Posts Tagged: christmas joy offering

‘There’s really no way you can fail’

Like the Magi from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem only to return home another way, the route of mother-daughter duo of Carla Louca and Susannah LeMay took some unexpected turns. Their respective roads surprisingly led them to study in the same place at the same time, at Presbyterian-related Stillman College in Tuscaloosa…. Read more »

Getting Ready to Run the World

If the life of faith is like running a race, Mikayla Rose Sierra is leading the field. A two-time state champion in the 300-meter hurdles — as well as a stand-out in volleyball and basketball — Mikayla is a 17-year-old high school senior who entered the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-related Menaul School in the sixth grade…. Read more »

Where the Heart Is

If home is where the heart is, then Sue Anne Fairman’s heart is blessed to call several places home. For Sue Anne, a deacon and ruling elder, home is New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. It is also home to the New Wilmington Presbyterian Church, which supported her family during many years as international mission workers. But home,… Read more »

Christmas Joy Offering

What Child Is This?   Why is the Christmas carol “What Child Is This” so meaningful to us? Yes, it links a beautiful tune with inspiring words. But it is more than that. It is in the vision behind and beyond the tune and text where we find the deeper truths. When we sing “What… Read more »

Reaching for the Stars

For Sarah Valentina Hernandez Solache (SO-LA-CHAY), the colorful city of Zitácuaro (ZEE-TA-QUARO) in the highlands of Mexico — where millions of Monarch butterflies bathe the fields and forests in a sea of orange during their annual migration — was, and always will be, home. But, despite its beauty, Valentina readily admits that it simply wasn’t… Read more »

Finding the Right Road

Like many people, the Rev. Meg Shoeman needed time to find the right road, the right path for her life. Meg, who earned her M.Div. from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 2007, candidly confessed that hers has been a “very long journey.” She left the ordination process after graduation and chose another career path because of… Read more »

When Home is a World Away

At first, nothing about Stillman College reminded Johnykqua [Jon-e-kwa] Bevans and Rayondre [Ray-on-dray] (Ray) Roberts of their home on the tropical island of Grand Bahama: not Alabama, not the food, not their classmates and not the as-yet unfamiliar Presbyterian tradition in which the college is steeped. But then there was the choir. Stillman’s nationally-renowned concert… Read more »

A Little Extra Help to Keep the Home Fires Burning

Seems like in one way or another, Jack and Kate Eisel have always been busy putting out fires — unless they were building them. The couple met fireside in 2009 at Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center, where Kate was the conference manager, and Jack, a recently retired pastor, was volunteering in the maintenance department. “Since… Read more »

A Gift Opens Doors — Proverbs 18:16

In the story of God, as we tell it, there is a barrier that exists between the Created world and its Creator. A wall. Sin, we say, separates us from God, and separation from God is unbearable. And our story goes on to say that God, seeing that we had no hope in ourselves of… Read more »

Celebrating the 2021 Christmas Joy Offering with Our Youth

Engaging the children of your congregation with the four churchwide Special Offerings has never been easier or more important, whether you are engaging them in-person or virtually. There are numerous ways children can connect with the upcoming Christmas Joy Offering, sharing in the joy of the perfect gift, Jesus Christ. This year’s curriculum was written… Read more »