July 1-2 - General Assembly--Milwaukee, WI (Ruth-Aimée and Chip) July 4 & 5 - Preach at First Pontiac (MI) (Chip) July 5 - Preaching, United Presbyterian Church, Cuyahoga Falls, OH (Ruth-Aimée) July 9 - Attend Pastoral Leadership Conference Planning (Muskingum University, OH) (Ruth-Aimée and Chip) July 9-13 - Covenant Gathering, Lourdes University, Sylvania, OH (Ruth-Aimée) July 10-12 - Attend 30th Anniversary Celebration between Miami Valley Presbytery and the Presbytery of

Our Synod wants to invite our Black leaders in the state of Michigan to a time away to renew, refresh, and fellowship. Over the years, the leaders of our African American churches have served with imagination, creativity, and determination. The Synod recognizes the need to come together, recharge batteries, and engage in relentless community with one another. If you are a leader in your congregation, pastor, serving on session, ruling elder, or deacon, we invite you to consid

Many who are reading this have likely had a retreat or a camp experience that they would describe as a spiritual “mountain top” event. An event wherein your faith is enlivened and deepened, or even – to use a word we Presbyterians are sometimes a bit afraid of – you have a mystical encounter with God that leaves your faith, your relationship with God, forever changed and enriched. Words often fail us here. Not because they cannot describe the experience, but because they can

We are happy to share that we launched the Racial Justice Speaking Series with Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz facilitating a conversation on the Intersection of Art, Gender, and Racial Justice during the month of April. Our second speaker was the Rev. Dr. Alexandra Zareth, with the topic of Effects of historic generational trauma because of systemic racism during the month of June. Our upcoming conversation will be led by Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, Director of the Office of Self Devel

Background/Rationale Racism is not a problem to be solved. It is an insidious virus part of society’s collective DNA. It is a malicious condition that affects us all. It is in the air we breathe, in the conversations we have, in the thoughts that invade our brains, and in the tilting of our internalized ideas that have been fed to us about ourselves and others. The Synod of the Covenant is not immune to this shared human struggle and experience. The Synod’s past, recent, and

1. The right to be loved, without having to earn it. 2. The right to be protected, without having to deserve it. 3. The right to feel valuable, even if you came into the world with nothing. 4. The right to be listened to without having to be interesting. 5. The right to be read a bedtime story without having to compete with the evening news or EastEnders. 6. The right to an education without having to dodge bullets at schools. 7. The right to be thought of as adorable (even i

A tropical wind blowing beneath the palm trees. 100 worshipers in two languages. 30-year-friendships and brand new pals gathered around the table. Hands swinging overhead in joy. Even a conga line to the African praise song, “Siyahamba.” All of this, and more, characterized the joint worship service last month celebrating the work of the Spirit in the 30-year-partnership between Miami Valley Presbytery and the Presbytery of the North Coast in Colombia. The service was one of

We are impatiently waiting for the 3rd Annual Alma Preaching conference to begin! From June 4th to June 8th, we will welcome 14 new emerging preachers into the CGPI family, along with 24 returning participants, and 6 alumni. In addition, we are welcoming four new mentors to the program and several new speakers. This year, our keynote speaker is Catherine Williams, who serves as the Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, and the Director of Chapel Worship at the Lancast

Greetings Co-Workers in Christ As I am weeks away graduting from Fuller Theoligcal Seminary with a MDiv and anticapte ordination as a Minister of Word and Sacrament, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my call journey from Ruling Elder, to Commioned Pastor, to Inquirere and Candidate. First, let me be open and honest: am I not a cradle presbyterian. When my wife and I moved to New Cononcrd, OH over 20 years ago, we made a decision to find a church locally and committ

June 1 - Presbytery of the Western Reserve Meeting—Cleveland Heights, OH (Chip) June 2 - Lake Huron Presbytery Meeting—Linden, MI (Ruth-Aimée) June 3-8 - Cultivating the Gift of Preaching Conference—Alma (MI) College (Ruth-Aimée and Chip) June 9 - Lake Michigan Presbytery Meeting—Muskegon, MI (Ruth-Aimée) June 14 - Preaching, First Church of Warren, OH (Ruth-Aimée) June 14 - Preach at West Berlin Church—Delaware, OH (Chip) June 14 - Participate in Scott Nowack’s Installation

I often wonder how often the church’s proclamations really make it into the public consciousness. Our denomination’s 227th General Assembly begins in late June; as commissioners debate various proclamations, I hope they will consider whether the statements will mostly annoy other Presbyterians who disagree, or if the declarations will actually help the world look more the way God wants. Perhaps we should look to Pope Leo for a model. According to Google, his recent statem

“Learning and memory are generally associated with brains and r cells alone, but our study shows that other cells in the body can learn and form memories too.” Dr. Nikolay V. Kukushkin, NYU Professor “Your nervous system is your body’s command center. It works by sending messages, or electrical signals, between your brain and all the other parts of your body. These signals tell you to breathe, move, speak, and see, for example. Your nervous system keeps track of what’s going

May 2-3 - Vacation (Chip) May 7-8 - Alma College Board Meeting (Chip) May 10 - Preach at the Presbyterian Church of Traverse City (MI)—Mackinac Presbytery (Chip) May 12 - Miami Valley Presbytery Meeting—Bellbrook (OH) Church (Ruth-Aimée) May 13-15 - Princeton Theological Seminary Board Meeting (Chip) May 14 - Mackinac Presbytery Meeting—Zoom (Ruth-Aimée) May 19 - Scioto Valley Presbytery Meeting—Circleville (OH) Church (Ruth-Aimée) May 19 - Maumee Valley Presbytery Meeting—Fi

As I write this, our third annual preaching conference is just over a month away! So, we are busy finalizing schedules, booking housing, making reservations, so that everything runs smoothly. We are excited to welcome back our 24 current emerging preachers who will complete the program at the end of this calendar year. In addition to lots of in-person fellowship and attending our lectures on preaching and worship by our keynote lecture, the Rev. Dr. Catherine Williams, these

Greetings Co-Workers in Christ The Ordination Task Force has just released its report and recommendations for the 2026 General Assembly this Summer. The task force included representation from our very own Synod: Mary Lloyd (Ruling Elder, Detroit Presbytery) and Lance Wiesmann (Ruling Elder, Maumee Valley Presbytery)! Here is the link to the full report, with a number of recommended changes for the ordination process for Ministers of Word and Sacrament, for example an alt

Justice. There’s no justice. Justice exists; it is palpable to those for whom the justice system was created. The system is in place, but it does not offer justice to all. It does not procure the well-being of all. It does not deliberate towards fairness. It is skewed towards those that the system exists to protect. If you ask descendants of slaves if there is justice, several will say no. If you ask the countless Black and Brown human beings incarcerated massively, dispropor

Toxic polarization is one of the defining traits of American culture in the 21st century. After the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondence Dinner last month, voices were divided. Some on my social media feed shared theories about why the whole event must have been staged; others shared perspectives that the new White House ballroom will prevent such attempts in the future. These posts were more prominent than those who simply decried the specific act of po

April 8 - Present to the Presbytery of Philadelphia on General Assembly Overtures concerning the Middle East--Zoom (Chip) April 12-13 - Vacation (Chip) April 17 - Inauguration of President Joe Odenwald of Alma College—Luke Huron Presbytery (Chip) April 18 - Cincinnati Presbytery Meeting—Zoom (Ruth-Aimée) April 21 - Ohio Council of Churches Board Meeting—Columbus, OH (Chip) If you would like Chip or Ruth-Aimée to come to your church or ministry to preach, teach, learn,

The Scioto Valley Presbytery is living into Christ’s call to be a light to the nations by welcoming immigrants and refugees into our congregations. Through the vision of 1001 New Worshiping Communities , we are discovering new ways to embody the gospel in multicultural contexts. One powerful testimony is the story of Sonita Amah and her daughter Rena , who fled Cameroun through Nigeria before arriving in Columbus Ohio. Life was heavy with challenges Sonita’s asylum status w