Presbytery mileage rate $0.255 in 2011 ($0.295 for more than one in car)

The IRS rate for business travel will be $0.51 in 2011.

The presbytery reimbursement rate is half the IRS rate for business travel.  Therefore, the 2011 presbytery rate will be $0.255 per mile for one person in the auto and $0.295 for two or more. 

If the number of presbytery miles is an odd number I will try to round to the next cent if the result would be an even number and remain as the lower number to maintain an even number.

Eastern Oregon Presbytery Meeting, Oct. 22-23, Pioneer Pres. Chruch, Burns

The Eastern Oregon Presbytery met at the Pioneer Presbyterian Church in Burns on October 22-23.  Some of the highlights:

• Nominated and elected the nominees to all vacant positions for which terms expire on December 31. 
• Including Rev. Jean Hurst to be moderator and Rev. Steve Kliewer to be Vice Moderator
• Heard reports from commissioners and staff from the 219th General Assembly of the PC(USA) held in Minneapolis in July.  
• Agreed that the 2010 and 2011 moderators will appoint task forces to review the referrals from General Assembly
• Belhar Confession - report and action in April
• New Form of Government - preliminary report in February and report and action in April
• Proposed amendment to Book of Order paragraph G-0106(b) "Sandards for Ordination) (Amendment 10-A) - preliminary report in February and report and action in April
• Proposed other amendments to the Book of Order (Amendments 10-B to 10-O) - report and action in February
• Task forces to deal with the following study and action items will be appointed in February
• Middle East Study Report
• Study reports on civil unions and Christian Marriage
• presbytery and model congregation sexual misconduct policie
• There was no report from the commissioners to the Synod of the Pacific as  their meeting was going on in Burlingame, CA, on Friday
• Renewed the commissions of Commissioned Lay Pastors Todd Bensel, Skip Iscore, and Richard I, Patt.
• Renewed the Stated Supply assignment of Steve Kliewer to the church in Lostine.
• Heard the Elder James Kauth, of Baker City, is beginning Commissioned Lay Pastor training.
• Adopted administrative and ecclesiastical budget that provides for total 2011 per capita for presbytery, synod , and General Assembly of $25 per 12/31/09 member.
• Adopted mission program and its budget for 2011.

These are some of the highlights,   For more information contact your pastor or church's commissioner to presbytery or me. 

Presbytery meeting is Friday in Burns

The presbytery meeting is coming together well.   The nominating committee met filled the positions be be elected, save one that we've not been able to fill for a couple of years and one yet to be confirmed.

The Mission Yearbooks came today so I can distribute them a the meeting.   That will replace a lot of mailing.

I created a mleage chart to help folks estimate driving distances and times.

For more information about the meeting see the web index to material http://bit.ly/9Vbpfe

Pew Center - How Much Do You Know about Religion

And how do you compare with the average American? Here's your chance to find out.

Take our short, 15-question quiz, and see how you do in comparison with 3,412 randomly sampled adults who were asked these and other questions in the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey. This national poll was conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life from May 19 through June 6, 2010, on landlines and cell phones, in English and Spanish.

When you finish the quiz, you will be able to compare your knowledge of religion with participants in the national telephone poll. You can see how you compare with the overall population as well as with people of various religious traditions, people who attend worship services frequently or less often, men and women, and college graduates as well as those who did not attend college.

The link to the full report is on the questionnaire site.

More

Eastern Oregon Presbytery to Meet October 22-23, Burns

The Eastern Oregon Presbytery will meet Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, October 22 and 23, at the Pioneer Presbyterian Church in Burns.

More information at http://bit.ly/9Vbpfe

Next meeting of Eastern Oregon Presbytery Council - Sept. 11, by phone

The September  meeting of the Eastern Oregon Presbytery Council will be by conference phone call on Saturday, Saturday, September 11, 200, 2:00 PM PDT.  All participants will be participating by phone.

To participate in the conference call, dial 866-941-8436 and enter pass code: 1047005 #.   

When the stated clerk enters the conference those on the call will be connected together.  The conference will start promptly at the stated time.

The call to the meeting and links to reference information is available at  http://bit.ly/bgPbAt

All are invited to listen in on the call.

Upcoming meetings of Presbytery

The next four stated meetings of the Presbytery of Eastern Oregon will be

October 22-23, Burns

February 19, 2011, Umatilla

April 8-9, 2011, LaGrande

October 21-22, 2011, Baker City

 At its September 11 meeting, the presbytery council will consider the schedule to consider the business referred to presbyteries from the General Assembly.  That business includes proposals to adopt the Belhar Confession (requires ratification from 2/3 the presbyteries), changes in the ordination standards (G-6.0106b), adoption of the proposed new Form of Government, and other changes in the Book of Order and Rules of Discipline.  
  If the presbytery council proposes to consider parts of the GA referrals at different meetings, it may be helpful if churches appoint commissioners who can participate in all or most of the meetings between now and April.

The full list of meetings through 2020 is here.

More information about the items before upcoming presbytery meetings is here.

Links to presbytery reference information is here