Sunday, July 1
10:00 AM Questions of Faith: "What is The Holy Spirit?"
11:00 AM Worship/Communion, Rev. Powers preaching

Sunday, July 8
10:00 AM Questions of Faith: "Why Worship?"
11:00 AM Worship, Rev. Alison Halsey preaching
12:15 PM Session Meeting

Sunday, July 15
11:00 AM Worship, Rev. Powers preaching

Sunday, July 22
10:00 AM Questions of Faith: "How Do You Pray?"
11:00 AM Worship, Rev. Powers preaching

Sunday, July 29
10:00 AM Questions of Faith: "What's God Got to do With Evil?"
11:00 AM Worship, Rev. Powers preaching
S.O.B.E.R. Sunday

Sunday, August 5
11:00 AM Worship, Rev. Don Stroud preaching

Sunday, August 12
11:00 AM Worship/Communion, Rev. Powers preaching
1:00 PM Potluck Church Picnic at Retta Barkley's home

Sunday, August 19
11:00 AM Worship, Rev. Powers preaching

Sunday, August 26
11:00 AM Worship, Rev. Powers preaching
S.O.B.E.R. Sunday

"Questions of Faith" Video/Discussion Continues Through July

Who is God? Who is Jesus? Who are we? Join us on Sunday mornings from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. for a discussion of these and other "Questions of Faith." Each session will include a 20-min. video of religious thinkers from a variety of traditions offering provocative answers to a particular question of faith. The video will be followed by a lively discussion led by our pastor. Sessions will be held on July 1, 8, 22, & 29. (We will skip July 15.) The series is free and open to the public. All are welcome!

Meet Our Newest Members!

On June 17th, Jennifer Regnault and Melissa Christ were received as members of Light Street Presbyterian Church.

Jennifer Regnault was born in Indiana and grew up in the NY/NJ area. She attended Mary Washington College in Virginia, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Classics. Before moving to Baltimore in 2004, she resided in the Washington, D.C. area for 15 years. Jennifer has worked in the Information Technology field for over 10 years and is a senior project manager, specializing in the implementation of large-scale ERP systems. She began attending Light Street Presbyterian with Melissa about three years ago after moving to Federal Hill.

Melissa Christ is a native Marylander who grew up in northern Baltimore/Harford County. She moved downtown to the Federal Hill area about four years ago and began attending Light Street church three years ago. Melissa is the Vice President of Human Resources for Nationwide Better Health, a health and wellness company in Hunt Valley. She has her Bachelor's degree from the University of Baltimore in International Business and she is currently pursuing her Masters in HR Management at the College of Notre Dame. She also is a lifelong Orioles fan!

Melissa and Jennifer reside together in their Locust Point townhome and enjoy going to Orioles' home games (even though Jennifer is a Yankees fan), traveling, dining out, and entertaining with friends. They have enjoyed the warm welcome they have received at Light Street, and are happy to be joining the congregation.
Debbie and John Szostak, long-time residents of Ellicott City, moved to a condo just a block from the church. Debbie remains a member of Bethany United Methodist Church. John remains a member of the Orthodox Catholic Church. However, they now are also affiliate members of Light Street Presbyterian Church.

A Note From Jessica Schneider

Dear Light Street Church,

Thank you SO MUCH for the amazing farewell gifts that were given to Nick and I last Sunday. The time we have gotten to spend with everyone over these past two years has been quite a wonderful time -- the congregation is an amazing group of people who have guided and encouraged us. Thank you so very much for all your help. I will miss you terribly and wish the best for everyone.

Much love,
Jessica Schneider
Jessica_lynn_Schneider@hotmail.com

Potluck Church Picnic -- Sunday, August 12

Retta Barkley has invited the whole congregation to her home in Severna Park on Sunday, August 12, at 1:00 p.m., for a potluck picnic! Come join us! Enjoy food, fun, and games with your Light Street church family! Retta will provide fried chicken and iced tea. It's up to all of us to bring the rest: salads, desserts, soft drinks, etc. If you have a beach chair, please bring it. And, if you want to swim nearby, bring an old bathing suit and towel. We'll do it, rain or shine! Driving directions will be available in the Sunday bulletin or from the church office. Please let Retta know if you plan to come: 410-591-0910.

News From Light Street's Former Seminary Intern Rebecca Young

After doing Tsunami recovery work in Indonesia with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Becca is now preparing to teach theology at Jakarta Theological Seminary. (See article below.) She has asked for our congregation's support. To make a contribution to Rebecca Young's ministry, checks should be made payable to Light Street Presbyterian Church, clearly earmarked for Rebecca Young.

Next Stop: Indonesia
"Preacher's kid" Rebecca Young Embraces her missional heritage
by Emily Enders Odom

LOUISVILLE, March 30 -- Although a rich tradition of missionary and pastoral service runs deep in her blood, Rebecca Young will not hesitate to say that ministry was the last thing in the world that she ever thought of doing.

"The first call to which I really responded grew out of my desire to do my part to relieve world hunger," Young said. "I knew from the time that I started my master's degree in publich health nutrition that I would use it to go overseas to work in a developing countgry to help hungry people."

Because the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) was in the process of relocating to Louisville in the year Young completed her degree and was ready to explore a mission position as a nutritionist, she went instead through Church World Service on assignment in Indonesia.

For three years she worked on the island of New Guinea as a nutrition consultant, learning the language and serving at an indigenous Christian health agency.

"Since it was a church that sent me to Indonesia in the first place, I was already expected to be able to lead public prayers," Young recalled. "Then when the people there started asking me to preach, too, I was too polite to say no. Eventually, much to my surprise, I discovered that I felt very comfortable in that role."

When her Indonesian visa expired in 1993, the Asheville, N.C. native decided to return to the U.S. to enter Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. For this daughter of two Presbyterian pastors, admission into seminary was a kind of homecoming. Young thrived in the academic environment of Columbia, where she was encouraged by the faculty there to pursue a course of doctoral study at Fordham University, from which she received her Ph.D. in contemporary systematic theology. In the meantime, she was ordained to the ministry.

Upon completing her dissertation, Young found herself newly unemployed and on the job market when the Asian Tsunami hit in 2004. Because she was a Presbyterian minister with a public health background who spoke the Indonesian language, Young decided to offer her services to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, which hired and deployed her immediately to do relief in the tsunami area.

It was during that time that she met the president of Jakarta Theological Seminary, who informed her that the seminary's systematic theology professor was leaving. Young sensed God at work in their encounter.

"I am the perfect case study that trust in God puts it all together," she observed. "After years of feeling that I couldn't connect the dots of my own life experience, I saw that God was instead connecting them for me into this beautiful picture."

That "beautiful picture" is now a call to the seminary teaching position under the auspices of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands (MIJHH), the five year campaign of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) to raise $40 million for new international mission personnel and for church development in the U.S., particularly racial ethnic and immigrant congregations.

"When I left Indonesia aftger more than three years of mission work in the health field, I felt called to return to the U.S. to get a theological educataion with the goal of becoming a seminary professor," Young said. "I wanted to help pastors in training to understand the international aspects of Christianity and our worldwide mission under God. That was 14 years ago. To see that dream finally come to fruition after all this time is truly a sign of the miraculous leading of the Holy Sprirt in my life."

After accepting her new call to ministry in Jakarta, Young was engaged in a favorite hobby, family genealogical research. She was surprised to discover an ancestor who had been a Presbyterian missionary from Scotland to the New World in the early 1700s, and another who went to China in the 1870s. While she had known that her grandfather was a PCUS medical missionary in South Korea in the 1920s, Young became newly aware that mission work had an even longer tradition in her family.

"Even though being a missionary appears to be in my DNA," Young said, "I'm not unique -- being a missionary is part of our shared Presbyterian DNA. It's what we do together as a family. As the connectional church, we're all missionaries, and we are in mission together. When I'm in Indonesia, the whole church will be there alongside me in spirit through their support and prayers."

Save the Date: Saturday, September 22
POTLUCK SUPPER & TALENT NIGHT

Earlier this year there was a lot of interest in planning a talent night at Light Street Church; a night when the musicians, singers, dancers, poets, and comics in our midst could all share their talents with the congregation and the community. The Session has set a date -- Saturday night, September 22 -- and suggested that we begin the evening with a potluck supper. Please save the date for what will undoubtedly be a fun evening. Plan to invite your friends and neighbors! And, begin thinking about something you'd like to share. Is there a poem you'd like to read? A song you'd like to sing: A joke you'd like to tell?

S.O.B.E.R. Sunday - July 29 & August 26

S.O.B.E.R. stands for South Baltimore Emergency Relief. Two dedicated people, John and Elizabeth, staff the operation, caring for the homeless and others in need of special help. They stock supplies in the small basement of Holy Cross Church at 110 E. West Street. On the last Sunday of every month, we collect non-perishable food items (soups, peanut butter, tuna, and one-dish meals) for their food pantry. Flip-top cans are especially helpful for homeless persons who don't have access to kitchen facilities. Financial contributions are also welcome. Checks made payable to Light Street Presbyterian Church should be clearly marked for SOBER.

ROGER'S SCHEDULE
Roger is at Light Street Presbyterian Church (410-539-0125) on Wednesdays and Thursdays and at the First and Franklin Street Presbyterian Church (410-728-5545, ext. 12), where he is associate pastor, on Mondays and Tuesdays. Roger also can be reached by email at lightstreetchurch@cavtel.net.

SERMONS
Copies of Roger's sermons are available on the downstairs hall table. A few selected sermons are posted on this website. If you are visiting our church, please feel free to pick up a copy if you missed a Sunday. Or, pass one on to a friend!

DEADLINE FOR SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER: August 15
Send all newsletter material to John Ginovsky at jginovsk@aba.com