reyes-chow :: MODERATOR

Road Notes: APCU, MRTI, Rocky Mountains and Mid-America

[image: Giampaolo Macorig]

While I continue to hold firm to a 1/3 travel schedule, the past few months have been pretty light in terms of travel.  In addition to the GAC/OGA meetings last month, I was able to attend the Annual gathering of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities in Charlotte, NC which was a wonderful experience.  APCU is engaging in some compelling conversations about the future of higher education and church-relatedness.   I was also privileged to listen in to part of the meeting of the Mission through Responsible Investment (MRTI) meeting that was held in San Francisco.  While attracting some controversy over the years regarding the Middle East, my exposure to the scope of their work was inspiring [Press Release].

This Thursday AM, I leave for 10-day, 11-city trip beginning in the Synod of the Rocky Mountains and winding through the Synod of Mid-America.  Below is the schedule as we know it now.  If you need more information, please contact your Synod or Presbytery folks for specifics.  I know better than to promise to blog through the trip, but you can always keep up by following my twitter feed [@breyeschow].

This will be the longest trip for me so far with or without the family, so while we are prepping the kiddos for this one, I covet your prayers for my family, especially my wife, Robin, and my family who will help cover the daddy duties I leave behind.  So grateful!

Thursday, 04.23.09

• Travel to Salt Lake City, UT
  
• Town Hall and Worship, Synod of the Rocky Mountains Assembly
  First Presbyterian Church, Salt Lake City, UT

Friday, 04.24.09

• Travel to Kansas City, MO
• KC Royals game with local pastor/s and assorted presby baseball nuts.

Saturday 04.25.09     

• Town Hall, Synod of Mid-America 
  Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church, Kansas City, MO
• Online/Skype Town Hall, First Church St. Pete, FL
• Travel to Columbia, MO

Sunday 04.26.09    

• Preaching: 9:00 and 11:00, First PC, Columbia
• Meet with Campus Ministry program at First PC, Columbia 

Monday 04.27.09      

• Travel to Fulton, MO
• A “meet and greet” with campus students and area clergy.
  Westminster College, Fulton, MO
• Travel to Kansas City, MO

Tuesday 04.28.09       

• Preaching and Town Hall, Heartland Presbytery Meeting
  Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church, Kansas City, MO
• Travel to Salina, KS 
• Preaching, Dinner and Town Hall, Presbytery of Northern Kansas Meeting 

Wednesday 04.29.09       

• Travel to Manhattan, KS
• Lunch and Meet with students as Kansas State University
  Ecumenical Campus Ministry Center 
• Public Dinner and Town Hall
  First Presbyterian Church, Topeka, KS                                      

Thursday 04.30.09       

• Travel to McPherson, KS
• Lunch with a covenant group in the Presbytery of Southern Kansas
• Dinner and Presentation, Pratt Presbyterian Church
• Travel to Wichita, KS 

Friday 05.01.09       

• Breakfast and Presentation, Brotherhood Presbyterian Church, Wichita, KS 
• Travel to Springfield, MO
• Reception and Presentation, First and Calvary Presbyterian Church, Springfield, MO   

Saturday 05.02.09      

• Return to Home base ;-)

Mr. Moderator Goes to Washington: Questions Answered

[image: anakdawa]

As some have heard, Robin and I will be attending the swearing-in ceremonies at the presidential inauguration festivities next week in Washington DC.  Needless to say, I am very excited about the opportunity and grateful for those who have made this possible both by helping with tickets, accommodations, logistics and general support.  Generosity of community and connections that have been built via diverse conversations and technologies certainly abounds in the church. Tomorrow, I will post a fuller schedule of gatherings and events that I will be attending, but for now, thank you.

A few days ago I updated my Facebook Status with . . .

Bruce is in the midst of Presidential Inauguration trip planning. Yep, you heard me right, thanks to some very generous folks Mr. Moderator is Going to Washington.

. . . and within about an hour there were 20+ comments filled with good natured teasing, well wishes and surprisingly some colorful discourse about politics, my role as moderator and the church.  One comment was offered by which I think raises some good questions.

Two serious questions, and I ask them respectfully and not just to be provocative

1. In what capacity are you going, as a private citizen or as Moderator of the PC (USA)? Can the two ever be divorced?
2. Would you have gone if the other candidate had won?

The PC (USA) is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party. I pray for the wisdom of our leaders that they not give the perception that our prophetic voice is tied to only one political viewpoint.  Thanks for listening, and taking these questions seriously.

Again, good questions for anyone in leadership serving in a day of expanded accessibility and technological connections be it in church communities, the public square or work life.

I'll go backwards in responding to these comments/questions.

PC(USA) = Donkey // First, I really do try to take everyone seriously who takes the time to thoughtfully raise affirmations, challenges and questions.  If you are just being silly/snide, I may need shift the level of seriousness in which I make take the comments, but in this case, these are good questions to raise in light of my trip and some Presbyterian engagements.  As far as political partisanship, I think that anyone who believes that the prophetic nature of the Gospel is only spoken by one party at any given time is foolish.  If we learn nothing from the cycles of our own church politics, we know that one's take, rationalizations and justifications are built greatly upon which side of any debate one wishes to place oneself.  After all, like denominations, political parties have the capacity to both live the best that God intends as well as the worst that sin can inspire.  Still, I think we would be fooling ourselves as a country and church if we did not acknowledge the historic nature of this event in the American adventure.  For some this event is prophetic, for others challenging and still others a great affirmation of dreams held dear. 

A McCain/Palin Presidency // If given the same circumstances of being offered the opportunity to attend any inauguration, you bet.

As whom shall I attend? // This is a good question because we live in a day when it is increasingly difficult to compartmentalize our lives.  This reality then raises the question of whether we can, should or want to try and draw strict boundaries around certain parts of our lives.  Sure there are certainly times where something I may say warrants the "I am now speaking as __________" disclaimer and there are certainly parts of my life that no one else needs to, wants to or should know about.  Still, for the most part, I embrace living in the place of tension between being fully Bruce, Private Citizen and Bruce, PC(USA) Moderator.  I seem to navigate all of the pretty well on occasionally wondering if a line of disclosure has been crossed.  A good example of this is that I will voucher about 50% of my expenses of this trip to my Moderatorial travel budget and Robin and I will pick up the other 50%.  I will say, though, as I have talked about previously in my post, On Transparency and Leadership, I have been a huge Obama supporter for a very long time even before all this Moderator craziness came on the scene.  So I am extremely excited on many levels: personally, politically, culturally socially, etc.  I don't think my support at all hinders my ability to be a positive presence as moderator, in fact, quite the opposite.  By knowing where I stand along ideological and cultural spectra, folks can actually better measure and evaluate if I am being balanced and fair.  So to answer this "or" questions, I say "yes" ;-)

So there you have it, a little beginning conversation about my and thusly OUR trip to the inauguration.  Again, I'll post a fuller schedule of events tomorrow. Until then, feel free to subscribe to the Google Calendar that has everything listed this far.

Road Notes: Montreat College Conference

Fighting every urge to be verbose in describing my wonderful experience at the 2009 Montreat College Conference, let me simply leave a couple of videos for you to watch and get a glimpse of the time spent with 1,000 college students and their leaders.

First . . . the official recap video . . .
College Conference 09 from Josh Richard on Vimeo.

Second . . . this is an intro to Invisible Children. If you have not heard of this movement started by three young film makers: this is all real, all about compassion and about a movement to be Christ in the world.

And then this, a brief look at the nationwide action event where 80,000 Americans gathered in solidarity with Ugandan children.

Road Notes: January 2009 Travels

It is hard to believe that 2008 is almost over and I am about a quarter of the way through my term as Moderator.  As 2008 winds down, here is what January and February have in store for me.  To find more ways to track Byron and my travel, please CLICK HERE.

UPDATED 12/27/08 - Byron's January Itinerary

JANUARY 09

• 2-6 - Montreat, NC //  Montreat Conference Center for the 2009 College Conference, Outrageous Generosity [video].  After the event there will be a conversation on race with John Lewis.  Should be a great event.  I'll be doing a town hall and some impromptu presbyterian gatherings, so hope to see you there!
• 15-18 - San Diego, CA // Self Development of People Conference and then I'll be preaching at Chula Vista Presbyterian Church where Bob Davis, AKA Presbyblog is the pastor.  My two youngest daughters will go with me on this short trip and we'll sneak in a day at Lego Land.
• 23-26 - Montreat, NC //  Presbyterian College Winter Conference and then conversations with Western NC Presbytery.
• 28-29 - Berkeley, CA //Preaching and leading a Theology on Tap event at the Earl Lectures at the Pacific School of Religion, Behold . . . a new thing emerging expressions of faith.

FEBRUARY 09

• Feb 9-21 tentative - Asia Trip //  I will be making my first international trip and will visit the Philippines, Taiwan and India.  Details are still being work out and the exact itinerary should be set soon.

As always, I covent your prayers during this time of travel particualry for my family and congregation.  It is such a privivlege to engage with and amidst this amazing church that we are part of, thank you.

Making presby-memphis memories

I just returned from an evening of meandering around downtown Memphis, had some ribs at Superior Bar and Restaurant on Beale street and now catching up in the solitude of the hotel room ;-)  The weather here is amazing and I am hoping to be able to break away from events at The Great Emergence to get to the Civil Rights museum and/or Graceland.  We shall see . . .

In any case, if I do not see you at the hyphen-mergent gathering tomorrow, I'll be hanging out with Presbyterians at two more events.  I had mentioned them as part of my last post, but we have more updates as listed below.

TOWN HALL AT RHODES COLLEGE
Saturday, December 6, 2008 @ 4:30
Bryan Center on Rhodes College Campus
[FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE]

PREACHING AT at First Presbyterian, Memphis
Sunday, December 7, 2007 @ 11:00
166 Poplar Ave
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 525-5619
[FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE]

Would love if you could help spread the word as the info is a little late in getting out.  See you soon!

A little checking in . . .

So I know it has been a while since I have been blogging over here, but do not fear, I am back and recommitted to getting my Moderator thing back in the groove.   Just a few updates for you all as I start another trip tomorrow AM to Memphis and Louisville.

BLOGGING BYRON - Byron was made for blogging is seems as he is going gangbusters over on his blog.  Be sure to check out his two latest posts, The Bitter and the Sweet, about a recent presbytery meeting and What's the Way Forward? a post on that asks some questions about the future of leadership in the church.

TASK FORCE APPOINTMENTS - This has certainly been the most underestimated part of my time as moderator, but the end is in sight as I am hoping to make the complete list public on December 15th.  As I am finalizing names, I do so knowing that there is no way to satisfy everyone. But . . . my hope is that most folks will see that I have remained true to my intentions of my original declaration about who would be on these task forces.  Again, I know that folks have been anxious about these appointments and I do wish I could have completed them earlier.  There are already folks who are reading much more into the delay than there is to read, but rest assured the only thing to glean out of this is that if there are this many appointments to be made after the 2010 General Assembly, it will be done much more smoothly.

MEMPHIS AND L'VILLE HERE I COME - This morning I am on the road again and will be meeting with folks from very different parts of our/the church.  In Memphis I will be part of four events. First a meeting with self-described Presbyterian emergents - aka presbymergents - and other such folks from other denominations.  I'll then stay on to participate in The Great Emergence event with Phyllis Tickle as part of my congregational study leave [follow TGE Twitterers].  After that I'll be part of a town hall at Rhodes College at 4:30 [Time updated on 12.04] on Saturday and then Sunday I'll preach at First Presbyterian, Memphis.  Sunday afternoon I am off to Louisville to meet with the Committee Chairs and Chief Executive Officers of the six General Assembly entities.  I'll end my time with a live webcast with Beau Weston.

A NEW IDEA - So I have also been kicking around this idea about ways to build some more connections and have some more discussions as Presbyterians.  I have always thought that blogging gets so many voices out into the mix that we have underutilized this technology.  So, would anyone be up for a monthly "Presbyterian Bloggers" campaign?  I am thinking that on the first of each month we would covenant to write a post on some theological, cultural, social issue from a Presbyterian bloggers perspective.  For instance, January 1, 2009 would be "Presbyterians Connecting: Poverty" and we would each post something on poverty that day.  This is someone modeled after Bloggers Unite.  Any takers?  Want to help think this through?

PERSONAL PRIVILEGE - A few blessings to lift up after such a difficult past few weeks.  First, my wife, Robin Pugh, and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary on December 1.  Wow how time zooms by.  Second, the church I serve, Mission Bay Community Church will charter on December 14th.  We will also ordain 10 new elders and I'll be installed as the called pastor.  After pastoring two new churches, this will be the first time in 13 years that I will be installed . . . like plumbing as our new elders like to point out.  And lastly, thank you again for so many prayers concerning the death of my brother-in-law.  Your continued prayers have lifted the spirits of the entire family.

That's it for now.  As always you can follow both Byron and I on Twitter [Bruce Twitter - Byron Twitter] and/or via the Moderator's FB Group.  Have a great rest of the week and I'll see you around!

Road Notes: New Jersey and New York

[image: paraflyer]

I just arrived in New York after a splendid red-eye flight from San Francisco.  Pretty psyched about this nine day trip where I will again get to interact with some great and diverse ministries.  For more info on how you can keep up with Vice-Moderator, Byron Wade, and my travel [click here] and if you want live action, feel free to follow either of us on twitter [Byron's Twitter - Bruce's Twitter]

Below is the schedule as of this moment.  Look forward to seeing you all!

SUNDAY // 11.09.08

• Travel Day SFO to JFK.

MONDAY // 11.10.08

• Travel to Stony Point
• Participate in and Preach at Grow Deep and Wide Event at Stony Point.

TUESDAY // 11.11.08

• Multiple events at Auburn Theological Seminary
• New Brunswick Presbytery, NJ: Town Hall @ 4:30-5:30 and Preaching at that evening's worship service.

WEDNESDAY // 11.12.08

Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, Trenton, NJ.

• Travel to NYC.
• Town Hall via Skype with the Synod of Lakes and Prairies first ever Collegiate Ministries Conference at Dubuque Seminary.
• Possibly one NYC evening event TBA

THURSDAY // 11.13.08

• Multiple events at Auburn Theological Seminary: Town Hall, Discussion with Presbyterian Students and take part in an Auburn Sponsored class at Union Seminary, The Practice of Presbyterian Ministry: Worship & Its TheologicalFoundations.   

• Free Day with daughter on for her 12th birthday.  Dad has promised said daughter to try and not be weepy all day long ;-)

SATURDAY // 11.15.08

• New York Presbytery's Youth Festival at St. Alban's Presbyterian Church
  1:30 pm – 2:30 pm - Lunch with the Moderator Youth Only
  2:30 pm – 3:15 pm – Q & A with the youth and the Moderator Youth Only
  3:30 pm – 6:00 pm – Worship Service and Presentations (open to all)

SUNDAY//11.16.08

• Preach for Bicentennial Celebration of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, NY at the 9:30am and 11:15am services

MONDAY // 11.17.08

• Hello San Francisco

Bruce and Byron headed to Philly

In a few hours I will board a plane and head to the City of Brotherly Love with images of Philly Cheesesteaks, Boyz II Men and The Rocky Steps dancing in my head.  This is a short trip as the Office of the General Assembly will be holding it's meeting at the Presbyterian Historical Society headquarters.  Because of this, this will be one of the rare times that Byron and I will be traveling together. 

We will only be there until Saturday, but will also slip in a gathering at Broadstreet Ministries on Tuesday PM as part of a Living Room Conversation on the Future of the Church [FB Event]as well as head to Princeton Seminary on Wednesday for an afternoon student town hall [FB Event] and meeting with the Committee on Theological Education.

Road notes: The next three weeks

[image: hmaxwell]
So far this whole traveling thing has gone pretty well - and yes, I still owe the metro-DC areas a recap - but the next few weeks will have Byron and myself out on the road quite a bit at various events and activities related to church, life, GA, etc.  I know that in the midst of all of this Byron and I would both covet your prayers for our families and we move more fully into the Fall travel schedule.  If you did not see the previous post on how to keep up with our travels, please [CLICK HERE].

So . . . if you are in any of the following areas the next couple of weeks, hopefully we can chat.  And as always, Byron and I will be twittering our travels [Bryon - Bruce]. 

Here is my travel schedule the next few weeks:

SEPTEMBER
25-27: Officiating a wedding, Lake Tahoe NV
28: At MBCC for final service in current location, SF
29 - October 3: General Assembly Council, Snow Bird, UT

OCTOBER
5: Community Festival and First World Communion Service at MBCC in new space, SF
6-9: Urban Pastors Covenant Group, Chicago
10-11: Chicago Presbytery Events and Retreat with Wicker Park Grace NCD.
12: Preach at Giants Steps Church, Chicago
13: McCormick Theological Seminary Gatherings, Chicago
14: Chicago Presbytery Meeting
15: The Coalition Gathering XI, Newport Beach, CA
16-20: At home and reintroduction to the family ;-)
21-25: Office of General Assembly meetings, with events also at Broadstreet Ministries and Princeton Theological Seminary, Philadelphia Area
26: Preach at my home church, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Stockton, CA.

Wow . . . I am a little winded just thinking about it all, but such is life.  The Fall is certainly pretty busy and I my deepest apologies to those folks for whom we had to decline your invitation/s, but as you can tell we have packed in as much as we can while still trying to maintain SOME sense of connection to family, local church, etc. and we don't do a great job with that ;-)

Mucho web cam time with my family is in front of me, but again, this is the time of the year and I look forward to hanging out with a great many of you over the next month.

And just a heads up, November I'll be hanging around the New Jersey/New York area. 

Road Notes: Peace PC and the Windstorm

Well today has been quite the day.

First, I had the privilege of preaching at Peace Presbyterian Church in Louisville.  Rev. Wayne Steele is leading a group of folks there that should make the PC(USA) proud.  This church community felt a great deal like my own home church, small, family styled and deeply connected with the surrounding community.  We laughed at ourselves, felt the Spirit move and genuinely worshiped God.  Thank you Peace Presbyterian!

And then the fun began . . . Windstorms rocked Ohio and Kentucky caused me to be delayed in Louisville and then spend an unexpected night in downtown Cinci humming the theme to WKRP in Cincinnati to myself the whole time.  During the trek to the hotel, I was able to meet quite a few folks who were simply caught up in the results of a storm.  some of us were lamenting that, "It sure would be easier if we could blame this on someone."  All-in-all folks seems pretty resigned to the the realities of the situation.  After all, while it was a pain to have to pay for a room and go through the inconvenience of an extra day or two away from our destination, it was nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of people with out power due to the windstorm.

Hopefully I can get out tomorrow, but with so many stranded, it might be Tuesday.  And yes, my wife is awesome.

Here are a couple of pics, the first one is the line/crowd at the Delta ticket counter and the second is the line to get a taxi to the hotel.