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posted on November 6, 2008 by
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Pastor Opening in So. Cal. area

Somewhere out there is an incredibly right person for the call listed below.  For five years, while in seminary and then searching for my first call (2000-2005), this church community was my own home.  I love the people here dearly and cannot more wholeheartedly encourage pastors who fit the search descriptors to apply.  — Karen

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First Presbyterian Church of Altadena (CA) is looking for a pastor who is:

  • conversant in the missional church frameworks
  • experienced in multicultural leadership
  • committed to intergenerational faith life

We have an almost 100 year heritage as a Japanese American church and now Sunday mornings have 45% diversity. We are next to Pasadena, thus, enjoy the resources and challenges of this urban-edge location. More info at altadenapresbyterian.org.

Filed Under: Presbymergent
posted on June 20, 2008 by
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presbymergent at the 218th General Assembly

This coming week presbymergent friends will be tossing out several hundred of these 5” mini flyers into the multitude of Presbyterians coming to the 218th General Assembly.  Our main goal for participating in GA is to help other Presbyterian organizations, leaders, and members know that we exist.  The secondary goal is to help network people who a looking to be connected with presbymergent.

If you know of anyone going to General Assembly who needs to know more about presbymergent, let them know they should stop by the booth and come to the events.  If you would like one of our limited supply, 100% recycled plastic, mini flyers – let them know they should pick one up for you before they’re all tossed out.

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Exhibit Hall Booth (#409), Friday – Wednesday

Along with the mini flyers, the cheerful booth staff will be handing out a beautiful brochure (“an invitation to presbymergent conversations” designed and color printed by Carol Howard Merritt), and small invites to the two presbymergent events happening at GA.  We hope to make new friends and have good conversations about Emergent, being loyal radicals, …

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Friday Night Event, 7:00-9:00 pm

a presbymergent event with Emergent Village voices

donations accepted (suggestion $10)   Facebook event page

The Church Basement Roadshow
In a high-energy, meaningful and light-hearted show three friends from varied backgrounds (Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt and Mark Scandrette) join forces as a team of revivalists in the tradition of the late 19th and early 20th century. Drawing on material from their most recent books, they will use skits, group sing-alongs, spoken word poetry, video and old-timey style preaching to invite audiences into a serious encounter with the exciting possibilities of lived Christian faith in our day.

First Presbyterian Church of San Jose
49 North 4th Street, San Jose
(a ten minute walk from the convention center)

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Tuesday Night Event, 8:00-10:00 pm

a presbymergent evening of friendship, film, food and conversations

free appetizers will be provided by our co-host, the Office of Theology and Worship, and beverages will be available for purchase

Most of the evening will be informal conversations.
From 8:30-9:00 there will be a 15 minute preview screening of  “A Church Emerging,” followed by a Q&A with the producer and director.  This documentary follows the story of a traditional Presbyterian Church in the San Jose presbytery that joins with an emerging church, interspersed with interviews exploring Emergent’s impact on a national scale.

Tied House Brewing Company
65 North San Pedro Street, San Jose
(a ten minute walk from the convention center)

Please pray for how the Holy Spirit will work through our presence at GA, and that we not get too tired before the week is over!

Filed Under: Presbymergent
posted on February 25, 2008 by
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Episode 02: Vera White, Pittsburgh Presbytery

Presbyteries & presbymergent

Though on the longer side, this episode is rich with hope for possibilities of our church structures, and ourselves, flourishing in the midst of chaos.

Between recording the opening context essay of the episode and now posting this episode (…please pray for me that future episodes take less time to complete…) the post Concerning Exegesis put words to something I couldn’t quite explain. Why are there natural ties between traditionally mission focused Presbyterians and presbymergents? As that post highlights, we share a desire do thoughtful exegesis of culture, and both gain from writers such as Lesslie Newbigin. This podcast and that posting providentially complement one another as we explore the mission before us.

Episode 02: Vera White, Pittsburgh Presbytery

Vera WhiteVera White is the Pittsburgh Presbytery Director of New Church Development, Stewardship, and the Committee on Ministry. This episode has two main themes that Vera develops in her sharing: presbymergent oriented leadership and presbytery-wide support of presbymergent NCDs. Vera’s role in Pittsburgh Presbytery provides a valuable collection of wisdom for any PC(USA) leader or governing body engaging with presbymergent.

Interspersed among this episode’s pictures are paintings from the walls of a tattoo parlor, created by an artist connected to one of the Presbytery’s NCDs. (BTW if you look with care at the picture that resembles ‘The Last Supper,’ you will realize why it is called ‘The Last Tattoo.’)

You can download the episode here. Or you can download the file in MP3 format here.

The next podcast will take us beyond Pittsburgh, all the way to the San Francisco Bay Area, for an interview with one of the first presbymergent NCD pastors Bruce Reyes-Chow, who is now also a candidate for moderator of the upcoming General Assembly.

Filed Under: Churches, Podcast, Presbymergent Tagged With: , , , , ,
posted on January 26, 2008 by
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Podcast Episode 01: BJ Woodworth, The Open Door

Announcing the presbymergent podcast!

As a one-year of presbymergent.org anniversary gift, I am overjoyed to share the launch of this new resource for the Church. Details on how to subscribe to the podcast feed can be found on the brand new Podcast page. Below is more of the story behind the creation of this podcast, and here are the show notes for our first of many introductions to PC(USA) ‘loyal radicals.’

Episode 01: BJ Woodworth, The Open Door

BJ Woodworth and Karen SloanBJ Woodworth is the founding pastor of The Open Door NCD (New Church Development) in Pittsburgh, PA. This episode begins with a general introduction to the presbymergent podcast by Karen Sloan. It then follows BJ to traffic court, contains an interview with BJ at his local vegetarian diner, and shares a poem he wrote in systematic theology class.

You can download the episode here. Or you can download the file in MP3 format here.

Why a podcast?

In many ways this podcast is an extension of the in-person presbymergent events that have happened this past year. A primary purpose for the traveling I’ve been doing is to network presbymergents, to hear and share their stories. This led to a very full travel schedule for me, and a ton of stories about all manner of Emergent happenings throughout PC(USA). But what would often happen is I wished presbymergents I met at one event could meet, and learn more about, what presbymergents were doing whom I had met at another event. I found out that traveling and meeting with folks was a fairly inefficient means of spreading presbymergent stories.

To overcome this challenge when I started traveling last fall, I brought a recorder with me to capture, on digital storage, some of the stories I heard. Also, the one specifically presbymergent event this fall had several folks recording most of the sessions. Big thank yous to Brian Wallace for that resource! So upcoming episodes of the presbymergent podcast will have a mixture of recordings from the interviews I conducted and presentations from the presbymergent conference.

In summary, the subtitle for our podcast as it begins is – Presbyterian and Emergent conversations: mostly stories from PC(USA) ‘loyal radicals’ – enjoy!

Filed Under: Churches, Podcast Tagged With: , , ,
posted on January 18, 2008 by
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Reworking Committees?

Mark Brantley-Gearhart recently posted this comment in the discussion about Clerks of Session. It’s a great start for beginning a conversation about Session committees:

“Last night our Session did something different. Instead of the annual assignment of committee chairpersons, we talked about options to committees. With the exception of the Nominating Committee (which is mandated by the Book of Order), we’re doing away with committees. (The truth is, our committees died off long ago due to lack of interest.) Instead, we’re going to experiment with the idea of ministries that flow out of discernment groups. Congregants who are interested in a particular ministry will gather for ongoing conversations centered around that ministry. And instead of each elder serving as the chairperson over her or his own group, the elders will work in partnerships of two or more per ministry to help facilitate discussion and the ministries that result from discussion. We’re not sure how this is going to work, but the elders seem to be encouraged by this less hierarchical, more relational approach.”

What have you heard or tried along the lines of reworking Session committees? Any failures? Any encouragements?

Filed Under: Churches, Leadership, Polity Tagged With: ,
posted on January 16, 2008 by
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events where you can find presbymergents during the first half of 2008

The events page on presbymergent.org has been updated with lots of information on where presbymergents are going throughout the coming winter and spring months. The biggest national gathering of presbymergents, however, will be taking place this summer at Montreat during the Church Unbound conference just after GA.

What is taking place in events, until this summer, are a number of region-specific gatherings. If you’re anywhere in the South, the combination of top quality speakers (Shane Claiborne, Tim Keel, Troy Bronsink) and low registration fee ($25 online), makes A Sustainable Faith in St. Petersburg, Florida, Feb 2-3, a must-attend event.

The main series of events is Brian McLaren’s The Everything Must Change Tour, taking place in eleven cities around the USA (Charlotte NC, Boise ID, Dallas TX, St. Petersburg FL, Washington DC, San Diego CA, Chicago IL, Seattle WA, Kansas City MO, New York City NY, Goshen IN). Currently two of the tour stops, Boise and Washington DC, have presbymergents who volunteered to connect Presbyterians going to these events. To learn more about how the First Presbyterian Church in Bend, OR, is getting ready for the tour, see this post, and email Nate Bettger for connecting with them in Boise. Brian Wallace is planning a gathering in Washington DC, email Brian for more information. If you are willing to volunteer for gathering presbymergents in any of the other tour cities, please email and/or write a post for this site by registering or logging in. I will also update the events page with your contact info and any other details you provide.

Finally, there will be a very special event this April 8-10, “Emerging Church for the Existing Church” designed to bridge gaps between Emergent explorations and established Mainline churches. All of the presentations at this conference will directly relate to what it means to be a presbymergent, a convergence of existing church and emerging church. This is an opportunity for both on-ramp questions of figuring out what Emergent is about and for higher-level practitioner questions of being Emergent in Mainline contexts.

If you’re planning a presbymergent-related event, or are even considering the possibility of an event, feel free to email about getting connected with other presbymergents.

Filed Under: Churches, Emergent, Emerging Worship, Events, General Assembly, Presbymergent Tagged With: , ,
posted on November 14, 2007 by
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Influence?

In the recent past two folks in the presbymergent conversation have been news makers. Troy Bronsink has been named the #6 least-influential person in Atlanta and Bruce Reyes-Chow has announced his intentions of running for Moderator of the 218 General Assembly.

For more on Troy’s news – here is his blog, the online article, and a photo/audio show which focuses on Troy at 11:54.

For more on Bruce’s news – here is his blog, and the announcement of his moderator adventure, part 1 & part 2.

Influential? Not influential? It’s difficult to know. As with Bruce and Troy, my prayer also is that, most of all, we presbymergents are faithful to Christ.

Filed Under: Blogging, Churches, PC(USA), Press
posted on October 3, 2007 by
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where to find presbymergent in person during Fall 2007

For all those who participated in a presbymergent party this summer, it was great to meet you and hear your stories. Given all the presbymergent interest at this summer’s events, there is more planned for this coming year. Fun!

As we enter into fall, the events page has been updated with details on forthcoming presbymergent-related happening. Currently there are five events that include presbymergent parties, and a 100% presbymergent event. Links to more information about these events is here and below:

Emergent Gathering in Glorieta, NM
October 2, Tuesday, to October 5, Friday

Always Reforming – Emergence in the Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA
October 12, Friday, to October 13, Friday
(If you’re deciding between this conference and another one, this is the one to choose.)

Off the Map Live – Hear, Listen, Connect in Seattle, WA
November 1, Thursday, to November 3, Saturday

An Emergent Mainline Dialogue in Spokane, WA
November 9, Friday, to November 10, Saturday

Association of Presbyterian Mission Pastors in Louisville, KY
November 28, Wednesday, to November 30, Friday

Conversations with Phyllis Tickle in Lakewood, NY
December 1, Saturday, to December 2, Sunday

A new element growing from in person events will be recording interviews and other material for a presbymergent podcast, which will begin later this fall. More details to follow later.

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Hope to see you soon!

Filed Under: Events
posted on August 9, 2007 by
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Soularize: the original/catalytic emerging gathering

An Emergent friend, Spencer Burke, wants everyone in the presbymergent network to consider attending a learning party he’s hosting in the Bahamas, less than 90 days from now.

If you are planning on being there, please leave a comment so that presbymergents can locate each other while meeting on tropical beaches, umm, I mean, conference meeting rooms. – Karen

Here is more information from Spencer:

A Learning Party – October 25-27, 2007

Come and lend your voice, your experience, and your dreams as we explore the Evolving Church – rethinking and reinventing what the Church could be in years ahead.
Learn more – http://www.soularize.net/

Key Note Line Up
N.T. Wright, Brennan Manning, Rita Nakashima Brock, and Fr. Richard Rohr

International Conversation and Venue – Nassau Bahamas
Take advantage of off season rates and ease of travel for our international friends

Five Learning Modes of Engagement
Keynote, Small Groups, Extended Experience, Reflective Time, 24/7 Web Collaboration

Varied Relational Environments
Private Island, Art Studios, Swim w/Sharks, Social Network, Lecture Hall,
Limited to 500 attendees

Totally Wired Conference
Free T-1 wireless access, Live Web Interface with polling, chat, webcams, whiteboard

What makes Soularize unique is the learning environment. We create a casual, safe and interactive place where you can wrestle with issues your church and faith are facing today. You’ll engage in a wide variety of learning experiences like facilitated groups of less than 50 people, hands-on learning experiences, main sessions with keynote speakers, and workshops. Open times in the schedule offer chances for you to reflect and refresh in a hammock overlooking the Caribbean.

Regular (today) – $249
Late (after Sept 1) – $299

Register Today http://www.theooze.com/store/details.cfm?item=10006

Knowing that all have limited budgets to invest in annual learning opportunities, we hope you take opportunity to compare the Soularize learning experience with a few of the other national learning opportunities happening this coming year. Perhaps you’ll be as surprised that an event in the Bahamas is actually cheaper than attending an event in San Diego (see comparison chart http://www.soularize.net/compare-conferences.php) . So if you’re looking for a more progressive, independent, and cost-effective learning experience in a tropical setting, perhaps you should consider joining us for the Soularize learning experience.

Filed Under: alt.worship, Events, Leadership, Presbymergent
posted on July 9, 2007 by
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Let the parties begin! – presbymergent San Francisco

(for more infomation on presbymergent parties, check out the events page)

Meeting in an ‘old’ presbymergent church with silvery walls, “The Spiritual Ecology Project: A day of conversation about the emerging church and God’s mission in our world” was a great day. It began with a classic Emergent Gathering breakfast, whole-wheat crepes and fresh fruit, and merged to clusters of conversations. Interacting with various groups, my estimate is that around 10% of those at this Emergent event were Presbyterians. Pastors, seminary students, non-ordained staff, and a few Elders, made for a diverse group of presbymergents.

Following Bruce Reyes-Chow’s guiding, we went as a presbymergent group to a nearby restaurant to break bread together (though not on our knees ;) . With our faces to the rising sun, we lunched on a patio while introducing ourselves, questioning and talking about presbymergent futures. A favorite quote for me was a pastor who said, “I give my time to doing what is fun.”

Most of our time together was sharing reflections on Emergent and PC(USA). As Bruce and I explained more about presbymergent, a question I particularly appreciated was, “What is presbymergent’s agenda?” He wanted to know if presbymergent had ambitions to ‘change the church.’ His question is very logical, yet I realized in that moment, ‘agenda’ was not a category I had operated out of in volunteering for presbymergent. What does motivate me to coordinate presbymergent parties? My answer seemed a bit odd at first, “I want to make more friends.” Yet it’s true. What I understand my work with presbymergent to be about is contributing to a network of friends, of finding and connecting those seeking to be a part of reformed missional communities located in postmodern contexts. With that ‘agenda,’ all in all, this party was a success.

A capital-f Friend, also joined in this lunch. Her observations as an outsider to a presbyterian discussion are on her blog. (If anyone else blogged about our lunch conversation, let me know and I’ll add a link here in this post.)

The strangest “the world is really small” moment of the whole day came when a man, who had spent the morning standing behind a video camera, sat down and introduced himself. “Hi, my name is Caven.” My brain made some quick connections – his name, his dark curly hair – and I responded, “Caven, were you a volunteer with MPPC youth ministry years ago?” Then we both had shocked expressions on our faces. It had been about fifteen years since we had seen one another. No longer an emerging teenager, it was a joy to thank Caven for his positive contribution to my path of being a presbymergent pastor. (thank you to youth ministries volunteers!) What brought Caven to this event is a documentary he’s working on to tell a presbymergent story of the merger between First Presbyterian Church of Santa Cruz and Vintage Faith. It should be finished later this year, and more information about the documentary will be forthcoming when it’s closer to completion.

Filed Under: Churches, Emergent, Events, Presbymergent