Heads swiveled when the Presbyterian Coalition’s co-moderator, Nancy Cross, announced the entrance of John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Presbyterian clergyman, during the group’s Sunday breakfast at the 219th General Assembly (2010).

At Saturday night’s More Light Presbyterian (MLP) National Celebration Dinner at the 219th General Assembly (2010), Ross Murray, interim executive director for Lutherans Concerned/North America, issued reassurance to all dinner attendees: “One year ago, we, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), were meeting in this very place discussing the same issues [on homosexuality] when tornados and lightning struck and we knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore. Well, there was no little man hiding behind a curtain to help us … it’s been a year for us, and we are praying for you as you go through this process.”

“This is a lot like coming home,” author Phyllis Tickle told a gathering of middle governing body leaders at a Sunday morning breakfast hosted by the Presbyterian Foundation. Tickle, author of more than two dozen books including The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why, recounted how she grew up as a Presbyterian prior to becoming an Anglican as a young adult.

“All creatures of our God and King … lift up your voice and with us sing … ‘Alleluia! Alleluia!’”

And so thousands of Presbyterians were called to worship Sunday morning at the 219th General Assembly (2010). With bright colors, liturgical dancers and tall Lion King-esque puppets – literally, all creatures worshipped. Kites, streamers and banners waved through the air as missionaries and pastors processed into the large hall.

Visitors to the 219th General Assembly’s Global Marketplace can buy olive oil from Israel/Palestine and a blend of spices grown there so they can whip up their own salad dressing. Nearby they can buy a bowl to hold their salad, and beyond that a new purse to hold the money to pay for all their purchases.

Not only will folks come home with a keepsake from the Assembly, but they’re directly supporting the people who produced that memory.

Stepping into the room where members of Lydia Women’s Empowerment Project meet is to enter a world most people rarely experience.

Wood thought to be too brittle to be used for anything has been transformed into significant  faith symbols at the 219th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) here, thanks  to a partnership between a commissioned lay pastor (CLP) from Tower, Minn., and a couple in North Carolina.

William (Bill) Evans, CLP at St. James Presbyterian Church in Tower, has supplied 30,000 small wooden crosses made from “deadheads” — long-sunken logs that have floated back to the surface of some of Minnesota’s fabled 10,000 lakes — as gifts from the three sponsoring presbyteries to those attending the Assembly.

The handiwork of Diane Millner will be an integral part of the 219th General Assembly when participants gather to worship on Sunday morning.

Millner, of Stockholm, Wisc., was selected by the Committee on Local Arrangements for the 219th GA to make the Communion ware that will be used in worship.

If the exuberance of his eponymous café wouldn’t suit John Calvin, surely its expediency would.

For each of the five weekdays that the 219th General Assembly (2010) will be in session here – Monday, July 5 through Friday, July 9 – Westminster Presbyterian Church will offer commissioners, advisory delegates and other Assembly participants an opportunity to retreat to Westminster’s Calvin Café for a full breakfast or a complete lunch at a reasonable price in a relaxing atmosphere, while still allowing ample time to return to Assembly business. The church is across the street from the Minneapolis Convention Center at 1200 Marquette Avenue.

Cynthia (Cindy) Bolbach, an elder from National Capital Presbytery, was elected Saturday night as Moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010) on the fourth ballot. She was the only elder in a field of six candidates.

Bolbach employed brief answers and a winsome sense of humor to win over the 712 commissioners and steadily gained ground, rising from 149 votes (30 percent) on the first ballot to 325 votes (53 percent) on the decisive fourth ballot. None of the other five candidates exceeded 23 percent of the vote on any ballot.