News of note
Koenig to lead PCUSA’s U.N. office
The Layman, September 23, 2010
According to Presbyterian News Service, the Rev. Mark Koenig will be the new director of Presbyterian ministry at the United Nations. Koenig has been coordinator of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program since 2007.
“Mark brings many gifts to this ministry,” said Sara Lisherness, director of Compassion Peace and Justice for the General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC). “He is deeply committed to a ministry of presence in the church, connecting with and listening to the church. He values Presbyterian polity and works faithfully to interpret and implement the social witness policies adopted by the General Assembly. He is a pastor, an educator and most of all a faithful servant to the ministry of Jesus Christ.”
Koenig has 30 years of experience in ministry, serving congregations, the Presbytery of the Western Reserve and the GAMC. He has been on the staff of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program since 2002.
First Fresno calls interim pastor
According to an article in The Aquila Report, First Presbyterian Church in Fresno, Calif., has called a short-term interim pastor to help in the recovery following the death of the Rev. Jamie Evans earlier this year.
The Rev. Robert Hopper of Orlando, Fla., will serve the congregation through October or mid-November. Hopper was most recently a church planter for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) in the Orlando area.
Prior to his move to the EPC in 1996, Hopper served two pastorates in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), in Ligonier, Pa., and Williamsburg, Va. First Presbyterian Church will continue to search for a longer-term interim pastor and plans to take its time in finding a permanent replacement for Evans, according to The Aquila Report.
Evans, who was 50 and had taken leave in late 2009 due to exhaustion and burnout, took his own life in February.
Love thy neighbor
First Presbyterian Church of Bonita Springs, Fla., has opened its doors to Tabernaculo de Alabanza, a Hispanic Pentecostal church that lost its building to a fire recently, according to an article in the Naples News.
FPC-Bonita Springs will lend its sanctuary to the 500-member congregation for Sunday evening services for six weeks. The outreach brings FPC-Bonita Springs full circle as it had experienced similar charity earlier this year due to a fire of its own.
“We felt since we’ve been helped by other churches, we needed to help them,” FPC-Bonita Springs Pastor Doug Pratt said.
RTS names Milton as chancellor, CEO successor
The executive committee of the Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) Board of Trustees has unanimously elected Dr. Michael A. Milton as chancellor elect and successor to Dr. Robert C. (Ric) Cannada Jr., the institution’s current chancellor and CEO, according to Christian Newswire.
Both Milton and Cannada will share leadership responsibilities for the next 21 months, until June 1, 2012, at which time Milton will assume full responsibilities as chancellor and CEO. Cannada will remain with RTS as chancellor emeritus, assisting the seminary with the anticipated 50th anniversary financial campaign to help provide for the future operational and capital needs of all the RTS campuses.
“We want to thank Dr. Cannada for his ministry to RTS which will soon total 20 years and for his outstanding leadership over RTS in recent years,” said Jim Moore, chairman of the board of trustees. “Under Ric’s leadership at RTS, which will total over 10 years by the time the chancellor transition is complete, much has been accomplished in the development and the growth of the seminary. Now we implement our succession plan preparing the way for Dr. Mike Milton to give leadership to this strategic ministry.”
Milton is currently the president of RTS’s Charlotte, N.C. campus and the James M. Baird Jr. professor of pastoral theology. He was appointed to this position in Nov. 2007. Prior to serving at the seminary, he served as the senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, Tenn., for 6 years and before that pastored churches in Overland Park, Kan., and in Savannah, Ga.
Evangelical leaders join seminary Webcast
According to the Presbyterian Church in America’s by Faith magazine, Covenant Theological Seminary’s “Living Christ Today” Webcast, in addition to daily broadcasts by seminary president Bryan Chapell, has added several well-known evangelical voices.
Over the last several months, “Living Christ Today” has featured Jim Belcher, author of Deep Church; musician and speaker Andy Crouch, author of Culture-Making; a number of Covenant Seminary professors discussing topics ranging from election to depression to city ministry; and a panel of experts previewing the upcoming Lausanne International Congress on World Evangelization. Other notable guests include Tim Keller, Alistair Begg, Chuck Colson and Scotty Smith.
Upcoming guests will include New Testament scholar Robert Yarbrough and George Robertson, pastor of First Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Augusta, Ga.
“Living Christ Today” can be heard at www.livingchristtoday.com. Podcasting is available through iTunes.