Your executive committee at its meeting in Albuquerque, Oct. 17-20, 2003.

The Executive Committee of the Witherspoon Society has just approved a statement of our policy on issues of justice, inclusiveness, and ordination.

If you're tired of pulling letters from Witherspoon out of your mailbox every few days, we apologize! But you're getting these reminders from us because we're doing important things, and we want you to stay involved.

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Some of our special events included:

Three members of First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto (California), including a leader of the Silicon Valley chapter of the Witherspoon Society, will participate in what may be the first interfaith delegation to visit Afghanistan since 9/11.

We encourage anyone else in the area to join in!

The meeting began by welcoming two new members of the group: Richard Hong, the new Treasurer, and Ann Euston, who is staffing a part-time consultant position as the new Program Coordinator.

The group spent considerable time dealing with plans for the coming General Assembly, but also considered reports from various other progressive groups, plans for the mini-conferences on the Confession of 1967 and for a Ghost Ranch seminar on the topic "In Search of Alternatives to Violence," and for a conference to be held in 2003, celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the establishment of the Witherspoon Society.

Among the basic threads of interest woven through the three days were a commitment to reach out to a wider constituency, to be of more direct service to congregations, and to continue exploring the implications of the Confession of 1967 in today's church, and today's world.

Some of Witherspoon's dedicated leaders gather around Rich Hong's laptop to hear the contemporary music he uses in worship services.

Left to right:  Trina Zelle, Vicki Moss, José Olagues, Betty Kersting, Richard Hong, Jill Acree, Jane Hanna, and Gene TeSelle.

The Executive Committee of the Witherspoon Society invites you to join them as they launch a series of regional workshops on the Confession of 1967.

Attendees will be challenged to consider how progressive Presbyterians can reclaim confessionally the denomination's social justice agenda. Workshops will be held in

Jenny Lin, the intern named by Semper Reformanda to serve this year in the Washington Office of the PC(USA), reports on her experience so far.

Ann Euston became our newest staff person [well, our only one!] on February 1.

She brings an eclectic background to us - she's been a policy analyst and consultant, an organizer and conference planner, an office manager, business owner and organic farmer. Since 2000 she's worked for the Presbytery of Sierra Blanca in southeastern New Mexico where she currently makes her home in Roswell.

Ann lived in Santa Fe for 10 years and knows many Witherspooners through her membership at First Church in Santa Fe and by her work at the Presbytery. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire and did graduate studies in Florida. She brings a wealth of management and organizational skills to this new position and we're pleased to welcome her aboard.

Her first tasks will be as an organizer, working with Board members to coordinate a series of mini-conferences on C-67, helping articulate future directions for the Society and promoting and increasing Society visibility and membership.

AN UPDATE: As of late July, 2002, Ann will be living in Albuquerque, NM, where she can be reached by phone at (505) 296-4885

FAX (505) 323-9093

A group of about 120 converged on the Stony Point Conference Center February 3 and 4 for a conference on the Confession of 1967. As Chris Iosso said in opening the conference, "This is the beginning of the 35th anniversary celebration of the Confession of 1967." It is a celebration that the Witherspoon Society hopes to continue by sponsoring a series of regional conferences on "C-67."  One of the participants in the audience commented that "the hope of the church lies in this kind of theological reflection." Other participants seem to agree.

For several years there have been calls for a definition of the "essentials" of the Reformed faith. This is one of the topics that will doubtless come before the recently appointed Theological Task Force. And we notice that Presbyterians for Renewal has recently sent out a survey, in what appears to be an effort to produce their own set of "essentials."