Faith leaders on Capitol Hill, who have been urging lawmakers to take care of those who clean their offices and cook their meals, are happy with the Senate’s mid-December decision to raise the pay for government contract workers. The Senate workers won a new raise to a minimum of $14.50 an hour; good news as Christmas approached. 

Hundreds of people bustled into the sanctuary to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Staunton, Virginia. It was a chilly January evening in 2012. I was eager to celebrate King’s life and hopes for a better world, but honestly, my mind was miles away. I was searching for confirmation that I had heard God call me to Haiti. I was hoping I’d misheard. It must have been a fluke. Imagination overdrive.

The Rev. Dr. Robert (Bob) D. Nicholson was elected president of the National Continuing Care Residents Association (NaCCRA) at the group’s annual meeting Nov. 1, 2015 in Boston. NaCCRA is an organization of retirement community residents united to support one another through building a strong network of information sharing, friendship building, and advocacy for resident rights. Nicholson previously served on the NaCCRA board as a director for nearly four years. During most of his tenure, he served as vice president of membership. 

In March 2011, Jeyson Jones, 16, had reason to celebrate. He had just won a track meet at his local high school and was texting his dad about celebrating over some Cold Stone ice cream. Within five minutes, he was racing into his home, bloody and confused.

Donald Mead, a retired economist from Michigan State University and PC(USA) ruling elder who now volunteers with Presbyterian World Mission in the Middle East/Europe office, visited Israel and Palestine this fall on a Sabeel Witness Visit.  The trip was Mead’s eighth visit to Israel/Palestine in the last 15 years, and he’s been traveling to the region since 1957. 

The 2016 presidential election campaign has been underway for nearly a year, but the coming months will see campaigns kick into high gear as voters begin to react to what they’ve seen and heard from the candidates.  The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness, says he believes four key issues should be the major focus leading up to next November.

Grace Presbytery in Texas hosted professor Reinerio Arce, the Henry R. Luce International Scholar at Brite Divinity School and Professor of Systematic Theology at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba, at its December 10 presbytery meeting. Held at St. Stephen Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth, Arce discussed discipleship by summarizing what he had preached at the graduation ceremony at Matanzas Seminary early in the year.

For Robert Trawick, joining the Pillars of the Church campaign was a no brainer. He strongly believes in the work the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), adding that the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations and the Office of Public Witness conduct some of the most vital work the church can do. 

Christmas greetings to you, my sisters and brothers. My name is Tony De La Rosa, interim executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). On behalf of the board and the staff of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, I'd like to wish you all a blessed and a joyous Christmas; feliz Navidad; Jul-ge-un sung-tan-jul-i dei-gi-reul ba-rab-ni-da.

Hermanos y hermanas, les envío mi más caluroso saludo navideño. Mi nombre es Tony De La Rosa, y soy el director ejecutivo interino de la Agencia de Misión Presbiteriana de la Iglesia Presbiteriana (EE.UU.) Me gozo en desearles una bendecida y gozosa navidad; Merry Christmas ; Jul-ge-un sung-tan-jul-i dei-gi-reul ba-rab-ni-da en nombre de la junta y del personal de la Agencia de Misión Presbiteriana.