» News: Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church (USA) Breaks Ground

Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church (USA) of Newport Beach, CA held a groundbreaking ceremony after its Sunday Services to celebrate the start of construction plans to renovate two buildings. The church's original plans called for underground parking and the creation of a gym, but residents of the neighbhorhood and town challenged the construction on the grounds of increased traffic. The story received coverage by the Newport Beach "Daily Pilot".

» News: Presbyterian Church Assists in MS Rebuilding

First Presbyterian Church (USA) of Pascagoula, MS received some good press for its efforts in helping out with the "100 Homes in 100 Days" project being carried out on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Members helped with the rebuilding of four homes on Saturday in the area devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

(Keep in mind that the RN reports current news; we are aware of the good work that many other churches, including PCA churches and MNA Disaster Relief, have done and are doing on the MS Gulf Coast and will report as news comes to us.)

» News: More PCUSA Churches Leave Denomination, Plan to Join EPC

Sunday, the largest church in the Pittsburgh Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church USA denomination voted overwhelmingly to leave the PCUSA and affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Senior Pastor, Dean Weaver, was quoted by the Christian Post saying their aim was to "realign ourselves with other Presbyterians in our country and around the world who believe the same things we do and have the same passion for evangelism and for missions." 958 members out of the 1,051 who voted approved this change in affiliation. See coverage also in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and a brief discussion on Free Republic.

The previous Tuesday, May 29th, Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church (SMPC) in the PCUSA's East Tennessee Presbytery voted to leave the PCUSA and take steps to join the EPC. Signal Mountain's vote was also nearly unanimous and the PCUSA presbytery noted that it could detect no "identifiable PC(USA) remnant" in the church and that it was not "in schism." The PC(USA) presbytery dismissed SMPC and allowed the church to retain its property. SMPC has not contributed church funds to the denomination since 1993, though the agreement to release the church included several conditions, one of them being continued "mission support" for the East Tennessee Presbytery in the amount of 500k payable over five years.

» News: Friday News Roundup

Here's all the buzz that buzzed near us this week:

PCUSA: Dennis L. Cobb, 50, pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree indecent exposure. The denomination has fired Cobb from his position as manager of assembly programming citing a "no tolerance" policy.

PCA: As mentioned previously, a group of 10 ministers has written an "open letter" urging fellow presbyters to vote against the denominational Federal Vision / NPP study committee report at the upcoming General Assembly in June. Discussion of the open letter occurred here at RN and here. A joint statement has been published by the Retirement and Benefits and Mission to the World corporations about some upcoming changes.

OPC: The June issue of New Horizons was published this week and it concerns the topic of worship in light of OPC discussions concerning whether or not to adopt a drafted directory for public worship. George R. Cottenden discusses the upcoming issue of the vote on the directory in a feature article and the issue includes articles by Hart, Muether, Larry Wilson, Peter Wallace, and William Shishko on various aspects of worship and sacraments. The June / July issue of Ordained Servant also was published this week and contains discussions of the church and science / technology. Reviews include D.G. Hart on Sean Lucas's book "On Being Presbyterian" (P&R, 2006).

CREC: Nate Wilson publishes a book with Random House ("Leepike Ridge") and gets some kind words from Books and Culture, and Nate Wilson is also responsible for the text of a few new children's books published by Canon Press. The Augustine Presbytery of the CREC will have its meeting October 11-12, and the Anselm Presbytery will meet October 22-23.

CRC: Interesting press release- "What to Watch for a Synod 2007" including some interesting sacramental discussions about infant baptism and paedocommunion. Meeter Center purchases 1562 edition of a book by John Calvin about the doctrine of election. Korean CRC church plays role in Virginia Tech shooting healing.

EPC: General Assembly takes place June 20-23 in Colorado - new issue of the EPC's newsletter contains GA information.

Acts 29: Main session audio lectures of 2007 Seattle church-planting Boot Camp have been posted.

CPC: "Covenant Presbyterian Church" - this is not a denomination with which RN has familiarity, but they have sent us a press release (PDF) and we will attempt to cover them as well.

Reformed Parachurch: Reformation21's June issue is now out, including further reflections on Roman Catholicism by Carl Trueman, an article about blues music by Stephen J. Nichols, and Phillip Ryken reflects on the new atheism movement. Ligonier Ministries is offering a free gift subscription to Tabletalk with a regular subscription just in time for Father's day. Yes, that sound like a commercial, but we have received no funds from Ligonier, just thought readers would like the information. Still no word on the Gospel Coalition materials, but we continue to monitor the website and will alert you when these are available.

Interesting Discussions: Discussion of the Gospel Coalition at Daniel Kirk's blog, Against Heresies conducts a three-part interview with Michael Scott Horton, Lane Keister wraps up an eleven part review/critique of Jeff Meyers's 30 Reasons, Meyers releases a shorter version of his 30 reasons. Paul Helm takes on the issue of the relationship between Biblical and Systematic theology.

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