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Highlights
of the Spring Stated Meeting
By Paul
Hooker, Executive Presbyter and Stated Clerk
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The presbytery met for its Spring
Stated Meeting at Montgomery Presbyterian Conference Center on 6 May
2008. Right from the start, it was a day to focus on being a missional
presbytery:
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Roy Martin led
worship and preached from Isaiah 43 (“Behold, I am doing a new
thing…”) and helped us think about the new things God is doing in
our midst. |
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MPCC Executive
Director PJ Brobston and MPCC Committee Chair Dorothy Dornblaser led
a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of MPCC, enabling us to
remember the powerful contribution MPCC has made to this presbytery
and pointing us toward an exciting future. |
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Elders from
the McIntosh Church and Lay Pastor Tommy Lane shared a vision of the
vitality of the McIntosh congregation, and led the presbytery in
praise choruses. |
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Vince Kolb,
moderator of the Strategic Planning Team, led the presbytery in a
process of review and feedback on the team’s work so far, including
an hour-long small group discussion of the proposed goals for the
work of the presbytery. |
Among the actions taken by the
presbytery were the following:
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Welcomed three new ministers into
the presbytery: |
 Rev.
Andy Gans, new co-pastor at Fort King. Andy comes from the Presbytery
of Greater Atlanta, and assumed his work on 7 April 2008. Following
Jim Bullock’s retirement on 8 June, Andy will become pastor of the
congregation.
 Rev.
Katie Robb, new associate pastor of Lakewood. Katie comes from Denver
Presbytery, where she was recently ordained to ministry. Katie is
tasked with ministry to youth and families, and began her work on 16
March.
Rev. Robert Phelps, whom the
presbytery called as the organizing pastor for the Providence NCD in
Yulee, FL. Bob is
transferring his membership and ordination from the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, where he has served for many years. He has
extensive experience in new church development, and has also worked in
curriculum development on the joint committee that produced our
current Christian Education curriculum.
We will welcome Rev. Kwan Kim as
the new pastor at Korean of Jacksonville at the next meeting; Rev Kim
could not be present at the meeting on 6 May.
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Received two new candidates for
the ministry of the Word and Sacrament: |
 Alexandra
(Sandra) Hedrick, an elder of the South Jacksonville Church and a
student at Columbia Seminary in Decatur, GA, and
James (Jim) Yao, an elder of the
Memorial Church in St. Augustine, and also a student at Columbia
Seminary.
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Received and approved the report
from the Stewardship Development Committee, recommending that the
capital campaign be delayed until after the strategic planning
process is complete. In the meantime, the Stewardship Development
Committee will be seeking input from various committees and
congregations in the presbytery to refine the statement of goals for
the campaign.
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The presbytery also approved a
change in the meeting date for the summer stated meeting. The new
date is Saturday, 19 July 2008, at the Community Presbyterian Church
in Atlantic Beach, FL. |
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