CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

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Meet the Seminar Speakers

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Sandy Currin

Dear Sister in Christ,

My heart longs for the sweet moments of fellowship experienced during past General Assemblies as I anticipate meeting in Virginia Beach. Inpast meetings, God surprised me by providentiallyconnectingme with new friends and even a family member. Who knows whom God will bring into my life at this GA?Thus I am eager to meet you and sit down overcoffee where we canshare the truths of Scripture.Whether I will mentor you or you me,we will each know the great joy of giving and receiving the hope within us.

You may ask, How could God possibly use me in the life of another?Perhaps the better question is, Why am I not allowing God to use me intentionally in the lives of others? During my seminar, Redeeming Eve: Applying the Titus Two Mandate to our Daily Lives, we will explore how God hascreated us to enter the lives of other womenbothforspiritual health and so thatwe can more effectively live out God’s word in our culture. What a privilege we have to join with ourcovenantal God in reaching the next generation.I am looking forward to our time together!

~Sandy

Redeeming Eve: Applying the Titus Two Mandate to our Daily Lives. This seminar will discuss how our covenantal God has specifically created and prepared us as women to mentor the next generation. Upon that foundation we will examine the biblical principle of mentoring as described in Titus 2

Sandy is the Mid – Atlantic Women’s Advisory Sub-Committee representative. She is married to Senior Associate Pastor, Jerry Currin from the Church of the Good Savior in Durham, NC. Jerry and Sandy have three grown daughters and one granddaughter. Sandy has been passionate about mentoring since becoming a Christian through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ at Duke University and then serving on their campus staff. She is also the Redeeming Eve Coordinator of her church and serves on the Eastern Carolina PresWIC. Sandy has been a registered nurse for thirty-nine years and still works part-time at UNC Hospital where she also mentors student nurses.

Wednesday and Thursday Women’s Programs

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LEADERSHIP WIVES: Wednesday and Thursday Women’s Programs

  • Wednesday-Our Privilege in Marriage
  • Thursday-Our Privilege in the Body

Wednesday

United in Christ: The Power of One-Marriage and Ministry

A personal greeting from Karen

Connections…that is what my heart longs for this summer. General Assembly consistently falls at the time of year when I long to have time to rest after a rich and full ministry year and I long to have time to reflect on where God has taken me and what the future might hold. It is a time where I yearn to bask in the rich community many faraway friends and precious kingdom partners, to feel a vital connection, a genuine oneness to God and others. If you are anything like me I live most days…disconnected in my heart, thoughts, purposes and ultimately from my Savior. I see the tangible evidence of this my home, ministry and marriage. Will you join me as a sister who struggles to connect…who desires to experience the communion of the Power of One…sweet oneness with Christ and your husband. I look forward to seeing your lovely faces this June as we explore United in Christ: The Power of One-Marriage and Ministry. Recommended reading: **Relationships: a Mess Worth Making by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp.

Karen Hodge is a motivating and encouraging pastor’s wife and mother of two beautiful children. She is having the time of her life serving alongside her husband Chris, Senior Pastor at Naperville Presbyterian Church. Prior to their newest adventure, Chris and Karen have served at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL, Christ Covenant Church in Charlotte, NC, and planted Treasure Coast Presbyterian Church in Stuart, FL. She also serves as National Trainer for the Women’s Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America. She has a heart for MNA (Mission to North America) and sits in an advisory role to the Standing Committee of MNA as well as serving the Church Planting Assessment Center. It is from this perspective as wife, mother, leader, and friend that she offers insight from God’s word to women concerning how she and they can most effectively learn to enjoy and extend God’s glory.

Thursday

Our Privilege in the Body

A personal greeting from Kathy

Each year that I attend GA, I look forward to seeing friends from all of the places that we have lived and labored and sometimes it is a real “blast from the past” with wonderful surprises. But I also look forward to seeing the bigger picture that God is painting of His Church. Just as our local church “bodies” are built with individual gifts and graces, just like each of my friends, this PCA “body” is built of churches with individual gifts and graces that together help visualize God at work. This year I look forward to seeing all of you (my new friends) at GA as we look at Our Privilege in the Body: Extending His Kingdom through Hospitality. What does Scripture tell us about hospitality and how is it an integral part in this “body” building? Come ready to think outside the box!

We will be looking specifically at hospitality to our brothers in Christ, but Scripture also commands us to be hospitable to our neighbors and enemies. You may want to check out ** Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, by Christine D. Pohl, for a fresh look at this command.

Kathy Stair is the wife of Randy Stair, ruling elder and President of the PCA Foundation. They are parents of Julie and Brad, and grandparents of Samantha,Aidan, and Logan. Kathy and Randy are members of ChristChurch Presbyterian, Atlanta, GA. Kathy has served in several churchesin Women’s Ministry, five years as Administrative Assistant to CEP’s Coordinator of Women’s Ministries, and is a CEP Women in the Church Trainer.

**Recommended books will be available in the CEP Bookstore during General Assembly, or you can order them now by calling 800-283-1357 or order online: www.cepbookstore.com.

Press Release: So What? New Youth Bible Studies from Great Commission Publications

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sowhat80.jpgSo What? New Youth Bible Studies from Great Commission Publications

Engaging teens in Bible study doesn’t mean watering it down. GCP’s new youth Bible studies equip teens to take ownership of their faith in Jesus Christ.

So What does the Bible say?

Teenagers have questions. God’s Word has answers. That’s why Scripture is the heart of each session. Students will examine what the Bible says, learn what it means, and see how it relates to their lives.

So What questions does the Bible answer?

A good question has remarkable power to stimulate and engage critical thinking skills. Each session zeros in on one question and one answer, allowing students to focus on the truth in Scripture.

So What difference does it make?

Students are asking, ‘How does the Bible apply to my life? How can I live out what I believe? So what difference does faith in Christ make?’

The question “So What?” captures in a nutshell this series’ primary purpose: that God the Holy Spirit will work through the study of his Word to bring about students’ ownership of their faith in Jesus Christ.

So What? Features


A Warm Welcome to the Women’s Leadership Training Conference First-Time Attendees

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Leadership Training

Adapted from an LT welcome speech given by Susan Phillis, who served as WASC Chairman from 2005-2007.

When was the last time you planned an event? Do you remember starting with the basic questions?

  • Who should come?
  • When should we have it?
  • Where will we meet?
  • What will we serve?
  • How will we spend our time?

That’s what your Women’s Advisory Sub-Committee (WASC) members have done in regard to this year’s Leadership Training.

The WASC chose, intentionally, to invite you to this event:

  • PresWIC leadership
  • Bible study leaders
  • Local church women’s ministry leaders
  • Directors of Women’s Ministry
  • PCA staff members

They made a conscious decision to invite you, because, as you will hear over and over again, we are one body, one church, one team, with one common purpose: to serve God’s church in ministering to people.

Some come as old friends, much like the TV show Cheers, “where everybody knows your name.” Some of you will come for the very first time, wondering why you ever agreed to do this, feeling frightened, isolated, and overwhelmed. Rest assured-everyone in the room has been in your shoes! And the feeling doesn’t last long.

I want you to know: GOD wants you here! You have been prayed for by name and chosen by Him to come and be encouraged and equipped for service.

Our purpose is simple: to train you so you can train others. We’re going to sharpen your skills, challenge your comfort zone, and connect you with other women in ministry. Our hope is as you sit under the teaching of our conference faculty, as you attend various workshops, as you hear testimonies from your sisters, as you gather in regional meetings, and as you meet the coordinators of PCA agencies and committees-through all of this-you will be encouraged and challenged to “fight the good fight of faith.”

Adapted from a welcome speech given by Jane Wiggins who currently serves as WASC chairman.

On behalf of the Women’s Advisory Sub-Committee (or WASC, as you will hear us called), I would like to welcome you to our Women’s Leadership Training Conference. We look forward to our time with you over the three days we will be together during the conference! We usually have many first-time attendees. (Last year the Mid-South, my region, had 20 of our 32 attending for the first time). As the PCA website states, the goal of the annual Leadership Training is to help equip and train you as leaders so that you, in turn, can take back to your women important foundational biblical truths to undergird your ministries as well as resources and ideas to enrich your ministries.

Our challenge each year is to be reminded of our purpose for women’s ministry. The purpose statement for women’s ministry as written by the PCA founding fathers in 1973 is one that you may know by heart: That every woman know Christ personally and be committed to extending His kingdom in her life, home, church, community, and throughout the world. I would ask you to consider these questions as you anticipate coming to the conference:

  • What IS the goal of your ministry? Is it a calendar filled with events, programs, Bible studies, and retreats…all good, mind you…but simply there because you “think” that this is what ministry is all about? (After all, you were handed a notebook, and this is what has been done year after year). Have you and your ministry team been in prayer as to what the over-all purpose should be? Then, is this purpose reflected in each of your ministry events, studies, and service projects for the year?
  • Is your ministry based upon biblical foundations and what God’s Word teaches about His design for women? Or has today’s culture painted its own picture of what a modern woman should be and this stamp is slowly being seen upon the lives of your women?
  • Does your ministry encourage women to love Christ, to love His Word, His people, and those outside the church? The gospel of Jesus Christ is not only the basis for coming to Christ but also must be what drives us in our daily lives. As one WASC member said, “Our discipleship must be gospel-driven or it simply becomes just another program and not the transforming power of Christ in our lives.”
  • The last question I have is one that is more personal. Does the love of Christ compel us? Is the love of Christ the driving force in our own lives? Do we spend time in His Word each day, a Word that has the power to new our minds? Do we seek His will in our lives and for the ministry to which He has called us? We know because scripture tells us that God’s Word has the power to transform. So I would ask, are our hearts being changed through the power of His Holy Spirit? Is so, and only then, can we as leaders hope to be used by Him in our ministries, in our families, and in our communities.

Lastly I want to encourage each of you to make the most of the three days together. Try to meet and engage in conversation with the many women at the conference that you do not know. I know…it’s hard sometimes to begin a conversation with a total stranger…it calls us to get out of our comfort zone, doesn’t it? Just remember that all of us will be in the same boat! Remember that because Christ has transformed our hearts, we will actually be meeting women who, although at the present may live in a distant state, we will one day live side-by-side in our eternal home!

God’s Plan for Peace in the Middle East

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By Dr. Michael Woodham. We have heard and seen via the secular news media that Israel and the Middle East have been and are the hotbed of continuing strife and warfare. It seems to never end. Political leaders are always attempting to “negotiate” a peace settlement that always seems to be a fallacious, flawed fool’s dream – an illusive fantasy. Humanly speaking, there simply does not seem to be an answer to the persistent problems of finding a politically based peace plan. So, is there really no hope for peace in Israel and the Middle East?

In his marvelous compact and succinct book, God’s Plan for Peace in the Middle East, Dr. Kittredge gives us encouraging insights into the biblical answers which offer genuine hope for replacing centuries old hostilities with lasting peace. This hope is based on the profound, radical truth of Romans 1:16-17. Peace in the Middle East will be provided by the power of God through the deliverance of His people both Jewish and Arab Israelis alike coming to faith in Jesus Christ.

Earlier this year, I went to Israel with Doug, and I witnessed firsthand how this plan of God for real and lasting peace is happening today in the lives of Israelis, both Jewish and Arab. God is doing a thing in Israel today which is a positive “version” of what the Lord God Almighty says to Habakkuk in 1:5: “Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

Buy Doug’s book! Read it! Enjoy it! Be blessed by it!