This spring’s tornadoes, which took the steeple off First Presbyterian Church in Martinsville, Indiana, and destroyed 200 homes in and around Sullivan, Indiana, came on top of tornadic destruction in and around Little Rock, Arkansas.
Presbyterians have been stepping up to help Afghan families feel welcome in the United States, from providing meals and housing to helping children get registered in school.
The virtual series Around the World with PDA returns at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 17 with an installment showcasing how partners are welcoming Afghan refugees in two southern states, Arkansas and Virginia.
Like with many congregations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), for the 90 or so churches in the Presbytery of Arkansas, worship is now a different experience than it was before the pandemic, the Rev. Stewart Smith said last week during an episode of the Synod of the Sun’s “SunSpots” podcast.
For many of the participants at last week’s Shaping Our Story Conference, this was their first in-person gathering since the pandemic began 20 months ago.
In the early days of the pandemic, Joel Gill, the executive director of Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, gathered staff together for a brainstorming session.
A year of service, a lifetime of deeper questions. One of the many ways the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program hopes to challenge participants is through the forming and continual reshaping of the program’s own concepts about service. This is done best when young volunteers and local people of faith walk together to encourage, challenge and inspire one another.
