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

Greetings Co-Workers in Christ After much prayer and discussion with Synod, Presbytery, and Muskingum University Leaders, we have decided to reschedule the Pastoral Leadership Conference to 2027. Planners for the conference will still be meeting in July 2026 to make sure we can create and promote a great conference of pastors! We hope to have more information and registration ready for Fall 2026! On another note: We have finished our March CRE Focus Group meetings with de

We are busy planning the 3 rd Annual Preaching Conference and recruiting new participants for our third class of emerging preachers! If you know of anyone who is discerning a call to preach, please recommend CGPI to them. We are focused on recruiting aspiring and newer preachers who have little to now formal training in preaching or graduate theological education in order to equip them for effective and compelling ministry proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. You can r

“No hope? Look up into the stars Or down into a baby’s face And tell me there is no hope…" No Hope? By Ann Weems in Searching for Shalom “Happy endings” or “happily ever afters” in stories, “novelas,” plays, movie scripts, or Disney movies generally mean that the story is given a fortunate and prosperous conclusion. The movie “Enchanted,” a satire of Disney classics, centers on the character Giselle, a woman navigating the realities of both her “Happily Ever After” storybook

Back in 2015, I wrote a devotional book called Crossbound exploring several passages from the Gospel of Luke that detail all that Jesus undertook to show his love for us during that original Holy Week. For this month’s column, which will arrive during Holy Week, I thought it might be helpful to share a couple of passages from the final chapter, entitled “Celebrating Holy Week.” “Christians celebrate Holy Week and all of the different days that it comprises: Palm Sunday,

March 2-3 - Executive/General Presbyter Gathering—Bowling Green, OH (Ruth-Aimée and Chip) March 4-6 - Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Certification—Zoom (Ruth-Aimée) March 7-11 - Vacation (Chip) March 8 - Preach at Westminster Church—Grand Rapids, MI/Lake Michigan Presbytery (Ruth-Aimée) March 10 - Eastminster Presbytery Meeting—Youngstown, OH (Ruth-Aimée) March 12 - Present at the Sabbath Retreat, Unity Church—Reynoldsburg, OH/Scioto Valley Presbytery (Ru

For years, Presbyterian campus ministries have struggled to find balance and support amid denominational decline. Campus ministers, churches, and lay leaders have been stretched thin by limited time, energy, and financial resources. On campuses without Presbyterian ministry, students often joined other religious groups, drifting away from the PCUSA and leaving a critical gap in the transition from youth to adult faith. In 2021, the Presbytery of Scioto Valley sought to addres

Greetings Siblings in Ministry! We have some exciting updates to share with you all! First, the dates for the Pastoral Leadership Conference are July 7-9 at Muskingum University, New Concord, OH. At this time, we have scheduled workshops on Leadership in: Followership, Finance and Resources, Racial Justice, and Emotional Intelligence. We will be adding information to the website in March and will keep adding details (like registration and costs) in the coming months. We

We are busy planning the 2026 Alma Preaching Conference and moreover recruiting a new class of CGPI participants. The Alma Preaching Conference is scheduled for June 4-8, 2026 where we will welcome a new, third class of emerging preachers and welcome back our second class. Apply here: Apply for CGPI | Synod Of The Covenan Our second year group will participate in two new or revamped workshops, a workshop on preaching for social justice led by the Rev. Dr. Gregory Bryant f

March has been designated as Women’s History Month, where women’s contributions and embodied trailblazing are celebrated, highlighted, and explored. During this month, the lives of women, their struggles, joys, inventions, and contributions in all facets of society are lifted in multiple educational formats. In 1996, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) “instituted Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday after a resolution by the Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns was approved b

Our overarching theme is “In our synod, we’ll try anything to equip and support leaders who attend to God’s creative, emerging future.” People most invested in our ministry together will often quote with pride the “we’ll try anything” part of this statement. In this column, though, I want to tell you about some new initiatives we’re taking on this year to equip and support leaders: an in-person leadership conference, a racial justice speaker series, and a Christian nationa

Rev. Dr. Catherine Williams Rev. Dr. Catherine E. Williams is the Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, and Director of Chapel Worship at the Lancaster, PA campus of Moravian University’s School of Theology. An ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, Dr. Williams earned her BMus. in Church Music from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, her MDiv. from Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University, and her PhD in Homiletics from Princeton Theolog

We are thrilled to announce that we have four of our five mentors in place. We hope to soon announce our fifth mentor, who will come from our partnership with the Justice Center for Sacred Theological Studies (JCSTS, formerly known as Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary). The four mentors who will guide our third class of emerging preachers bring years of experience and wisdom from preaching and pastoring across the Synod. Rev. Dr. Kymberley Clemons-Jones Rev. Dr. Kymberl