Today, we’re speaking with General Presbyter Rev. Stewart Smith from the Presbytery of Arkansas. Stewart is a lifelong Presbyterian who was born as a preacher’s kid in Charlotte, NC. He moved to Arkansas in the first grade and grew up in the Graham Memorial Presbyterian Church in Forest City. 

He graduated from Trinity University and after several years of work with Diamond Shamrock, he experienced a call to the ministry and attended Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. 

He has served as the Associate Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Fort Smith, AR and as Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Springdale, serving there until accepting the call to become the General Presbyter in October of 2015.  

Stewart is married to Laura, an elementary teacher in Maumelle and they have two sons, Ryan and Alex. In his spare time, Stewart is a runner, jogger, biker, golfer, and just a general sports guy. 

This podcast is a follow-up to our first podcast about the folks of the Presbytery of South Louisiana after Hurricane Ida. In that first podcast, Interim General Presbyter Richard Williams travelled to New Orleans over Labor Day weekend and interviewed some of the Presbyterians who are doing the work of helping their neighbors while also dealing with their own issues.

In this follow-up podcast, Richard returns to the bayou four weeks after landfall and talks first to Don and Val of Raceland Presbyterian Church, who are wrangling supplies and church building issues while being open to worship with their sister church in Gheens.

Next, Richard talks to several members of Gheens Presbyterian Church, who tell of how the church became a gathering point for supplies, a community gathering point, and serving point. Each person testifies to the presence of God during the storm and how the Holy Spirit powerfully moves four weeks later.

You can give to the ongoing work of recovery by going to the Presbytery of South Louisana’s website at pbysouthla.org.

On this episode of Sunspots, Valerie sits down with Tim Blodgett, the General Presbyter for Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery. They talk about his role as GP (side note…he’s not Bishop), his learning about when to enter situations with churches, and how some really good things have come from the pandemic. They also talk about the Native American churches in Eastern Oklahoma and the Presbytery’s efforts to rebuild not just the buildings, but also the relationships. Valerie was also surprised to discover that Tim has a really interesting background that is similar to her own.

Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery - https://www.eokpresbytery.org

This is a special episode of the Sunspots podcast, following up on what has happened in the Presbytery of South Louisiana after Hurricane Ida made landfall there. 

Interim General Presbyter Richard Williams traveled to New Orleans over Labor Day weekend, to interview the faithful Presbyterians who are responding to their local communities in the aftermath of the hurricane. Not only did he find these saints responding, but found them counting their blessings as well.

The voices you hear on this podcast are of Richard Williams; Monica LaGarde an Elder at Bayou Blue Presbyterian Church; Chris Smith, an Elder at Berean Presbyterian Church; and Dan Baker, Young Adult Volunteer Site Coordinator of New Orleans. 

You can give to the ongoing work of recovery by going to the Presbytery of South Louisiana’s website at pbysouthla.org. 

On this episode of Sunspots, we talk with Lynn Hargrove, the General Presbyter and the Stated Clerk for administrative process for the Presbytery of New Covenant. Lynn has a rich history with and respect for the people of Southeast Texas… and it shows. Being on the Gulf of Mexico means there are natural disasters aplenty. We talk about some of that as well as expectations of pastors, that hot topic of divestment, and the best things coming out of New Covenant right now.

Presbytery of New Covenant - http://pbyofnewcovenant.org

Valerie catches up with the Rev. Sallie Watson, General Presbyter to Mission Presbytery.
Recorded before the Delta Variant gained speed - Sallie talks about what those adaptive churches are doing now, and what they'll need to continue to do and be.

https://www.mission-presbytery.org/

We wanted to release this as a bonus episode, because it is a timely and important message.
Valerie visits with the Rev. Carol Waters, part-time pastor, Spiritual Director, and Director of Chaplaincy for Graduate Theological Foundation.

https://www.wovenokc.com/
https://gtfeducation.org/

On this episode of SunSpots, Valerie talks with the Rev. Charlie Smith, the Interim Presbytery Pastor for Indian Nations Presbytery.

As a second career pastor, Charlie has served congregations all over the country. They talk about the difference between congregational and mid-council ministry, their Enneagram numbers, and some of the most exciting things coming out of central Oklahoma. For Valerie, this conversation was so much fun and they even talked aobut the importance of fun. You're gonna want to listen

Indian Nations Presbytery
www.okinp.org 

Valerie talks with the Rev. Scott Campbell, Executive Presbyter of Palo Duro Presbytery. Scott answered the call to ministry after a successful career in Human Resources. He has served as the pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Lubbock for 10 years, just down the hall from the presbytery office, where he now serves as the Executive Presbyter for Palo Duro Presbytery, all this WHILE working on his doctorate in ministry at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. 

Scott opens up about this new role and ways that the congregations stepped up in pandemic times.

https://paloduropresbytery.org

In this edition of SunSpots, we’re going back to November 14th of last year when the Network for Dismantling Racism hosted a conversation with activist, public theologian, and author Christena Cleveland, Ph.D.

Today’s episode is from the afternoon session with Christena where she reflected on how the Church has responded (or not responded) to events like the Tulsa Race Massacre and what the Church's role is and should be in movements like Black Lives Matter.

This is part two of that afternoon session, featuring the Question and Answer discussion.