Presbytery Meeting Recap - Now Headin' West to Portland

It was good to see so many of you at our Presbytery meeting on Tuesday!  Read more on our experience together below.

Now I'm headin' west to Portland, Oregon to attend the 222nd General Assembly of the PC(USA). Our commissioners are Rev. Ann Conklin (Eastminster/Grand Rapids, Rev. Paul Tomlinson (Cadillac) Daniel Van Beek (First/Benton Harbor), and Eileen Best (Westminster/Portage). Gigi Goshorn is our Young Adult Advisory Delegate (First/Niles).  Eileen is honored to be appointed to moderate the Mission Coordination Committee.  Rev. Janice Jasperse (Lake City), Ainsley Herrick Candidate under care of the Presbytery (First/Jackson) and Ashley Bair, Inquirer under care of Presbytery (First/Holt) will attend and serve as GA volunteers.  There may be others.  Please let me know if you or someone you know from the Presbytery who is attending.  We will gather for dinner on Tuesday.

I will be blogging daily, sharing my impressions of the Assembly.  I will also be posting photos and short videos to the Lake Michigan Presbytery Facebook Group.  Please join this group on Facebook and follow.  For other information sources check out the following:

The Office of the General Assembly makes the Assembly business accessible to you online at https://www.pc-biz.org/#/   There you may follow the business of the assembly from your homes.  You can read the overtures and business before the committees.  You don't have to sign in to use this, but you can to follow particular business and make notes.

The Plenary Meetings  and Opening Worship will be live streamed at  http://oga.pcusa.org/section/ga/222nd-general-assembly-2016/

The Opening Worship will be Saturday, June 18 at 2 a.m. (E.S.T.)  This is always a highlight of General Assemblies.  The out going moderator, Heath Rada will be preaching.  After two years of traveling throughout the church and world, the moderator has a unique perspective to share.

https://pres-outlook.org/   The Presbyterian Outlook is an independent and trusted source for Presbyterian news.  This is the best source for following the news of the Assembly.  They prepare bulletin insert for purchase, which summarizes the GA's actions, for those who do not follow such things closely.

Now back to our Presbytery meeting today!  We filled the sanctuary at the First Presbyterian Church in Dimondale, all 177 of us!  At least that's how many were registered, many more than usual!  The singing at worship raised the rafters!  We extend our thanks to the folks at Dimondale led by Scott Crane for their hospitality.  The sticky buns and ice cream, probably not on any of our diets, were fabulous!  Thanks to Jack Stewart for bringing us the Word proclaimed, and then sharing his faith, passion and scholarship for envisioning congregational ministry as practicing the gospel.  Thanks to Pat Weatherwax and folks from Presbyterian Pilgrimage for the liturgy and music.  Thanks to the Leadership Team and its writing team for preparing and presenting a new proposed dismissal policy and procedure for our consideration in September.  Thanks to the John Knox and Hillsdale Administrative Commissions for their heavy lifting in service of the Presbytery relating to those congregations.   Thanks to the Church Growth Committee for bringing the New Beginnings Discernment Process to six of our congregations last year.  We heard reports from North/Kalamazoo, Pine Island/Kalamazoo, Westlake/Battle Creek.  Dan Anderson also shared the experience at Spring Lake and their success in using social media for outreach. We can learn from them.  We celebrated the ministries of Jon Fleming, Mary Van Andel, and Margie Osborne who are retiring this summer, and Dwight Hillstrom and John Hannington on the 50th anniversary of their ordinations.  We heard Ansley Herrick's statement of call and moved her from inquirer to candidacy.  She will spend the next year in Columbia with the PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer Mission Program.  Suzanne Bates, Camp Greenwood Director, introduced the summer camp staff.  They come from Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands and Michigan. We commissioned them to minister at camp this summer.  Doug Portz, Board of Pensions Regional Representation, and Karen Fitz LaBarge lead workshops on changes in the Board's Medical Plan offerings and stewardship.

I gathered in the Prayer Room at 2 o'clock with the Hillsdale Administrative Commission, and representatives of the Hillsdale congregation to finalize our dismissal of this congregation to the Midwest Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  Thanks to the Hillsdale Administrative Commission Jim Hegadus (chairperson) Ron Hayes, Kathy Adams for navigating this work, especially Jim who led this commission with perseverance, patience and grace.  Thanks also to Tim Marvel, Lynn McQuown who served earlier on the Listening Team, Ken Tiews, our Presbytery Attorney, the Budget & Finance Committee, the Leadership Team, Tedd Oyler, Leadership Team liaison to the Budget & Finance Committee, George Hunsberger, moderator last year, Fran Lane-Lawrence, stated clerk, Wayne Komejan, treasurer.  These colleagues served countless hours of deliberation on this over the past few years.  May God bless the Hillsdale congregation as they pursue a new path, and may God bless our witness as we direct our energies to more positive ministries.

Fran and I will be monitoring our phones and emails while at the General Assembly as best we can. Following the Assembly, Fran, Eileen and I will be on vacation June 27-July 4th.  Helen Havlik, moderator, and  LaVerne Davenport, COM co moderator, will be on call to assist in our absence.

Yours in Christ,

John Best