Covenant Presbytery met on Tuesday, February 2nd at the Grace Evangelical Church in Germantown, TN. (Editor’s Note: The Aquila Report would be pleased to run similar reports from any Presbytery or other regional group within our target market of conservative/evangelical denominations.)

Grace Evangelical Church (GEC) is not a member of Covenant Presbytery, but their senior pastor Jimmy Young and assistant pastor Jeff Sample are. The sanctuary holds about 1200, and the church has two Sunday morning services.

GEC will be hosting a Christian Manhood Conference on February 19-20. Rev. Harry Reeder of Briarwood PCA in Birmingham will be the keynote speaker. He will be speaking on character lessons from the lives of Civil War generals. The cost of the conference is free but two meals will be provided for a cost of $25.00. Contact Grace Evangelical for further details.

Independent Presbyterian Church in Memphis will be sponsoring an Embers To A Flame conference on April 8-10. Contact Independent Church for more details or visit www.indepres.org. The emphasis of the conference will not on marketing and numbers but on Biblical principles about the spiritual health of the church whether it is large or small. We watched a DVD presentation by Harry Reeder on this upcoming conference.

River Oaks Reformed Presbyterian Church in Germantown along with Christ Presbyterian Church in Olive Branch will be hosting Dr. Paul David Tripp for a marriage conference entitled, What Did You Expect? – Redeeming the Realities of Marriage, April 23-24, 2010. To register, or for more details, visit
www.covenantpresbytery.net/Upcoming_Events.html. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

Presbytery dissolved the assistant pastoral relationship between TE Bryant Hansen and Independent PC, Memphis, TN, effective May 31. He has received a call from First PC, Prattville, AL, in SE AL Presbytery.

Presbytery dissolved the assistant pastoral relationship between TE Ted Mattis and Independent PC, Memphis, TN, and TE Mattis remains on the roll of presbytery without call.

The Presbytery divested TE Brett Varner of his credentials without censure at his request.

Presbytery dissolved the pastoral relationship between TE Bernie Kuiper and the Covenant Life PC, Saltillo, MS; TE Kuiper remains on the roll of presbytery as honorably retired.

The Hickory Withe PC, Hickory Withe, TN, called TE Doug Barcroft as an assistant pastor.

The Presbytery voted to particularize the presbytery mission at Corinth, MS, on May 2, 2010.

Covenant PC, Greenville, MS, called TE Brian Sleeth as pastor. He comes to us from Great Lakes Presbytery.

Lawndale PC, Tupelo, MS, called TE Bill Bradford as pastor. For the past ten years, he has been a member of MS Valley Presbytery serving with the Peru Mission.

TE Steve Hill has accepted a call to the Peru Mission. He reported to presbytery on his continuing efforts to raise his full support in time to go on to the field this coming May.

Presbytery passed an overture to GA asking that BCO 26-2 be amended by adding the words in all caps below:
“Amendments to ANY PORTION OF the Book of Church Order, WHETHER CONSTITUTIONALLY BINDING OR NOT, may be made only in the following manner: …”

Presbytery elected TE Jim Codling to the GA Review of Presbytery Records Committee and TE Jeffrey Lancaster to the GA Nominating Committee.

We approved the minutes of the October 2009 meeting, which included several items not previously reported, including the following;

Bryon Miller was installed as Pastor of Spout Springs Presbyterian Church in Ripley, MS.

Brian Sorgenfrei was installed as the RUF Minister to the campus of Mississippi State University in Starkville.

TE Richie Session was installed as Senior Minister of Independent Presbyterian Church (Memphis). He had been serving on staff as an Assistant Minister.

TE Jim Codling (one of three Canadian Codlings serving as PCA ministers – two brothers and a cousin) was installed Pastor of Old Lebanon PCA, Ackerman, MS.

TE Tom Mirabella, a recent graduate of Covenant Seminary, has been installed as Pastor of Trinity Fellowship PCA in Sherwood, AR.

Presbytery elected TE Richie Sessions and RE Gil Brandon to General Assembly Committee of Commissioners on Overtures.

Presbytery received TE Murray Garrott from Eastern Carolina based on his call to Independent PC, Memphis, TN, as an Assistant Pastor and Executive Minister. He was installed in November.

Presbytery dissolved the pastoral relationship between TE Matt Schilling and the Grenada PC, Grenada, MS. Matt is now a full time Bible teacher and chapel coordinator at Presbyterian Christian School in Hattiesburg, MS.

Presbytery dissolved the pastoral relationship between TE Bob Clarke and Covenant PC, Greenville, MS. He is the new Director of Ministerial Relief for PCA Retirement and Benefits, Inc.

TE Grover Gunn was installed as pastor at First Church, Winona, MS. He previously had served the Grace Church in Jackson, TN for nine years.

The Peru Mission of the Christian Missionary Society www.perumission.org has approved Covenant Presbytery’s adopted program for overseeing TE Steve Hill, who received a call from the Peru Mission to serve in that field.