Since Jesus calls Christians to make disciples of all nations, in this blog we'll consider how we might better share the gospel to the world around us.
The Presbytery of San Gabriel officially returned land previously used as the presbytery’s La Casa de San Gabriel Community Center to the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, led by the Gabrieleno Tongva Tribal Council under Chief Anthony Morales. This marks the first-ever land back transfer by a church in California to an established tribal government, and the first of its kind in California and Los Angeles County.
“It was both an honor and a blessing to join the Stated Clerk to witness the Tongva people receive one portion of their ancestral lands back from the Presbytery of San Gabriel as the caretakers of Tongvar,” said the Rev. Jermaine Ross-Allam, director of the Center for the Repair of Historic Harms. “The emotional response I witnessed from San Gabriel Mayor Denise Menchaca and Council Member John Wu on that gorgeous sunlight day blessed with white sage offerings reminded me that when we follow the direction the Spirit is leading us toward God’s wholeness, we can rest assured that we will soon discover we are not the only ones who the Spirit intends to move!”
Watch the video below to hear from members of the Gabrieleno-Tongva Band of Mission Indians.
Kristine Baker, Associate for Risk Management, Administrative Services Group (A Corporation) Zenia Baker, Administrative I, Operations, Presbyterian Foundation
Let us pray:
Holy and faithful God, on sacred ground once separated and now restored, we witness your Spirit at work, guiding hearts toward repair and renewal. Please teach us to listen to the stories carried by the land and by its people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Cobb was the guest as part of CTS’s recent “What Comes Next: Addressing Politics as the Church” webinar series. Dr. Mark Douglas, Professor of Christian Ethics at CTS, asked Cobb a number of questions before inviting webinar participants to do the same.
Cobb moved to Roanoke in 2001 after surrendering his United Methodist Church credentials when he came out as a gay pastor. He soon found Roanoke to be “a place I could be open and authentic in my real self.” He called his community a place “where people genuinely believe Roanoke is a welcoming and open community.” Cobb directed a local chapter of Family Promise and worked for the Roanoke Symphony. He was ordained into the Metropolitan Community Church and served two congregations, one in Roanoke.
Eight years ago, Cobb had “a cathartic moment. I realized my work as a pastor was coming to an end but felt called to expand my work in social justice, equity and equality.”
A friend who was running for city council said Cobb’s work uplifted marginalized communities, “and she just kept hounding me about running.” He announced a run for city council in January 2018, and as the top vote-getter became Roanoke’s vice mayor, the first time he’d ever held public office. Four years later, he won a second term as vice mayor, then won a close race for mayor in 2024.
Many Roanoke residents see Cobb as a chaplain for the city, or its public theologian. “That’s partly due to my calling, but also how I am present in my life, the city and the world,” Cobb said. “Twenty-four years ago, I could have never imagined the path I was called to and led on during the course of my life.”
Image
Dr. Mark Douglas
Roanoke is blessed by “a deep commitment from faith communities to be engaged in the community,” Cobb said. Roanoke was one of seven cities to receive a grant to do work on segregation, which historically has been its pattern, Cobb said. “We are a multicultural city, and we came together to hear about the history of segregation and began to build relationships to talk about how we could change that narrative.” During the process, “a number of faith communities stepped up and said, ‘we want to be part of this, and we want to address the segregation that might have been a part of our own history.” PC(USA) congregations in Roanoke have been at the forefront of pulpit exchanges and Bible studies with the goal of de-segregating Roanoke’s faith communities, he said.
Douglas asked Cobb, “Given the significance of relationships in your work, what are the impediments you’ve encountered?”
“There is some of that,” Cobb said. When he was seeking his first job in Roanoke, two interviewers asked him why he would want to move to Roanoke. “It was said in a way of ‘why would anyone want to move to Roanoke?’” Cobb told Douglas. The obvious reason was to be closer to his children, but on the city council and now as mayor, “we have to find a pathway to reconciliation, new possibilities and new perspectives.” Faith communities have played a big role bringing that about, he said, as has the city council.
“When people get angry, they can just cancel you. I just have to let them be in that space,” he said. “It’s not about me. It’s about something going on in their life that they have lost control over or power over. They may project that out on me or the city. … Ultimately, it is about recognizing that we are all vulnerable and that ultimately we don’t have control over everything. We do find purpose and meaning recognizing who we are as God’s beloved people. One of our greatest callings is to be in relationship with each other, even if that means giving people space.”
Katherine Babicz, AVP Financial & Investment Planning Professional, Trust Services, Presbyterian Foundation Nora Baez, lead reservation specialist, Stony Point Center, Interim Unified Agency
Let us pray:
Gracious God, please strengthen all who serve the common good. When anger rises, grant patience. When divisions feel deep, grant wisdom. When vulnerability feels heavy, remind us that we are your beloved people, called into relationship with one another. Amen.
Activists, social leaders, organizations, women and men chant slogans against gender violence during the “Vivas nos Queremos” march in Quito, Ecuador. Photo: UN Women/Johis Alarcón
International Women’s Day is a day set aside each year to address challenges that particularly limit the lives of women and girls. In observance of International Women’s Day, for 2026, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women asks us to observe the day using the theme “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls.”1
In 2026, we mark the 31st anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action — “the world’s most comprehensive, visionary plan ever created to achieve equal rights for ALL women and girls.”2 More than three decades of progress toward gender equality have bettered the lives and hopes of women and girls around the world. Even so, “in fundamental areas of life, including work, money, safety, family, property, mobility, business, and retirement, the law systematically disadvantages women. From harmful social norms to discriminatory laws, women and girls continue to face entrenched obstacles — even pushback — to equal justice. If progress continues at its current pace, it will take 286 years to close legal protection gaps.”3
International Women’s Day reminds us to reflect on our responsibility to make this world a just world for ALL. As people of faith called by God to care for one another, let us follow the U.N.’s call to “achieve a better world for women and girls.”
Carissa Herold is marketing associate for Presbyterian Women in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Inc.
Let us join in prayer for:
Yesenia Ayala, Associate, Financial Aid for Service, Interim Unified Agency Gohar Aznauryan, Administrative Assistant, Jinishian Memorial Program, Interim Unified Agency
Let us pray:
Loving Creator, on this International Women’s Day, and all days, let us strive toward gender equality so your daughters, and all of your children, can live in wholeness, using their gifts for the good of the world. Amen.
Presbytery of Cuba photograph album, 1949, page 18. Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana de la Habana (First Presbyterian Church of Havana). Images clockwise from top left: choir, receiving the missionary, veterans, Sunday school teachers and officials. Middle image: governing body.
The scrapbook was created with the intention of commemorating the first 50 years of mission work in the country — inside, group shots of students, teachers, pastors and their families, and missionaries abound. They are complemented by photos of the urban areas in which the seeds of numerous congregations were planted and subsequently blossomed.
In March 1890, the PCUS Board of Foreign Missions received a letter from Evaristo Collazo of Cuba. Collazo wrote of his and his wife’s work in Havana, where they ran a day school out of their home. He then asked for help — he wanted to continue offering this service to his community but also had to bring in financial support for his family. Would they send someone to assist him in this important work?
The Rev. Anthony Graybill, the founder of the PCUS Mexico Mission, arrived in Havana not long after. He hit the ground running, baptizing 40 adults, ordaining multiple elders and installing Collazo himself as pastor of the small congregation.
Collazo and his wife continued serving in Havana; Magdalena Collazo until her death in 1893; Evaristo Collazo until he joined the liberation army in 1895, where he served as a male nurse with the rank of lieutenant. At this time, the deteriorating situation in Cuba led the PCUS Board of Foreign Missions to suspend work for the time being. It wasn’t until after U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence that the church reinstated mission work in Cuba. In fact, the mission boards of nine U.S. Protestant churches sent missionaries to Cuba as the 19th century gave way to the 20th. One example is the April 1899 arrival of PCUS missionary Juan G. Hall in Cardenas, who was received by Ezequiel Torres and Isabel Waugh — all three are names that readers will find dotted throughout the photo album’s captions. The First Presbyterian Church of Cardenas, organized by Hall on Feb. 11, 1900, with 21 members, two elders, and two deacons, is known today as Iglesia Presbiteriana Reformada “Juan G. Hall” en Cárdenas. After Hall’s death in 1904, he was succeeded by Robert L. Wharton.
In 1904, there were seven Presbyterian churches in Havana alone. This includes Collazo’s congregation at the Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana de la Habana (First Presbyterian Church of Havana), which traces its official organization to the year 1901. Upon his return to Havana after his stint in the liberation army, Collazo began collaborating with a missionary sent by the PCUSA Board of National Missions. Pedro Rioseco, of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, arrived in Havana in 1899, where he and Collazo opened a day school together.
After a letter from Rioseco arrived detailing how their last service in Havana filled the space entirely, leaving barely room to stand, the board sent the Rev. Dr. Joseph Milton Greene to assist the two men in organizing their congregation into an officially recognized church. Greene arrived in October 1901; on Dec. 8, the First Presbyterian Church of Havana was established. Collazo continued his work as before, taking to the pulpit and teaching the local children. He became an official member of the PCUSA and served as moderator of the Presbytery of Havana in 1906.
The Presbytery of Havana was organized on Nov. 16, 1904. It included five pastors, seven congregations, and 416 members.
By 1918, the presbytery consisted of 27 churches — some of which had previously belonged to other denominations. After experiencing firsthand the rising influence and strong impact of the Presbyterian missionaries on the local Cuban communities, the Congregational Church formally transferred four of its congregations to the Presbytery of Havana in February 1909.
The unification of all Presbyterian mission work in Cuba in 1918 added more congregations, bumping the number up to 27. Six ministers previously working under the auspices of the PCUS were added to the presbytery’s roll, including Robert Wharton of Cardenas.
In 1930, the Presbytery of Havana was renamed the Presbytery of Cuba. On Jan. 1, 1959, the Presbytery of Cuba reported 4,293 members in 34 congregations with 46 ministers.
Rachel Anderson, Global Ecumenical Liaison, Global Ecumenical Liaison Office, Interim Unified Agency Molly Atkinson, Senior Administrative Assistant, Financial Aid Service, Interim Unified Agency
Let us pray:
God of steadfast faith, we give thanks for the generations who planted seeds of your love in Cuba, and for missionaries, pastors and families who served with courage and dedication. Bless the work of remembering and preserving their stories, so that we may learn from their faith, perseverance and vision. Amen.
World Day of Prayer is a global ecumenical movement observed in more than 170 countries, led by Christian women who welcome all to join in prayer and action for peace and justice. World Day of Prayer is celebrated annually on the first Friday of March; for 2026 that is today, March 6.
This year’s theme, “I Will Give You Rest: Come,” inspired by Matthew 11:28–30, was chosen by an ecumenical group of Nigerian women, who also prepared this year’s worship materials. “Through their exploration of different kinds of burdens — shame, systematic oppression, religious persecution, poverty and despair — the writers help us understand both the weight of human suffering and the depths of divine rest. Their work shows us that true rest isn’t just about physical relief, but about transformation through God’s grace and community support” (worlddayofprayer.net/nigeria-2026.html).
On this World Day of Prayer, let us remember that in Christ and in Christian community, our burdens become light.
Precious One, we are weary and our burdens are heavy but in Christ and in Christian community, our souls find rest. In thanksgiving and joy, we bring your light to your people, offering care and your promise of rest to all who struggle and despair. Amen.
The third and final installment of the “Holy Shift” webinar series drew 125 attendees from across the country, offering inspiration and practical insight into innovative ministries serving young families.
The Rev. Kristin Willett of First Light Fellowship in Anthem, Arizona (Contributed photo)
The “Holy Shift” series was born out of research conducted with the PC(USA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America by TryTank Research Institute, a venture of Virginia Theological Seminary. The study explored how young adult parents are shifting their relationship with church, spirituality and faith practices at home.
In “Holy Shift: Part 3 – Doing the Work,” four practitioners shared stories of risk, creativity and resilience in their efforts to meet the spiritual and practical needs of young families. The Rev. Kristin Willett, pastor of First Light Fellowship in Anthem, Arizona, described her journey of planting a new worshiping community focused on interactive worship and community engagement.
“We’re not here for perfection,” Willett said. “We’re here for chaos and tantrums and everything in between.”
Willett began by conducting “community exegesis,” asking local parents what they loved and struggled with in their neighborhood. Many expressed loneliness despite busy schedules. Willett responded by creating spaces for authentic connection, including worship in concentric circles, child-led prayers, and interactive sermons.
The Revs. Brandon and Kristin Willett are pastors of First Light Fellowship, a new worshiping community in Anthem, Arizona. (Contributed photo)
“I felt a nudge to connect with people where they are,” Floyd said. “Rather than trying to forge a new path, I wanted to meet them in the things they were already doing.”
Inspired by a seminary assignment, Floyd launched Remix with support from his pastor and presbytery. The program includes Bible study, meals, and hands-on creative workshops. Students produce short films, music videos and spoken-word performances that reflect their faith and experiences.
The Rev. Ivette Llano Viano, pastor of El Camino “On the Way” in Lawrenceville, Georgia, described her ministry to Spanish and Portuguese-speaking immigrant families that she shares with her spouse, the Rev. Rafael Viano. El Camino began during a sabbatical and grew into two congregations: one in Spanish (El Camino) and one in Portuguese (Casa Brasil).
Llano highlighted the challenges of working with families who have multiple jobs and language barriers. She emphasized creativity and described ways the church can support parents in their responsibilities. The ministry finds creative ways to incentivize learning and celebrates achievements of young people to build self-esteem.
The Rev. Beth Garrod-Logsdon, pastor of Wilmore Presbyterian Church in Kentucky, shared the story of Urban Village, a faith-based community center serving neurodiverse children and their families. Garrod-Logsdon described herself as a “second generation planter” in the life of Urban Village. As a member of the community, a member of the initial planning team and the pastor of a nearby church, Garrod-Logsdon had helped to dream what the community-centered space could be. When the original mission developer, who was a martial arts education specialist, left in 2023 after four years, Garrod-Logsdon was asked by the Presbytery of Transylvania to assist. Garrod-Logsdon helped Urban Village discern the needs of the community and the gifts of the ministry and its leaders to become what it is today.
Urban Village offers martial arts, sensory swings, climbing walls and open play.
Panelists emphasized the importance of creativity, community engagement and financial sustainability. Many rely on grants, partnerships and alternative revenue streams such as birthday party rentals and craft markets. Each panelist offered wisdom to the audience gathered who were themselves thinking of innovative ways to reach families.
“Leave room for God,” Garrod-Logsdon advised. “Sometimes we hold our vision so tightly that we don’t allow God to shape it.”
“Meet people where they are,” Floyd added. “Listen to what they’re already doing and loving.”
Ruth Adams, Director, Assistance Program, Engagement & Church Relations, The Board of Pensions Ahmad Ali, Vice President and Managing Director, Investments, The Board of Pensions
Let us pray:
God of new beginnings, thank you for the holy shifts that open doors to connection, creativity and grace. May every home, gathering and shared meal become a place where your love can grow. Amen
“I am struck by the richness of all we have experienced here together,” said Leist, the associate pastor for congregational care and older adults at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Denver. Scripture echoes these themes,” she said, “the generations learning from one another, always drawing us deeper into God’s love.”
The psalmist “invites us to listen to the triumphs of faith and failures as well,” she said. “These truths are not to be hidden but passed down.”
In our churches, older members might confess that “we stayed silent when we should have marched,” she said. “Shared ministry comes from such honesty.” It’s “faith informing justice.”
Younger members can learn the practical skills that were required of their forebears to create victory gardens, for example, and of “making do.” Those skills can help young people who see responding to climate change “as a spiritual imperative.”
Truth-telling “can feel heavy,” Leist said, “but Psalm 78 calls us to speak honestly so hope can take root and every generation might see their hope in God.”
We also need the gift that Ruth offers us: an expansive love that bridges generations, Leist noted. Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, “refuses to sugarcoat her reality,” and her daughters-in-law “choose the path that each needs”: Orpah electing to take the path toward home, and Ruth opting for a different path, crossing “boundaries of culture, family and nation. She embraces an expansive love.”
More than just a show of personal loyalty, Ruth’s choice “is a pivot in salvation history,” according to Leist, securing David’s line “and, in a Christian reading, preparing the way for Jesus. She shows us God’s purposes can unfold in the very places where human boundaries break open.”
Younger church members have many gifts to offer the church, including “questioning the binaries that shape identity — male and female, insider and outsider, even the secular and the sacred,” Leist said. “Their truth-telling challenges us not to cling to neat categories, but to embrace the fullness of God’s Creation.”
As a child, Leist would listen to her mother’s stories about the life of Leist’s grandmother, who lived on a farm in southern Indiana that had no running water. The farm was miles from the nearest store, and family members went to town once a year to purchase new shoes. “She could mend anything and find a use for things that people threw away,” Leist said of her grandmother. “Such resilience matters today.”
These kinds of stories “remind us that we too can adapt, persist and remain faithful.”
New opportunities emerge from such an exchange, she said. “Different generations collaborate to create something neither could have done alone,” she said. “May our younger generations share their imagination, not be afraid to push boundaries, and challenge assumptions that have kept us in the past. May we all remind each other that where you go, I will go.”
“May we leave this place embracing hope and walking together in the wide, wide hope of God,” Leist said.
At the conclusion of the service, Leist blessed those gathered with words that included this charge: “Friends, as you go forth from this place, may you remember to be brave enough to tell the truth and receive God’s boundary-crossing love, so we can build bridges together. Go with God’s peace. Amen.”
Angielee Acevedo, Lead Housekeeper, Stony Point Center, Interim Unified Agency Rhea Adams, Service Desk Technician, Information Technology Infrastructure, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Let us pray:
God of every generation, teach us to tell the truth with courage and to listen with love across age and experience. Help us pass on stories of faith, resilience and justice, so that hope may take root in those who come after us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
