Kirk of the Hills - PRAYER REQUEST! Updated!

Prayer Request: Tom Gray is having surgery Monday (see his blog for more info). Please pray for him and his family during this difficult time. UPDATE: Surgery went well! Over in 1/2 the original time. Praise The Lord!

There have been lots of paper exchange in the Kirk vs. EOP/PCUSA lawsuit. I have a list of the court actions on another page or the official court list in legaleze. The latest action is Kirk trying to force EOP and PCUSA to supply documents, and information. The next court date is Dec 20, 2007 at 9 am. The agenda is to decide if EOP and PCUSA have to answer Kirk. Originally scheduled for Sept 20, the wheels of justice do turn slowly.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma Courts are only half way into digital. Unlike Federal Courts and some state courts, you can not download the documents even for a fee. You must go in person and pay $1 a page for a hardcopy and kill some more trees. I hope they go to electronic filling and retreval and no fee. A closed court is a court subject to corruption.

The Tulsa world had an article today, it says nothing new.

Greater Alanta Presbytery Overreacts! UPDATED!

Another Presbytery goes off the deep end in response to a church's actions. According to a Layman Article, the Greater Atlanta Presbytery COM wants to form an AC will FULL powers, because the Session of Timberridge Presbyterian Church has sued to have its property declared to be its own. The COM report is in the Handbook(pg 21) for the next Presbytery meeting called for Nov 27, 2007 (today as of this writing). They also want to know any links or attendance to New Wineskins! This reminds me of the Hollywood Communist Blacklists, but from the left instead of the right.

UPDATE: The church voted to leave IMMEDIATELY on Nov 25, 2007 (205-14). The pastor has renounced the jurisdiction of the PCUSA.

The church was founded in 1829 and has about 350 members according to their own website. They appear to be a very conservative church. I have added them to my list of churches.

As a side note, the Presbytery website state that minutes will no longer be posted. Those of us who are paranoid, might think they have something to hide. They do have the Presbytery Sermon Transcript: "Postmodern. Post Denominational. But not Post Presbyterian"

ALSO their front page has a blurb on peacemaking (anti-war), maybe they should apply this to their dealings with this church.

In their previous meeting they heard a report on Hanbit and Smyrna Administrative Commissions. They appear to be want AC's are really to be used for, not political hatchet jobs.

• Smyrna AC requested by Session and Interim Pastor.
• Hanbit AC - church only has Parrish Associate?

Weekend News

• Quincy Herald Whig: FPC Quicny, IL dismissed with Property for $196,000 (10%)
• Clarion Ledger: Grace Chapel Presbyterian Church, Madison, MI (recap)
• Christian Post: Breakaway Presbyterians Seek Forgiveness. (New Wineskins)

Blood money or a Good Compromise?

Quincy FPC has been released by its Presbytery (newspaper). The new church will pay $196,000 and drop claims to the current name. The Presbytery will release the church to EPC with its property. Both sides will drop claims for claims, damages, or demands. This is 10% of current value. THE question is this Blood money or the proper thing to do?

New Church in Paola, KS

Due to the outrageous, behavior of the Presbytery of the Heartland, The former members of FPC of Paola have started a new church called Lighthouse Presbyterian Church!

Newspaper: New Presbyterian church organized

Response from around the web:

• Heartland Presbytery decides once in, always in
• I Can't Help But Be Angry

From the PC(USA) viewpoint:

• Admitting a conflict June 22, 2007
• Setting the record straight June 22, 2007

First Presbyterian Church of Paola, KS

Updates on Paola from around the web:

• Reformed Pastor Blog Tue: Nov 13, 2007
• Comment: $950,000 Mortgage

Presbytery Web site Documents:

• Nov 17, 2007: AC report to Presbytery
• Nov 17, 2007: Per Capita Report: hard to read

Church Web Site Documents:

• Sept 11, 2007: AC to session - rejecting dismissal
• Nov 5, 2007: AC to Congregation
• Nov 5, 2007: AC to Session - Notice of Hearing
• Nov 5, 2007: AC Lawyer to Session - request resignation
• Oct 30, 2007: Church Lawyer to AC - Offer of settlement
• Sept 12, 2007: Session to Members - Response to Presbytery decision
• June 24, 2007: Critique of Presbytery Response to New Wineskins.
• Core Issues PC(USA) vs EPC

Money Rumors from Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery

I usually don't publish rumors, but these came from an elder attending EOP meetings. I will continue to search for confirmation.

• EOP was out of money.
• GAC "donated" $30,000 to EOP to keep up the Kirk fight.
• EOP ask each minister to donate $50 to keep up the Kirk fight.

According to Sept 2007 Packet, EOP has spent YTD $67,388, thru June 2007 on legal fees.

UPDATE: The packet also shows that EOP expects a tithe (10%) anytime a church is sold.

Presbytery of the Heartland is Heartless - UPDATED! 2X

This story from KC Community News website, proves once again the the Presbytery of the Heartland is Heartless:

"Leaders of Paola church asked to resign from session."

UPDATE: I found the AC report (PDF) on the Presbytery website, it states:

"Further, the Administrative Commission is addressing the issue of whether the current Session of the First Presbyterian Church of Paola may remain the Session pursuant to the applicable provisions of the Book of Order. The Administrative Commission has requested that the current Session resign. Absent such resignation, the Administrative Commission has scheduled a hearing with the Session of First Presbyterian Church of Paola for November 12th, 2007."

UPDATE 2: Blogs respond to the news and more BAD news! Classical Presbyterian:

• "Grab and Hold" Sat Nov 10, 2007
• Praying for the victims of HeartlessLand Presbytery. Fri Nov 9, 2007

Two weeks to get out! Here is what Kirk Johnston, the pastor of the Paola congregation told the New Wineskins prayer team: "Prayer is needed. As for Paola we are not going to resist the presbytery any further. We cannot bring ourselves to open battle over property in our situation. We do not wish to let them goad us into choosing property over witness to Jesus. Please pray that conversely we do not trade anger or resentment for it either. We are simply trying our best to be faithful, to do that which leads to His praise and we have to suffer, move etc... we will do it out of love for Him. But we need to be covered in prayer to stay under His purpose. Your request and your prayers are a deep blessing. God is good - ALL the time."

News from around the web.

• Number 1 reason why PC(USA) churches are dying a slow, painful, sad, drawn-out, death and other happy thoughts - reyes-chow
• Ties of Covenant: A Further Reflection on Peace, Unity and Property - Classical Presbyterian
• On the New Wineskins Association of Churches - Ex Presbyterian
• Presbytery tries olive branch with breakaway congregation (Peters Creek) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (ed. More like hit with branch)
• St Peter's for Peters - Pittsburgh Tribune Review (ed. Catholic church is only true church)

I attended a Eastern Orthodox Church as part of my son's "comparative religion" class. The father said they consider the Roman Catholic church is the first Protestant denomination to break away!

Nov 4 2007 News

• Tom is back on his blog! Welcome back!
• Peter's Creek votes to leave w/o Presbytery permission. (see list)
• Changed the format on the list again!
• Working to normalize the entries, the older ones are very out of date with the format.
• Our move to the real site may happen soon. Support emailed me to set up a time for the move!
• Found some entries in Hollywood that should have been in Torrance! (titles, instead of dates, do help!)
• When we move I want to make the list a database. Then the list can be sorted by the viewer by just a click, Items to click on: Number, Name, Presby, Synod, To, Location, Status, founded.
• New site would automaticly generate statistics on the churches: Membership totals, status totals, Presbytery totals, dollar totals.
• New site would also auto generate the html for the table for easy format changes.
• How about a Hide/Show story option - for a condensed table!

COMMENTS on new site plans PLEASE!

What can replace PCUSA Mission Yearbook?

2008 PCUSA Mission Yearbook is available now

'Where two or more are gathered' is theme of 116th book. My men's prayer group "reads" this every week. Every quarter we rotate who read's it. We often view it as a "joke". The stories tell very little of real use or they are very political instead of Christian. "every" country is included whether PCUSA has any real presence or not. What are some of the EPC groups using as a replacement?