Blessed Advent & Merry Christmas
Greetings from your colleagues and friends in the Presbytery of Coastal Carolina!
Unlike many family Christmas letters you will receive (or maybe write!) this year, this is not about what we (your staff) have done, but what we (all of us together) did this past year.
The year began with a marvelous Confirmation Retreat, sponsored by the West & Central Communities, held at Camp Monroe under the leadership of Meg and Howard Dudley and the irrepressible enthusiasm of our Associate for Youth, Erin Wehrmeister.
The Confirmation Retreat was only the first of several great things that are happening at Camp Monroe as its new director, Andrew Plyer, and its board, led by Johnny Robertson, continue to be a valuable resource for the Presbytery that to a number of major improvements to its facilities and programs. The summer camp season continued to show an increase in attendance and the “camp in a van” program expanded to include a bi-lingual camp at Galatia Church in Fayetteville with the Hispanic Mission (now First Hispanic Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville).
The Presbytery Youth Council is stronger than ever and helped Erin to develop and lead a series of events such as the Middle School and High School Retreats, Montreat Conferences, and (new this year) an all-girls event in collaboration with Presbyterian Women and an all-guys event camp out at a mock Afghan village near Fort Bragg.The PYC is finishing out the year with a group of college students headed to the Montreat College Conference - also a first for us.
 Not to be outdone, the Friends of Camp Kirkwood continues to nurture a productive partnership with the Wilmington YMCA which allows them to host a regional Vacation Bible School with children and youth from many surrounding churches. In addition to the congregations that send children to the week-long camp-based VBS a number of other congregations contribute leaders and funding to make this popular event possible.
Thanks to your generosity – and the generosity of Presbyterians from across the country – we have been able to be deeply involved in recovery efforts following last year’s Hurricane Matthew. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has  been a wonderful partner throughout this process as have many local congregations. We are particularly grateful to the churches that provided food and fellowship to those who were displaced in the early days of the recovery and for Highland Church in Fayetteville and Bethany Church in Lumberton that have made space available to house volunteers and to gather and distribute food and supplies. Burgaw church set a very high bar with their auction to support work in Pender and surrounding counties that have not been as visible in the national news as Cumberland and Robeson have been.
A highlight of this year’s recovery has been PUSH Week (Presbyterians Using Servant Hands) in Lumberton and Fayetteville where a number of you/us gathered to work on houses. The delegation from Mexico who came to visit this October led the way by beginning PUSH Week a little early and they were followed by many volunteers from across the presbytery who came for a day, a few days, or all week later in the month and into November. More such efforts are being planned for next year!
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Push Week Work Volunteers
in Fayetteville
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Confirmation Retreat 2017
at Monroe Camp
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Signs of God’s grace in the lives of neighboring congregations can be seen in such activities as a renewed  spirit evident at Freedom East Church in Raeford. It was widely assumed that this congregation might close a few years ago, but it is now in the midst of a building program to meet the growing needs of this expanding congregation.
PHOTO: Willie McCaskill is Commissioned to serve at Freedom East PC in Raeford.
Other congregations are also seeing growth and renewed energy thanks to the coaching of Beverly and George Thompson. They are sharing their gifts by training even more of us in transformational coaching and one-day seminars across the presbytery.
At the same time we see the steady, faithful work of many of our congregations in ministry in their own communities and collectively as they contribute to shared programs like CentsAbility. Your gifts to this program enable grants to Malawi, Haiti, and many, many local responses to hunger in our midst. One of the fastest growing responses to hunger is Backpack Buddies (or similar projects) that provide weekly food packages to be slipped into children’s backpacks to help to feed school children over the weekend when school meals are not available to them.
This year also saw the deepening of the roots of our three Missional Communities. Many of you and your neighbors have dedicated many hours to creating the sort of fellowship and learning events that the Strat egic Planning Committee envisioned when we launched this process in 2016. Shared grants have enabled us to work with neighboring congregations in exciting and fruitful ministries, stimulating speakers have inspired creative activities in many congregation, and small group discussions are giving new meaning to our connectional church at work.
Yes, we (all of us together) have had a great year and, with the blessings of the Christ Child, we know that God will do even more with and through us next year.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Your Presbytery Staff:
Erin Wehrmeister - Associate for Youth Ministries
George Thompson - Tranformational Coach
Jan Krause - Administrator * Financial Assistant
Gayle Boykin - Business Manager & Treasurer
De Scott - Receptionist
Nancy Gladden - East Community Mission Coordinator
Bill Reinhold - General Presbyter & Stated Clerk
Clarence Page - Central Community Mission Coordinator
Beverly Thompson - Transformational Coach
Laura Lupton - West Community Mission Coordinator
Eduardo Moreno - Hispanic Evangelist and Pastor (Not Pictured)
Thank you for your Shared Mission Partnership
Bringing the Love of Christ alive
throughout Southeastern North Carolina
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