Northern Plains extends

invitation to leadership retreat

Leading well in today's church is especially challenging for clergy. Remaining resilient while retaining focus on God's mission isn't an easy task. With that in mind, the Presbytery of the Northern Plains will be host to a retreat, "Leading Long, Leading Well: Remaining Resilient in Time of Adaptive Change," April 16-17 in Grand Forks, N.D., and the presbytery has extended the invitation to that retreat beyond its bounds. The retreat will explore the notion of resiliency as part of strong leadership, and offer the opportunity to discover what resiliency means for leadership.  The retreat will also explore mind, body and spirit practices designed to enhance leadership effectiveness.  Details are available in a brochure at "Leading Long and Well."

Wee Kirk conference planned

in May at Calvin Crest

The 2015 Great Plains Wee Kirk Conference is planned Wednesday through Friday, May 4-6, at Calvin Crest Camp, Conference & Retreat Center near Fremont, Neb. The event brochure can be found at "Wee Kirk." Registration materials are at "Register."

Camps across synod gear up for summer sessions

There are five Presbyterian camps in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies - actually six, if one counts the two camps of the Presbytery of South Dakota - Rimrock and Pioneer. And all of them are getting ready for summer. Camp Wyoming of Wyoming, Iowa, is located in the Presbytery of East Iowa. Calvin Crest Camp, Conference & Retreat Center is just outside Fremont, Neb. Clearwater Forest near Deerwood, Minn., is a multi-presbytery and synod camp. And on Lake Okoboji in Iowa, near Milford, there is the Lakeshore Center at Okoboji. And speaking of those two camps in South Dakota, both are in the beautiful Black Hills region and both can be found online at the same site.

PC(USA) offers Student Opportunity Scholarship

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) offers a Student Opportunity Scholarship to help full-time, first degree students pursuing a college degree in the United States. The need-based scholarship for sophomores, juniors and seniors extends preference to racial ethnic students in order to promote diversity. Student Opportunity Scholarship applicants will explore who God created them to be in a series of essay questions intended for students to explore with mentors and peers. The deadline for applications for the 2015-16 academic year is May 15. Details, including application information, are at "Opportunity Scholarship."

Outlook publishes links to news, blogs, webinars

From news stories to blogs to webinars, The Presbyterian Outlook this week published a newsletter that provides links to multiple resources. Leading off the issue is a story by The Outlook's Leslie Scanlon that opens, "The Presbyterian Mission Agency has been rocked in recent months by a trifecta of investigations and a lot of criticism. That's leading some to ask harder systemic questions about why so many problems are emerging at the top levels of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)." The newsletter can be found at "Outlook Resources." Scanlon's complete story is at "Rocked."

Money, faith connection explored

in April Presbyterians Today

Presbyterians Today magazine, a publication of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, looks at the connection between money and faith in its April edition. It notes, "This issue explores tough questions about giving vs. saving, morality in the marketplace, privilege, the spiritual value of church buildings, the theology of money, and lots more." Some of the articles in the issue can be found at "Money and Faith."

Mid Council newsletter notes 'reconciliation video'

Sue Krummel, associate for mid-council ministries in the Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), notes in the March 22 newsletter from that office, "One of the suggestions of the Reconciliation Task Force was to have a short video that could be used at a presbytery meeting or elsewhere that describes how business comes before a General Assembly." That video is at "Presbyterian Governance." Krummel adds, "It is kind of along the lines of the old 'Schoolhouse Rocks' presentations of our childhoods." The complete newsletter is at "Mid Councils."

'Big Tent' planned this summer

at University of Tennessee

The "Big Tent," a national gathering of Presbyterians, is scheduled this summer Thursday through Saturday, July 30-Aug. 1, on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Details can be found at "Big Tent."

IRMS offers resources for study of Gospel of John

The Iowa Religious Media Services library offers a new look at what is often called the spiritual gospel, the Gospel of John, titled "Unusual Gospel for Unusual People." The study has four modules that can be used in any order: "Unusual Names," "Unusual Healing" and "Unusual Questions." Though the author of the Gospel uses no parables, no healing stories and no transfiguration, he explores foundational concepts for faithful lives.

Clearwater's Swartwood writes

of 'spiritual connection'

When he put together Clearwater Forest's March newsletter, Rich Swartwood, executive director of the camp and conference center, included a letter from Beth and Ernie Cutting. The letter notes: "As a family with three young children, winter was long and lacked the physical outlets our family needed. We found our solution: a February weekend retreat at Clearwater Forest with our church family. Throughout the '70s, we repeated that tradition every winter and were renewed in body and spirit by the snow shoeing, sledding, worship and fellowship we found there.  When a tornado cleared a swath through the forest in 1978, we joined other families for a Memorial Day weekend work camp to replant hundreds of white pines.  Now we feel a spiritual connection with the towering trees we helped re-establish." The complete newsletter can be found at "Clearwater."

New PC(USA) children's curriculum coming this fall

A new Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) denominational children's curriculum is succeeding the long-standing denominational curriculum "We Believe: God's Word for God's People." The new curriculum, "Growing in Grace & Gratitude," coming in fall 2015, is rooted in the foundation of Presbyterian identity where God's grace and the people's gratitude are the heartbeat of faith, life and worship. The announcement from Congregational Ministries Publishing is at "Grace and Gratitude."

Foundation adds new

service for churches, ministries

The Presbyterian Foundation has announced the addition of the "Planned Giving Navigator" as a service to churches and other ministries involved in beginning or enhancing a stewardship and generosity program.  Developed under the leadership of Karl Mattison, it is a subscription service that provides a brochure design center, a library of best practices, a calendar of activities and planned giving web pages that integrate into existing congregation websites as well as reports on current giving trends and research. The complete announcement from the Foundation can be found at "New Service."

Copy editors share peeves

More than 500 copy editors attended this year's American Copy Editors Society conference in Pittsburgh in late March. Your editor - and, he thinks, so do a few readers - knows one of them. Thirty of those copy editors shared some of their peeves. Your editor has a few peeves, too. It is, after all, more than 500 and not over 500. Those peeves can be found at "Oxford Comma."