3:00 p.m.
Mars Hill Presbyterian Church
205 North Jackson St., Athens, TN

The Finance & Stewardship Committee of the Presbytery invites all interested parties, especially church session members, to attend this gathering to discuss the PET budget and priorities for 2016 and beyond.

Invitation from Finance & Stewardship and budget projections analysis

Some months ago, the Presbytery office mailing address changed to:

Presbytery of East Tennessee
P.O. Box 31625
Knoxville, TN 37930-1625

We continue to receive a few things forwarded from our old address.  Please check to make sure you use our new address for any regular mail, including church financial contributions to our shared mission and ministry. This may require changing our address in the computer program used by the church to generate checks.

 

Is your church, scout troop, or club looking for a place for your 2016 retreat? Let John Knox Center host your event!  We provide meeting space, overnight accommodations, and day programming for groups of various sizes, along with delicious food service for most any occasion. 


Let us help you add some fun to your event by scheduling time on our ropes course, nature center, waterfront and other programming options.  Whatever the  occasion, a visit to John Knox Center provides a natural setting for people to get away from the distractions of everyday life and experience a time of rest and fellowship. 

Call our office at 865-376-2236 or email us at admin@johnknoxcenter.org to learn more and to book your event.

We are excited to tell you all about a grant Maryville College has received from the Lilly Foundation.  In partnership with our PET Youth Council, Maryville College will provide staff support to serve the youth of our presbytery! What a creative way to nurture our growing youth, and future Presbyterian leadership!! Here is the exciting "official" press release.

The grant is part of Lilly Endowment Inc.'s High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative, which seeks to encourage young people to explore theological traditions, ask questions about the moral dimensions of contemporary issues and examine how their faith calls them to lives of service.

Youth Summit is a youth retreat for 8th-12th graders held at the Glenstone Lodge in Gatlinburg, TN. We gather for a wonderful time of fun and fellowship. The keynote speaker this year is Rev. Derek Macleod, Myers Park Pres, Charlotte, NC. He will be guiding the youth through the many questions we ask Jesus. Jason Graffis will lead the worship music. There will be big group games, small group discussions, music, and time to explore Gatlinburg!

Youth Summit flyer
Leader letter
Leader form
Registration form

Register by January 14th (postmarked): $125/ person
Register by January 22nd (postmarked); $140/ person

Contact Becca Hunley (PET Youth Committee Member) with any questions.
beccahunley@gmail.com or (865) 659-4064

July 19-23 at Purdue University

The Presbyterian Youth Triennium is a five day event for high school age youth (entering freshmen through graduated seniors) and accompanying adult youth leaders.  The Triennium is focused on equipping young people to be transformational Christian leaders and seeks to join the home churches of the attendees to help call young people into deeper discipleship in Jesus Christ.  The Youth Triennium is a high energy, biblically infused and focused, youth friendly conference.

2016 Youth Triennium - PET delegation information
2016 Youth Triennium info sheet

For information about the delegation from the Presbytery of East Tennessee, contact Keli Shipley, kship32@gmail.com / 423.544.9551

June 18-25, 2016

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will hold its biennial meeting in Portland, Oregon this coming June.  Here is a link to all the information available about this important gathering in the life of our denomination.

General Assembly website

You will find information on the proposed docket for the GA, as well as a link to  PC-Biz, where you can find information about overtures and committees of the General Assembly, and follow the business of the GA in real time using SessionSync.

The Presbytery of East Tennessee has elected the following individuals to attend this year's GA:

Teaching Elders: Ann Myers (validated ministry with Dept. of Correction) and Max Reddick (pastor, Fountain City Presbyterian Church)
Ruling Elders: Kenneth Kim (Korean, Knoxville) and Mary Boyd (Westminster)
Young Adult Advisory Delegate: Malerie Lazar (New Providence)

Carbon footprint - a term you may have heard of in relation to humanity's impact on the earth's climate and environment. It is a measure of greenhouse gas emissions (primarily carbon dioxide) released into the atmosphere that result from human activities. We all contribute to carbon emissions in our daily lives - driving cars, heating or cooling our homes, turning on the lights.

So we all contribute to the global carbon footprint, but the idea is to minimize that footprint in order to minimize the damage we do to the earth. The Climate and Energy Stewardship Team will be exploring ways in coming months for churches and individuals in our presbytery to reduce their carbon footprint. The PC(USA) Investment and Loan Program (PILP) has taken the step of offering the "Restoring Creation Loan" program to help churches do just that, providing funds geared toward energy conservation and reduction of fossil fuel use. You will be hearing more about the topic of carbon footprint, how to measure it, and how to reduce it in the near future. Or feel free to email us at pet.ces.team@gmail.com to start the conversation about restoring God's creation in 2016.

GeekWorks, a new worshiping community in the Presbytery of East Tennessee, has received a grant from the 1001 Worshiping Communities initiative of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  Here is a link to an article featuring GeekWorks among several innovative projects that received $7,500 seed grants.  The ministry describes itself as a ministry "that embraces people for who they are and for their nerd and varied interests."  GeekWorks is led by the Rev. Jonathan Warren, pastor of Powell Presbyterian Church.

We invite you to share your news with us.  All articles and news items must be submitted by the 20th of the month prior to publication.  Send your information to Dana Hendrix, dana@presbyteryeasttn.org.