We Have Passion

Members of national staff for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are deeply committed to their work and feel a deep sense of calling to their daily tasks. These passion pieces rise out of our conviction that a committed and passionate staff is reflected in our attention to detail and desire for excellence.

Jeanne Williams
Passion conveys how I feel about the work that the production team creates. The production team is just that, a team — a talented team of designers, administrative and print professionals — dedicated to providing the highest quality Presbyterian materials available. Passion is involved in all aspects of our production. Each day we face challenges in shaping the materials we bring to you. We have deadlines (we hate to miss), budgets (we strive to meet) and computer issues (we overcome). But the force that drives the production team is our passion to bring the Bible to life in Reformed tradition curriculum and the other publications we offer to our churches.

I work to help our team make the words come alive, to make the art engaging and to inspire the users to feel the same passion when they read the materials that we feel when we produce them. I believe in the products we create. Whether designing curriculum and articles for ideas! or arranging for print bids, our work in the production department of Congregational Ministries Publishing comes out of a personal sense of call and passion.

Candace Hill
Being called to the ministry of Christian education, and having the privilege to fulfill my call through the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is one of the greatest joys in my life. It is hard to describe my personal passion for Christian education in any other terms than these: the humble privilege of helping people of all ages grow in faith, the important responsibility of supporting congregations as communities of faith practice and the great celebration of witnessing and experiencing the vibrant, relevant and abundant faith of seekers and saints of the church. My passion for the ministry of Christian education in this time and place and with my colleagues in ministry is a very personal story of who I am and who God called me to be — someone on the path with others, longing to know, to experience, to live, and to tell the good news. Will you join us?

Mark Hinds
As General Editor for Congregational Ministries Publishing, I’ve discovered many reasons for joy in my work. Among these are the wonderful, Christ-loving staff of editors, copy editors and editorial assistants I work with in Louisville. We share a passion for the church and its educational ministry. Every day each staff person arrives at 100 Witherspoon Street ready to produce the best in educational resources for the PC(USA).

Additionally, I am extremely proud of the We Believe: God’s Word for God’s People curriculum. I was among the early creators of that educational resource, developing the initial scope and sequence, contracting writers, offering opinions about design and telling the story of We Believe to the church. Like a proud parent, I watched as We Believe cut its first teeth and took its first steps. The early years were not pain-free, however; the infant curriculum stumbled a bit and there have been growing pains. As more churches have joined the We Believe family, we have required more editors, more design and production professionals, and more money. And we have seldom had more of anything — except faith and optimism!

Thanks to the trust you’ve placed in us, I can proudly — and passionately! — proclaim that We Believe is a rousing success. We are learning to stand with heads held high because we know what we do provides our churches the very best denominational curriculum available.

Michael Purintun
Years ago I attended a General Assembly in Detroit as a youth advisory delegate from Cincinnati Presbytery. I remember at the time thinking how wonderful it must be to work for the national church.

All these years later, here I am, a certified church educator and elder in the church, supporting the work of congregations and middle governing bodies and promoting our resources across the PC(USA).

It’s hard to articulate how deeply moved I am by my work. Every day I get the chance to help people choose curriculum, to plan an event or to work with writers and editors to produce a magazine that supports the educational ministry of the church. I just got off the phone with someone trying to determine the curriculum that would best serve their church, and before that I was emailing people about We Believe Workshop and communicating with resource center directors about their concerns.

Every day brings something new and so pertinent to the life of the church. I thank God for the incredible blessing of this work and this ministry. I could not have believed 20 years ago that I now would have such rewarding and meaningful work.

Recently, my job changed dramatically when I was asked to assume responsibility as the editor of ideas! For Church Leaders. I work with wonderfully talented designers, copy editors, assistant editors, writers and a host of other people to produce a resource that I believe can make a difference.

And that’s why we are here: to make a difference in the world. Our purpose is to be, as Teresa of Ávila once said, Christ’s hands and feet in the world. We are helping to educate, challenge, and nurture the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) through the resources and people of CMP and Theology Worship and Education.

Send an article for ideas! about your church passion. We would love to hear from you.

Carol E. Johnson
The graphic design work I do for Congregational Ministries Publishing (CMP) not only gives me an opportunity to be creative, but also gives me another way to serve the church that I love. I am currently serving Bardstown Road Presbyterian Church as an elder, as a committee chair for youth and on session. I find fulfillment in helping produce printed and Web materials that I know will help our congregations teach about a loving God who wants us to put our faith into action.

Whether one’s mission is to love and pray for those who struggle, to help disaster victims rebuild or to contribute financially to a national or international need, our materials are a great source of inspiration and information. I really wish all our congregations could see the devotion, talents and energy of my colleagues who work so hard to make our materials useful and transformative.

When I design, I want the page to visually help the reader to understand and get excited about the good news. If I am able to serve by designing something that communicates, what I do doesn’t feel like work.

Alan Krome
I’ve now served for 20 years on the General Assembly Council Mission Interpretation staff. Aside from the prospect of retiring with untold wealth from a career in the church, what is it that has kept me here and juiced?

First, the people. I’ve been privileged to work with absolutely wonderful people in my work area — folks who combine commitment, creativity, and deep caring for one another. I guess I’d have to add to those traits a healthy irreverence, which frees us to see that while our work may be important, we are not. Especially for church workers, I think, without that irreverence, sanctimony can settle in like an oily film covering all we do.

Second, although “connection” is one of those invocations Presbyterians mumble when at a loss for what to say, it is one of the central joys of my position. An astonishing number of phone calls from people in congregations and presbytery offices leave me feeling that we’re all in this together. Whether it’s because people care deeply about special offerings or it’s for some other reason, the fact remains that even when a caller is upset about something I’ve done or neglected to do, I usually end the call feeling that I’ve learned something and that I’ve found a connection between why we’re each doing what we do.