Some classes just teach themselves. Or so it seems.
Dean Seal, who taught “Church and Stage” at the Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School this year, described his class as “open-minded and interested in making something happen.”
For one class period during the week-long event at Buena Vista University here, participants in the class did just that ― made something happen.
Want to lose a little weight? Move to the equator.
Chris Fischer, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Kansas University, has calculated you’ll drop one-tenth of 1 percent of your body mass living there — and you’ll put on an equal amount of weight if you make your home at either of Earth’s poles.
The planet pushes against you slightly less at the equator, and slightly more at the poles.
That’s just one of the scientific nuggets Fischer had for students at the Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School, held July 24-29 at Buena Vista University.
When Lorraine Stanfield turned 50 last spring, she didn’t want a party.
She wanted her family to go with her to Kenya to serve people — and maybe take in a safari near the end of the two-week visit, which the family did.
The Stanfields, of Milton, Mass., offered a workshop describing highlights of their trip during Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School, held July 24-29 at Buena Vista University.
Hands down, Mr. Methuselah was the crankiest man at the Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School held last week at Buena Vista University.
The wise-cracking, flannel-wearing latex puppet was given voice by maybe the least-cranky person among the 625 in attendance, the Rev. Bob Wollenberg, pastor of United Presbyterian Church in Washington, Iowa, and Synod School’s associate dean.
With the help of a straight man — in this case, a woman, Synod School Dean Tammy Rider — Wollenberg allowed Mr. Methuselah to voice all number of complaints in three public appearances.
When Rick MacArthur turned 8 years old, he asked his family to throw a birthday party not for him, but for his hero, rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Buddy Holly.
“We put our money in the jukebox and listened to ‘Oh Boy’ and ‘That’ll be the Day,’” he recalled.
Holly died in a plane crash the day before MacArthur turned 9. The boy was heartsick.
Ann Sukraw-Lutz wants the nation’s 37 million people living below the poverty line to be lifted into the middle class and seated at their rightful place, the banquet table Christ has set.
She’s inviting participants at Synod of Lakes and Prairies Synod School to join the “each one reach one” effort.
Sukraw-Lutz, a member of the First Presbyterian Church at Grand Island, Neb., offered up her own experience working for churches and Nebraska Legal Services as well as principles from the book Bridges Out of Poverty during a workshop Tuesday (July 26).
Presbyterians have stuff in their garages that can save lives in the world’s newest nation.
The Rev. Heidi McGinness told Synod of Lakes and Prairies Synod School participants Monday (July 25) that even though South Sudan gained independence on July 9, there’s still much work to be done, including freeing an estimated 200,000 of its people from slavery.
That’s the most pressing work of McGinness and her colleagues at Christian Solidarity International, a Swiss-based human rights organization that campaigns for religious liberty and human dignity.