A festive worship service marked the installation of The Rev. Marcia Thomas as the Designated Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Abbotsford on Sunday March 11. Pictured below is the installation commission with Marcia. Back Row: Rebecca Libke, Cyndy Little, Barbara Jordanger, and Ted Sperduto. Front Row: Lucy Rupe, Sarah Moore-Nokes, Judy Nighorn, and Mary Sperduto. Congratulations Marcia!

If you attended the last presbytery meeting you know that the Reverend Nelson Craig has been named the Pastor Emeritus at First Presbyterian Church Winneconne. This last weekend the congregation had a celebration in his honor. Pictured below: Nelson, his wife Beverly and the Rev. Mara Rivera who is the current pastor of the church. Congratulations Nelson!

Mara Rivera (Winneconne), Marcia Thomas (Abbottsford), Susan Zencka (Stevens Point), Gail Irwin (Preble Park, Green Bay), Max Ballard (DePere), Richard Moore (Neenah) and Sarah Moore-Nokes (Presbytery Staff) have just returned from attending a Pilot Stewardship Training Program sponsored by the Synod Of Lakes and Prairies with partial funding by the Board of Pensions at Mt. Olivet Conference and Retreat Center in Farminton MN. Our leader for the two-day seminary was Howard White, a consultant with The James Company. Many of you know that Winnebago Presbytery is currently working with The James Company here in Wisconsin and Don Shultz has been present at our Presbytery meetings to present on a variety of stewardship topics. (Mark you calender for May 8th when the topic will be Consumerism and Christianity!) While in Minnesota the gathered group of Pastors, CLPs (Commissioned Lay Pastors) and Synod and Presbytery staff considered the difference (or perhaps fine line) between stewardship and fund raising, the basics of budgets, the difficulty of keeping a compelling vision in front of an organization, the fears that keep people from giving money and time, and the strategies that help church leaders model stewardship in all areas of ministry. We definitely didn’t all agree all the time and we had some passionate discussions. We also learned that we represented many, many different ministry contexts and that programs and strategies that work in one context sometimes don’t make any sense in other.

What is your congregation doing about stewardship? Is it a year long process? Two weeks in November? A word that no one wants to hear?

Presbytery approved the request of the First Presbyterian Church, Winneconne, to grant the status of Pastor Emeritus to the Rev. Nelson Craig.

Elder Cheryl Lepak, Omro, was approved as Commissioned Lay Pastor at the Omro First Presbyterian Church. She is currently assisting the Rev. Ed Slusser and will continue during Ed’s sabbatical next year.

Presbytery certified Elder Jean Hamersky, DePere First United, as a Commissioned Lay Pastor.

Elder Lina Wittman, Athelstane, was received into the Lay Pastor Program.

New Presbytery Officers were installed and will be serving for the coming year.

Moderator – Elder Barbara Jordanger, Frame Memorial Presbyterian, Stevens Point
Vice Moderator – The Rev. Tom Beck, First Presbyterian, Oconto

And finally, Winnebago Presbytery is now podcasting. Executive Presbyter Lucy Rupe and Associate Executive Presbyter Sarah Moore-Nokes had a little fun exploring what podcasting is all about. staff-report.mp3