Souper Bowl Sunday!

On Sunday, UPC gathered and shared meaningful worship together. And it was a special Sunday on our calendar. Super Bowl Sunday? Yes. But more importantly for Sunday morning, it was Souper Bowl Sunday!

Each year, the youth from UPC take a special offering. It's called the Souper Bowl of Caring. This offering has been taken annually across the country since 1990, and it all began with a simple prayer one day as the youth group from Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina met. The prayer was this: "Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those who are without a bowl of soup to eat." And an idea came from that prayer! What if members of churches and individuals around the country gave a few dollars on Super Bowl Sunday to be used locally to fight hunger?


This year, our youth raised a record amount, and the money will be distributed to the Micah 6 Food Pantry and the Manos de Cristo Food Pantry. Byron is excited as he unveils the offering: $988.38!!!



Our church also enjoyed a lovely potluck lunch after worship as we met together for our Annual Congregational Meeting. The food was lovely. Thanks to everyone who brought dishes and desserts, and a special thank you to Peggy Budd who helped organize this event.


At our meeting, we elected church officers, elders and deacons who will serve us for the next few years. Guess who we elected to be our Campus Deacon? Our very own Merrit Martin! We are grateful for all the ways she will serve us and the wider church.

All in all, it was a GREAT Souper Bowl Sunday!

Scott McNulty Hits the Airwaves!

Guess what?

On Sunday night, our very own organist, Scott McNulty will be featured on KMFA radio. At 8pm, Chris Teel, the host of Pipeworks, will play most of Scott's Master's Recital, which includes some newer works that are rarely heard.

If you enjoy what you hear or just want to support an 24 hour all classical station, would you send a note of thanks to Chris Teel or General Manager Joan Kobayashi? Chris will be playing other parts of the recital on future programs, including the improvisation, and Scott would like to encourage KMFA to keep supporting organ music.

Way to go, Scott! We are thankful for all the ways God has gifted you for music!

Interfaith Hospitality Network

Last Sunday, some of our students participated in an important opportunity for Mission. They worked with a family at through the Interfaith Hospitality Network. IHN provides shelter for families that are homeless or on the verge of experiencing homelessness. Members of local faith communities in Austin spend the night with them, providing hospitality and shelter.

The Mission of IHN can be found on the Foundation for the Homeless website. "Host churches, synagogues, and support congregations work in collaboration to provide year round shelter, meals, and support to families as they work toward achieving goals of permanent housing and self-sufficiency."

Our students spent the evening at University Methodist Church. IHN is one important ministry that UPC supports with time and resources. If you would like to learn more, visit this page.

Interfaith Dialogue - Tonight!

The Islamic Student Dialogue Association is hosting an Interfaith Dialogue on Campus tonight. The speakers will be Dr. Steve Friesen and Dr. Yetkin Yilderim, each respectively presenting perspectives of Christianity and Islam on Interfaith Dialogue. The event sounds like it will be informational and thought provoking.

It begins at 6:30 in room 2.312 in Welch Hall. After Dr. Friesen and Dr. Yilderim address the gathering, there will be time for questions and further conversation. There will also be refreshments, wonderful Turkish treats donated by the Turkish American Women Association.

Come hear some interesting discussion and join together in fellowship and friendship!

Run, Austin Agape, Run!

Did you know. . .

that our very own Byron French is running a mini-marathon?






And that our very own Shane Webb is running a full marathon?

On February 14th, bright and early in the morning, Byron and Shane are running to raise money for Manos de Cristo. Manos is a ministry that does tremendous work in Austin. UPC has many connections there: Kate Norman, one of our elders, serves on the Board, and our church holds an annual Back to School drive every August, collecting school supplies for Manos to distribute to children who need them.

Manos de Cristo assists the Austin community with food and clothing services and ESL classes. The ministry also operates a dental clinic, assisting clients who cannot afford the expenses of dental care.

Did you know. . . that you can contribute to the marathon?

Support Byron with a Donation
Support Shane with a Donation

Midwinter Lectures at Austin Seminary!

Part of our discipleship involves enriching our mind! We are grateful that our campus borders Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and this week we have an opportunity to attend some of the Midwinter Lectures. They will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Every year, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary hosts and event, inviting three lecturers to discuss intersections between current culture and Christian Faith. In addition the to the lecturers, the seminary also invites an extraordinary preacher to lead worship.

This week four incredible individuals will be addressing the seminary and the surrounding community:


Currie Lecturer: Thomas W. Currie

The Thomas White Currie Lectures were first held in 1952 and have been sponsored for many years by the Tom Currie Bible Class of Highland Park Presbyterian Church of Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Currie will focus on the nature of Christian ministry, and give an account of ministry which is rooted in an understanding of Jesus Christ and the church he has chosen to embody with his own presence and ministry.

Dancin' with The One Who Brung Us: Jesus Christ and the Embarassing Work of Ministry.

Lecture One: The Embarrassing Work of Ministry
Dancing with Jesus is inherently embarrassing, requiring that we ask for help, that we follow Another, and that we risk not knowing where we are going or what we are to do. All disciples encounter this embarrassment; ministry begins by embracing it.

Lecture Two: The Embarrassing Place of Ministry
Christian ministry is embarrassing in part because it is located, embedded in a congregation’s life in a particular place and time. Such ministry is embarrassingly particular because the love of God is embarrassingly particular, embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, who locates himself on the cross among thieves and sinners of all sorts.

Lecture Three: The Embarrassing Role of Theology in Ministry
Ministry is embarrassing because Jesus Christ is the great embarrassment with whom we all get to deal. This embarrassment is so severe that we are tempted to think that we can have Jesus without the theological baggage he brings, that we can do ministry without following, without the hindrance of other people, without the church even. Theology is essential for ministry not because it seeks to make believers ‘orthodox’ but because it seeks to be faithful to that One whose grace is relentlessly embarrassing even as it is unexpectedly joyful.

Dr. Currie is Professor of Theology and Dean of Union-PSCE at Charlotte. He received a BA from Haverford College,his MDiv from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and the PhD from The University of Edinburgh.

An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Currie served as a pastor from 1976–2001. He has taught courses in theology and homiletics at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and in extension programs in Houston and Midland, TX. He has a particular interest in the theology of Karl Barth and in the short stories of Flannery O’Connor. He is the author of several articles and four books, including The Joy of Ministry (2008).

Westervelt Lecturer: Barbara G. Wheeler

The E. C. Westervelt Lectures were established in 1949 by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Flato of Corpus Christi, Texas, in honor of the parents of Mrs. Flato.

Barbara Wheeler will address "Differing Deeply: Religious Tensions and the Future of Mainline Protestant Denominations."

Today differences within mainline religious denominations over theological doctrines, social issues, and religious practices are often greater than differences between denominations. Using the Presbyterian Church as an principal example, the first lecture will explore the ways that differences threaten the future of denominations; the second will propose ways that the same differences can become the basis of vitality and faithfulness in the years to come.

Lecture One: Made with Human Hands: Idols of the Left, the Right—and the Center.

Lecture Two: For This Reason: the Dignity of Denominational Differences

Barbara Wheeler is Director of Auburn’s Center for the Study of Theological Education, which she founded in 1991 while serving as Auburn’s president, a post that she held for thirty years. Ms. Wheeler writes and speaks on American religious life and theological education. She consults widely with seminaries, denominations, foundations and congregations concerned about the future of religious leadership and religious institutions. She is principal author of numerous research reports published by Auburn (www.auburnsem.org ) has contributed to and edited a dozen volumes on the future of mainline Protestantism, congregational studies, and theological education. She is the co-author of Being There: Culture and Formation in Two Theological Schools (Oxford Press) and author of numerous published articles on theological education and religious life in North America.

Barbara Wheeler is a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and an ordained elder in Bethel Peniel Presbyterian Church in Granville, NY. She has served the church at the national level as a member of the Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church, the Board of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, the Committee of 7 to Study Presbyterian Publishing, and the Special Committee on Theological Institutions. Currently she serves as a member of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song, charged with producing a new hymnal for the denomination.

Jones Lecturer: Rodger Y. Nishioka

The Robert F. Jones Lectures were established in 1949 by the Women of the Church of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Worth, Texas. The lectures are funded annually in memory of their pastor of thirty-five years.

Rodger Y. Nishioka holds the Benton Family chair in Christian education at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. While he teaches in the area of Christian education and practical theology, he specializes in ministry with youth and young adults and has completed a research project comparing the participation of young adults in mainline Protestant congregations and non-denominational independent Christian movements.

Prior to his joining the faculty at Columbia, Nishioka served for 12 years as denominational staff in youth & young adult ministry for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Rodger received his undergraduate degree from Seattle Pacific University, his master’s degree in theological studies from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, a Doctor of Divinity degree from Austin College and his Ph.D. from Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Nishioka has published several articles, chapters, and books largely focused on ministry with youth and young adults and the educational ministry of the church as spiritual formation.

Lecture One: Marked as the Imago Dei: Human beings and our capacity to imagine
This first lecture will discuss what imagination is and how we as human beings are both gifted by God and charged with the amazing ability to imagine.

Lecture Two: But it’s just a rock! Nurturing the religious imagination in a cynical age
This second lecture will examine the challenges to imagination in a cynical and skeptical age and how church leaders must nurture a religious imagination inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Preacher: Brian K. Blount

Brian K. Blount is President and Professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia. He was called to this position in 2007, after serving for 15 years as the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Princeton Theological Seminary.

An MDiv graduate of Princeton Seminary in 1981, he obtained his BA from the College of William and Mary in 1978. After graduating from Princeton Seminary, he went on to become the pastor of the Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newport News, Virginia from 1982-1988. William and Mary’s first African-American to receive membership in the Alpha Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society received his PhD in New Testament Studies from Emory University in 1992. He returned to teach at Princeton Seminary the same year.

In 1998, Professor Blount became the first African American to be tenured in the Department of Bible at Princeton Theological Seminary. His primary work has been in the Gospel of Mark and in the area of cultural studies and hermeneutics. He is the author of five books:

Cultural Interpretation: Reorienting New Testament Criticism (Fortress, 1995);
Go Preach! Mark’s Kingdom Message and the Black Church Today (Orbis, 1998);
Then The Whisper Put on Flesh: New Testament Ethics in an African American Context (Abingdon 2001);
Can I Get A Witness? Reading Revelation Through an African American Lens (Westminster John Knox Press, 2005).
Revelation. A Commentary in the New Testament Library Series (Westminster John Knox Press, 2009).

He has edited a volume of essays on worship with Leonora Tubbs Tisdale entitled Making Room at the Table: An Invitation to Multicultural Worship (WJK, 2000). He is also the coauthor of a book with Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann and theologian William C. Placher entitled Struggling With Scripture (WJK, 2001). He has also co-authored the book Preaching The Gospel of Mark in Two Voices (WJK, 2002) with Gary W. Charles, the pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, GA. He is an editor of The Discipleship Study Bible, also by Westminster John Knox (2008). As a part of his work for the Bible, he has also written the introduction and notes for Mark and Matthew. He is an associate editor of the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible for Abingdon Press. He is also the General Editor for True To Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary by Fortress Press.

The author of numerous articles, he also preaches and directs adult education classes in local congregations. He is married, and he and his wife, Sharon, have two children, Joshua and Kaylin.

Hope that you will be able to join us!

Bible Study - Faith In Action!

This semester, our weekly Bible Study Small Group is meeting on Monday nights - including tonight! We meet at 7pm upstairs in the Youth Room (Rm. 212). We always start with a rousing game of foursquare! And then we have a meaningful time of study and conversation.


This semester, we're thinking intentionally: What does it mean to put our faith in action? Faith and action. . . that's something we talk about often at Austin Agape. . .But this semester, we want to be very concrete. What are the implications of our Christian faith, and how can we put our faith into action - in our world and right here in the city of Austin.

At our first meeting, we talked about racism and some ways that it how it affects our city.

Last week we talked about Haiti and the challenges that country faces.

Tonight we will talk about debt relief. Debt is clearly an issue that affects our world. It affects many individuals in our country!

The scriptures have a lot to say about money and a lot to say about debt. In the Torah, there is talk about a special year that cancels debt - the Year of Jubilee.

How does debt affect nation states? That issue is certainly complex, but how could debt relief help developing countries? How could it reduce poverty and inequities?

Come tonight to think through these issues! How can you put your faith into action?