May 12, 2016        Issue #76














When's the last time 
you checked out the 
Presbytery website?  Hop on over to www.wvpresbytery.org and 
take a look!  
General
Presbyter
Sightings!

Catch the General Presbyter at the following churches and events:
  • Sunday, May 15, Gilbert Presbyterian
  • Wednesday, May 18, Davis Memorial Gassaway Fellowship Dinner
  • Thursday, May 19, Presbytery Meeting, Bluestone Camp & Retreat, Hinton, WV
  • Sunday, May 22, Bream Memorial Presbyterian, Charleston
Presbytery Staff

Ed Thompson
General Presbyter
Maureen Wright
Stated Clerk

Rocky Poole
Financial Administration/Treasurer

Barbara Chalfant
Associate Presbyter for Mission

Susan Sharp Campbell
Associate for Educational Ministry

Nellie Howard
Resource Center Director

Mark Miller
Bluestone Camp Director

Mark Parsons-Justice
Office Administrator/Communications




Prayer List For Churches

Week 20 - May 15 
First Presbyterian, Thomas Westminster Presbyterian, Vienna
Church: Kiagonde (Kigh-GOH'day)
Parish: Kagumo (Kah-GOOM'OH)

Week 21 - May 22 
Zion Presbyterian, Helvetia 
Bates Memorial, Huntington 
Beverly Hills Presbyterian, Huntington
Church: Marua (Mah-ROH'ch)
Parish: Kagumo (Kah-GOOM'OH)


Quick Links 






Bluestone




Westminster Foundation






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Registration for May Presbytery Extended to Sunday, May 15!
The Presbytery gathers in Stated Meetings four times each year for the purpose of attending to the business of the presbytery as it seeks to nurture, guide and govern the congregations of the Presbytery of West Virginia. The Manual of the Presbytery of West Virginia states that a quorum "shall be at least 20% of the teaching elder members, and ruling elder commissioners representing at least 20% of the churches." (Lines 177-178) The registrations for the Stated Meeting of the Presbytery set for May 19, 2016 at Bluestone Camp and Conference are currently short of a quorum; the number of ruling elder commissions is especially low! All teaching elder members of presbytery and ruling elder commissioners are encouraged to register as soon as possible. The deadline for registration has been extended to Sunday, May 15. Please use the link below to register or call the presbytery office.
Tuesday, May 10 was my 100th day as the general presbyter of the Presbytery of West Virginia. It's an artificial marker to be sure, one more commonly used to measure the terms of U.S. presidents, although I've also noticed some business literature that references your first 100 days on the job. So what have I noticed in my first 100 days? Continue reading...
In order to tell the story of the Presbytery of West Virginia, we need your help!  If you are at a Presbytery event and snap a few pics, we'd love to see them.  If you are on Facebook or Twitter, use the hashtag #MyPWV.  If you don't use social media, send them via email to Mark Parsons-Justice in the Presbytery office (office@wvpresbytery.org).  
Bluestone Golf Tournament golf
 golf-ball-grass.jpg
The Friends of Bluestone 6th Annual Golf Tournament will be held on May 14 at Scarlet Oaks in Poca.  In addition to needing golfers to support the event, the Friends of Bluestone are soliciting sponsorships from businesses and churches.  For all the details,  click here!
New Elder Training May 22NewElder
The Elders at Summersville Presbyterian invite any elders to join them as Susan Sharp Campbell leads Elder Training on Sunday, May 22, 3-6 PM.  This is for "new" elders or even "old" elders who could use a refresher!  If you are interested, please contact Rachel Isabel at Summersville office at 304-872-2371. 
Got Good News?GoodNews
Does your church have good news to share? Let us all celebrate with you! Share it with us so the whole Presbytery can rejoice! In God's economy, no news is too small to celebrate!  Send your Good News tidbit (a sentence or two) to pwvgoodnews@gmail.com so we can include it in the newsletter.
  • On Sunday, May 1, the First Presbyterian Church of Williamstown celebrated 100 years since the dedication of its building.  We are celebrating 100 Years of Ministry in this place!  We will also have a celebration on the new church property on Sunday afternoon, June 5th.  Come & celebrate with us. (submitted by Elizabeth Cambell-Maleke)
  • We celebrate another excellent Small Church Conference with the Small Church Conference Committee (Mike Burton, chairperson) and host church Fayetteville Presbyterian Church.
PWV PrayersPWVPrayers
  • We lift in prayer the family and friends of Esther Cotton of Second Presbyterian, Huntington, as they mourn her death and celebrate her life.
Bluestone Summer Campbluestone
Complete camp information can be found online at www.bluestonecamp.com.   To register, download the Bluestone eBrochure 2016.
New Resources!NewResources

Call for Older Adult ResourcesOlderAdult
We are working on adding an older adult resource section to our Presbytery website for congregations and families. It there are specific resources you or your congregation would like to make sure we consider adding, please let Barbara Chalfant at the Presbytery office know about them!  Her email is missions@wvpresbytery.org.
Pentecost Offering Pentecost
The Pentecost Offering is traditionally received on the day of Pentecost. However, you can help sustain the important PC(USA) ministries and programs that are supported by the Pentecost Offering by making a gift at any time throughout the year. A gift to the Pentecost Offering helps the church encourage, develop, and support its young people, and also address the needs of at-risk children. 40% of the Pentecost offering can be retained by individual congregations wanting to make an impact in the lives of young people within their own community. The remaining 60% is used to support ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.  Thank you for your participation!
Emergency Volunteers NeededVolunteers
Every wondered how you could help in times of disaster? Do you have skills and gifts to share? This might be just the right moment to volunteer! We have been asked to assemble teams of volunteers who will be mobilized in the first 24 to 48 hours of a disaster to do pastoral care and damage assessments so that the work of rebuilding and restoring communities care happen faster.  For more information, click here.
Mission Opportunity in OhioVolunteers
Canfield Presbyterian Church, located in Eastminster Presbytery and ten miles south of Youngstown, Ohio, has long encouraged churches to come to the greater Youngstown area to provide mission outreach.  In order to facilitate mission teams coming to the Youngstown area, the Canfield Church renovated a portion of our lower level to provide men's and women's shower/restrooms and sleeping areas with a maximum capacity of 30 persons. They are accepting reservations for June, July, and August 2016 and 2017. Click here for their brochure!
New PCUSA Missional ResourcesMission
Borrowing from the story-telling tradition of the Gospel, the Presbyterian Mission Agency and New Castle Presbytery have joined forces to develop missional lectionary-based stories available via download.  For more information, click here!
Updated Mission Webpagemissionweb
The Mission Committee in conjunction with the hard work of the Mark Parsons-Justice our Communications staff person we are working to expand the Mission portion of our Presbytery Website.  It is going to take us a few more weeks to get it up and running, but we hope it will be an effective enhanced resource for all of our congregations!
Church Pianist Needed!pianist
The Presbyterian Church of the Covenant is searching for a pianist to help lead in worship services. The position involves playing for Sunday morning worship services and practice with the praise band Sunday evenings. A full job description is available. Please contact Rob Laukoter at 304-610-3054 or covenantchurch@yahoo.com.
The PC(USA) has endorsed the Wendy's boycott launched this year by the farmworker-led Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) because of their refusal to join the Fair Food Program. The CIW is asking for our assistance in anticipation of Wendy's annual shareholder's meeting on May 26 in Dublin, Ohio.  Three days prior, on May 23, is the Wendy's Boycott National Day of Prayer and you and your congregation can participate. Please include this bulletin insert  on Sunday May 22 and join in prayer and action on Monday. Calls are being made to Wendy's Board Chair, Nelson Peltz asking for them to uphold human rights among those that pick their tomatoes. For more information, click here!
Editor's Note:
In order to keep the PWV Newsletter fresh, articles sent for publication will generally run for two consecutive issues.  If you wish for a piece to continue to run, please resubmit. We encourage you to reword, add a photo (or different photo), or change the piece in some way so that the news stays fresh and interesting. 
Presbytery of West Virginia, 520 Second Avenue, South Charleston, WV 25303
Phone (304) 744-7634, Fax (304) 744-7649, 

Office Hours: Monday -Thursday  8:30AM-5:30PM