After tucking my daughter, Hannah, into
bed last night I put the following post on my Facebook page: “Excellent
Presbytery meeting. 100% better than Sept. Moments of inspiration, hope, despair,
pain-- and very well run. And done at 8:30!”
The
meeting had moments of Inspiration
I
was touched by the Youth Initiative that was shared early in the meeting. It’s wonderful to see our Presbytery paying
attention again to our high school youth.
I
was also touched by the opening comments by our terrific Moderator, Barbara
Lutter. She shared that after the
September Presbytery meeting—which many people, including me, criticized—the leaders
of the Presbytery committed themselves to changing the format of the
meetings. There would be longer consent
agendas—they must have read Sarah Bigwood’s blog!!—along with less talking
heads, less committee reports and less speaker time. And they promised the meetings would be done
by 8:30 p.m. I especially appreciated
the Speak Out time that was given to people right before dinner. Thanks to the leaders of the Presbytery for
paying attention to the many comments that flowed after the September meeting.
The
meeting had moments of Hope
I
thought it was cool that the new, and I think all young—30’s and under—pastors led
worship. Thanks to Adam Copeland for
sharing a presentation on the new Presbyterian Hymnal. I enjoyed listening to him sing and singing
with others. I don’t know too much about
the new Hymnal, but I’m willing to take a look.
The
meeting had moments of Despair
The
Presbytery approved a budget for 2013 that was very difficult to pass. To fill a hole of almost $100,000 the
Presbytery is transferring that amount from a catastrophic reserve fund. That didn’t sit well with many and a motion was
passed to develop a solution. I’m not
sure what that means.
Our
new church receives a significant part of our budget and a small percentage of
the overall Presbytery budget from these funds. I’m
certainly glad that the Church Development Team budget was not cut. We have achieved significant progress in 2012
at Chain of Lakes. To cut our budget now
would be like removing an oxygen line to an infant.
I
read every Treasurer’s Report of the Presbytery which are on-line and are
public information. One simple—though admittedly
difficult—solution would be to collect all unpaid Per Capita amounts from past
years. At of the end of June of this
year churches owed a total of a half million dollars in uncollected Per Capita
from previous years. I was the pastor of
a church that always paid our Per Capita, so I know how difficult this can
be. But I also know it can be done. Community Presbyterian in Plainview does not
owe any money in past Per Capita.
The
meeting had moments of Pain
It
was hard to watch the public rebuke of Rev. Jin Kim. I was on the Permanent Judicial Commission
which rendered a verdict on this case.
Many people spent many hours on this case. I am praying that the victims can experience
closure,that Rev. Kim can successfully go through his rehabilitation, and that
Church of All Nations will thrive as a congregation.
This
was an excellent meeting. Great job to
everyone who organized it and provided leadership.
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