Mission Yearbook: Fathers and figures are subject of author’s podcast discussion

Patton Dodd nearly walked away from completing his memoir “The Father You Get: And the Ones You Make, Believe In and Become,” published in September. It was painful writing about his father, and even about some of the men who’d become father figures for him.

But complete the book he did, and he spent about 50 minutes talking about it with Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe, the hosts of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast.” Listen to their conversation here.

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Dodd, the executive director of storytelling and communications for the H.E. Butt Foundation, told the hosts he’s settled on presence as the sign of what healthy fatherhood looks like.

“Ideal fatherhood has a lot to do with just being present in your children’s lives, showing up over and over again in all sorts of seasons and situations, and being able to attend to them and their stories as they actually are and not what you wish they would be,” he said. “Settling on presence was in some ways a response to my own experience when I was a kid was my dad offered no presence. He was there,” Dodd said, but was “kind of absent and negligent.”

“I don’t think that’s uncommon,” Dodd said. “I’m a dad and I try to be a good dad, but I also struggle with presence.”

Writing his memoir involved researching his father’s story. He learned that his father, who’s deceased, “had tropes [about fatherhood] in mind and tried to live up to them and failed.” His father fell short in some traditional masculine ideals including competing and achieving success, Dodd said, and struggled to hold down a job. “I think he was falling short of those masculine ideals, but he never questioned them,” Dodd said. “I think it would have done him a lot of good to blow up those concepts and figure out his relationship to them instead of trying and failing to live up to them” and “transferring those masculinity ideals to me.”

Dodd and his wife have three children. “Once my kids were adolescents, I probably had more sympathy for some of my dad’s mistakes and failures. It’s challenging to be a parent,” he told the hosts. “One thing that happened over the course of being a dad is I shifted from anger to something like grief. Anger is a simpler emotion and it’s full of blame.” Being a father “humbled me a little bit” and “shifted that predominant emotion to one of grieving the loss of the man he could have been and wasn’t in our home.”

“I’m still fully aware of his faults,” Dodd said, “but I’m shifting how I respond to them.”

Catoe asked how better understanding his father has reframed Dodd’s concept of God as a father.

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“I’ve always struggled with the idea of God as a father. It’s not a comfortable concept for me,” Dodd said. While in college, “a lot of well-meaning people encouraged me to lean into this idea of God as a loving father.” At one prayer meeting, Dodd was encouraged to think of God sitting in a rocking chair, where God’s children could climb up and be comforted by God. “That person meant well, but I was totally turned off by that image,” Dodd said, “and I felt guilty for not wanting to think of God that way.”

Even though Jesus taught the disciples to pray to “our father,” “I don’t think it’s the only way to approach the loving and parental presence of God,” Dodd said.

When Dodd left home for college, “my mother made the gift of telling me, ‘you’re going to need a male mentor in your life.’ She said, ‘I’m praying you’ll find someone whose wing you can get under, because there’s a lot you haven’t gotten yet.’”

“I came to terms with my own agency in seeking and making father figures,” he told Catoe and Doong. “I turned it into a verb, ‘father figuring,’ as something we do.”

“Nurturing is something we need,” he said, “but it’s also important we have agency in those relationships.”

New installments of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” drop every Thursday. Listen to previous editions here.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Rebecca Storti, Director, Project Operations, The Board of Pensions
Shawnda Styles, Senior Accounting Clerk, Controllers, The Presbyterian Foundation           

Let us pray:

Gracious God, we give you thanks for allowing us to be a part of building a kingdom in which all people are equal. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Pittsburgh Presbytery wipes out more than $14 million of medical debt for families

This year, thousands of Allegheny County residents got letters telling them that the medical debt that has been hanging over their heads has been wiped out — paid for by contributions from the members of the 117 churches in Pittsburgh Presbytery.

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Photo by Patty Brito via Unsplash

Late last year, Presbyterian church members donated nearly $75,000 as part of a campaign with the national nonprofit group Undue Medical Debt — enough to eliminate more than $14 million in outstanding bills. The coalition exceeded its initial goal to raise $65,000.

Undue Medical Debt purchases medical debts belonging to those least able to pay from health care providers and other organizations for pennies on the dollar, meaning every dollar donated erases $100 or more of medical debt. But unlike commercial bill collectors, the group doesn’t badger people to pay off the debt themselves. Instead, it finds organizations and individuals who are willing to donate money to eliminate these debts. In Pennsylvania, nearly 1 in 15 adults carries medical debt. In Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, the average person with medical debt in collections carries a balance of nearly $1,000.

The Pittsburgh Presbytery campaign was spearheaded by its Matthew 25 On The Move ministry team, a group that embraces Jesus’ commandment to provide care to the “least of these.” Part of the group’s mission is to address systemic poverty, a purpose which is served by this campaign. The Rev. Dr. Judith Slater, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Duquesne and a leader of the Matthew 25 group, said that the impact of the donations is tremendous.

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The Rev. Jessica McClure Archer

“Undue tells us that people who have received this debt relief in the past often have trouble believing it is real, for it seems too good to be true,” Slater said. “But once they realize it is real, they often say that it feels like a huge weight has been lifted from them and they can move forward in their lives and have a chance for a new life.”

She added that “this was truly a mustard-seed endeavor,” referencing a biblical parable about a small seed providing abundant growth. “Individuals and churches gave what they could, from one dollar to thousands of dollars.” One congregation, at the former Concord Presbyterian Church, donated $20,000 from the proceeds of the recent sale of its building.

Members of Pittsburgh Presbytery churches were influenced to donate by video testimonies such as this one from local residents who were burdened with medical debt.

One church member recalled the time her daughter went through five hospital stays before she turned 5, because of ongoing problems with RSV infections. Even though the family had health insurance, she said, “our claims fell into insurance policy loopholes and exclusions … and our medical bills racked up.” Eventually, the family’s debts were sold to a collection agency, and “all of a sudden, the debt collector began sending scathing letters and calling multiple times a day. It made me feel less than human; it was one of the most stressful times of my life.”

“I cannot tell you the peace of mind it would have given me to receive a letter saying, ‘I’ve got you. Your debt is forgiven. Go focus on keeping your child comfortable.’”

“This initiative demonstrated the power and potential of our collective witness to walk alongside our community and care for our neighbors in meaningful, life-changing ways,” said the Rev. Jessica McClure Archer, general minister of Pittsburgh Presbytery. “When our churches come together, we are able to share God’s love far greater and wider than our own churches’ four walls. We embody what it means to be the Body of Christ — broken for the sake of grace, healing and justice — in a world that can often feel cruel and unforgiving.”

There is no application process for this medical debt relief, and it cannot be requested. 

Medical debt affects at least 100 million people in the U.S., who collectively owe about $220 billion to hospitals, doctors and other organizations. Medical debt comprises a majority of all collections listed on personal credit reports and is the leading cause of bankruptcies in the U.S.

Pittsburgh Presbytery (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Tim Stepp, Associate Director, Internal Audit, Administrative Services Group
Andrea Stevens, Gift Planning Specialist, Development Office, The Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

Gracious God, give us humble hearts so that we can recognize the gifts of others and encourage the use of those gifts for the edification of your church. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the one who teaches us your ways. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: ‘Leading Theologically’ hosts reflect on season of discernment

After completing a season of “Leading Theologically” focused on discernment, the Rev. Zoë Garry, associate director of Theological Education Funds Development for the Presbyterian Foundation, invited her colleague, the Rev. Bill Davis, to the final edition this season to explore some of the highlights from five previous editions. Watch the installment here.

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Garry asked Davis the question she asked each of the previous guests: At what point in your ministry did discernment become an important practice?

For Davis, it was his first call out of seminary, when he served as an associate program director at Calvin Center, the camp and conference center of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. Davis helped launch the Common Soul program, which they spelled both “soul” and “sole,” “pointing out that we share a common faith and a common walk,” he said.

The program was designed to help young adults discern their call into ministry, either inside the church or outside, according to Davis. Young adults in the program worked in roles including environmental education staffers and lifeguards and also in church settings, giving them experience in children and youth ministry. Over three years, about half of the 18 young adults in the program ended up going to seminary while others discerned calls not to attend seminary but stay in the ministry of camps and conference centers.

“Part of discernment is figuring out what God is calling you to do, but also what God is calling you not to do,” Davis told Garry. 

That reminded Garry of her conversation with the Rev. Dr. Gini Norris-Lane, executive director of UKirk. “Our early 20s is a directional period of many of us,” Garry said. “We can obviously change our life at any moment, but our 20s is a time for pointing us where we’ll go later in life.” She asked Davis: What can we as the wider church learn from UKirk and other young adult ministries like Camp Soul?

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The Rev. Zoë Garry

One lesson about ministry involving young adults is that “to get critical mass, you have to have partnerships and creativity about thinking outside the box,” Davis said. “The gift of UKirk is it’s a place where people come to ask questions, a place and a space where folks welcome young adults who might not be in school but are working in the town.” It’s also “a place to ask questions of faith — big questions like purpose, why I matter, why my degree matters, and how do I figure out how to live as a faithful follower of Jesus seeking justice, not only for myself but for the community I find myself part of.”

“In order to welcome younger folk into the church, we have to be broadly accepting,” Davis said, “and that’s something UKirks do better than others. I think that is the gift Gini provides the denomination and the world — helping people welcome holistically and whole-heartedly.”

In the second episode with the Rev. Tim Yi, youth pastor at Community Church of Seattle, as her guest, Garry discussed “the intentionality of space” and the creation of “trusted relationships with leaders and with youth.” She asked Davis what he as a parent is looking for in youth groups and children’s ministry.

Davis said one of his children sings each week in a youth choir of about 50 children. There are adults in the room, of course, but high schoolers also attend to mentor students and help each section to come together. “My eldest has gotten to know a high school vocalist really well,” Davis said. “When we talk about discernment, I think about the intergenerational nature of community discernment.”

“I think that’s one of the most important things the church offers,” Garry said, “this intersectional and intergenerational space. I’ve always loved that about churches.”

Garry later added, “It’s been an absolute delight getting to have these amazing conversations with what I’ve been untangling for this past year: What does it mean to be in conversation with God in this place and time?” She thanked Davis “for the opportunity to have been able to explore that this season.”

Learn more about the Theological Education Fund at the Presbyterian Foundation here.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

Marsha Stearley, Desktop Support Analyst, Information Technology Infrastructure, Administrative Services Group
Elaine Stepp, Operations Reconciliation Specialist, Operations, The Presbyterian Foundation           

Let us pray:

God of all peoples and places, we thank you for the spirit of courage that you grant to our partners and share with us so that we might join our voices in pursuit of a world where people come before profits. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Utah and Pennsylvania governors join to speak on saving democracy

They both married their high school sweethearts, and both have four children. Both are governors, and both are Gen Xers. Both are recovering lawyers who are people of faith — one a Jew, the other a Mormon.

The main difference between Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is the letter designation following their name — a “D” for Shapiro and an “R” for Cox.

With NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie serving as moderator, the two governors recently spoke as part of Washington National Cathedral’s Better Way Initiative in a program called “Toward a Better Politics.” Listen to their conversation here. 

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Washington National Cathedral hosted the "Toward a Better Politics" discussion last week (Photo by Bob Bowie via Unsplash).

On the day in September that political activist Charlie Kirk was killed on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Cox spoke to Utahns and to the nation. “When that very dark day happened in my state, the first call I got was from this guy, Gov. Shapiro,” Cox said. “He gave me some advice that changed what I was going to say when I stepped in front of that camera for the first time. He told me to speak with moral clarity and to speak from the heart.”

“I don’t care what color his politics are,” Cox said of his friend and fellow governor. “In that moment, we were two Americans who were deeply saddened and struggling. I’m grateful there’s somebody I can trust.”

Shapiro went back to a day in April 2025; the day he and his family had just concluded their Passover Seder. After the family had retired to the living quarters of the governor’s residence, an arsonist broke in and fired Molotov cocktails throughout the home. Wielding a metal hammer, Cody Balmer, who’s serving a sentence of 25–50 years for his crimes, testified that he’d planned to use the hammer to kill Shapiro, the governor said.

“I never looked to myself to being any sort of expert on political violence or frankly needing to engage in a national conversation about political violence until I saw Spencer Cox in the wake of the killing of Charlie Kirk handle that matter in the way he did,” Shapiro said. “It was at that moment I thought, I need to have this conversation and it needs to be with Spencer — not just because I respect the heck out of him as a governor … but because I think this is a necessary conversation that has to happen in our country if we’re going to get out of this, and this is the man I want to have this conversation with, given the strength of his leadership in a really dark moment in his state.”

The April 2025 event left Shapiro feeling “extraordinarily guilty as a dad, that doing this job that I love and so believe in put my kids’ lives at risk, put my wife’s life at risk. That’s a hard thing to work through.”

“But as a family we also understand that you can’t allow that violence to force you off stage and to force you out of doing the work that is so unbelievably important right now … at a time when the nation really needs us to come together and drown out those voices of hate, drown out that violence and instead focus on our common humanity.”

While leading the National Governors Association, Cox launched Disagree Better, an effort to help depolarize the nation. Cox pointed to the work of Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Kleinfeld “has studied political violence across cultures and over time,” Cox said. “She was the one who got me the most interested and the most nervous. She said we’re passing all the checkpoints toward ultimately failed states and things like civil war.” Those are terms Cox said he hates to use, “but if we don’t make a course correction, that’s where this leads.”

“We have to fight for our ability to engage,” Cox said. “We have to put our stake in the ground and say, ‘We’re going to have events like this and others where we can disagree and disagree passionately and try to convince others to believe what we believe in, because that’s what it means to be an American.’”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Roger Spalding, Prospect Research Analyst, Funds Development Operations, Administrative Services Group

Let us pray:

Creator God, teach us to see our neighbors with compassion and tenderness and to receive them into our homes and churches. Teach us also to be instruments of your peace, today and always. Amen.

Mission Initiative Fund Grant Applications Invited

Apply for the Mission Initiative Fund Grant! The Mission Initiative Fund (MIF) is a catalyst for creativity and innovation across the American Baptist family, offering strategic grants that bring bold new ministries and denomination-wide mission initiatives to life. Through this fund, we invest in visionary ideas that strengthen and expand our shared mission, empowering ministries to grow, adapt, and respond to emerging needs with faithfulness and imagination. MIF also supports special task forces or commissions established by the Board of General Ministries to carry out specific assignments, and offers limited emergency support to ministries facing unforeseen challenges or crises beyond their control, helping sustain vital work during critical moments. Don't miss your chance - Apply today!   Application Deadlines  September 1, 2026 – notified by December 1, 2026     For full guidelines, applicants are encouraged to review the Mission Initiative Fund Grant Policies here: Mission Initiative Fund. Applications should be submitted to Juliana Herrera using our form, here. Questions may be submitted to Juliana.Herrera@abc-usa.org.

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Mission Yearbook: NWC leader receives human rights award for immigration advocacy

Katia DaCunha, founder and executive director of Latinx in Action, a 1001 New Worshiping Community in the Presbytery of Southern New England, recently received the Barnstable County Human Rights Advisory Commission’s Unsung Hero Award given by the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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Katia DaCunha, founder and executive director of Latinx in Action, a 1001 New Worshiping Community in the Presbytery of Southern New England, received the Barnstable County Human Rights Advisory Commission's Unsung Hero Award. (Photos by Anne Weirich).

The award recognizes DaCunha’s work with immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities on Cape Cod through her ministry and advocacy organization. According to the Rev. Dr. Shannan R. Vance-Ocampo, general presbyter of the Presbytery of Southern New England, the Rev. Anne Weirich, a member of the Commission on Ministry, attended the ceremony at the Emerald Conference Center in Hyannis to show the mid council's support of DaCunha’s ministry and its importance in their shared ministry as a church body.

DaCunha emigrated from Brazil to Cape Cod decades ago. She and others founded Latinx in Action to serve immigrant families and LGBTQ+ people facing trauma, isolation and systemic barriers. The organization has grown from informal prayer gatherings in 2017 into a 1001 New  Worshiping Community and provides spiritual care, practical support and advocacy for immigrant and LGBTQ+ families.

As an elder currently enrolled at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, DaCunha and her board have developed programs including Cape-wide English as a second language classes, a culturally sensitive food pantry and many advocacy services that address urgent needs in the immigrant community.

The Emergency Safe Planning Program helps immigrant families prepare for potential encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. During a recent training with the Lake Institute and 1001 New Worshiping Communities, DaCunha was assured of how essential her program was to the safety, stability and dignity of the families she serves. “I left with concrete ideas on how to communicate its impact and invite partners to support it,” DaCunha said. This community award underscores that importance and the impact on the larger community.

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The awards were distributed during a ceremony on Dec. 10.

The ministry also offers sewing classes for immigrant women, many of whom are survivors of domestic violence. “The classes are to support women who feel trapped or have faced trauma,” DaCunha told Cape Cod Times. “We sew together. We eat together. It’s more than learning a craft or trade. It’s building a community.”

Latinx in Action received a $20,000 grant from Cape Cod Foundation's Women and Girls Fund in 2025 to continue its work supporting immigrant women through partnerships with organizations like Independence House and SCORE, according to the Yahoo News report.

DaCunha has been a vocal advocate for immigrant rights on Cape Cod, speaking out against policies that create fear in immigrant communities. She has advocated for humane immigration policies and works to create safe spaces where immigrants can access resources regardless of their legal status. In a recent run for the school board, DaCunha didn’t win the election but considers the new voter registrations she encouraged a victory.

According to the Barnstable County announcement, DaCunha is one of 15 individuals and organizations recognized as Unsung Heroes. Other award categories include the Rosenthal Community Champion Award, the Cornerstone Award and the Tim McCarthy Award.

In addition to supporting DaCunha’s ministry, the Presbytery of Southern New England has a long history of supporting immigrant communities and passed a sanctuary policy in 2017. The presbytery includes a Portuguese-language fellowship on Cape Cod, two Korean-language congregations and a church with roots in the Syrian-Lebanese Presbyterian faith traditions. Many other immigrants are welcomed in other congregations and ministries of the presbytery and its advocacy through the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Councils of Churches. 

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Life & Witness (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Barbara Soete,  Mission Specialist, Administrative Services Group
Teresa Sontarp, Controller, Finance, The Board of Pensions

Let us pray:

God of grace, equip us with perseverance. Use our brief lives for your glory. Empower us as your disciples, that even when the land is parched, we may know your presence with us, transforming what seems barren into life overflowing. Amen.

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