Bike-a-Thon Sunday

New Jersey folks, check out this link which gives the route of a bike-a-thon Sunday morning running from the Ben Franklin Bridge to Lenape Park. The bridge will be closed from 6:30am to 7:30 am.

Bone Marrow Donor Drive

Avenue A Razorfish is hosting a Bone Marrow Donor Drive on Wednesday July 19th from 4-8 PM. Location is 417 N. 8th Street 2nd Fl. in Center City, and free parking will be provided. Donors will be entered in the into the Gift Of Life Bone Marrow Registry for the benefit of patients worldwide in desperate need of life saving matches. For more information, please see the flyer on the church bulletin board, or contact Tobias Klauder at tobiasklauder@hotmail.com or 267-784-6372.

SPI Meetings

The Strategic Planning Committee is interested in meeting with different groups in the church to provide an overview of where we are in the process, and answer questions. To arrange for someone to meet with your group, please contact Tobias Klauder tobiasklauder@hotmail.com, or 267-784-6372.

STTIL CDs

I have 18 copies of Speaking the Truth in Love on cd (2-set). If you would like a copy, suggested donation to cover costs is $4. Email me at mclark@tenth.org and we can figure out how to make contact. However, don't forget the complete series is available in print and audio on the internet. You can download onto cd or ipod. Just click the Speaking the Truth in Love link on the right.

October 6

Mark your calendar for October 6. You will be hearing about a Vision Night congregational meeting. Harry Landrum will not be providing free eye exams (although I am glad to serve as a referral). Rather, this is the date that the vision for which the Strategic Planning Initiative has been at work for a year will be released and brought to the congregation for discussion. Actually, the whole month of October could be called Vision-Discussion-Month. Phil will present an October series of sermons on the subject, and we are preparing a five-week series curriculum to be used in small group settings. The goal is to interact with EVERYONE.

Be in special prayer for the months leading up to this time as well. We've moved from doing mostly research to crytallizing a vision and making decisions, and about to enter into communication and deliberation with the whole congregation. I've been amazed at how much work has been done and the cooperative spirit. Even so, the more difficult work still remains - arriving at consensus among leadership and congregation. All aspects of church life will be affected. All the more reason to bathe this project in prayer that we follow the will of our Shepherd.

Scripture Readings

So how come we are reading in Genesis for our weekly Scripture Reading on Sunday mornings?

Good question! The answer is not that it is easier to find Genesis 1 than Matthew 1. Here is Phil's answer: We will build on our tradition (of Scripture readings) by doing readings from key passages in the Old Testament. Although we will be going in canonical order, and in the early weeks working consecutively through the first part of Genesis, we will not be going passage by passage through the whole Old Testament. Our goal is to edify our people with the Word of God, as we always do, but also to give the congregation a better working knowledge of the old covenant history of redemption, in its connection to Christ.

And you, my blog readers, are the first to know!

Philly Girl Friday

Check out Amy Carpenter's new website for her "Girl Friday" services: www.phillygirlfriday.com.

Til We Have Faces

I see that the next women's summer reading group is discussing Til We Have Faces this coming Monday. I believe Lewis considered it the best of his fiction work. I personally think it is a profound treatment of how we mask from ourselves the true condition of our hearts. Orual (the narrator) is the enlightened one who thinks she wants what is good and true, but eventually she must see what it truly in her heart. The final scene (which I will not disclose) before the gods is a powerful exposé of the human heart. For those of you attending, I suggest you also read the story of Cupid and Psyche of which this book is a retelling.

Birthday Greeting Report

I heard from Cora that she got plenty of birthday greetings last Sunday. Good to see how well my readers respond.

Missionary Greetings

Most of the remaining summer evening worship services will include greetings from visiting missionaries. I'm not sure who I am allowed to name, but this is a good opportunity to get reacquainted with our missionaries.

The 4th

Hope everyone had a nice 4th. We saw Superman at the IMAX theater with Vince and Signe Spragins (not the quality of a Spiderman or Batman movie), walked along the parade up the Ben Franklin Parkway, and then watched the fireworks outside our window over looking the Waterworks.

byFaith News

From byFaith's weekly report:

Summary of Actions of the 34th PCA General Assembly
Dr. L. Roy Taylor, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in America, has written a summary of the actions of the 34th PCA GA held in Atlanta June 20-23, 2006. To read it, click here.

34th PCA GA Archived Online
If you want to listen to any portion of the 34th PCA General Assembly, worship services or business sessions, click here. The 35th General Assembly will meet in Memphis, Tenn., June 12-15, 2007.

One Minute Survey on Supporting Christian Artists
In the introduction to his new book, Art for God’s Sake, Philip G. Ryken says this: “...things are even more difficult for the Christian artist [than for the secular artist]. Some churches do not consider art a serious way to serve God. Others deny that Christians in the arts have a legitimate calling. As a result, Christian artists often feel like they have to justify their existence. Rather than providing a community of support, some churches surround them with a climate of suspicion.” Does your church provide a community of support, a climate of suspicion, or are you somewhere in between. And why? Click here and take our one minute survey:

PCA Book of Church Order for Palm eReaders
The latest edition (2006) of the PCA Book of Church Order (BCO) for Palm eReader, that includes the most recent BCO amendments, is available for download. This is a service provided by Beal Heights PCA in Lawton, Okla. To download in Palm OS or Pocket PC, click http://bealheights.org/resources.html?cm_id=3 regularly to read articles and news for and about the PCA. To subscribe to the print edition of the Byfaith magazine click

Prayer Request

Be in prayer for Katy Balk and her family. Her father passed away Saturday night.

Living Church

Wasn't that a cool Living Church yesterday? Cyndy (correct spelling) Hunt gave a great interview. I hope it impresses on everyone the vital work that the IT committee is doing to make our worship available to others who cannot physically join in worship. Be sure to read the Tenth Press article as well, which you will find at the church website under "Weekly Bulletin."

By the way, I learned yesterday, trying to get on the webcast, that the icon to click will not work until the webcast is actually running. I tried yesteday morning to get on, but the icon would not work. It was the color gray and had to turn red. Even when the service began, it was still gray. Finally, I hit the restore button that refreshes the site and the button turned red.

Quiet Morning

It is a quiet morning at Tenth and in center city. Hhmm...kind of like the scene of a Western just before the big shootout.