Category Archives: Presbytery

NC Region Gathering for August

Gathering of the North Central Region

Thursday, August 9th
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church
301 N. Walnut Street, Seymour

The church is located on the northwest corner of Third and Walnut, three blocks north of Hwy 50, with parking on the west side of the church.

Join us for fellowship, food, worship, and program.

To assist with a count for the meal, please RSVP to Cheryl @ (812) 522-5909, or by email, by no later than Monday, August 6th.

The worship service will be led by Pastor Alex Becker, who will talk about ministry in Henryville and about rebuilding of the area following devastating tornadoes.

The program will feature a report from two of our Commissioners to the recent General Assembly in Pittsburgh, Rev. Jack Cormack and elder/trustee
Warren Ward.

See you on August 9th!

Tornado Recovery Update: We’re Building a House!

July 17, 2012

Dear Friends,

I’m learning that they don’t call it “long term recovery” for nothing! Indeed, the process of helping people restore and reclaim and rebuild and recover following a disaster requires months and months of hard work.

I am so grateful for all the good and hard work of so many in our presbytery since the tornados of March 2. If I tried to name them all, I would certainly fail. I want especially, however, to lift up Mike and Jean Beaver, Jack Cormack, Sharon Kutz-Mellem, Peter Barnes-Davies, and Susan Ohlendorf, who have been an active part of March2Recovery. They have done our presbytery proud with their continued dedication.

In addition to our work with the ongoing long-term recovery efforts, I am pleased to announce today that the Presbytery of Ohio Valley will be building a house!

We will undertake this effort in partnership with Volunteers-ROC (Rebuilding our Community).  This decision comes following several weeks of discernment and meetings, including visits to construction sites and conversations with some of the families being served. Yesterday, Mike and Jean and Jack and I spent several hours with Kevin Cox, who serves as director for V-ROC.  V-ROC is a southern Indiana ministry of the Hope Crisis Response Network, and follows nationally recognized guidelines for case management and home construction. To date, V-ROC has put over 120 families back in homes following the March 2 tornados, and they have seven houses currently under construction.

Our partnership will enable us to purchase building materials at cost (a huge savings). In addition, we will be able to use as much or as little of V-ROC’s assistance as we need in such areas as house design, site supervision, licensed plumbers and electricians, and the scheduling and housing of volunteers. The presbytery will be covering the full cost of this construction from donations received from within our bounds and from around the country.

Our next step is to identify a family, which we will do in partnership with V-ROC’s case management system. From there we will begin to set a construction schedule and secure work teams accordingly. We will be back in touch with you once we have a schedule in place. It is likely that the actual construction will not begin until later this fall, so please stay tuned. We especially want to make room for work teams from our presbytery, our sister presbyteries in Indiana, our Presbyterian friends across the river, and any others as the need and opportunities warrant.

Once the construction is completed, there will be a house-blessing and a house-warming! And we hope to be able to stay in touch with our partner family as they continue in the work of recovery.

So…. stay tuned! And keep us in prayer as we take these next steps.

And remember….
In life and in death, and in all the circumstances of life, we belong to God. And we belong to each other. Thanks be to God for these blessed connections.

Peace and all good,

The Rev’d. Susan C. McGhee
Executive Presbyter
The Presbytery of Ohio Valley

August 19th Celebration at Rehoboth Presbyterian

The Rehoboth Presbyterian Church, Laconia, Indiana will observe a special Celebration Sunday on Sunday, August 19, 2012.

On that day we will mark the 183rd birthday of the church and the 50th anniversary of Pastor Frank Hainer’s ordination to the gospel ministry of Teaching Elder.

There will be a joint service with the Laconia and Valley City Presbyterian Churches, Sharon Kutz-Mellem, CRE, pastor, including communion, followed by a gala luncheon in the Fellowship Hall which may include, rumor has it, an Ecclesiastical Roast of the pastor.

The service is at 9:30 with the luncheon to follow. All are invited to come celebrate with us.

Rehoboth Presbyterian Church
4990 Rehoboth Rd SE
Laconia, IN
(off Route 11 between Elizabeth and Laconia)

IUkirk for Bloomington Students

Dear Ohio Valley Presbytery Pastors,

United Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Bloomington, IN would like to reach out and welcome any of your members who may be college students, especially the freshmen at IU who may be looking for a church “home away from home.” We would love to be a support system for them here, and connect them with some folks and families who are eager to encourage them in this season of life. Would you pass on our information to them, and if they’re willing, could you provide us with a current email for him/her/them?

There are a number of wonderful activities including weekly gatherings and a mission project being planned for this hope, and ways we hope your church members can continue to grow in God’s community while in Bloomington.

In faith,

Mihee Kim-Kort
609-462-1337

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POV Academy Class: Worship in the Reformed Tradition

The POV Academy Invites YOU to Explore

Worship in the Reformed Tradition

Led by the Rev. Dr. J. Frederick Holper
Emeritus Professor of Preaching and Worship
McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago

This course is for you if you’d like to…

  • Appreciate the creative tensions that underlie worship in the Reformed Tradition;
  • Be able to identify the “12 Tribes of Presbyterian Worship” and the gifts that each have shared with the tradition as a whole;
  • Learn how to develop your gifts for planning worship, making use of a wide range of resources including the order of worship, the liturgical year and lectionary, music and the arts;
  • Develop your capacity as a leader of worship with particular emphasis on the ministry of presence.

Those responsible for planning and/or conducting worship are especially encouraged to participate,
but all are welcome.

September 28-29, 2012 – Camp Pyoca
6 p.m. Friday – 5 p.m. Saturday

Registration closes July 25 or sooner if full.
Cost $100

Registration forms available on the POV website
or from Barbara Snyder
1820 Wheeler Road, Vincennes, IN 47591

What Happened at the June 2nd Assembly

What Happened at Assembly on June 2, in Evansville?

Host Church hospitality is always a great part of what any Assembly is about. First Church in Evansville is in the heart of a beautiful historic district. The Church and the homes around it reflect the period of the late 1800’s. Our hosts greeted us, made us welcome in every way, fed us and shared a great sanctuary for our meeting. We made new friends and embraced old ones.

Examination of Candidates for Ministry:
Deborah Fortel, Committee on Ministry Moderator, reminded us that the face of ministry is now often that of being “bi-vocational”. That is the minister is employed in more than one vocation and the church is a part time call for very many. We heard two candidates for ministry preach, examined them and approved them both for ordination and for part time calls in our churches.

Alex Becker will serve the churches in Henryville (Community and Mount Lebanon) while he also labors in two additional callings. Alex is tri-vocational.
Julie Olt will serve the Church of Covenant in Elizabeth while she also works a second calling.

Church Transformation Work Group and “the Great Swaparoo”
Church Transformation is convinced that every one of our congregations has a great story to tell to another of our churches. Two people from every church should take the word to another church on the same Sunday. These are our stories about transformation. As a model the presbytery heard two stories from two places. One story was of an activity that had zero dollar cost, happened in a small church, and helped the church encounter its own community in a rich way. No excuses from anyone else—it can happen. A second story reached outside our culture—a Presbyterian Revival.

On Reformation Sunday (Oct. 28) we will conduct the “Great SwapaRoo” and hear each other’s stories of “reforming and transforming” our very beings and ministries.

New Hymnal presentation was offered by Tim Jessen. Tim led us in an exploration of a new Presbyterian hymnal that will be out in the next year.

Center for Congregations ministry was interpreted for us by Wendy McCormick.

March 2 Recovery—Jean Beaver interpreted the progress of the Tornado Recovery efforts after three months .

Statistical Reporting:
The Stated Clerk offered a perspective on statistics for the presbytery. Not being happy with “ain’t it awful”, he reported good realities that are present in our stats. An example of his statistics might be: the church looses more people from loss of interest than any other cause. This is the “back door of the church loss”. Two of our churches get the “closing the back door” award. One Church with less than 80 members restored 12 members. One church with less than 150 members restored 11.

There is good to be celebrated. Look for the good and imitate it.

Lawrence Jackman, Stated Clerk

Assembly: June 2012

The next Assembly will take place at 10:00am Eastern time on Saturday, 6/2/2012, at First Presbyterian Church in Evansville, IN.

Registration will begin at 9:00am.

Reports for the Packet must be submitted via email by noon on Monday, May 21st to Stephanie Worden.

The packet, driving directions, and the minutes from the March meeting will be available for download from the assembly webpage after 4:00pm (EST) on Thursday, May 24th.

Coming to the meeting? Let us know by registering!