jewelry, played the role of Greed.
“For me, I’m sure it’s everybody, we all need some kind of diversion. This makes us smile,” said Wiggins, associate pastor for congregational care at Germantown Presbyterian Church in Tennessee. “Pastoring is hard anyway, but in the midst of the pandemic it’s really hard. With Elana and Lucus, knowing them, you knew they were going to create something good.”
Pastor Elana wrote the script, and cast members each sent in various takes and retakes. Pastor Lucus, the producer, spent three days and long nights putting all the pieces together to create the video. The cast even had a premiere night watch party to see the final version of its work.
Pastor Elana said one of the most gratifying comments she received after showing the video at Bixby was that that the play helped a parishioner think about sin and righteousness in a new way.
Being made to laugh brings added value to a message.
“That’s the thing about comedy, only the jester could tell the truth to the king,” she said.
Added Pastor Lucus: “It harkens back to the origins of medieval theater. The way people learned, it was amazing how much theater made a difference in what you learned as you moved forward.”
The video and the entire script are available on Pastor Elana’s Web site, www.somuchbible.com, which offers numerous resources for preachers and worship leaders.
The Rev. Matt Curry is in search of Good News from ministries throughout the Synod of the Sun that are making connections with their congregations and communities. Do you have an idea to share? Send Matt an email at cpcwaxpastor@gmail.com.
Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.
Friday Story: “Free Wheelchair Mission Selected to Receive a $100,000 Donation From loanDepot to Transform 1,250 Lives”
Free Wheelchair Mission, a humanitarian, faith-based nonprofit, has been selected to receive a $100,000 donation from loanDepot, the nation’s second-largest retail nonbank lender. loanDepot selected Free Wheelchair Mission to be among five key partner charities to receive these funds as part of a total of $3M that loanDepot has provided in 2020 to support relief efforts during COVID-19 ...
MIDLAND, TEXAS - Although Saturday seemed pretty cold, Midland’s Community Worship Center helped keep people warm by handing out 500 pancake meals to the community.
The free breakfast was made through its initiative called Operation 500 ...
SAN ANGELO, TEXAS - Anger can be a defense mechanism, used to protect life when we are threatened.
The human brain is a phenomenal study in itself. Situated deep inside the brain, the amygdala (part of the limbic system) houses the threat detection system among other functions.
In it are the power controls for flight or fight ...
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.
Today in the Mission Yearbook: January 15, 2021
Photo by Patrick Heery
'BLACK LIVES MATTER' BANNER - The Rev. Patrick Heery acknowledges that the church sign that got stolen, returned and then vandalized — all in a matter of days — is just a piece of cloth.
“It’s not important unto itself,” he said. “It cost us $300. But it’s what it represents.” ...
MIDLAND, TEXAS - With an extensive background in education, the Rev. John “Pastor Bo” Bohacek is bringing a variety of experience to his new post as pastor of Harvest Time Church at 8300 Highway 191 ...
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.
Today in the Mission Yearbook: January 14, 2021
Photo Courtesy of University Community Presbyterian Church
MATTHEW 25 MINISTRY IN ALASKA - Alaska’s breathtaking beauty can be deceiving. Just ask anyone who calls the last frontier home. Suicide rates, among the highest in the country, show no signs of abating anytime soon. According to Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services, suicides increased by 29% from 2012 to 2017, up 13% from 2007 to 2011. While substance abuse exacerbates these statistics, there are other factors as well. Alaska’s unofficial nickname, “Land of the Midnight Sun,” where the sun disappears during the winter, often leads to a spike in seasonal affective disorder. Then there are the economic repercussions of a weakening oil industry. Add in Alaska’s already isolated lifestyle and a slippery slope becomes slicker for its residents.
So, when University Community Presbyterian Church in Fairbanks decided at the start of 2020 to become a Matthew 25 church, responding to an invitation that the PC(USA) extended in April 2019, it just made sense ...
Amidst the changes and chances of the COVID-19 pandemic, churches and entities throughout the The Synod of the Sun found ways to not only survive but also find unique and beautiful ways to minister to God's people in need. Mission and ministry takes form in supplying basic necessities to caring for the environment. Connections have been made via video feed and blankets. Love is supplied via learning how to read to dArive-in diapers.
Pushing Missional Boundaries
n the newest episode of SunSpots, we talk with Rev. Tim Davenport-Herbst of St. Paul Presbyterian Church in San Angelo about Pushing Missional Boundaries.
We learn how St. Paul has been deeply involved in community ministry for decades, starting the homeless programs, the first 12 step and drug treatment programs in the Concho valley, resettling four waves of refugees, and feeding the community for more than 30 years.
Don’t listen to podcasts? The same content we post on the SunSpots podcast will also be posted on our YouTube page.
You can find SunSpots on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Alexa (“Hey Alexa, play the SunSpots podcast”), or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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.
Today in the Mission Yearbook: January 13, 2021
PRESBYTERIAN HOME FOR CHILDREN - It’s a common sight from the window of Doug Marshall’s office at the Presbyterian Home for Children in Talladega, Alabama: A care worker accompanies a new girl from the administration building to the cottage that will be her new home.
She is overwhelmed, perhaps crying. The care worker, who has made this trip across campus countless times, quietly walks with her.
“To me, it is the beginning of walking that path of hope,” said Marshall, president and CEO of the home ...
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - Nonprofit Buckner International and announced this week the launch of a collaboration to give students opportunities to better serve their community and learn about ministry and service ...
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.
Today in the Mission Yearbook: January 10, 2021
Photo by Rich Copley
RACISM AND RECONCILIATION WEBINAR - One moment emerged above all the others recently during a “Vital Conversations” webinar hosted by the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Vital Congregations ...
ODESSA, TEXAS - The Salvation Army of Odessa will provide housing for anyone needing shelter Sunday through Tuesday morning at its homeless shelter at 810 E. 11th St., according to Capt. Juan Gomez ...
