BogotÁ (PNS) What began as a coincidental nonviolence training session has blossomed into a vocational passion for one pastor in the Presbyterian Church of Colombia.

Lousville -- I was expecting February to be a typical month in the life of the Moderator of the General Assembly: visits to Riverside and Northern Waters Presbyteries, meetings in Louisville of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the General Assembly Mission Council, and the NEXT Church conference in Dallas.

The Rev. George B. Telford, a leader in the Presbyterian Church before and after reunion, died Feb. 28 after a battle with pancreatic metastatic cancer. He was 78.

CAREPA, Colombia (PNS) In this Lenten season, one Presbyterian congregation in Colombia will be thinking about more than fasting.

“The church has the opportunity to do something in this place,” said the Rev. Julio Diaz, a pastor with the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (Iglesia Presbiteriana de Colombia, or IPC).

Downey, Calif. (Special to the Presbyterian News Service) The Rev. Candie Blankman, pastor of the multi-cultural urban First Presbyterian Church of Downey, admits that her Midwestern, suburban and fairly homogenous small town upbringing might seem a world away from her current call.

From Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly: We have received word from Cindy Bolbach, Moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010), that the pathology report from her recent abdominal surgery indicates a malignancy.

Louisville (PNS) The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the General Assembly Mission Council’s (GAMC) Executive Committee are proposing to the upcoming 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that the General Assembly per capita (per member) apportionment increase from its current $6.63 to $6.80 in 2013 and to $6.98 in 2014.

Louisville -- New Hope Presbyterian Church, in the Presbytery of Los Ranchos in Southern California, has been named winner of the 2012 Sam and Helen R. Walton Award.

SAN ANSELMO, Calif. (PNS) Theological seminaries exist to serve the gospel of Jesus Christ, not themselves or the institutional church, the Rev. James L. (Jim) McDonald told the packed First Presbyterian Church here Feb. 11 as he was inaugurated as the 11th president of San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS).

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (PNS) The Rev. John M. Buchanan, who has informed and inspired generations of American Christians through his books, sermons and weekly columns as editor/publisher of the progressive ecumenical journal The Christian Century, has been named winner of the 2012 David Steele Distinguished Writer Award (DSDWA) by the Presbyterian Writers Guild (PWG).

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (OGA) One question I’m asked almost more than any other is, “So, where do you see hope in the PC(USA)?”

A comprehensive answer would take up more than the word limits of this column. But two things stand out.

HAVANA (PNS)

Cuba and the United States have so much in common that despite political differences it’s “overtime” to normalize relations between the two countries, a Cuban foreign ministry official told a group of 15 visiting U.S. religious leaders here Nov. 30.

Grand Rapids, Mich.(Special to PNS) The Bible should be read “as if God was actually talking to us,” the Association of Presbyterian Christian Educators (APCE) was told here at its annual gathering this week.

Louisville, Ky. (PNS) The Presbyterian Publishing Corporation has released the cover design of “Glory to God,” the new Presbyterian hymnal to be published in the fall of 2013.

As a student at Princeton Theological Seminary, the Rev. Pam Driesell was surprised to hear about a professor who was hard on people who asked questions.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (PNS) “Learning is perhaps an accumulation of moments that form us,” the Rev. Pam Driesell told the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Disciple-Making Church Conference here Jan. 17.

Special to Presbyterian News Service

OLNEY, Ill. – The Rev. Joel Adams graduated from seminary with what he knew were good ideas — he just didn’t know if they would work or not. When he was called to serve as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Olney, Ill., he had the opportunity to try them out.

HAVANA (PNS) The U.S. blockade of Cuba is a fundamentally theological issue because, in choosing isolation over reconciliation, the U.S. has chosen to serve mammon rather than God, Cuban Presbyterian theologian Reinerio Arce told Cuban and U.S. religious leaders here Dec. 1.

MATANZAS, Cuba (PNS) The liturgical dancers circle each other at a distance, then move closer together, then join in an intimate pas-de-deux.

(General Assembly Mission Council) Work crews in Haiti clear rubble from a home outside of Léogâne. Less than a decade old, Church of All Nations, a church plant out of the Korean immigrant context, has not only taken root but is already bearing fruit.

HAVANA (PNS) The National Council of Churches in the U.S. and the Council of Churches of Cuba have issued a joint statement calling for reconciliation between the two countries and committing themselves to “pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit that our churches may bear witness to God’s will for justice in economic life.”

(Presbyterian News Service) Dagoberto Rodriguez, Cuba’s deputy minister of external affairsHAVANA – Cuba and the United States have so much in common that despite political differences it’s “overtime” to normalize relations between the two countries, a Cuban foreign ministry official told a group of 15 visiting U.S. religious leaders here Nov. 30.

HAVANA (Presbyterian News Service) The National Council of Churches in the U.S.A. (NCC) will continue to press for normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, an end to the 53-year-old U.S. embargo of Cuba and release of the “Cuban Five” held in U.S. prisons, NCC General Secretary Michael Kinnamon told a packed press conference here Dec. 2.

Louisville, Ky. (Presbyterian News Service) Nearly a year after southern Sudanese citizens voted to split from northern Sudan and form a new country, the Sudan Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) met here to worship, share stories and discuss mission in the two countries.