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pentecost offering
Everywhere he looked, the Rev. Allen Shelton saw tremendous gaps — gaps that were keeping high school-aged young people of color like Tariq Mayo from succeeding in life.
Shelton, a veteran educator, community advocate and pastor, was determined not to watch Tariq — and so many other promising youth — fall through the cracks of an increasingly broken educational system.
How many times have we seen a modern building, an historic landmark, a great cathedral or a monument and thought, “How did they do that?” Regardless of when it was built, the skill and craftsmanship needed to not only imagine it, but to make it sturdy enough to safely and securely withstand the test of time, boggles the mind.
Yuriko Beltran doesn’t ask for much — just an opportunity to change the world.
Which is exactly why the 23-year-old entered the PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer program.
For Monday’s Between Two Pulpits broadcast, Dr. William McConnell, interim director of Special Offerings, celebrated the start of the Young Adult Volunteer program year by talking to two YAV alums who were equal parts passionate and practical about their own YAV experiences.
After sharing last month the free downloadable resources created to inform possibilities for Triennium-related celebrations in the local context, Gina Yeager-Buckley jumped at the chance Monday to bring along some of the talented people who created the resources related to group study, recreation, and worship and prayer — and are on the verge of creating even more resources in the weeks to come.
Still reveling in the season of the Pentecost Offering, the guests on Monday’s Between Two Pulpits told host Dr. William McConnell about the ways their church uses the 40% of the Special Offering it retains to serve young adults, youth and children at risk. Watch the guests from Heritage Presbyterian Church in Mason, Ohio, tell their story here.
Monday’s Between Two Pulpits, an online conversation put on each week by Special Offerings’ interim director Dr. Bill McConnell, was a how-to in effective after-school ministry, as told by two pastors who decades ago co-founded Rising TIDE at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Long Beach, California.
“We plan and God laughs” is identified as a Yiddish proverb, the title of a book or two and the headline of multiple online articles meant to help people navigate periods in life when personal plans seem to disintegrate in front of their eyes. When we hear or read the proverb, it can be difficult not to nod along, especially when the phrase encapsulates something most of us have experienced: a perfect resume or proposal sent, but no word back; a flawless itinerary dissolved by the smallest delay; an event set to begin, upended by a storm; a setback or an entirely “new normal.”
Although the branches of their respective family trees are heavily laden with Presbyterian pastors and elders, Akilah Hyrams and Noah Westfall — both alums of the PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer program — are pursuing a different calling.
At least for now.
Like most kids, Josh Davenport-Herbst has always had a hard time saying no to his parents, especially when it came to showing up for stuff at church.
