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Synod Snaps is a weekly electronic source of news from your Synod staff. If you'd like to receive this weekly email, click here to subscribe.
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| CURRENT NEWS and upcoming events
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Covenant Presbyterian Insurance Program (CPIP) Offers Risk Management Seminars
Thursday, February 21, 2008 (86 reads)
 Co-Sponsored by Synod of Alaska-Northwest, CPIP is offering two opportunities in western Washington to attend Risk Management seminars. Representatives from CPIP will be leading seminars on church stewardship, sexual misconduct prevention, best church practices for protecting children, and best church employment practices that enhance communications. These seminars will be offered in two locations and dates:
March 8, 2008
8:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Harrison Square Presbyterian Church
Olympia Presbytery
March 10, 2008
8:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Fellowship Hall, Presbytery of Seattle
For All Presbyteries
The Covenant Presbyterian Insurance Program offers a comprehensive, cost effective, integrated risk management and insurance program for the benefit of congregations, governing bodies and their related entities of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
CPIP is offering a 1% discount in annual insurance premium for every person attending from each church or Presbytery up to a maximum of 4% per year.
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Habitat for Humanity Needs Applicants
Friday, February 15, 2008 (56 reads)
Greetings from Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity!
Here at Habitat, we are always grateful for the support of churches and faith communities as we fight substandard housing in Pierce County. We could not do it without you.
At this point, we are looking for qualified applicants to apply for homeownership. You would think it would be easy finding people to apply for our program: no-interest, no-profit home loans for low-income residents, what’s there not to like? However! Sometimes it can be difficult getting the word out about our application meetings, and people who might qualify do not even know the program is available. We need to address this problem.
Could you help us spread the word? It could be as basic as putting a blurb about our meetings in your next bulletin or circular (see below for an example of what that could look like). Please click the 'Read More' link below and download a flyer that can be tacked to a bulletin board and a 2-sided flyer that has the most comprehensive information. We would be grateful for any exposure we can get--no effort is too small! Also, if you know of any families who need help with their housing situation, please do not hesitate to contact me with questions about their eligibility. I would love to talk with you. Read More |
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Opportunities to Serve
Friday, February 15, 2008 (53 reads)
Presbyterian Men
 Presbyterian Men, a National Organization, is looking for a Board member from within the bounds of our Synod. The first meeting would be during General Assembly in June of this year in San Jose. Every man who is a member of a PCUSA congregation is a "Presbyterian Man." This person would need to have a heart for men's ministry: evangelism, discipleship, fellowship and outreach. The congregation from whence this man hails would not have to have a "Presbyterian Men's" affiliated ministry, just a ministry that provides nourishment.
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The Eco-Palm Project
Friday, February 15, 2008 (75 reads)
Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem, accented by the jubilant waving of palm branches, is re-enacted each Palm Sunday in Presbyterian and other Christian congregations worldwide as Holy Week observances begin. Unfortunately for the communities where these palms are harvested, palm fronds do not always represent the same jubilation they do for us.
Production of eco-palms begins in forested areas of Mexico and Guatemala where workers, known as xaterros (sha-tare-rows), walk miles into the forest to harvest palm branches. Photo courtesy of Lutheran World Relief.
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Mission Focus: From Wrangell to Madagascar
Friday, February 15, 2008 (0 reads)
Psalm 138:8 The Lord will work out his plans for my life…
 Elder Nettie Covalt and Rev. Janice Stamper from the First Presbyterian Church in Wrangell, Alaska are preparing for a mission trip to Madagascar. The first call to be connected with Madagascar came through the three boys in Sunday School, who raised $1500.00 the first year and then over $5,000 the next year for orphans in Madagascar. Now, the call continues as Nettie and Janice go and experience Madagascar to see and hear the reality, then bring their voices of that experience home from those who have no voice and no power.
In the book of Mark, Jesus sent out his disciples two at a time. He told them they needed nothing for the journey, just their sandals and a tunic. Today travel for the Lord’s works requires much more, especially when traveling from Wrangell, AK! Your help is needed though prayer, which is the most important. Secondly, financial help is needed. If you are able to support this mission trip through a donation, please send it to First Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 439, Wrangell, AK 99929 marked for "Madagascar
Mission Trip."
Please join us as we see what the Lord has planned for us in this mission opportunity given to the First Presbyterian Church in Wrangell, Alaska.
For more information, please contact Nettie at: kimnet@ak.net
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Remembering Jack Stotts
Friday, February 08, 2008 (58 reads)
 The congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are encouraged to give thanks to God for the life and service of the late Dr. Jack L. Stotts in worship on Sunday, February 10. Jack Stotts chaired the committee that wrote A Brief Statement of Faith, and we invite your congregation to use it as the Affirmation of Faith on February, 10, 2008. He died last Thursday following several weeks of illness, and his memorial service will also be held on February 10.
The middle section of the Brief Statement (10.3) is offered here, in order to echo the themes of the Revised Common Lectionary texts for the First Sunday in Lent. An explanatory note for worship bulletins is also provided below.
A Brief Statement of Faith
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
In life and in death we belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel,
whom alone we worship and serve.
continued . . .
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Reflections on the ‘journey’ in Alaska Presbytery
Friday, February 08, 2008 (58 reads)
By Jane Holslag, Mission Worker, Mission Challenge ‘07
 October 2007. One month of intense visiting, listening, learning and sharing the story of our PC(USA) mission efforts. Context? Mission Challenge ‘07! A bold venture in which 48 Mission workers ‘journeyed’ to 143 presbyteries across the country inviting our congregations and members to grow in awareness and commitment to international mission. In Alaska Presbytery the ‘journeyer’ was me!
October 2007 will not easily or quickly be forgotten! I was blessed, encouraged, surprised and repeatedly reminded of God’s grace and goodness as I visited and shared in Juneau, Wrangell and Ketchikan. Of course, southeast Alaska is breathtakingly beautiful, and some sunny days made it even more so, but the very best part of my time with you was time spent in conversation, in worship, at presbytery, gathered with congregations at meals, and in the moments where I could share the story of God’s work in PCUSA’s international mission worker’s ministries and lives. My own story (from my work in Lithuania) felt modest compared to that from the Streshleys in the Congo or the Morgans in Bangladesh (if you haven’t viewed the MC07 video, I highly recommend it! This video was sent to every congregation, and the presbytery office has a copy as well.). But I also loved telling about what God is doing at LCC International University and in the Evangelical Reformed Church of Lithuania (where I will return in August 2008). Thank you for listening and asking questions, for your interest, and most certainly for your invitation to visit. I especially enjoyed saying THANK YOU at the presbytery meeting and with each group I met. I’d like to say it again: THANK YOU for your support and prayers for mission workers like me over the years!
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Mission Focus: Kuukpik Presbyterian Church
Friday, February 01, 2008 (84 reads)
Presbytery of Yukon’s Mission Focus for 2007/2008
In October, the Presbytery of Yukon voted to begin featuring an annual mission focus for the presbytery. There are two goals for the presbytery’s mission focus:
* To assist a ministry in accomplishing a particular mission,
* And to help the presbytery learn more about, and pray for that particular ministry.
 This year’s mission focus is the Kuukpik Presbyterian Church. Kuukpik Presbyterian Church is located in the village of Nuiqsut on the Nechelik Channel of the Colville River Delta. Nuiqsut was one of three abandoned Inupiat villages identified in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. Under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Alaska Native communities with at least 25 people could form village corporations, and claim entitlement to some of their traditional lands. In 1973 thirty-five families of the Kuukpikmiut, the Kuukpik people, re-establish the village of Nuiqsut, and in 1975 the Kuukpik Presbyterian Church received its charter.
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