If you are new to this blog....

Welcome! The primary purpose of this blog is to explore and encourage around what it means to be winsome and sent into the world for God's glory. If you are new here, the definition of "lighthouse-searchlight" or our missional journey is a good place to start. Come peruse the blog and add me to your RSS feed!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

welcome and GAhelp

Welcome to my lighthouse/searchlight blog!  This commentary site exists primarily to chronicle and resource the local efforts of one Presbyterian congregation to explore our twin calling of being a gathered and sent expression of the hope and light of Christ.  Links on the left sidebar flesh out these ideas more completely.

As a congregation within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) we also worship and work in a larger denominational context.  From time to time we this site also comments upon life in the PCUSA.  As the biennial General Assembly draws near (July, 2010), commentary will focus in this direction, but we invite readers to explore the full range of resources, perhaps starting with lighthouse/searchlight definitions and blog highlights in the left-hand menu.  Please also visit the church and sermon websites!

For General Assembly this year, I have created a "help site" described below.  If you are interested in the PCUSA or its General Assembly, I invite you to explore the help site in full, as well as any commentary offered here on this commentary site.  The help site is:

www.GAhelp.net (or just GAhelp.net)

Here's the explanatory letter I've sent out to a number of people:
Having served as a commissioner to GA in 2008, I realized that one of the greatest challenges commissioners face is not theological disunity, but technological challenges and information overload. I witnessed many, many votes and decisions rush by while almost all the commissioners around me were trying to locate what we were talking about.

I have created the help site in an effort to simplify the information gathering process, drawing from a broad range of theological perspectives to get all the information on the table in a way that commissioners and the wider church can comprehend, follow, and evaluate. I believe the site will continue to be a resource for commissioners (and others) as they return from GA to interpret and share resources with presbyteries, sessions, and congregations back home.

I believe the site speaks for itself, and hope you will take just a few moments to survey what is offered. If you find it of value, I hope you will share it widely with enthusiasm.

In God's grace,

Robert Austell
Pastor, Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church - Charlotte, NC
Chair, Ecclesiastical Affairs/Bills and Overtures - Presbytery of Charlotte, 2003-2008
Commissioner to the 218th General Assembly, 2008
Moderator - Presbytery of Charlotte, 2009
www.GAhelp.net        robert@gahelp.net

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