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Paul Reiter's
phone number is
314.772.2395 x110.

His administrative assistant
is Judy Pickett .
Judy's number is
314.772.2395 x112.

Email Paul Reiter

Fax the Executive at
314.772.2309

Thoughts Shared for Reflection:

Prayer Concerns Updated Weekly -- Please go to the Prayer Covenant link on the web site to keep informed on a weekly basis of prayer concerns before the presbytery.

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE PRESBYTER
Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy
February 9, 2008 John Calvin Presbyterian Church, Bridgeton

LOOKING FORWARD:
Now that I am in the practice of writing to you each week in the Midweek Messenger it is important to share in this report the status of the mission and vision of our presbytery. Our year began with a Leadership Retreat held at First Presbyterian Church in Kirkwood where the Mission Council and the six ministry teams met along with the officers and staff of the presbytery. It was a thoughtful morning that reflected on our mission (“Building relationships that lead congregations in life transforming ministries so that together we embrace the Kingdom of
God”) and asked thoughtful questions about the relevancy of that mission to our work today. The ministry teams had the opportunity to share what they had accomplished in the last year, and they were asked to articulate at least one goal for this coming year. Those that were generated were:
Dismantling Racism and Privilege:
To conduct two workshops for leaders in congregations on dismantling racism, to be held on May 3 and October 18, 2008.
Congregational Development:
To have more intentional and focused meetings for our work that open space to build transforming relationships with God, each other, and congregations.
Camp and Conference:
To be a vehicle for building relationships for all congregations and ministry teams; to be a special place for communion with God, and to be a place that produces a means for this.
Justice and Compassion:
To bring our Action Teams together to discern and plan, enabling us to fulfill presbytery’s larger commitment to mission and justice.
Leadership in Ministry:
To identify the needs and gifts of pastors in the presbytery
Resourcing and Equipping:
To discover who we are and where we are in the vision of the presbytery.
Mission Council:
To summarize the lists from our retreats, disseminate the information, and select three (3) areas to focus on in 2008 based on the list.

It was time well spent and it allowed the group to remember the importance of community formation in all that we do, and it allowed us to begin to have focus and direction for the New Year. In the opening worship I shared some thoughts about leadership. They included the following:
“We are community people: we guide, mobilize, direct, and support communities, whether they are congregations, groups, organizations, or institutions. We embody community identity, interpret community norms and sources, and symbolize the presbytery’s values, and its work, and in a very real sense we “hold” a
community’s people. No wonder leadership is tough! It is exceedingly multifaceted in its variety of tasks, and it is always relational – engaged with people in all sorts of ways and configurations.” (Paraphrase of William May)

That will be part of the work of our Mission Council in this coming year, under the direction of its Moderator, Rev. Dr. Lewis Trotter, who will bring a wonderful spiritual dimension to our work. The challenges before the Mission Council are many but it is committed to assisting the presbytery fulfill its mission.

At the meeting on February 9, 2008, I will be sharing some of the accomplishments of the presbytery in 2007 and also lift up some of the Comparative Statistics of our presbytery in relation to the Synod and General Assembly.

EXPRESSIONS OF THANKS:
After serving the presbytery for over ten years, Beverly McCormick will be retiring as our Business and Financial Manager. Beverly has given guidance to church treasurers, served as a resource and accountant to the Presbyterian-Episcopal Medical Trust, served as primary staff to the Property Committee and the Financial
Management Committee. Beverly has been a wonderful asset to the presbytery, assisting the presbytery as we became our own receiving agency where the local congregations in our presbytery could find answers to their financial reporting challenges. Beverly has grown in her knowledge of tax law, served as a resource to pastors on tax issues and provided the staff with an abundance of resources. Beverly has worked closely with our legal counsel, Jo Dyroff, and has given support to our Executive Presbyter in matters of finance and budgeting. She will truly be missed! A reception will be held at the presbytery in late February which will give many of you an opportunity to express appreciation to Beverly. Today we honor her work with a presentation and recognition!

WELCOME:
After a comprehensive search by our Financial Manager Search Committee, composed of Moderator, Maggie Michael (Financial Management), Pat Cook (Personnel and Office Management), Elly Commings (Moderator of Presbytery), Scott Likely (Auditor) and Paul Reiter (Staff) a new Financial Manager, Faye Chiou has been employed effective January 16, 2008. Faye was the finalist out of eight applications and has been learning her new role along side of Beverly McCormick. Faye is a graduate of Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Chinese and Finance. She has also completed her Masters of Business Administration in Accounting and her Masters of Science in Information Systems, both from St. Louis University. She comes to us from Edgewood Children’s Center where she served as Accounting Manager, having served previously as Accounting Manager for Easter Seals of Missouri, Inc. Please give Faye a wonderful Giddings-Lovejoy welcome!

CONTINUE THE DIALOG…..
The Dismantling Racism and Privilege sponsored a Workshop on “A Common Word between Us and You” fostering dialogue between the Muslim community and the Christian community in greater St. Louis. This workshop held on the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend proved to be an enlightening time for all as we learned together about our common love of God and neighbor. Contact Ben Martin of the Dismantling Racism Team for further information about how you might be involved in book studies or dialogue groups.

STEWARDSHIP ANYONE??
Our Stewardship Network is providing up to ten grants to congregations that would like to attend the Annual Stewardship Conference in Dallas, TX on March 10-12. Congregations that would like to grow their stewardship capacity and share in the stewardship work of the presbytery are invited to apply early. Speak to Rev. Ann Pitman for more information.

Respectfully Submitted,

Paul T. Reiter, Executive Presbyter

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