SYNOD SCHOOL CATALOG NEAR PUBLICATION: The catalog for Synod School 2010 is only a couple weeks from publication and that means that registration will soon open. The catalog's cover (left) features the work of Derrick Ogden, an art teacher in Des Moines, Iowa, who received his formal art education from Skidmore College in upstate New York. Ogden will be the artist-in-residence at Synod School. Rodger Nishioka, the Benton Family chair in Christian education at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Ga., will be this year's convocation speaker. Searching "Rodger Nishioka" on YouTube will produce a number of short video clips of Nishioka's presentations.

PC(USA) MODERATOR TO SPEAK AT CLEARWATER 2010: The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the Rev. Carol Howard Merritt, a minister in her 30s and author of "Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation," are two of the leaders of this spring's Clearwater 2010, titled "Finding Our Way in the Wilderness." J. Andrew Dearman, a longtime professor of Old Testament studies at Austin (Texas) Presbyterian Theological Seminary and now director of Fuller Theological Seminary's regional campus in Houston, Texas, is also a conference leader. The conference is planned Friday through Sunday, April 16-18, at Presbyterian Clearwater Forest, Deerwood, Minn. The conference brochure, including registration information, is available on the Synod of Lakes and Prairies' website.

STEWARDSHIP KALEIDOSCOPE EVENT SLATED IN MARCH: