reyes-chow :: MODERATOR

MODcast, episode 3: Appointments and Amendments

MODcast, Episode 3: 

Appointments and Amendments

Webcast previously known as Moderator Musings

DATE: Tuesday, March 10, 2009

TIME: 5:00PM, PST

LOCATION: Your computer 

SHOW LINK: on uStream*

You are invited to join once again for an hour of online conversations, community building and outright Presbyterian geekiness.

In this episode of the newly names MODcast, we will as always begin with a little moderatorial updating, and with the sharing or prayers and in between will talk about The recently completed task force and study group appointments, the voting on some of the amendments and if we have time some random questions.

Please pass this along, reblog if you can and I look forward to seeing you then!

*If you have not used ustream before this is a way to hold live webcasts that give folks a place to chat, ask questions and interact a bit. While it is not voice to voice, I have found it to be an effective tool for some conversations. If you are new to it, it might be a good idea to head on over to ustream, register as a user and go ahead and follow the show. You can also see past episodes and find some really interesting things.  Enjoy

Task Force Appointments: The Day Before

Yes, the day is finally arriving, but before I begin rolling out the General Assembly Appointments, I wanted to offer some reflections.  Sorry about the video/audio choppiness - and coughing - but I wanted to get out some thoughts before the re-vetting and commentary begins ;-)  6:18 of fun and for some reason YouTube cut off the final few seconds of "Thanks again and peace be with you."

Tomorrow, Marriage and Civil Union appointments.

Video interview with Jenny Warner

Last week I attended the first day of the evangelism consultation, Growing the Church Deep and Wide where folks gathered to talk about evangelism.  That was about as structured as it got as this was a time to gather without a planned outcome other than to see what could be generated from those who attended.  While I was unable to stay from the entire event, I was able to corral a few folks to sit in front of my computer for an interview*. 

While future interviews will include Stan Ott, Rick Ufford-Chase and Susan Andrews, first up: seminary student, Jenny Warner.  Jenny is a student at San Francisco Theological Seminary and blogs over at more wonderful than gloss.  I have known Jenny for a few years and she has always struck me as one who's diverse theological background and experience will greatly benefit the ministry of the PC(USA) in the future.

Thanks Jenny for sitting down with me. 

Enjoy.

* You can see all of my statements, interviews and greetings on YouTube.

Bruce and Byron bring greetings to R/E Seminarian

There has been so much to reflect upon as of late: the elections, papers, appointments, etc.  Am trying to keep up and will post some more soon.  Until then, here is a greeting that Byron and I just sent off to the Annual Racial Ethnic Seminaries conference held this year at Ghost Ranch.

Greetings to the Trinity Presbytery

While I am seriously lagging in my blogging duties - still finding balance with tending to both my familial and local church service - I was able to get this greeting out to Trinity Presbytery.  Not only do they already seem to have some creative ministry happening in their presbytery, they are now looking at new ways of ministry communication.  Kevin Cartee, asked if I could do something and this is what I came up with.  And while I can't promise to be able to get to every request, feel free to ask, especially if you have a question or two upon which you would want me to focus.

Here is one reflection from someone that was there, Well what do you know that new fangled stuff works OK. 

First Online Town Hall, Tuesday, September 16

So this is pretty exciting.  On Tuesday I would love for you to join me for a web-based townhall using ustream.tv.  This first episode is going be a learning experience using this service as well as the testing out a format for our time.

Here are the details:

TOPIC: Testing of Town Hall
DATE: Tuesday, September 16
TIME: 11:00am-noon PST
LINK: Moderator Musings

This REALLY is a test run, so please no high expectations about this.  A few folks from GA will help moderate the flow and conversation that we'll have via the chat/IM.  As far as topics go, we will talk about the best way to use the service, possible future topics, and technology.  May also field a few general questions if time permits.

In order to join in you will have to register for a free account with ustream.tv or you can just watch the chaos by coming back and watching it on this video, but why not join the conversation?

Hopefully see you on Tuesday!

Free video chat by Ustream

Byron's letter, Task Force Update and Moderator Webcasts

Here are a few items of interest . . .

BYRON'S LETTER // Because Byron really does ROCK and has some profound things to say to the church, he will, on occasion be writing the monthly church-wide letters that come our of the "moderator's office."  This will not only allow folks to get to know Byron over the next few years, but it will help us in further refining the role of the mod and vice-mod as we still get used to the two-year term. 

Here is an excerpt from his letter on Mending.

I believe that God will mend and mold our hearts to view each other not as adversaries, but as brothers and sisters who have a common unity in Christ in working together to reach the unchurched, develop ways to grow our churches spiritually and numerically, and give rise to a greater emphasis on mission and new ways of doing ministry.

Please head on over to READ THE COMPLETE LETTER and leave any comments.

TASK FORCE APPOINTMENTS // The words, "Be careful what you ask for!" keep reverberating in my head as I begin to walk through the entirety of the names that were submitted after I ASKED ;-)  So here is the status at this point.  I have finished with the two easiest ones and will begin working next on the ones that I have sole responsibility for.  The two task forces, Belhar and The Middle East that require the moderators for the 216th (Rick Ufford-Chase), the 217th (Joan Gray) and myself will take a little more time.  I hope that we finalize those by the end of September.  Apologies for this taking so long, but hopefully I can keep folks in the loop enough to ease any anxiety.   As soon as I make sure the way be clear, I'll post the results on my Task Force Appointments page.  Thanks for your patience AND willingness to submit yours and other's names for service.

WEBCASTING // I suppose with all the assumptions about my "technological savvy" - which many techies would find laughable BTW - I must produce some kind of new, hip techie mod thing ;-)  So . . . soon we will be hosting a test run at some kind of webcast using ustream.tv so get on over there, create an account and stay tuned.  If you can find your way to my profile, feel free to sign up to be part of the tentative first episode in a few weeks.  Details to follow.

That's it for now.  And if you have a few minutes, I still need some questions for my monthly column over on my Presbyterian Bloggers monthly post, First Friday, Ask the Moderator.

Live Streaming at GA

I am assuming that most of you who read blogs are aware, but just in case, for you seriously uber-presby-geeks (said with love) here is where you can get all the info on Streaming Video option.  The election takes place during the Saturday 7:00pm slot.  We'll miss you if you can't be there, but if you are, please be sure to stop and say howdy!

GENERAL ASSEMBLY LIVE STREAMING SCHEDULE

BRC4MOD Video

Good Lord, a video too?!?!?  Thanks to Abby for putting this together!

For more vids generated by the place where I pastor, visit our YOUTUBE site.  And of course, feel free to pass it along or post on your own blog or website.

What needs to change?

While I was in Louisville last month, we vidoed parts of some of the conversations.  Whoa . . . can I meander or what?!?!?  No pre-scripting here ;-)  Good practice I suppose for the Q&A time at General Assembly.  It will get better I promise!

Thanks to Jud Hendrix, pastor over at Covenant Church Community in Louisville, for posting some videos over on YouTube.