It's a Blast by Erin Kirkland

Know a 4th or 5th grader? Ten or so years old, excited about life in general, and alternately jumping in and out of childhood with a frequency that startles everyone? Yep. A little goofy, sometimes, too.

It's a demographic that often is overlooked in church communities, these kids-turning-teens. A bit too old for Children's Ministry, not old enough for Youth Group, the 'tween set nonetheless needs the same guidance, support, and prayers as the younger and older kids.

My husband and I felt compelled, called, and certainly blessed to be a part of Trinity's Blast 45 this year; five ladies and gentlemen who are smart, funny, and incredibly insightful with their thoughts and actions. Yes, parents, your kids.

Have you ever asked them to pray for somebody? We do, every week. I'm not sure what I expected, maybe the typical children's request for health and wealth and good times, but what I heard was way, way beyond my own brain's boundaries. I heard heartfelt prayers for children starving in Pakistan, requests for awareness of our world's oceans, and not one selfless desire. Not. One.

Blast 45 meets every Sunday afternoon. Pray, play, and grow. All of us.

Want more information? Contact Megan Holliday at 345-4823 or visit the trinity web site HERE.

Uncomfortable, Yet? by Erin Kirkland

How many of you squirmed in your seats today when you heard that loving others like Jesus loved us was supposed to feel uncomfortable? I did.

How about that part of the sermon describing a stay at someone's house after they invited you, and the food is bad and the company even worse, and everything in your brain screams "I don't want to be here!"

But you stay, because this is a neighbor.

How about the person who loses their family, their home, and their sense of well-being through no fault of their own? Will you help? Will you stand by him or her? Or will you pass this person on to an agency who is designed to provide for their physical needs to save your time, your money, and perhaps your own sanity? This, too, is your neighbor.

How uncomfortable are you willing to be, to love your neighbor?

"Who Shall See God?" by Erin Kirkland

Just wondering, those of you who were at worship today or this evening at 7:07 (and even if you weren't)....

Did you ever feel terrified? No need to answer; I'm sure all of us at one time or another have felt so fearful we were absolutely paralyzed. Tom talked about some of these today: Fear of failure, fear of rejection, pain (for us or someone else), fear of being alone, fear of death, among other things. Like standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down.

Today's sermon asked this question: "Who shall see God?"

Can we see God when we are afraid?

Fear has a way of overpowering, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I've been victim to it. As the parent of a special needs son I have taken fear and terror to new levels with little to show for it but frayed nerves and strained relationships, and always, the fear was still there.

Learning to allow the feeling of fear to enter my heart was a risk. Would God really be there, not to save me, but to embrace fear with me? Seriously???

Yep. Right there. He said it himself.

I Am Here. Even on the edge of a precipice.

The Parable of 'God Doesn't Nag' by Erin Kirkland

For the record, I did not come up with that title. Tom Letts did as he was trying to help those of us gathered at last night's 7:07 service understand the Parable of the Sower, which doesn't sound nearly as compelling as the Parable of God Doesn't Nag, but, whatever.

In two weeks of diving into the inner workings of Jesus' methods of reaching the curious crowds, I am amazed at his ability to tell us what we need to hear in a way that makes us in charge of our own selves. In fact, the whole parable repeats the importance of recognizing what Jesus is trying to say about God's desire for relationship with us, the independent masses who always think we can do things ourselves.

We learned the purpose of a parable is to make us stay when everyone else leaves, and ask questions. Jesus doesn't give us the answer on purpose, knowing that if we want a relationship of deep intimacy with God, it is we who need to take the first step toward Him. Thus the "nag" part. If I don't nag my son to get ready in the morning, who ultimately wins once he figures out going to school without breakfast, or in his PJ's, isn't so fun? I'll wait it out. God will, too.

God tells us what we should do, based upon obedience and authority, as we learned in the morning service. But He doesn't make us do it, because of our own brokenness. We decide when we shall come to Him from rocky ground, in turmoil, finally realizing that asking questions when scattered blindly across the stones is the only way toward true understanding. It is our choice entirely to get up and walk away from the rocky ground, to sit somewhere else and listen, then ask How and What instead of Why.

Interesting last night when we were encouraged to ask questions of the parable, silence reigned for more than a few moments. Were we afraid?

Stay. Ask. God will wait for you to show up. In fact, He really, really wants you to. No need to be afraid.

Get Hooked and Filled!

This Sunday, August 29th, is Trinity's Annual Fall Kick-Off!

The theme this year is "Fish for Life: Get Hooked and Filled!"

Come to Trinity on Sunday to find all the ways you can get Filled Up throughout the year.

Tons of cool information, activities, snacks and cake will be here following the 10:30am Worship Service. Make sure to check out all the booths!

See you Sunday!

30-Minute Service This Sunday!

Don't forget this Sunday, August 15, is another 30-Minute Service at Trinity.

Show up for worship, as usual, dressed for action. After a short service, we'll all break up and disperse to our respective "filled-up/poured-out" activities.

Some people are going to the recycling center, others downtown to serve the homeless. Still others will be meeting new people and taking them to lunch. Whatever activity you choose, just remember to let us know about it.

You can leave a comment here, or at trinity@trinityalaska.org

Healing Misconceptions, by Tom Letts

Meeting your Neighbors

So, from the "there are two kinds of people 'church people' and 'not church people'" post earlier in the week (please read it now if you missed it) comes the follow-up: How do we express the beauty, power and reality of the encounter we have had with Christ to a largely ignorant, apathetic and hostile neighborhood?
I'm going to start with two observations and then ask each of us to practice them next week. Ready? In Luke chapter 10, Jesus sends out 72 followers in twos into communities that were ignorant, apathetic or hostile toward this new community of faith. He sends them: to live among the residents (even in their homes), to teach and heal, and to proclaim the blessing of 'peace' upon the town.
1st observation: Jesus sends them 2-by-2. Say what you like but I believe that the reason for this was so that the people of these villages could see the unique quality of the relationship between the 'two.' I used to tell our volunteer youth staff, 'The students will watch how you love each other and then how that love overflows onto them. This is your testimony, to love each other in ways they don't see at home or school.'
2nd observation: Jesus sends them to offer the blessing of peace to a world that knew no peace. He sent them to teach and heal. But he sent them to do this all in real relationship to the people of the villages, 'Stay in one home, do not move about. Eat whatever they offer.'
So that's it. Jesus' followers faced a lot of what we face. Jesus' response? Go out in twos and build relationships based on offering blessing, healing and teaching.
On Sunday the 15th we are going to practice this very thing. This will be the third time we meet for 30 minutes of worship (10:30-11:00) and then go out 'in twos' (groups of two or more) to serve in our community.
Sign up this week for a ministry or talk to a friend or two and figure out something on your own. Another option would be to call a 'not church person' friend and take them out to lunch (or a walk, or...) with some of your coolest 'church' friends. That's all.
Feel free to contact me at any time tletts@trinityalaska.org I'll post comments from there in the next blog if you like.

Peace, tl

I Am is Enough...by Erin Kirkland

Cleaning out my car today I found last Sunday's bulletin stuck between the two front seats. It was wrinkled after a week traveling next to my coffee mug and laptop case, and some of the notes I had scribbled upon it were smeared; I think my water bottle dripped.

I retrieved it from the floor and glanced at the reading and my hurried writing over some of the words. At the top was written "Filled with I Am". Next to that was "I Am is Enough".

It's been a rough week. Tragic events in our city, an incredible loss in the lives of some precious friends; I just wanted to rewind the last few days and start over with different results. But as I sat down in my driveway with the words I scribbled, I realized I had forgotten about I Am and what I heard last week as I Am was transformed into "To Be", a verb.

I Am is us, we heard. Jesus asks us to be action words. He expressed this to the disciples up on the grassy mountainside with words that gently and beautifully instructed to be "care-full".

The light of I Am is here, there, and everywhere, even if the valley is dark. If we are the light of the world, maybe then we are the ones who can help the suffering, the sorrowful, and the poor in spirit.

And that was indeed enough this week as I gathered a grieving friend in my arms and promised I would be there, with the light of I Am surrounding both of us.

Huffman Park Project Update! by Megan Holliday

The Huffman Park Project is moving right along! Since receiving a grant in June to work on the park we share with Huffman Elementary, I have had the opportunity to meet with the Huffman/O'Malley Community Council and the Huffman Elementary PTA. Both groups are so excited for this project and are ready to get on board!

The next steps from here are to form a small group made up of folks from all three larger groups to be the planners and facilitators of this project. Trinity should have 2 or 3 representatives in the small group, so please contact me (mholliday@trinityalaska.org) if you want to be a part of this exciting project!

The park project is a perfect opportunity for us to partner with our neighbors and work on something to benefit the kids of Huffman Elementary school and this neighborhood. I can't wait to get going!

Trust and strays, by Tom Letts

So, so sorry to miss the last post (more internet connection issues!).

As I reflected in the last post, 'Among the biggest changes in the living out of faith in our communities are issues surrounding trust and authority.' There are, in Anchorage, two kinds of people: 'church people' and 'not church people.' Most of the time these two don't understand or trust each other.

Remember, I've spent this summer involved in the National Assembly's 'Evangelism and Church Growth, Committee 15' and then off to the denomination's Academy for Missional Preaching, followed by a visit to the Evangelism Department of Fuller Seminary. Everything I'm hearing and reading from these three places leads to the same place: those of us who follow Jesus face challenges in our 'post-christendom, post-modern, secularized, pluralist world' that require a vast reworking of our theology, practice, words and deeds.

Here are the seven main sticking points for the people we work, school and play with (do you have one to add?): 1-Christians are judgmental, 2-Christians are hyper-patriots who support war (God, guts and guns made this country great!), 3-Christians are anti-intellectual/anti-science (the world is 5,000 years old, evolution is wrong, God got a virgin pregnant, and later, came back from the dead...), 4-Christians are hypocrites (they are all about morality but have affairs and get divorced as much or more than the rest of us), 5- Christians are bigoted homophobes, 6-priests are pedophiles, 7-ministers are only in it for the money (well, I'M in it for the cool, black robe...).

Now, one thing is clear to me in all of this. The days of being a lukewarm 'Christian' are fast coming to and end! I believe we were born in this era on purpose. I believe God has much to communicate to our precious neighbors. I believe that we have come to the point where our faith must become deeper, more real, and more powerful in its expression as we follow our Lord, carrying our crosses. Read Luke 14:25-33 and we'll talk.

More tomorrow. Peace, tl

"God's Love in Action": Stephen Ministry at Trinity

It's a ministry of action: Walking, Praying, Caring, Loving, Meeting. The Stephen Ministry program, first founded in 1975, is designed to provide training and resources to dedicated lay-people for confidential, one-to-one Christian care within our congregation and community.

Not totally new to Trinity (we have had in the past a number of trained Stephen Ministers), the Stephen Ministry program will be reintegrated this fall under the tutelage of James Kirkland, installed today as the new Stephen Leader. Beginning in September, potential Stephen Ministers will engage in 50 hours of intensive training to equip them for ministry to anyone in the community who desires support during a difficult period.

We all experience challenges in life, and the Stephen Ministry program benefits those faced with loss, hospitalization, divorce, spiritual crisis, terminal illness, lonliness, and many other times when life seems too difficult to handle alone. Stephen Ministry is a confidential ministry; the identity of those receiving care is absolutely private.

The most important aspect of Stephen Ministry is our role as members of Trinity and the greater community: "Filled up-poured out", for sure. We can pray for hope and healing through this ministry, we can accept care from a Stephen Minister in a time of need, we can refer hurting and broken individuals to the program. Most of all, if you are a compassionate listener, you can prayerfully and carefully consider becoming a Stephen Minister yourself.

Trinity's Stephen Ministry program is accepting applications for the upcoming fall class. Please contact James Kirkland with questions or comments regarding the program at deacon4u@alaska.net. Or, for information about Stephen Ministry as an organization, visit their web site HERE.

Remember what we heard this morning? YOU ARE the Light. Why hide it under a bushel basket? Shine.

Trust and obey?, by Tom Letts

Serra Retreat Center, Malibu, CA

Welcome back! I want to start by saying how cool it is that we continue to get lots of hits on this blog every day (from a high of over 100 to still over 70 each day!). And be sure that the next few weeks will include posts on the fallout (good and bad) of GA.

So, I'm in LA at the PC(USA) Missional Preaching Seminar (year 2). Twenty-four of us are studying and practicing issues of developing and leading congregations in worship, preaching and mission (mostly preaching). This much is becoming clear to me/us. Everything has changed. We live in a world that is nothing like our grandparents' world. Among the biggest changes are issues surrounding trust and authority. Let me explain.

There are, in Anchorage, two kinds of people: 'church people' and 'not church people.' Most of the time these two don't understand or trust each other. Before I go any farther I want to make it clear that, from where I stand, Trinity's 'church people' are pretty free of this fear of the 'not church people.' So I would like to spend time on how 'Trinity people' are perceived by our 'not church people' neighbors.

Here is the rub. We believe, really believe, that we all were created in God's image, broken and in the midst of being healed. We believe that something really special happens when the 'covenant community' (remember your membership vows, and the sacraments?) gathers to celebrate God's presence in their lives. We believe that if our 'not church people' neighbors could see what we see and know the Love that we have known, they would be deeply enriched.

So for the next few days I would like to look at our 'not church people' neighbors. What do they think of 'church people?' And what do they think of 'Trinity people?' Mixed with this, we'll look at 'Trinity people' and how we live, speak, and engage 'not church people' in ways to introduce them to the Love in Christ we know. More tomorrow.

God is good. Love you all, tl

Kids Fun Week Wraps Up to Rave Reviews by Erin Kirkland

Our first-ever nature-themed, world-oriented, self-driven Kids Fun Week finished in a big way yesterday afternoon with a performance by the kids and a ton of food provided by everyone.

What started as a "seed" in the midst of winter "grew" into one of the most positive and productive events we've ever done. At least I think so.

Comments I've overheard ranged from "This is the coolest idea ever; I've been looking for ways to connect my kids to nature and God, but I hadn't yet found a way," to "I hope you're going to do this next year!"

Many moms and dads headed directly from Kincaid Park's Bunker to the home store to buy planters to hold the multitude of plants and seeds brought home by their kids. What a great reminder of a great week; a pot full of blooming plants and a home full of blooming kids.

Well done, everyone involved!

2nd Friday post late night by, Tom Letts

Sarah and an old guy

Ran into Sarah Pisk this week! That's no big deal to you yet, but I think it will be. You each have someone like this in your life, or maybe you ARE this to 'an old guy.' Sarah came to faith as a Jr Hi kid at our presbytery camp in Montana. I was dean of that camp for eleven years and have vivid memories of her as just a kid. She has grown in maturity in Christ and has become a winsome witness to the fruit of faithful ministries to youth. I am that kid to a handful of men and women who 'raised me from a pup' in Christ. You are that kid to someone too, aren't you? I stand in awe in the face of the Spirit's good work in maturing us in Christ. Sarah was food for my soul. [And, of course, I encouraged her to apply for an internship next summer!]

Outside the convention center each day, and outside the meeting room doors most days, have been groups protesting for or against decisions of the Assembly. Today, we had a group (news cameras and all), enter the meeting with placards, and stand, singing, on the stage. The moderator did as we have all been taught to do in seminary and had the assembly stand and sing a hymn (thank God the delegates from Montana with gun racks in their trucks weren't in charge!). We then took a recess for a few minutes and returned to business.

Three proposals related to the formation of non-geographic governing bodies were disapproved by the Assembly. These three proposals, respectively, called for the formation of a new non-geographic Korean presbytery; flexibility in presbytery membership; and a New Synod designed in part to overcome the constant preoccupation with battles over sexual ethics.

These are the three sites I use every day:
pc-biz.org [following the work of the committees of GA]
ga219.pcusa.org [the official site for news and information]
pfrenewal.org [you can register for updates or just click on the articles you want]

God is good. Love you all, tl

Assembly gold, by Tom Letts

Kirk, Tom and Tom (Fuller Seminary class of '84)

OK, so, kids' fun week looks like a WHOLE lot more fun than GA. Please greet 'Moose" and "Goose' for me.

These three guys had similar hairlines and a net weight about 150 pounds lighter in '84. While at Fuller we worked together in ministry, played intramurals together, and studied almost as hard as Tammy. This week became much more than business as the three of us laughed at the foolishness of our youth and talked deeply and honestly about our lives. Good, and godly men are worth their weight in gold.

A really interesting conversation/debate was held today over the stock portfolio held by our board of pensions. The PC(USA) holds many millions of dollars of investments for its pastors' retirement funds. The board has a standing mandate to monitor all companies in which we invest for practices that might contribute to abuse or oppression of people (like tobacco companies, weapons manufacturers...). The board is monitoring, and in conversation with, six companies in which we hold stock that might be problematic. I am impressed with the diligent, mature monitoring done by the board. We've divested from some very profitable corporations for the sake of seeking more righteous investment.

These are the three sites I use every day:
pc-biz.org [following the work of the committees of GA]
ga219.pcusa.org [the official site for news and information]
pfrenewal.org [you can register for updates or just click on the articles you want]

God is good. Love you all, tl

Kids Fun Week Rocks and Rolls and Kincaid Park

Our Kids' Fun Week participants are jumping, crawling, and digging into the beauty of our earth from the ground up. Whether it's planting seeds, turning everyday products into useful items, or singing the rockin' cool song "Everything Has a Place", kids from all over Anchorage are enjoying an awesome three days of God, our community, and ourselves.

Here's a few pics from the week so far. Don't forget, a picnic for all those involved will be held at Kincaid Park (site of KFW) tomorrow at 3 p.m. Please give your RSVP to the folks at the registration table in the morning.

Late night vote a surprise, by Tom Letts

After the dinner break following the ordination and sexual standards vote, we were addressed by an ecumenical advisory delegate from the Orthodox church. His opening was, 'I bring you greetings from the orthodox church, never reformed and never reforming. We have held our orthodoxy for 2,000 years.' The priest then went on to note, 'I see that you have been guided by the Holy Spirit to overrule the Holy Spirit's Book and redefine sin. This is confusing to me. Maybe there is another spirit than one being listened to. This kind of activity seems more like pagan hedonism than Christianity.' These were humbling and sobering words.

At 10:38 pm Central, by a 51%-48% vote the 219^th assembly voted to honor the current biblical standards and definition of marriage.

These are the three sites I use every day:
pc-biz.org [following the work of the committees of GA]
ga219.pcusa.org [the official site for news and information]
pfrenewal.org [you can register for updates or just click on the articles you want]

God is good. Love you all, tl

Big 219th GA vote by Tom Letts

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF

In a 53%-46% vote the GA chose to send to presbyteries for vote, a proposal to strike sexuality standards from ordination requirements. It is likely that the presbyteries will reject this proposal. Here we sit, however, tied up again for hours and spending tens of thousands of dollars on this issue. Oh well. God is good and we'll work this out.

Did you know that trick-or-treat for UNICEF is a PC(USA) program? 2.4 million kids did it last year!

Did you know that the fastest growing churches in the PC(USA) are racial-ethnic? And, that only 8% of the PC(USA) is racial-ethnic?

Did you know that 'The only person who likes change is a wet baby?' (Mark Twain)

Did you know that the members of this assembly donated over 7,000 articles of new clothing to local homeless projects in the Twin Cities area?

Did you know that my birth year (1956) was the year that women were first ordained as pastors in the PC(USA)?

You do now... God bless you all.

More later today, tl

First Full Day Of Plenary by, Tom Letts

Committee 15 ends its work!

Dear Saints- It will continue to be a 'good news-bad news' week. I'll mix them up for all of our sakes.

C15 (Evangelism Church Growth, PILP), as the first to finish its business, became the first to present today. We presented without a hitch and some great 'legislation' has been put into place. There is an emphasis/program called 'Deep and Wide.' that sounds and acts remarkably like 'Filled up. Poured out.' So cool to be a part of continuing this essential work if the denomination is to grow in vitality and numbers. The stat that I use so often is being used here all the time, '75% of our congregations are in decline, but 25% are growing. What can we learn from the 25%?'

C15 showed an instructive and inspirational video about a couple churches in the 25%, that I'm bringing home and will use in worship. BTW, we've seen some great video production here but none better then what Todd Hardisty has done for us.

The 219th GA daily paper is my first read each day. Tough, tough headlines today. 'New language offered for ordination standards does not include sexual ethics.' 'Definition of marriage to include union of 'two people.'' '$1.9 million cut from PC(USA) mission/ministry budget.' 'Committee votes to disallow formation of non-geographic synods based on theological agreement.' Each of these headlines is contrary to where Tammy and I (and I am confident the session as well) stand. The votes on these pieces forwarded from the committees start tomorrow and I expect all to pass, but you never know...

The worship music has been great. We are led by a young guy (late 20something) on acoustic guitar with a variety of his local worship team on vocals. Their band has a bass player, keyboard, and drummer. They are really good (but they aren't Cam, Will, Lori, Ryan, Meg2, and the rest). Oh, and I miss a good brass section! The musicians are from the Church of the Nations based here in Minneapolis. Look it up, its a great, 'missional' (Filled up. Poured out.) church.

Love you all, tl

Live and In Color by, Tom Letts

Looks like C15 reports live on ga219.pcusa.org at about 11 a.m. Wednesday. Watch if you are bored! Peace, tl

They Say Its Your Birthday by, Tom Letts

C15 was first done with official business! So we will present tomorrow afternoon. I'll find out our docket time at about noon Wednesday. You will be able to follow our report before the Assembly on a live video feed at ga219.pcusa.org I'll let you know as soon as I can our exact docket time. It's like live TV and everything!

Tammy joined four other panelists in presenting, to C15, practical applications of how churches reach out to their communities. She was brilliant as she walked the committee through, among other things, our developing relationship with Huffman Elementary School and Huffman Park.

After lunch, C15 went on our field trip. We are the envy of the Assembly! Both churches we visited had teams of pastors who were married (see, we're doing great stuff at Trinity!). Our second church was in 'THE bad part of town' (according to our bus driver). This inner-city church, Kwanzaa Community Fellowship, is doing just super work in their neighborhood. They partner with all kinds of secular and government institutions. Their creativity in partnerships has led to all kinds of amazing mission in their community. One of the coolest is their community garden. Unbelievable how it came together and the impact it is having. After a couple hours with the pastors and staff of a tour of the area (a lot of white people for that neighborhood), we gathered in their 'lobby' and prayed. People were laughing and crying and thanking God for all the activity of the Spirit in this beautiful work. You'll hear plenty later.

Tammy must have told the world of my birthday. Thank you, C15 and all of you at Trinity, for the blessings. It was a great day to turn 54. And tonight? A Jazz club for Brazilian jazz (that's right, Cam)!

Peace, tl

54 of My Closest Friends by, Tom Letts

What has 54 voting Presbyterians, meets two floors underground, has no cell or internet coverage, and makes its own coffee? That's right! How did you know? Its committee 15 'Church Growth, Education, and PILP.'

Early morning prep meetings, late night prep on our own, and lots of coffee and dark chocolate have drawn the leadership team of C15 close. I love these four friends and partners! For those of you who follow temperament and management style profiles, the three women are devoted, hard-working 'Beavers' who don't rest until the work is done (in triplicate!). Tim is a 'Golden Retriever' who quietly keeps us together ('You doing, OK? What can I do for you?'). And I make cool power-points (I got on line and downloaded pictures from everyone's home churches), keep the coffee and snacks coming, mingle like crazy with the committee members at break and...got us a FIELD TRIP! [That would make me an 'Otter.' PS-no 'Lions' on the leadership team but we have plenty on the committee. Lions make big noise, and expect things to go their way a lot. They really don't like being told 'no' even by a meticulous otter who has done their homework. It is after a 'lion attack' that otters (that would be me) bring a cup of coffee and make a quiet lion joke to the beavers to loosen them back up.]

I've been asked to lead some prayer times and have introduced Committee 15 to guided prayer like on Sunday mornings. Lots of, 'Thank you, Tom. That was great after this long day...'

Tammy is spending her time between the PFR guest booth in the exhibit hall and visiting committees dealing with controversial topics. She leaves Tuesday to join Megan Holiday and the Kid's Fun Week staff out at Kincaid Park.

These are the three sites I use every day:
pc-biz.org [following the work of the committees of GA]
ga219.pcusa.org [the official site for news and information]
pfrenewal.org [you can register for updates or just click on the articles you want]


More later.

Peace, tl

Cool GA Sites by, Tom Letts

Hey all! I hear we missed quite a worship service today. Alice Green and Derick Lee in a baptism not soon to be forgotten! God bless you Alice and Derick (and the rest who led!).

Opening business meeting: There are over 1,000 of us on padded metal chairs in a large convention center whose floor is polished concrete. Every time we stand or sit en masse it sounds like 1,000 Vuvuzela horns at the world cup. I almost broke into a German football song today.

There were technical problems with the voting machines (I believe they were brought in from Florida). But after a long tech delay (so glad for our worship tech people at Trinity!) the new moderator is... elder Cindy Bolbach. She was the most liberal of the candidates and won handily. One wonders what this will mean for the rest of the voting this week...

We finished the plenary meeting at 11:05 pm (after starting with my committee leadership team at just after 8:00 am). It was a memorable 1st day.

Websites for going deeper:
pc-biz.org [following the work of the committees of GA]
ga219.pcusa.org [the official site for news and information]
presbycoalition.org/ga2010main.cfm [a great site for all your GA questions]
pfrenewal.org [click 'ministries' and then 'issues' for exceptional background materials]
covnetpres.org [the 'liberal PC(USA)' website. Read to see the liberal views]
pres-outlook.com and go to Adam Copeland's GA blog [a denominational news agency asked this experienced writer/blogger to write this 'unofficial' blog]

More later. Peace, tl

Going deeper into pc-biz.org, by Tom Letts

If you missed my last post, go back and read it. The site mentioned is a good one. This post deals exclusively with pc-biz.org so read no further unless you are REALLY into web-searches and the GA. Really. Stop reading now. You're still reading? Here we go!

OK, so, there is A LOT of information to sift through here! Were we using paper the initial materials for each commissioner would be more than six inches high, with the final tally closing in on a foot-high stack. It is a crazy amount of material but I've got some helpful hints for using pc-biz.org as a tool for finding what you need.

Remember pc-biz.org is the official website for the 219^th GA. You can click 'register as a new user' if you would like to track overtures and create bookmarks for future reference, or you can just start using the site.

As you search the site you can choose one of two filters (like looking through the whole bookstore or just going to the 'cooking' section). The larger-scoped filter is the event filter labeled '219^th General Assembly.' The smaller one is 'Assembly Committee' (this filter will keep you within the work of a particular committee, and you can change the committee -like leaving 'cooking' and going to 'fiction').

Now, if you are looking at an item and want to keep following it: you must have an account and be logged in, then you can click the 'watch this item' button on the orange bar. Each time you go to the home page you can choose 'I'm watching' in the 'show items' box and your watch listed items will appear, click for the latest activity.

If an item has an attachment (resources for background or further study) you can click 'Additional Resources' in the grey box in the upper right corner of the screen. Browse to the attachment you want and then you can either read it or download it.

Some controversial items to follow:

Marriage -committee 12 -key overtures: [weddings 12-06, 08, 09] [change definition 12-02, 03, 04, 10] [reports: pro change 12-12, pro traditional interpretation 12-13 (a GREAT doc)]

Ordination standards -committee 6 -key overtures: (new standards) 06-06 through 10 and 12 through 17, (traditional standards) 06-02, 03, 04, 05, 18

Muslims and Christians -committee 8 -key overtures: 08-04, 02

Happy hunting. Peace, tl

Live Site by, Tom Letts

We are in our first meeting and have opened with commissioning and worship. I've got some good news and some bad news. First the good: there is a live site other than pc-biz.org that seems to be more 'newsy' and less 'techie.' The site is ga219.pcusa.org and has a live feed to the video feed for the assembly hall. If you are on an iPhone click the icon for iPhone, everyone else click VOD in the dark blue box. The bad news.? My email access to tletts@trinityalaska.org is down. Send (for the next 6 days only) to thomas_letts@hotmail.com More later.

Peace, tl

Introduction to the controversial issues by, Tom Letts

Minneapolis Convention Center

Up in the air and on our way to the 219th General Assembly of the PC(USA). Thanks for your questions and comments relating to the Assembly and to the blog.

I've said repeatedly that there are four major issues coming before the Assembly but I think we should add a 5th. So, below is a list of controversial issues.
1-Sexuality and ordination (a variety of overtures -see my last post on 'overtures'- seeking to make the way clear to remove sexual preference restrictions in our ordination standards. In other words, to make the way clear to ordain self-avowed, practicing: gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and trans-sexual persons).
2-Redefinition of marriage (from 'between one man and one woman' to 'between two consenting adults').
3-Non-geographic synods (a proposal seeking to offer synod-type alignment to churches on opposite sides of the ordination standards issue. In other words, churches that could not, in good conscience, ordain a gay person to office would be free to align themselves with other PC(USA) churches who believe the same way.).
4-Palestine/Israel relations (a 150 page report that paints a stark picture of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. The report is factually accurate but scathing and some say might do more harm by alienating Jewish neighbors than the good it might accomplish in 'speaking the truth in love.').
5-Inter-faith worship (a task-force report seeking to affirm common worship between Presbyterians and Muslims -and Jews- as 'we are of the same Abrahamic lineage.').

Going deeper: a note on pc-biz.org
The site takes some getting used to but it works. The search engine is a good one. You can type in a word (like 'ordination') and you'll get a variety of 'hits.' Just go through the list and click what you want. Also, you can follow any overture or committee-work by searching for the overture or committee number (my committee is 15, Evangelism and Church Growth. We have no contentious overtures.). I'll post committee numbers and their controversial issues tomorrow.

I've run into some great sites that help interpret the issues of the Assembly. I'll give you a few tomorrow and maybe even a 'site of the day' during the Assembly. Blessings, tl

General Assembly 'overture' process. by, Tom Letts

So, a few questions have come my way that might be good to answer before we move on to issues. 'How are Presbyterians governed? How are changes made to our stated beliefs and practices? Who makes the changes and how?'

The PC(USA) seeks to be guided by the movement of the Holy Spirit through: scripture, historic creeds, the Book of Order (our constitution), orderly group process (guided, in large part, by Roberts Rules of Order), and individual conscience.

The process of changing our constitution, with some variation, goes something like this (this is an oversimplification of the process that assumes all 'yes' votes): a person or session feels called to address a need or issue, they put this in writing and the session takes it to a meeting of their presbytery. The presbytery debates, perfects and passes the motion (now called 'an overture to the General Assembly'-like a 'bill' in the senate-). The overture goes to the GA offices and is assigned to a GA committee. The committee reviews the overture and decides that the overture will go before the GA. The overture is debated and voted upon by the GA. If passed, the overture is sent to all the presbyteries where it is debated and voted upon by each presbytery. If a majority of the presbyteries vote in favor of the 'overture' then it is placed in the constitution and carries authority (a 2/3 vote is needed to amend the confessions).

This year's GA may 'pass' an overture but no overture changing the constitution can have authority until it is passed by the local presbyteries. You may read a headline 'Presbyterians Vote to Ordain Kittens' but it should read, 'The General Assembly of the PC(USA) has voted to send to the local presbyteries for vote, a recommendation to ordain kittens.' [That's just a really long headline.]

More tomorrow. Peace, tl

Huffman Park Grant Website! by Megan Holliday

Trinity is working in collaboration with Huffman Elementary School PTA and the Huffman/O'Malley Community Council to fix Huffman Park (located across the street from Trinity and Huffman Elementary).

Many of you participated in our first clean-up effort back in May - Thank you! Since then we have applied for and been granted a $14,000 grant from Anchorage Park Foundation to do some major repairs to the park!

More information will come later about dates to do some more work in the park, but in the meantime check out our grant website at http://www.anchorageparkfoundation.org/projects_challenge/2010_HuffmanPark.htm.

Get excited about this truly unique opportunity for us to be a part of our community in a new and active way!

Kids Fun Week - Exploring God's Creation! by Megan Holliday

Trinity's annual Kids Fun Week is right around the corner! I can't believe it's almost here! For months we've been praying, planning and preparing for this 3-day event to take place on July 7th, 8th and 9th.

This year we decided to do something different - take KFW off-site, have a theme that relates to a broad community audience and change the times around a bit. The interest from the community is high and we are thrilled to see how some of these changes might open new doors for kids to meet Jesus!

If you are a member of Trinity and reading this blog, you are well aware of our history of fabulous VBS programs. This year will be no exception and it's not too late for you to be involved. We ask for your prayers for the leadership and kids of this events; for our safety and that the Word will find "good soil" in all of us. There are lots of supplies to still collect so call me (345-4823) and I'll let you know what we need!

If you aren't a member of Trinity and reading this blog we hope you'll be able to participate by bringing kids to this event. Registration closes on Sunday, July 4th at midnight so register online (www.trinityalaska.org) or call me (345-4823)!

God bless you as you consider how to best be a part of this event :).

Acronyms, Etc. by, Tom Letts

Acronyms FYI by, Tom Letts

So, after a few conversations and some reflection, I've come to the realization that there are three kinds of people who will follow this blog. The first will want details and background and resources. You will want to study on your own and decide for yourself and follow the process on your own. I can probably help you best by pointing you, in a timely manner, to resources for information. The second type will want highlights and bullet points. 'There are four main issues, they are...' I can probably best help you by clean, brief information and 'sound bites.' The third type is pretty much my mom. Ruth will want to know how I'm doing. I'll help you, mom, by putting up lots of pictures on Trinity's Facebook page.

So, each blog post will start with a 'sound bite' for the day. Then I'll have a paragraph with links to further reading for those looking for more depth and information. For the next few days I'll take four of the main issues being presented to the Assembly in the Twin Cities. For today, however, I thought I'd give you a handy guide of common Acronyms used for this summer's assembly. Keep it for reference as I'll use them extensively in my posts. NOTE: there are 22 PAGES of acronyms in the commissioners handbook! Here are 11.

ACC-Advisory Committee on the Constitution

ACEIR-Advisory Committee on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations

BoO-Book of Order

FOG-Form of Government

GA-General Assembly (national meeting every 2 years)

GAC-General Assembly Council (board of directors)

OGA-Office of the General Assembly

PFR-Presbyterians for Renewal (renewal group, Tammy on the board)

PLGC-Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns

TSAD-Theological Student Advisory Delegate

YAAD-Young Adult Advisory Delegate

Remember to go to pc-biz.org it THE web site for this Assembly.

Peace, tl

TRAVEL NOTES: I leave July 1^st and return to worship at Trinity on Sunday the 11^th.

Do you 'See'? by Erin Kirkland

I cannot seem to get the sentence uttered by Jesus out of my head. "Do you see this woman?"

Read it a thousand times, dissected the surrounding events and landscape, but still missed the point. "Do you see this woman?"

Seeing with our eyes is different than seeing with our heart, and I'm going to try and do the latter more often.

The heroin addict on the front page of the Anchorage Daily News who can't seem to come clean.

A staggering man on the corner of A and Benson who draws a cross on the slab of cardboard he holds up in front of traffic, asking for money.

My own frightened, impulsive teenager who struggles every single day to do the right thing and often fails.

Do I see them? Do I provide them with even the minutae of grace they deserve and God provides, but too often I do not?

Do you?

Trinity Goes Jungle for Mayor's Marathon

A bunch of fantastic volunteers from Trinity braved a rainy, buggy day to help out at the First Ever Trinity Aid Station for the 2010 Mayor's Marathon today. With 2,000 entrants walking or running in this year's event, volunteers at Mile 10 handed out at least that many cups of sports drink and water, handful after handful of pretzels, and bananas by the bunch.

The theme was 'South American Jungle' and thanks to Cam Cartland and his magic musical instrument cache, the crew was able to move runners along with some world rhythms that kept folks jumping and jiving the remaining 3.5 miles to the Finish at West High School.

A HUGE thanks to Sonja, Ryan, Sara, Cam, Cassie, Will, Megan, Sara Stoops, Tom, Becca, Erin, James, Bill, Dean, Maryanne, Deborah, Rich, Shannon, and Marty for stepping up to help. It was so much fun and two fantastic things happened as a result. One, the "band" was recruited to provide some music for the upcoming Big Wild Life Runs in August; amazing since Cam taught most everyone how to play that morning. The next was a statement made by a walker towards the back of the pack.

"God put Christians right when and where I needed them! Thank you so much for being here."

Any time.

Meet Committee 15, by Tom Letts

What a team! The pic is of our 'Committee 15, Evangelism and Church Growth' (from left to right: Mindy Adams-chair, Tom Letts- Vice chair, Rebecca Kirkpatrick -assistant, Gretchen Denton -parliamentarian , Tim McCallister -resource person). We have put together a 3-day agenda that will both move the business of the church forward and provide for encounters with a variety of 'missional' churches (including outside speakers and a field trip). Remember that pc-biz.org is THE site for the General Assembly. Go there and take a look around. More later. Peace, tl

AKP Update - by Eric O'Neal

6/5/10
Our team has turned into a well-oiled VBS machine. Crafts, Bible stories, games and snack took place today without any hang-ups. The weather was beautiful today, sunny with a high of 70. We're still hoping to be bug-free the rest of our time here, especially for our youth group bon fire on Wednesday. Our team had dinner at the church this evening with the pastor and elders from the village. Our great time in fellowship with them was followed this evening with another successful youth group. We had a time of singing, testimony, snack and games (the village's favorite).
Sunday means no VBS. We're hoping to have a number of children and teens come to church in the morning. Pastor Keith shared with me today his desire for VBS and youth group to attract a consistent number of young people to church after Trinity leaves.
God, let our work in AKP bring about fruit long after we fly back home.

Pray for Pastor Keith and Sally's ministry.

Updates from Anaktuvuk Pass 6/3/10 & 6/4/10 by Eric O'Neal

6/3/10

Today may prove to be the longest day of our trip. After staying the night in Fairbanks, our team woke up at 5:30 am to leave for the airport, Wright Air. The team was divided between a morning and an afternoon flight. The morning flight that I was on had to stop in Coldfoot until the fog cleared up in AKP. We fought off swarming mosquitoes in Coldfoot for about 20 minutes before taking off again for AKP. By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we stepped off the plane in AKP with no bugs to be found. Each of us celebrated the fact that we could see our own breath in the 40 degree weather.

After dropping off our luggage and supplies, our team joined Keith and Sally for a hot lunch. The completion of lunch marked the beginning of team nap time, which was followed immediately by VBS decoration time. VBS starts tomorrow at 2:00 pm. Youth group, on the other hand, started tonight. It went from 7:00 - 8:30 pm, broke for open gym for an hour and a half and then resumed from 10:00 pm -12:00 am. Putting our need for sleep aside, it has been great to reconnect with our friends in AKP. As the 25 village-youth were filtering out after youth group, I heard one of them tell Spencer Stilwell, "Welcome back home".

Pray for our rest, we're going to need it. :)


6/4/10

Today marked the beginning of VBS. At 2:00pm the small Chapel in the Mountains was filled with about 20 kids, ranging in age from pre-school through fifth grade. A few of the teenagers that met our team at youth group last night came today as volunteer help. VBS was a little hectic at times with crowd control but overall went very well for our first day. Our theme this week is "Heroes". Today the kids learned about Moses and the parting of the Red Sea. And, just like Moses, true heroes give God the credit. That message was good for our team to hear considering all the work that has been put into this trip. God, give us hearts of servants.

Pray for consistency for both VBS and youth group


Stay tuned for continued updates throughout this week!!

Update From General Assembly Prep by Tom Letts

Well, greetings from L'ville! We are in our second day of preparation as leadership teams of the committees of the 2010 PC (USA) General Assembly. THE key web site is pc-biz.org. Start here and just take a look around the site. This year's assembly is paper free (I've received one medium-sized folder of paper as opposed to two or three massive folders of papers in past assemblies). The pc-biz site is the key to all that happens in the Twin Cities this July 2-10. My committee is Church Growth and Evangelism. More to come! God bless you, tl

Lunch for Huffman Teachers & Staff by Megan Holliday

On May 21st Becca Letts, Cameron Cartland, Ryan Olson and I went to Huffman Elementary to serve lunch to the staff on their last day of the year. (Tom and Tammy Letts, Lisa Darnell and Laurie Tweit were at Goldenview Middle School!)

It was a real treat for all of us to share a meal with our neighbors and check in after a long school year, talk about summer plans, and bask in the sunshine for a while!

Serving local teachers and school staff has become an annual tradition here at Trinity. All are welcome to join and it truly is the more the merrier! Check out these photos and we hope to see you at some future school events!

Next chance to join in the fun: Serve coffee to teachers, staff and parents on the First Day of School: August 18th! Stay tuned for more details to come!

Living Inside Out, Even on Vacation by Erin Kirkland

My work is to travel within Alaska. Here, there, and everywhere, most weekends our family is packing up and taking off to one destination or another.

We are committed to living "inside out" as members of Trinity, our community, and the world; this filled-up/poured-out value system existed within us even before we began attending church at Trinity. I will say, though, when we travel it is rare to come across others in the biz who hold the same consciousness. Not just a sense of caring for others; I see that all the time. After all, people normally do not make it in the tourism and travel industry without a genuine sense of feeling for people. I'm talking about something different. "Everybody has an angle," Bing Crosby said to Danny Kaye in the movie White Christmas. And in my industry, working the system by being charming often trumps genuine compassion, so sometimes I'm never sure who is being nice because they want something.

Up north in Denali State Park sits a lodge owned by one of the state's premier tour companies. Invited to stay for two nights and review the lodge's family-friendliness, we trucked up Thursday for a few days of relaxation and came home today with a bit of awe at how God sometimes puts people in our lives when we least expect it.

Acquainted with the manager of the lodge by name only, we were greeted warmly by staff and offered the usual amenities a travel writer would expect for "good ink" later on. In person, Manager was warm and pleasant, insisting on a tour of the property and goodies for the entire crew. It wasn't until about halfway through this tour and our resulting discussions that I realized he and I had gone to the same college and shared many of the same management styles and perspectives about things. Nice enough, but in Alaska the "small world" concept happens all the time. I had an agenda and didn't delve too far into the personal side of things until he invited my husband to tour the employee area and talk HR (my husband's passion and profession).

Not until this morning did I come to understand the nature of the discussion between my husband and Manager as they shared similarities in each other's lives and the connectiveness between them as fathers; Manager is a step-parent, as is my husband, and both were feeling the pull at being away from their children (our oldest is away in a residential school, Manager works 7 days on, two off at his job). Manager was in need of support and insight from someone, my husband was there, and vice versa.

Suddenly, my part in this seemed so, so small. Good for my career, this weekend may have been, but it was even better for us as followers of Jesus.

How Can You Help? Anaktuvuk Pass Trip Needs YOU by Erin Kirkland

Trinity's team to Anaktuvuk Pass is busily preparing for their upcoming trip June 3-10. This is one of the highlights of the year for everybody, for those who make the long journey are witness to a life-changing week of study and fellowship with this small community. Can't go along this year? Mission trip members still need help.

Pray for those attending, that the Holy Spirit will be within and around them as they work with children, youth, and adults of AKP. Donate time or funds towards food and other expenses. Bake/freeze/pack homemade goodies for team members and the community.

LeeAnn Crumbley will be at the AKP table at Trinity this Sunday to answer questions and offer insight about this wonderful mission experience. Everyone is invited to reach out to our partner church.

Picture link for GA and Tom's travels by Tom Letts

FYI, Trinity's facebook page will have lots of pics from the assembly and my pre-assembly travels. To find the link on Trinity's home page click here.
Go to bottom left of the page and click on the TRINITY icon. You're in!