The National Presbyterian - Houston Presbyterian Pilgrimage

April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
The National Presbyterian
The National Presbyterian
Volume 14, No 2
www.days3.com
A News Magazine ofPage
the1
National Council of
Presbyterian Fourth
Day Movements and the
National Council of
Presbyterian Cursillo
www.days3.com/Day4.htm
Hazael Campuzano, pastor of Dios es Amor in
Mexico City attended a recent Austin weekend.
Here’s what he had to say about it.
It’s like we had returned to the
times of our Lord Jesus
God bless and guard you in his power each day. I
haven't had enough time to savor the delicious
moments which happened at Pilgrimage. For me
Pilgrimage is:
It's like we had returned to the times of our Lord
Jesus and as if in a movie we saw his love, his
actions renewing, caring, loving and sending his
people to serve the world.
I believe that it was an experience that my heart
has been needing in order to continue feeling and
living in the love of God.
Each part of the program had its own purpose and
reasons, and carried us from one peak to another,
one surprise after another.
The experience of the communion after a personal
call (Samuel, Samuel) reminded me of that moment in which God called me to serve Him--a
time in which I had nothing to offer to my Lord,
without tools, without possibilities, but it occurred
to Him to call me to serve him on this earth.
I followed without understanding why, but I live
gratified each day because of it.
The experience of the foot washing brought to
mind the humility of our Lord Jesus, his desire to
cleanse us and remove from us whatever disturbance in order to achieve a deep and personal relationship with him.
April, 2012
Each person's rollo left in front of us his/her heart,
and the pastors and Maria have impacted my life.
But the experiences of the transforming power of
God in all of the rollo givers made me think about
how all of us are special to our God.
I can say with all my heart that Pilgrimage has left
a deep imprint in my heart in such a way that I
cannot continue being the same, the change prepared by God has begun in me to live in the 4th
day, day after day.
Each one of the leaders showed to us the love of
God, the people who served at the tables were excellent, and their smiles and heart had me feeling
like I was surrounded by family.
Thanks to all the staff for their hard work and dedication to the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, even
though we know that we did not even see all the
work that went on behind the scenes.
As I commented to several (especially Jim and
Mike), our dream is to begin Pilgrimage next year
in Mexico. Next week I'm going to meet together
with the participants of Pilgrimage to begin to
pray and discern what the Lord wishes us to do in
the future. We continue to believe that next year in
November would be the date for the first Pilgrimage in Mexico. To that end, we covet your prayers, and God willing several of you can accompany us in the first offering of Pilgrimage, training
and preparations. We also would love to sing with
the songs you have developed, and begin in the
ways you have come to practice.
With much love, Hazael
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
Contents
1. Testimony From Mexico City
2. Your Very Own Angel
2. Distribution of the Cursillista
3. & 4.Music For A Weekend
4. S P O N S O R
5. Editorial: But Why Should I?
5. Rita and Roy
6. Recruitment
6. Cartoon
7. to 10. Highlights Of The National Council
Meeting
11. T h e T r i p o d
12. Speaking Of Three Legged Stools
12. Web Site Links
13. Weekends Currently Scheduled
14. Contacts.
Please Note:
My e-mail address is changing.
From now on, it will be
[email protected]
Tom Fox
Your very own
angel says:
Page 2
The National
Presbyterian
February, 2012
A Publication of The National Council of Presbyterian
Fourth Day Movements and
The National Council of Presbyterian Cursillo
The Communities:
Alabama Presbyterian Cursillo
Arkansas Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Austin (Texas) Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Chicagoland Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Colorado Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Eastern Oklahoma Presbyterian Cursillo
Eastern Virginia Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Florida Presbyterian Cursillo
Georgia Presbyterian Cursillo
Houston Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Indiana Presbyterian Cursillo
James (Virginia) Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Louisiana Presbyterian Cursillo
Michigan Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Mississippi Presbyterian Cursillo
Nebraska/Iowa Presbyterian Pilgrimage
North Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage
North Texas Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Oklahoma Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Palo Duro (Texas) Presbyterian Cursillo
Peaks (Virginia) Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Shenandoah (Virginia) Presbyterian Pilgrimage
South Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Tennessee Valley Presbyterian Cursillo
Distribution of the Cursillista
God even
loves you
on April
Fools Day!
Distribution of the Cursillista is a bit ad hoc—that
is to say, improvised—where it even exists. Each
issue is sent to someone in each community whose
name has been given to me as the e-mail distributor for that community. That person may or may
not actually e-mail the current issue to the fourth
day of the community. In at least one case, the
Cursillista is placed on the community web site.
There is apparently a problem that some communities have distributing an e-mail attachment of more
than 1MB. For that reason, I send it out in sections of less than 1MB. as well as in a single file
containing the full version. Please help this work
get into the hands of the fourth day.
Tom
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
Tom Boehmer of North Texas is our national
music coordinator. (Head music cha, to you.) He
graciously shares this with us
Music for a Pilgrimage/Cursillo
Weekend
If you haven’t been a Head Music Cha, you may
have wondered why the Moderator asks you not to
make requests of the music chas. The answer is
that, just like the talks, the music for the weekend
is structured to develop over the weekend in a
planned manner.
The Head Music Cha takes a lot of time selecting
and arranging the music for the weekend. Those
who are unaware of the “master plan” may be surprised that the music team will not honor a request
to do a specific song that may be an excellent song
on its own. It just may not fit into the time and
place for which it is requested . . . that and the fact
that the music team may have been working with
the existing playlist for some time and rehearsing
for quite a while. You should understand their reluctance to do an impromptu version of an otherwise excellent song without adequate preparation.
You might notice that the songs you are singing in
the first few sets are very different from the ones
you are singing Sunday afternoon. The music is
selected so that initially it is familiar and nonchallenging, at least in the spiritual or emotional
sense. I personally like to use a few hymns, like
How Firm a Foundation or Be Thou My Vision to
develop some comfort for the participants.
In terms of lyric content, the songs that make
some demands or ask for a commitment are best
left to Sunday, or late Saturday. Initially, the songs
should present non-challenging statements about
or to God and/or Jesus and progress with the talks
to that commitment by the end of the weekend.
Songs that the music team knows (or may expect)
that the staff will be raising their hands and/or using many expressive gestures might be minimized
until after we have a “Hand Raising” talk on Friday evening. Immediately following that particular
talk is when we do Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Lord I Lift
Your Name on High and a few others that are hand
-raisers or songs involving expressive gestures.
Page 3
Songs like Weave Us Together should be left until
late Saturday or Sunday, after the group has become comfortable touching each other. In North
Texas we have visits from Dr. Huggy on Friday
and Saturday afternoons; by Saturday evening,
most of the reluctance to embrace one another has
been reduced. Before weaving is introduced, I like
to use the song Look All Around You which contains the line “Touch someone near you in love if
you can”. This gives participants permission to
simply touch someone else while they are singing . . . experienced staffers often find a way to
work the entire room, touching as many people as
they can.
In North Texas we have our playlists in PowerPoint slides for projection with a digital projector.
Changing the content or sequence of the music is
no longer as easy as changing overhead transparencies, or choosing another song from the songbook. This also pertains to requests to repeat a
favorite song during the weekend; the time may be
right to do it early in the weekend, but even if it
fits later, it might have to replace another more
appropriate song.
Song selection is also often made on the basis of
the talk about to be presented. It is easy to see the
connection between the song Thy Word and the
Study talk, or Amazing Grace and the Grace talk.
Other connections are not so obvious, but the head
music cha might be looking for these subtle
things.
If you are or will be a head music cha, here are
some more things to think about.
Another criterion for song selection is the time of
day. For example, the first set after lunch should
have some up-tempo tunes that get folks moving
to offset the quantity of food they have just consumed. Early morning is not the time to sing songs
that are in too high a key, or have too many high
notes.
Most groups of non-professional singers do not
have treble voices (soprano and tenor). The most
frequently sung note in a song should be no higher
than C above middle C. An occasional note above
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
Page 4
this is acceptable so long as it is not prolonged.
For those of you so musically inclined, the Presbyterian Hymnal generally follows this guideline.
Check it out. People are not singing comfortably
and worshipfully if they are straining to hit those
high notes that sound so good on the CD by the
tenor songwriter. Sometimes a song will have to
be transposed to a key more comfortable for the
group.
Music team members should always remember
that the top of their priority list is the experience
of singing for the staff and participants. The music
is not a performance, but an accompaniment. Eye
contact and engagement is very important in encouraging everyone to worship through song. I
make it a point to look at each person in the room
as often as I can. Obviously, spending too much
time looking at lyrics or chords or musical scores
will prevent you from engaging the entire group.
This why rehearsal is important: the team should
be familiar enough with the music that they are
free to spend less time looking at their music
stands. It is OK if you don’t get all the lyrics right
or miss a little of the melody now and then; this is
not nearly important as modeling worship through
song.
So now you see that the music on the weekend is
not spontaneously or haphazardly thrown together
merely to entertain or provide an opportunity to
sing all of our favorite tunes. The flow of the music should fairly closely follow the flow of the
talks, reinforcing the development of that commitment we want all of our participants to take home
with them.
Following is stolen from His Light, the newsletter
of South Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage.
S PONSO R
You may recall the Music Box video. An ordinary man discovers an attractive box. When he
opens it, glorious music explodes from it and a
jazzy quartet serenade him with joyful HALLELUJAHS. Our hero closes the box and returns to
his family. They see a new man full of joy and
love and he shares his new discovery.
Clearly this metaphor is an illustration of our need
to share the joy and love of Jesus after we have
received them. We are commissioned to pass on
this transformation to those who are in our environments—family, friends, associates. It is the
ACTION leg of the Tripod of Piety, Study and
Action.
We are also called to action as we serve as the
hands and feet of Jesus to deliver the invitation
from Holy Spirit to those called to make a Three
Day Weekend. Is God asking you to ACT? Ask
for guidance. Check out the tips for recruiting
and inviting found on page 6 and under ACTION
on page 11 of this issue and go to work.
It is easier than ever to register [just be sure that
you are well aware of how the pilgrim’s weekend
experience is to be paid for under the standards
set by your community—pilgrim fee, scholarship
support, etc.]
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
An editorial
But Why Should I?
God has given us many, many precious gifts.
He gave us the wonderful gift of his love, just as
we saw in the movie “The Music Box”.
We are hesitant to share God’s love, just as was
the man who found the music box.
God gave us the gift of Cursillo… for us to share
God’s love with others.
There was a time when we didn’t have much of a
problem getting people to come to our weekend
retreats and share God’s love. That time has
passed.
Whether it’s the economy, or the confusion within
our denominations, or whether we simply won’t
share it, or whether we’re somehow just being
tested – we don’t have as many pilgrims with
whom we can share the precious gift of Cursillo as
we used to.
Much has been written about the “How To” of
getting people to attend our weekend retreats. The
pages of past and current issues of the Cursillista
are filled with ideas about that.
Little has been written about the “But Why Should
I?” aspect of it, however.
Surely God understands that we might be embarrassed or rejected if we really tried hard to recruit
folks.
The last Cursillo I worked had 19 pilgrims. We
were prepared to accept 36 As a result, seventeen
of God’s children will never know the wonder of
God’s Cursillo. (Even if every future Cursillo fills
up, the grand total of all the pilgrims we’ve served
will be seventeen fewer than we could have
served.)
That’s because my friends of the Fourth Day and I
couldn’t be bothered, or couldn’t take the time
away from more important (?) things, or couldn’t
risk rejection or looking foolish in order to do an
effective job of recruiting pilgrims.
There appears to be a tendency to convert some of
our weekends to other purposes when we don’t
recruit enough pilgrims to hold a weekend.
Whether they are ‘pilgrim free’ retreats, or service
projects or simply extended Ultreyas, they are fine—but they are not getting the ministry of Cursillo done.
Cursillo has thrived worldwide for over sixty
years. Why have we all of a sudden reached an
impasse in recruiting pilgrims?
Why can we not understand that we need to get
face to face with prospects and explain why we
believe God is calling them to attend Cursillo; that
it’s between two of God’s children, one on one—
person to person?
Tom
Rita, what’s it mean to
’Evangelize Our Environment’?
Surely God doesn’t want us to look like fools by
expressing our religion in front of other people.
Surely God understands that we simply don’t have
the time to spare from the important things we
have to do to sit down with people and help them
become aware of the Holy Spirit’s call for them to
attend Cursillo.
Surely God doesn’t expect us to spend a lot of our
own time and resources trying to help people understand the benefits of attending our retreats.
Page 5
It means to reform our communities after the Kingdom
of God, Roy!
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
RECRUITMENT
In the previous issue of the Cursillista, Editor
Tom Fox identified ten possible topics for consideration in ways to revitalize flagging communities
of the Presbyterian expressions of Cursillo. He
correctly listed the first one as, “How can we
make actual, effective recruitment of participants a mainstream ongoing effort of our
movement.” I say correctly because Pre-Weekend
is the most important of the three phases; PreWeekend, Weekend, and Post-Weekend.
Our agreement with the National Secretariat of
Cursillo says, The Presbyterian Cursillo Movement must be … operative in its three phases of
Pre-Cursillo, 3-Day Cursillo, and Post-Cursillo,
following the guidance of The Fundamental Ideas
of the Cursillo Movement and the Manual of Presbyterian Cursillo. Our natural inclination is to
identify the Weekend as the most important of the
three phases, because of the excitement and euphoria that Holy Spirit generates during those
three days. Later as a community matures, it begins to appreciate the value of the Fourth Day
(Post –Weekend), not as a support for the mountaintop Weekend, but as a time of perseverance in
PIETY, STUDY, and ACTION in the valley of
drudgery, disappointment, disease, despair, depression, debt, dirty diapers, and the devil. This is
where the action is among the factories and farms
and football fields and fellowships and friendships
and family and fraternities. This is where we are
called to live and to witness to the love of Christ.
Group Reunion and Ultreya provide us with encouragement and accountability to combat the
deadly D‘s listed above. Through the empowerment of Holy Spirit, we persevere to become personally bold in putting the purpose of the movement into reality. Armed with the connection to
God through PIETY and the knowledge of God
and His Word through STUDY, we are equipped
to be His ambassadors in APOSTOLIC ACTION,
the purpose. But, without an effective application
of the Pre-Weekend phase, we handicap the PostWeekend phase. Candidates haphazardly recruited
or recruited for the wrong reasons will be ill
equipped to apply the experience and lessons of
the Short Course in Christianity.
The Weekend is rigorously structured and we all
Page 6
know of its effectiveness. Why do we neglect to
structure the Pre-Weekend with the same diligence of documentation, training, and practice
that we apply to the Weekend? Literature
(documentation) is available. (See Fundamental
Ideas of the Cursillo Movement and its companion
The Leaders’ Manual.) Other denominational expressions of Cursillo have good literature on the
Pre-Weekend as well.
Presbyterian Cursillo in Houston has prepared a
wonderful Sponsor Booklet which covers recruitment. I have Presbyterian adaptations of the PreWeekend discussion of The Leaders’ Manual that
can be emailed to you. I can also email the Houston Sponsor Booklet, but you may want to get
permission from them to copy it, though it does
not list a copyright.
If you wish copies of the above or a number of
other Cursillo Movement issues, email me at
[email protected].
Ultreya,
Tom Bullock, SCPC9
Sure you can pay your
taxes with palanca—just
file Form 1040PAL.
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
Many thanks to our national secretary, Kerry
Goldmeyer, for letting me have her notes from the
March 30 and 31 National Council meeting, hosted by our North Texas community. I didn’t even
give her time to sort thru her notes before nagging
her for them. Kerry works very hard at keeping
our movement connected and informed. In case
you wonder, SD apparently means Spiritual Director, which is sometimes used to mean spiritual
advisor – that’s clergy to you!
Highlights From The National
Council Meeting
Extracted from Community Reports:
Scholarships and weekend financing:
South Carolina is increasing scholarships for their
weekends…Peaks on its weekend #45 rediscovered themselves by using the dates of their canceled weekend number 45 as a community retreat
for the fourth day. They are seeking a new retreat
facility since Camp Hat Creek has closed… Arkansas is holding its first pilgrimage weekend later
this month. Concerned about the weekend, SD &
Staff decided that if not enough pilgrims they
would do a weekend for themselves. They now
have a plan, struggle with enough participants.
Council is going through their roster and calling
asking for them to get reengaged, reconnecting
with folk have not seen in a while. Sent letter with
budget to fourth day before they did phone
Calls…Georgia Moderators commit to 3 weekends but pay for 1, have to have experienced table,
cha & Talk to be qualified. Georgia Moderators
are allowed to scholarship two staff members …
Tennessee Valley does not scholarship staff, only
pilgrims, but encourages community to support
folks who need $$. Take collection at all meetings for scholarships. They have renegotiated
camp fee to a flat fee. ... Eastern Oklahoma provides 1 scholarship for staff unless it is paid back
then can ask again. …North Texas is passing the
boot for scholarship contributions…. Peaks pilgrims are paid for by their sponsor, do not have
specific staff policy… Palo Duro as publicity
gave all pilgrims $10 from scholarship to remind
folk….Georgia subsidizes the weekend…. Arkansas has raised staff fee, but still subsidizes...
North Texas usually absorbs about $1500 of the
Page 7
cost per weekend. Most communities say they
are subsidizing the weekends to some extent.
Other Community Reports:
Louisiana Taste of Cursillo is a pulpit supply opportunity, This Louisiana promotional activity
uses church’s bulletins, gives regular music personnel a day off, uses volunteers for worship services, - typically a ‘sermonette’ with two short
witness testimonies. They’ve done this about six
times in the last year. Getting the word out, seed
planting. Are reinvigorating fourth day, receive
some regularly monthly donations. Was initially
dependent on Houston for musicians, now growing their own music chas. Louisiana was concerned about one weekend – they had elected a
Moderator with strong charismatic background,
also very artsy, though not as organized as some.
She had one of the most diverse set of pilgrims
ever seen, one of the most powerful weekends
ever. They had a huge ultreya after phoning the
fourth day.
North Texas By word of mouth, people see a
difference in people and a difference in the
churches being affected. Have had a couple very
ecumenical, very ethnically diverse weekends.
Started to pass the boot - have a ‘Pay it forward’
philosophy. For transition from Cursillo to Pilgrimage, not making any wholesale changes.
Weekend trainer is working with both the Moderator and Observing Moderator. Trainer to contact
heads. The heads get a leaders manual now and a
trainer too; making a difference in the team. They
feel that secrecy may be a problem – so they’ll tell
whatever the enquirer wants to know. They feel
it’s okay to change the videos they use, but urge
that we remember the message it replaces: does
the new video give the same message or would an
exercise be a better replacement. It is not just a
video for a video. Young people have had a lot of
trouble with both “Alfredo” and the “Music Box”,
miss the message, and or can’t get past the quality
or “age” of the video.
Peaks gives each pilgrim a mug with their name
on it, it is part of the Palanca for the weekend. It is
green but also a great reminder. Team brings own
mugs to weekend. Table guides wash cups. Re-
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
freshments are available in the talk room, but are
served only on request. The screen is not where
the musicians are – emphasizing that the music is
not performance. There is a need to change staff.
The concern is to stop doing weekends and get the
4th day in order and weekends will take care of
selves.
Houston recently held its first Pilgrimage weekend. Had some discouraging ‘come to Jesus’ moments, reminders that it is not ours; had to call
off/postpone a weekend. Moderator brought to
council, did not have a drop dead point, no process. Made painful decision to postpone, have had
two weekends since, but still painful. Decided 12
was the minimum number of pilgrims to hold a
weekend - 3 tables of 4 needed for robust conversation. They are working on the top five recommendations from Kristin Huffman’s doctoral thesis: Change to Pilgrimage, simplify food
(gluttony, interrupting), music, (sets 5-6 songs ),
secrecy is part of the difficulty, thinking of publishing schedule outline. They are looking at why
younger folk are not attending their weekends.
People who have attended their teen celebration
weekends in the past are part of that “youth”.
They held a very successful covenant weekend.
They are experimenting with movies.
Michigan Has two different communities, splits –
one Grand Rapids and western Michigan, the other, newer - Detroit. Could people be on the team,
head chas some left and have a good number of
SD, problem with music only on main guitar person who has a medical issue, schedule is crammed
with too much fluff. The camp they use has an
upper and lower camp so time used up moving.
Detroit side had 4 guests, smaller team, shortage
of SD, a new church development church dropped
out, had 3 SD talk by outside experienced SD.
Had more individual reflection time. Michigan
having problems with getting community and regular prayer banner palanca. Palanca site register to
send to or get send www.3dayol.org Bradley
Wong. Can send to secretary (Kerry) and she will
forward.
Alabama First Presbyterian Church, Pensacola,
Florida is involved in the Alabama community (3
churches in Florida are). One of their pilgrims is
Page 8
to be the moderator of Presbytery. Weekend #28
has 20 pilgrims signed up. Staff fee is $250, with
some flex in cost. Having benefitted from an estate gift, pilgrims are asked for $100. Each fourth
day person is asked for $25/year. Raising SD
number to 4 on weekend staff has been a good
thing – they are more spread out. Using as
Woodie Allen movie (?)… in Barcelona, have
substituted Tin Man for this weekend. (Georgia
has used Tin Man very successfully for several
years instead of “Alfredo”.) Palanca rule: if it is
not in an envelope it is given privately. If so,
must also provide for roommate.
Eastern Oklahoma has an active Cursillo council, have had to cancel 3 weekends over the years they need at least 10 pilgrims to be cost effective.
Now they will have a work weekend instead to
support the camp.
Tennessee Valley located mostly in north & central Alabama, with some in Chattanooga area.
They are committed to Cursillo. They had a small
weekend #16, and #17 was postponed. Have better active leadership on Council and dedicated
themselves to communicate to the 4th day that this
is serious stuff. They are resolved not to cancel
another weekend. Moved pilgrim application
deadline 90 days, so know pilgrims before staff.
Spring Cursillo has the maximum number of pilgrims, with 2 on the waiting list, staff apps are in
as well. 4th day folks are located in pockets, each
church has someone to be the key. They ask 4th
day group by church to do party, or serenade.
They ask them to get active in some way. They
will do almost anything to get pilgrims to come.
Have some trouble getting Pastors to serve. Will
send Pastor & Spouse to go to another community
as pilgrims if they prefer. Got Presbyter to attend a weekend and that helped with camp negotiation. Hard spots Emmaus was in area long before they were. Will have cooking chas this weekend.
Arkansas’ Ultreyas are open to all and especially
to possible pilgrims
Austin Have been discouraged, weekend #31
had 22 pilgrims, #32 had 30. Numbers seem declining. Talked to SD who has served 4-5 week-
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
ends, but now hesitates to send to a weekend…
had new divorcees, addictions.. had dominated the
table conversations. Took Houston sponsor book
and added to it a section on Shepherding. Give
the shepherds guidance re their responsibility to
pilgrim; this seems to work much more smoothly.
Ultreyas not much excitement except for welcome
home; summer one and holiday one will begin to
have/be a service project open to families and
church members, Thanksgiving side by side kids
worship with and pot luck. APP#30 had 4 participants from Mexico. Minister would love to have
Pilgrimage in Mexico City on tap for Summer
2013. See page 1 of this issue.
Georgia is living through a difficult time. Postponed 40th weekend since no pilgrims signed up.
Weekend scheduled was Palm Sunday. This made
it hard to recruit Music Chas. Already have beginnings for summer weekend. Renewal groups
monthly are to many too high a level of commitment. Council is working on moderator development, reaching out to folks and asking them to get
specific experience over time. Have changed bylaws so a 4th day folk from other tradition could
lead a weekend. Had gone to training “light”, so
are training more intentionally. Hold three weekends a year. Relationship with Camp got rough 2/3 GA fault so are working to fix the relationship,
just with personality change.
Mississippi Weekend #8 had 35 pilgrims. It was
held at a different camp, very experienced in hosting Walk to Emmaus weekends. Fee went from
$150 to $250 for staff. The staff fee covers Pilgrims and Staff. Weekend is a gift to Pilgrims to
get them invested in the weekend. Folk very excited about the facility as it was designed for Walk to
Emmaus so worked better. Have Scholarship fund
- need varies from weekend to weekend. Some
churches from Presbytery have them in budget so
can scholarship if need arises. Several people
over the last 2 weekends from the Presbytery north
of Jackson. They want to have their own community. Looking at getting TV< MS < AL to share
national training. Adv Cursillo have core group of
musicians that go out to various churches. Attendance at Ultreyas averages 50 to 60.
Oklahoma They have struggled with making 4th
day energized, as with other communities. Have a
Page 9
th
quarterly newsletter that is emailed to the 4 day.
Council built a face book page. It has not taken
off but it does allow folk to keep in touch (big
space) Special thing celebrating 20th at First Presbyterian Church, Edmond, OK funded since started to a degree. Never not able to do something.
Cay Wright is the RSVP. Moved serenade to
closing to get 4th day at the very last thing at the
end just before closing.
Chicago Is revitalizing the 4th day one weekend
each year. Advent gathering like going to morning chapel. Hold discussion after. May be adding
doing a mission project. Renewal group formation meeting to get them connected.
Palo Duro The first night, the staff serenaded pilgrims with ‘servant song’. This set the tone before going to chapel. ‘Hear what I am not saying’
was done by a person dressed in black with a
mask on. Covenant weekend arose because we
needed the 4th day to persevere, more than staffing…. spiritually to enhance the discipleship.
Looked at Palo Duro renewal, will do a third one
in September had wide range of folk, long table
discussion time. Lots of video clips, short music
sets on pick up music team no specific musician,
used follow up survey`1/3 re spiritual renewal.
Relaxed pace, contemplative Taize service Friday.. highly recommend for any community for 4th
day. Suggestion re article in Cursillista PD has
renewal weekend scheduled May 4-6.
Palanca:
Tennesee Valley struggles to cut back on individual palanca gifts, as does Chicago where they
discourage gift giving to avoid having pilgrim
roommates who get none. Staff prayer partner and
pilgrim you prayed for get notes. David Hupp
sponsored a friend to Walk to Emmaus, where
they rationed palanca and sent the rest with the
sponsor to be given to the pilgrim. . Mississippi
puts their palanca in a big paper bag. They feel a
need to cutback.
Other Business:
Discussed possibility of having a booth at the
General Assembly in Pittsburgh this year. Do we
want to try to do this? Can we man the booth?
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
Who would be point of contact – Bill? Dave Hupp
can round up about 5 to help man the booth in PA.
Regional Training recap report . Bart Henson
reported on Colorado training – had 32 from Colorado, 4 from Oklahoma. Evaluation average rated high. Engagement exercise with stickers, find
energy in community and added it to tailor to their
needs. A longer history than some. Used mail
outs before and after via email to get some reading
done, making a covenant to read so could have
more time to meet face to face. Lots more table
and face to face time, used short video to change
pace. Notebook materials need to be reordered to
be chronological & bullet point sequential outline.
Need to take leadership out of title so a turn off to
prospective folk, nor imply that the community is
in trouble. Maybe add music, add some successful
Pre and Post activities. Have no trainings set yet
for 2012, several in conversation, can have fee,
there is support no cost to the host community,
host housing & Local transportation for trainer,
food and facility actually getting printing done
though National will pay for copying this is training for 4th day that need an understanding of the
overall method of the program and purpose of
weekend. How do we strengthen the pre & post?
Program has grown.
Younger people How to get more younger people
involved. Described what Cursillo is and then
talked about how to make more interesting to
younger folk, De-emphasize the Presbyterian tiein, young folk are less denominationally tied,
many young folk at their church might not be
members so could have other background, push
back by re community. The older people are the
folks who are denominationally tied
Spiritual Advisor list needs to be revised. Please
give updated information to Kerry.
Status reports on new and prospective communities:
Oklahoma is working with a group in Wichita,
Kansas.
Mississippi is working with a north Mississippi
group.
Austin is working with a group in Mexico City.
[Note: North Carolina’s work continues in devel-
Page 10
oping the Oregon community. I presume Houston
continues trying to help start a Southern California community. Two large churches in upstate
South Carolina may be ripe for development of a
new community there. Tom]
Newsletter the Cursillista needs lots of input from
many sources. Lots of work, Tom needs help getting all the dates for weekends—he needs community information. Keep a positive attitude Glenn
sharing with new pilgrim found it discouraging.
Dave Hupp sent to Tom today, sympathizes with
need for others to write new /news for the news
letter wide audience suggestions for what is working can talk about challenges.
Status Report of National Music Committee Tom
Boehmer. There is a need for a musician data base.
Tom is working w/ Tom on a page for musicians
page on website.
Tom Fox, Tom Bullock proposed Cursimage
forum. They offered to host/edit an e-mail forum
to evaluate problems facing our movement and
proposing solutions. The forum would include national roster and community council members,
plus anyone else who is interested. Each monthly
(?) edition would deal with a particular problem,
and would solicit input from fourth day leadership
as well as review our basic documentation on the
subject. A motion was made to endorse this. The
motion was defeated.
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
Following is also stolen from His Light, the newsletter of South Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage.
T h e Tr i p o d
of Piety, Study, and Action is the
fundamental message of Pilgrimage. This trinity of spiritual disciplines provides a foundation of our faith walk. We
connect with God's Spirit in Piety; we learn of Father
God and His plan and love for us in Study; and then,
equipped with relationship and understanding, we serve in
place of God's Son as we reach out in love to others
through Action. This page of your newsletter offers observations and suggestions for exercising these three spiritual
disciplines: Piety, Study, and Action. For comments
for publication: Send to Tom Bullock at
[email protected].
P I E T Y If you are like me, you have suffered
through a worship service on Sunday morning
and saw all of the flaws. The sermon was boring,
the choir was off key, the organist missed a note
or two... Besides that it lasted too long and
changes were made that broke the accustomed
tradition. I left saying I was not filled.
We often come on Sundays expecting to be entertained. We see ourselves as an audience with the
music of the choir and the sermon something
that should be pleasing to us. Indeed, our architecture encourages this, because it is much like a
theater with rows of seats, a stage, and what may
be seen as performers, the musicians and the
preacher.
Our perception is flawed. The choir and preacher
are not performers. They are the directors of the
drama. We, sitting in the pews, are the performers and God is the audience. You might say that
we are there to entertain Him. He is waiting to
hear and see us perform His praises. The next
time you come to Sunday worship, ask God to
help you t o be a good performer, led by the directors, for the benefit of the audience, the Trinity. See if you can get an Academy Award for
best performer. See you Sunday.
S T U D Y A couple of years ago Rick Warren
became a very popular author in the church community and even captured a sizable segment of
the secular community as readers of his best
seller, The Purpose Driven Life (PDL). This easily read text is an excellent study for all of us, as
it focuses on the Great Commission and the
Great Commandment, corollaries and an expan-
Page 11
sion of the Tripod of spiritual disciplines. PDL
uses scripture extensively to help the reader discover what Father calls us to be as His children.
These quotations are from a variety of translations to make the point more vivid and more
relevant to our place and time. The forty short
chapters may be seen as meditations with a
reflection question at the end of each. A chapter
a day is recommended, but a slower pace may
be adopted. Just be consistent and diligent.
This book is an excellent resource for group
discussion. One group met weekly, opening and
closing with prayer. Each person was given two
minutes to share his or her observations from
the readings, while the others withhold any comments. After all have shared, the floor is opened
for free discussion. A convener opens and closes the grouping and exercises gentle discipline.
A C T I O N This `apostolic action' includes
discipleship. Recruiting for a Pilgrimage Weekend is truly discipleship. The following is a
possible procedure for recruiting. Our guiding
principle is prayer and planning. Ask God to
lead in each step of our project. Make a plan. If
we fail to plan we plan to fail.
A proposed plan: Pray to be led to those Father
has chosen.
Select 3 individuals and/or couples from your
church directory. Pray, then call the first on your
list and invite to lunch or a quiet meal at home.
If that is not successful, try the next on the list.
Pray. Prepare for the meeting. Get an application and fill in the information known to you.
Check for available Weekend dates. Review
your Pilgrimage experience. Rehearse your
presentation out loud. Tell about the format and
the people of the weekend. Tell about the joy.
Tell about the change in your life. Answer objections. If possible give two solutions to the
objection and ask which is best for them.
First ask if you can be their sponsor. Then ask
them to make a Pilgrimage. Invite questions.
Answer honestly, hiding nothing about the
Weekend. Secrets are destructive.
Get the completed application and send to the
Registrar. Thank God for whatever the results.
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
Speaking of Three Legged Stools
Known by some as John Knox’s three legged
stool, it resides in St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, where I took this picture. It is really
thought to have belonged to a woman by the name
of Jenny Geddes—who is said to have thrown it at
John Knox—’tho many historians say she hurled
it at the Dean of the cathedral, James Hannay, in
1637. Other historians claim that the whole story
was made up in the nineteenth century. Regardless
of the actual history, it seems unlikely that Jenny
Geddes shopped for her clothes in the petit department of her local dress shop.
One thing that is clear is that the dispute was over
the imposition by the King of England of a new
prayer book on the Church of Scotland.
St. Giles is regarded by many as the ‘mother
church’ of Presbyterianism world wide. It was
ranked as a cathedral before becoming a part of
the Church of Scotland. Since we Presbyterians
have no cathedrals, that is only a courtesy—or
historic—title today. It is now a parish church,
just like all our other churches.
St. Giles holds five services every Sunday and a
total of about 14 services each week.
My son-in-law, John Hurkmans made a replica of
this square three legged stool for my wife and me
to give as a gift to our new Florida Presbyterian
Cursillo group.
Tom
Page 12
Web Sites
About Presbyterian Cursillo and Pilgrimage in
General
www.days3.com - for prospective pilgrims
www.days3.com/Day4.htm - for the fourth day
www.cursillo.com - of general interest
Web sites of specific communities:
Alabama www.alpresbyteriancursillo.com
Arkansas www.pilgrimage-arkansas.org
Autin www.austinpresbyterianpilgrimage.org
Chicagoland www.chpilgrimage.org
Colorado www.coloradopilgrimage.org
Eastern Oklahoma
www.geocities.com/eopcursillo
*** Eastern Virginia www.days3.com/EV.htm
Florida www.floridacursillo.org
Georgia
www.georgiapresbyteriancursillo.com
Great Plains Omaha) www.gpppilgrimage.org
Houston www.houstoncursillo.org
Indiana www.ipcursillo.org
James Virginia www.PJPilgrimage.org
Louisiana
www.louisianapresbyteriancursillo.org
Michigan www.mppilgrimage.org
Mississippi www.mspresbyteriancursillo.com
North Carolina www.ncpilgrimage.org
North Texas Adult: www.ntpp.org
Youth: www.northtexascelebration.com
Oklahoma www.days3.com/OK.htm
Palo Duro www.paloduropresbytery.org
Peaks Virginia - www.peakspresbytery.org/
pilgrimage.html
Shenandoah Virginia - www.math.jmu.edu/
~sanders/SPP.html
South Carolina
www.scpresbyterianpilgrimage.org
Tennessee Valley www.cursillo.com/tvpc.htm
*** The community does not yet have it's own
separate web site. This will take you to the
community web page in our national web site.
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
Page 13
Weekends Currently Scheduled
Adult Weekends College Age Weekends High School Age Weekends
Dates
Weekend
Lay Leader
Apr 12 to 15, 2012
Alabama Presbyterian Cursillo # 28
Ames Yokel
Apr 12 to 15, 2012
North Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 112
Scott Carr
Apr 19 to 22, 2012
Peaks Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 48
TBA
Apr 19 to 22, 2012
Nebraska/Iowa Great Plains Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 11
Chuck Shafer
Apr 19 to 22, 2012
Tennessee Valley Presbyterian Cursillo # 18
Laurel Blackwell
Apr 19 to 22, 2012
Houston Presbyterian Cursillo # 67
Elizabeth Reaves
Apr 26 to 29, 2012
Arkansas Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 16
Madeleine Middleton
Apr 26 to 29, 2012
Chicagoland Presbyterian Pilgrimage #22
Karen Bregman
Apr 26 to 29, 2012
Colorado Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 25
Jim Chamley
Apr 26 to 29, 2012
Michigan Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 21
Carol Pierce
Apr 26 to 29, 2012
Eastern Virginia Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 15
Jim White
Apr 27 to 29, 2012
South Carolina Celebration # 35
Jacob Woelke
May 3 to 6, 2012
South Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 62
Steve Brown
May 3 to 6, 2012
Mississippi Presbyterian Cursillo # 9
Linda McDowell
May 17 to 20, 2012
North Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 113
Ann Hooker
Jun 22 to 24, 2012
Oklahoma Celebration # 32
TBA
Jul 13 to 15, 2012
Houston Area Celebration #13
TBA
Aug 3 to 5, 2012
North Texas Celebration #14
(Tentative)
Blake Howell
Aug 16 to 19, 2012
Georgia Presbyterian Cursillo # 40
Bob Gilbert
Aug 23 to 26, 2012
Louisiana Presbyterian Cursillo # 8
Greg Roch
Sep 1 to 3, 2012
North Carolina Presbyterian Arise # 37 East
TBA
Sep 1 to 3, 2012
North Carolina Presbyterian Arise # 38 West
TBA
Sep 20 to 23, 2012
Alabama Presbyterian Cursillo # 29
Lacie Maynard
Sep 20 to 23, 2012
North Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 114
Hal Hester
Sep 27 to 30, 2012
Mississippi Presbyterian Cursillo # 10
Jim Chaney
?
Michigan Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 22-Detroit
TBA
Oct 4 to 7, 2012
South Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 63
Adair McCoy
Oct 4 to 7, 2012
Oklahoma Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 48
TBA
Oct 11 to 14, 2012
Shenandoah & James Combined Weekend (Tentative)
TBA
Oct 11 to 14, 2012
Tennessee Valley Presbyterian Cursillo # 19
TBA
Oct 11 to 14, 2012
North Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 115
Doug Brinkley
Oct 18 to 21, 2012
North Texas Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 33
Carla Szafran
Oct 18 to 21, 2012
Arkansas Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 17
Janice Ray
Oct 18 to 21, 2012
Peaks Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 49
TBA
Oct 18 to 21, 2012
Nebraska/Iowa Great Plains Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 12
Carol Rudesill
Oct 18 to 21, 2012
Michigan Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 23
TBA
Oct 19 to 21, 2012
South Carolina Celebration # 36
Bailey Lane
Oct 25 to 28, 2012
Colorado Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 26
David Conway
Nov 1 to 4, 2012
Florida Presbyterian Cursillo # 7
TBA
Nov 1 to 4, 2012
Palo Duro Presbyterian Cursillo # 26
Earlene Pike
Apr 18 to 21, 2013
Peaks Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 50!
TBA
Apr 18 to 21, 2013
Nebraska/Iowa Great Plains Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 13
Dave Bennett
May 2 to 5, 2013
Mississippi Presbyterian Cursillo # 11
Lea Ann McElroy
Sep 26 to 29, 2013
Mississippi Presbyterian Cursillo # 12
John Willett
Oct 24 to 27, 2013
Nebraska/Iowa Great Plains Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 14
TBA
The National Presbyterian
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2
Page 14
Contacts
Alabama Sissy Crowe [email protected] Terry Skinner [email protected]
Arkansas Sandra Phillips [email protected] (870) 688-9189
Debbie Cordell [email protected] (501) 209-1841
Austin Texas Brenda and Chris Grafft [email protected] (512) 263-8670
Chicagoland Eleanor Ehresman [email protected] 847-724-6205
Laura Jones [email protected]
Colorado Kathy Upton [email protected]
Eastern Oklahoma Janie Blake [email protected] (918) 367-9714 Co Edwards [email protected]
Eastern Virginia James T White [email protected] (757) 459-8220
Florida Neely Inlow [email protected] (904) 891-6000
Georgia Debi Elkins [email protected] (770) 458-6415
Houston Adult: Walter Hill [email protected] (713) 661-8488
Youth: Trish McElroy [email protected] (281) 277-1706 Rene Murphy [email protected]
Indiana Holly Stoiche on the website - www.ipcursillo.org Jay Farlow [email protected]
Doug Anderson [email protected]
James Virginia - Claudia Dickerson [email protected] (804) 550-0841
Mitch Rowland [email protected]
Louisiana Joyce Sasser [email protected] Sandy Broussard [email protected]
Michigan George Davidson [email protected] (616) 656-2782 David Andrus [email protected]
Mississippi Janet McIlwain - [email protected] (228) 875-1249
Tom Mcilwain [email protected] (228) 875-1249
Nebraska/Iowa- Great Plains Jan Nordlund [email protected] (402) 289-4810
Shelly Story [email protected] (402) 586-2634
North Carolina Adult: Jim Mason [email protected] (336) 491-9970
Arise Youth: Nancy Alderson [email protected] (910) 515-4170 (cell)
Mary Ann & Bill Kopp [email protected] Chip Todd [email protected]
North Texas Adult: Karen Harris [email protected] (903) 235-6763, Kris Turner [email protected]
Youth: Melvin Turner [email protected] (972) 618-4809
Oklahoma Adult: Sheron Davis [email protected]
Youth: Kay Denneny c/o First Presbyterian Church, 1000 S. Rankin, Edmond, OK 73034
Bob Bentley [email protected]
Palo Duro Texas - Shannon Brooks [email protected] (806) 872-6333
Chuck Nester [email protected] (806) 655-1971
Peaks Virginia - Bill Cowen [email protected] P O Box1024, Buchanan,VA 24066
Susan Caldwell [email protected]
Shenandoah - Virginia - Jeanette McCloud [email protected] Linda Mohler [email protected]
South Carolina Adult: J C Simmons [email protected] (843) 871-3944
Youth & Cross Training: Mike Allen [email protected] (843) 200-1899
Tennessee Valley Mary Snyder [email protected] (256) 558-5956
Keith Johnson [email protected] (256) 751-4392