September 2024 News & Announcements

by General Presbyter Melana Scruggs

This post is just full of news and announcements. Please share it with those you think might be interested in responding.

We had our first presbytery wide learning gathering on Thursday, September 12 at Burnt Store. Over sixty people attended for a time of learning, worship, and fellowship. As we continue to strengthen our ties as a presbytery and as Christians working in the world together, opportunities like this open us to conversations we might not have at a business meeting of the presbytery. Our keynote speaker and worship leader, Rickey Bolden, was dynamic, encouraging, and challenging. Here are the links to watch the keynote and the worship service. The workshops were also informative and fun. Thank you to everyone who made this event a possibility and especially to Burnt Store for hosting! If you attended the event, we would love for you to fill out this evaluation form. Please share it with those you know who attended but might not receive this newsletter.

The portal for the Board of Pensions Employer Agreements is now open. The options for 2025 have changed for pastors and families. The Committee on Ministry strongly recommends that churches continue to cover pastors and their families with medical insurance if their spouse has no other coverage. Installed pastors who are in the Pastors’ Participation in 2024 can be enrolled in the Transitional Program, if that is more cost effective for the church. The person who does the Employer Agreement must call the Board of Pensions to get the quote for medical coverage for those who will use the Covenant Package for pension, death and disability. Please feel free to contact Melana or Randy if you have questions. 

We are now in the height of hurricane season and continue to pray that there will not be a storm that is catastrophic. We saw with Tropical Storm Debby, however, that it doesn’t take a hurricane to cause severe flooding and damage in a community. Flood buckets can help families, but we need to be able to get them out the day after a storm, not a week later. Currently we do not have access to buckets in a timely manner. It would be a great help if each church would put together at least two buckets that could be picked up and stored at a church in each area of the presbytery for easy access. Here is the link to the list of items for each bucket. If you have questions, please contact Melana.

I will be on vacation from September 18 to October 4. If you need anything, please contact Alesia or Randy.

Thank you for all you do to share God’s grace and love in the world.