I  have finally surrendered my Yankee membership card. I’d spent my first 28 years north of the Mason-Dixon Line. But I moved south of that border 29 years ago, so I’m now officially a Southerner. What a difference that has made!

The next edition of the Outlook will launch a four-volume series of articles that will provide in-depth analysis of the major issues coming to the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

"Where in the Bible does it say we’re supposed to organize new churches according to the franchise model?” The question, uttered in a presbytery meeting nearly 30 years ago, stung like a bee — as intended.

When stresses weigh us down, one of the best paths of escape is to curl up with a book. If this spring book issue of the Outlook prompts you to take such a plunge, it will have accomplished a good end. If it draws you to the “Glory to God” hymnal website to read and hum through the “compact theology” contained there (see p. 11), it may even lift the weight making your shoulders droop.

Late adopters are gradually shifting from calling their preachers “Minister of Word and Sacrament” to “Teaching Elder,” as guided by that shift in language in the recently revised Book of Order section of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s constitution. But before the ink dries, we really ought to reclaim another label: pastor.

If I had a nickel for every time a fellow Presbyterian has said, “God is calling me to such and such …

T

he book was published 10 years ago. The traveling show — presenting full-day seminars on the subject by the authors Bill Easum and Dave Travis — circled the country around that time, too. And a big impact was made, if only by putting the title in front of the church: “Beyond the Box.”

I  blew it. Here I was up to my eyeballs co-editing two different letters of outreach to many of my disaffected friends in the PC(USA), promising to “sow seeds of grace, kindness, respect and cooperation in every possible way — all toward the end of us all serving as agents of reconciliation before the watching world, as Scripture requires of us.”

LAHORE, Pakistan

If the road to recovery begins with confessing your sins, then the future of Pakistan should brighten.

Here I stand; I can do no other.” I’ve heard those words more times than I can recall — mostly from pastors who were drawing a line in the sand and separating themselves either from a rival faction in the congregation or from their denomination of affiliation or both. However, many of those pastors ultimately sounded a different refrain: “If only I’d known what would have resulted, I never would have started this.”

2011. Good, bad or otherwise? For Presbyterians, 2011 was either the year of the breakthrough or the year of the collapse, either the year of clarifying or the year of confusing, either the year of ending the war or declaring war. It all depends on your perspective.

I’m going to miss Tom Gillespie. Now I’m going to resist getting sentimental, ‘cause sentimental wasn’t Tom’s style. I want to wax substantial, ‘cause that WAS Tom’s style.