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December 2006
Renewed commitment and new leadership energize Mission Initiative steering committee “to finish what was started”
Former Princeton president Tom Gillespie named honorary campaign chair
Houston – Powerful themes of newness infused both the worship and work of the Joining Hearts & Hands steering committee as they focused here on reaching the campaign’s $40 million goal as it enters its final phase. $14.5 million remains to be raised prior to the 218th General Assembly (2008).
Dr. Melva Costen prepares the steering committee and staff members for worship by teaching the hymn, "Total Praise." Kathryn Sparks, director of music for Memorial Drive Church, accompanies on piano. Photo by Emily Odom.
In a sermon based on the eighth and ninth chapters of 2 Corinthians, the Rev. Dave Peterson, steering committee co-chair, charged his campaign colleagues “to remember the original zeal, and return and finish what was started.”
Peterson, who is pastor of Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, Houston, which hosted the meeting from November 29-30, also invoked the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives. “Give as you have made up your minds, do something, and expect results,” Peterson urged. “It is such a moment for us right now.”
In the course of its business, the steering committee approved a vision statement and work plan outlining a new strategy to reach out to congregations with the capacity to make gifts of $250,000 or more to the campaign. To lend assistance and credibility to the congregational effort, the steering committee enthusiastically endorsed a member of the committee, the Rev. Tom Gillespie, as its honorary chair, to work alongside Peterson and the Rev. Joanna Adams, who is also co-chair.
Gillespie, president emeritus of Princeton Theological Seminary, has also served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Garden Grove, Ca., and First Presbyterian Church, Burlingame, Ca.
“Tom knows how important it is to finish a campaign like this,” said the Rev. John Huffman, pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, Ca. “His added gravitas to this effort will be very important at this time.”
In making introductions at the outset of the meeting, Peterson also welcomed Linda Valentine, executive director of the General Assembly Council, as a new steering committee member. Valentine, who began her four-year term in July 2006, succeeded John Detterick. “Linda is giving us some bigger windows on how to move through this moment in history,” Peterson said. “We’re glad to have her here with us, and look forward to her guidance and counsel.”
Because the focus for the remaining $14.5 million will be on funding international mission positions, the steering committee welcomed participation in the meeting by the Rev. Will Browne and Bill Simmons, both members of the Worldwide Mission staff of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
“We are essential to one another,” Browne has said of the collaboration. “We can’t expand the missionary core without Joining Hearts & Hands, neither can they do their work as fundraising professionals without access to the resources we have.”
Another essential partner at the steering committee table was the Presbyterian Foundation, represented by Robert E. Leech, a committee member, and Mark Klemm. Klemm reported that from 2002 to the present, the foundation has received some $4.4 million into permanent PC(USA) accounts designated for foreign mission and new church development. “These funds generate about $220,000 which flows through mission budgets,” Klemm said.
Co-chair Adams, who is also a member of the foundation’s board of trustees, noted the “win-win” nature of the campaign’s collaboration and cooperation with the foundation. “We want to think in terms of our campaign and how it can underwrite mission,” she said. “We can’t do that without the foundation, which provides the ballast for our ship as the church sails through choppy waters to the future.”
In other business, the committee passed a resolution of thanks for the General Assembly Council (GAC), along with a motion to recommend to the GAC executive committee that the GAC find a source of up to $720,000 to cover campaign expenses through June of 2008. The motion also specified that a 5% administrative fee be applied to all monies raised from new gifts and pledges, and that the 5% be used to repay the General Assembly Council.
The committee also adopted a resolution of thanks for former campaign director, Jan Opdyke, who resigned her position in October. The resolution, which was moved by the Rev. Timothy Hart-Andersen, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, reads:
The Steering Committee of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands expresses its deep gratitude to Jan Opdyke for her outstanding leadership of this important campaign in the Presbyterian Church (USA). It has been a joy to work alongside her.
Jan labored tirelessly and with tremendous grace as the Director of the Hearts and Hands Campaign for nearly four years. Under her skilled guidance, more than $25 million in pledges have been received. These funds will help advance the cause of Christ as local congregations grow in this country and new mission partnerships are created around the world.
We will miss Jan’s winsome presence at the head of the Hearts and Hands Campaign. We give thanks to God for the gifts she brought to our work together. We pray God’s blessing upon her in the future.
David York, who succeeded Opdyke as campaign director, led the steering committee’s worship on its final day. He was assisted by steering committee member, Dr. Melva Costen, who led the music, as well as members of the Joining Hearts & Hands and Worldwide Mission staff.
In his homily, based on the Transfiguration text from Mark’s gospel, York spoke of donning “clean, new cloaks” in order to move forward toward the campaign’s goal. “They will be cloaks of communication, cooperation, and commitment,” he said.
For related stories from the Presbyterian News Service, see:
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