What's Happening

Summer Worship Schedule

10:00am

Blended

Service

Please Join Us!

Vacation Bible School

This year our Vacation Bible School will be held

July 13 through July 17.

9am - Noon

3 years old to Entering 5th Grade

Registration forms are available in the church office or

Print your own HERE

Welcome to our new Music Director, Sandy Murray!

Read Sandy's "Music Notes"

There's always New Preschool News from Sheri!

 

 

Month At A Glance

June

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Notes From Mike

One of the things I value most about my identity and heritage as a Presbyterian is that we have historically placed a high value on education.  Our congregations, by and large, are filled with people who have earned degrees and engage in a pattern of lifelong learning.  The same is true of our clergy.  Each year, when you vote on Catherine's and my terms of call, you include two weeks of study leave in addition to our vacation time.  We also receive a professional expense allowance, out of which we subscribe to various periodicals and purchase books that help in our sermon preparation or in our personal devotions. 

 

Last month, Catherine spent a week at the Festival of Homiletics, where she got to hear some of the top preachers in the country.  I look forward to hearing about her experience with that.  I spent three days in the final installment of the Clergy Clinic in Family Emotional Process.  This began last November and just concluded in mid-May.  I studied family systems theory as developed by Murray Bowen and Ed Friedman.  These tools have given me time for reflection on my ministry, and my ministry as it relates to our congregation.

 

I really feel as if these tools that we are given by the congregation go a long way in keeping us current on issues and sharp in our approach to ministry.  Sometimes we can get bogged down in the details of programs and administration, but it is good to get away from time to time to remember why we are called to ministry—what motivates, inspires and challenges us, what is rewarding, what is troubling, how we can improve in our scholarship as well as our pastoral care.

 

So I just wanted to thank you for your support of Catherine and me as we continue to read and study, learn and grow.  I hope you can see the fruits of this in sermon preparation and in our own personal health.  The opportunity to serve in a denomination and in a congregation that values continuing education means a great deal to both of us.

Grace and Peace,

 ~Mike

 

 

East Brentwood Presbyterian Church (USA)

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