Elder Training: Part IV

Time to finish up this very drawn out series. Skipping over the various things we read for training, the last step before election to the office was the examination by the session. I'll admit it was a more detailed and difficult examination that I had assumed it would be. We candidates came in and sat in a row facing the elders (firing-squad style). The pastor and other elders asked many questions about the three areas in which we were trained.

Really, I'm impressed that our session took this so seriously. Yes, we were all friends in the room, but the purity of the Church is important enough to not spare us candidates a stringent test. Praise God!

I do have to share two funnies. First, one of our candidates planned to not get the hard questions by sitting in the middle of us - turned out he got just about all the hard ones. Second, someone asked me what are the five "solas" of the reformation. Thankfully, the first RUF shirt I owned had them on the back, so I was able to rattle them off. I was told later that there were some in the room that didn't even get what he asked or what I said in response.

Anyway, we were approved to stand for election by the congregation, were all elected, then a few weeks later were ordained and/or installed.

Rewind your DVDs!

Remember to rewind your DVD before you return it to Blockbuster or Netflix (our current favorite). To save wear and tear on your DVD player you can buy a DVD Rewinder

PCA Logo Contest (of sorts)

Barlow Farms is having a contest to design a logo for the PCA. Go to his blog for the procedure. I have no skill in this regard - I designed an RUF t-shirt once, but I won't claim it was that great. However, I would love to see some visual identity for our denomination.

Considering the wide variety of churches and cultures in our denomination, this is a challenging task. Even more so, since there are apparently no budgeted funds for the denomination to accomplish this.

I read an interesting book (by two Catholics) a while back about symbols that have been used in the church. I hope the new logo wouldn't ignore the Church's rich history in this area (though avoiding the worst parts). The fish, the cross (in all the various forms), Chi-Rho, and Alpha-Omega are just some I would mention. Having been a member of the ARP I admit I admire their denomination's logo.