The Old Testament Reads You...

This January the Presbytery of San Francisco will be offering an Old Testament class at it's new Education Center. The class is an introduction class taught by our marvelous teacher, Dr. Carol Miles. Carol is an outstanding ding teacher who has taught at Austin and Luther Theological Seminaries. Carol has a way of helping students understand scripture in new and exciting ways. As a homiletic's (preaching) professor Carol helps make Scripture practical for life and for teaching. So if you are a teacher in the church, a pastor who would like to remember again how the text captures us, or just a Christians who wants to dig deeper into the text, come join us in class in the new year.

The class is will be held on Friday night (7:00-10:00pm) and Saturday (8:30am-3:30pm) January 25-26, 2013. The class only cost $60 for credit* and $30 for auditors. You can download a Syllabus here.

*If you take the class for credit you will get more out of the class by doing all the assigned class readings and paper but the class will also count towards the requirements for the Commissioned Lay Pastor programs required classes.

Meet the members of the Presbytery Education Centers Program Working Group

At the beginning of this year the Leadership Council voted to form a new working group for the purpose of developing a program for our Commission Lay Pastor (CLP) training and overseeing the work of our new Education Center (which they also voted to birth at the same meeting).

This Working Group has been meeting since last January in organizing the the CLP program and other educational projects at the new center. We thought you might like to know who these hard working folks are. We hope you will get to know these folks as they work with your churches in the process of "equipping" all you saints out there!

The member of the Education Center Program Working Group are:

Rev. Pablo Morataya

Rev. Carmen Rosales

Elder Saul Chacon, CLP

Elder Enicia Montalvo, CLP

Rev. Laurie Garrett-Cobina

Rev. Max Lynn

Rev. Tici Truly

Rev. Bill Azbell

Elder Karl Gerlach, CLP

Susan Hunn (Secretary)

Rev. Jim Wheeler (Chair)

      Elder David Morales (Redwoods Presbytery)

Rev. Karl Shadley (CLP coordinator, Staff)

What can the Education Center do for your Church?

Each Saturday as many as 60 students gather at the Presbytery's Education Center to take classes in Theology, Bible, counseling, worship and preaching, Presbyterian polity, music, christian nurture, pastoral care, and many other subjects. These classes are taught in both Spanish and English.

 At lunch time everyone gathers for a shared lunch prepared by Julio and his assistants.

The idea behind the Education Center is to be a educational resource to all our churches as we prepare to serve our communities.

Do you have a class you would like to take?

• How about a class for new elders on Presbyterian polity?  
• How about a class in pastoral care for your deacons 
• How about a class for those teaching Sunday school or running your youth programs? 

This is what we are about at the Education Center, helping to educate the folks in our churches to serve, grow and become the leaders they had hoped to be.

 Do you have an idea for a class. If you do, give us a call or post a comment to our blog post.

                  Our Reformed Theology class taught by Dr. Gregory Love

Education Center Creek Restoration Project

Over the Veteran's Day Weekend Two Youth Groups, one from West Sacramento and one from Berkeley joined together to start a "Heal the Earth" Mission project at the San Francisco Presbytery's Education Center. For many, many years this little creek as been ignored but now, with the help of "The Friends of the Five Creek" and the youth groups of Trinity Pres. and Calvary Pres. it is being restored to it's wonderful natural state for all to enjoy.

Reformed Theology and History I - February 28 & March 1

Reformed Theology & History - February 28 & March 1
Friday night from 7pm to 10pm and on Saturday from 8:30am to 3:30pm at the Education Center in El Cerrito, CA. 

We are so pleased that our reformed theology classes are being taught by The Rev. Dr. Gregory Love. Greg is a professor at San Francisco Theological Seminary. Greg is also a popular speaker and preacher. Because of his passion for the local church, Greg, a Presbyterian pastor, makes theology accessible to laity by teaching hundreds of classes in Bay Area Presbyterian churches. 

Here is what some of our students are saying about Greg's classes. 
“I am enjoying thoroughly our classes with Greg. Study of theology is entirely new to me and Greg is making the subject come alive. He has a wonderful blend of knowledge and delivery that educates, challenges, nurtures and intrigues me. I am eager to get to the end of November for our next meeting.We are indeed very blessed to have Greg as one of our instructors.”

Rich Williams (Rich is a leader and Elder at 1^st Presbyterian Church Hayward)

__________

“Greg taught with such enthusiasm for the subject that I couldn't help being excited about what I was learning. The information was clear and concise, and at the same time far-reaching. It was presented in a way that allowed us to see the breadth of the views of each doctrine in a consistent format...like pieces of a puzzle. I really see it as a privilege to have access to these well-respected, knowledgeable theologians.” 

Kristan Verveniotis (Kristan is a Christian Educator at San Carlos Presbyterian Church)

__________

“Karl, I would like to thank you and the Presbytery for engaging Greg to lead the Theology course within our current Commissioned Lay Pastor program. We covered many essential doctrines in the 10 hours that we have had so far and it left me wanting more.  The next class seems too far off.  Greg’s presentation of the Doctrine of Election was fabulous and without a doubt the most satisfying explanation of a very difficult and sometimes divisive topic that I have encountered.  I’ve wrestled with the topic while discovering my personal theology and was able to arrive (with considerable help from Greg) at a very balanced position that centers on the Grace of God in our election.  It’s obvious that Systematic Theology is passion of Greg’s which makes his instruction a thoroughly enjoyable, enlightening experience.  Thanks again to you and him for helping all of the potential CLP candidates get the most of this potentially life-changing opportunity.”

Darryl McCollum (Darryl is an Elder and Youth Leader at 1^st Presbyterian Concord)

_________

“Greg has been gifted with the ability to dissect and present complex theological issues with extreme clarity.  He is obviously passionate about what he does and somehow transmits not only information, but a part of his conviction to us. But in particular, I love how he presents all views on any particular issue so that I can clearly see where I lie on the spectrum of current theological discourse. I guess he lived up to the hype.”

Thomas Hong (Tom is a member at Calvary PC Berkeley and a senior at UC Berkeley)

Sign up for classes by contacting Karl Shadley (510)435-4264 "Karl@shadley.net"

New Presbytery of San Francisco Education Center Blog

This is the new Presbytery of San Francisco Education Center Blog. This will be the place to find information about the Commission Lay Pastor program as well as other offerings of the Education Center. This will also be the place to find all the forms and updated policies for the CLP program. Once we get this blog "filled out" we will post a link to the Presbytery of San Francisco's web site.