First Presbyterian Church in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, gathered Sunday first to worship God and celebrate the many ways the congregation is following Jesus in the Matthew 25 movement. Afterward — following a thrilling Bach postlude on the church’s pipe organ by high schooler Ethan Sexauer — worshipers continued the celebration with a mission fair in fellowship hall.
Calling herself a sometimes “reluctant pursuer of hearing God’s voice,” the Rev. Ruth Faith Santana-Grace nonetheless picked up the phone one day early in 2022 and “made a blind call to this dear sister and now friend,” the Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis, to discuss standing for the office of Co-Moderators. The rest is history, of course: in June 2022, commissioners to the 225th General Assembly elected the two as Co-Moderators, offices they hold right up until the 226th General Assembly, set to be held online and in-person in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2024.
As 2022 draws to a close, the hosts of the Being Matthew 25 broadcast, the Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett and the Rev. DeEtte Decker, took a look back at the content they helped to create during each monthly episode.
The Immersion conference ended Thursday with worship that included inspired preaching and inspiring music, the latter by Dr. Tony McNeill, a sought-after workshop clinician, lecturer, consultant, mentor and guest choral conductor.
Representatives from among the PC(USA)’s most diverse and innovative faith gatherings — its 1001 New Worshiping Communities — joined virtually Thursday during the “Being Matthew 25” monthly broadcast to celebrate the 10th year of the initiative. Watch the 42-minute conversation here.
Two days before commissioners to the 225th General Assembly will elect their successors, the Co-Moderators of the 224th General Assembly, the Rev. Gregory Bentley and Ruling Elder Elona Street-Stewart, took to the Being Matthew 25 airwaves to discuss, among other topics, what they’re praying for during the lead-up to the Assembly, which begins Saturday.
During Thursday’s Being Matthew 25 discussion on generational change, Dr. Corey Schlosser-Hall kept hearkening back to a favorite verse in the Old Testament, Psalm 34:8: “O taste and see that the Lord is good …”
