EMerge: The Blog

General Assembly 218: Thoughts from the COLA Chair for GA 219

Here is what Sandra Hawley has observed about the 218th General Assembly in San Jose.  Hawley is an elder at Plymouth Presbyterian in Plymouth and is the co-chair along with Manley Olson with the Committee on Local Arrangements (COLA) for the 219th General Assembly to be held in Minneapolis in 2010:

Things at GA going extremely well. We've had a LOT of interest at our booth even though we are off in a less--than-high-traffic area. Lots of people say they'll be in Minneapolis/St. Paul in 2010, lots with family in Minnesota, lots very excited to come to MSP, lots say they LOVE MSP. Fun!! We're attending the San Jose COLA meeting every evening, which has been excellent and they have been extremely gracious to us. And, as always, LOTS of old friends, hugs, catching up, talking, meeting new folk, information gathering, discovering new resources, extreme walking, too much food, etc, etc. I literally drop into bed at the end of the day.

Report from the Committee on Local Arrangements for the 219th General Assembly

The following is a report submitted to the Presbytery by Sandra Hawley and Manley Olson, the Chairs of the Committee on Local Arrangements for the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to be held in Minneapolis July 3-10, 2010.  The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area will be the host presbytery for the event.

Report of the Committee on Local Arrangements (COLA) 219th General Assembly

May 13, 2008

The next major activity of COLA will be to have a booth and to make a presentation at the 218th General Assembly in San Jose, June 20-28. We have a great booth location but are looking for help in staffing it. COLA committee members will provide major coverage but since we will be also spending time looking at all aspects of the Assembly we need to find some volunteers to help us in the booth.

We are not asking our elected commissioners; we have both served in that role and know that there is no free time. But we would like to identify other folks who are planning to attend such as family members, alternate commissioners or visitors. If you could give us a few hours of your time we would be grateful.

There will be handouts about the 219th General Assembly and about the Twin Cities area in the booth. We expect that most of the questions would be about the Twin Cities with perhaps a few about the presbytery and its mission. It is not a difficult job but we do need to have the booth staffed while the assembly is in session. We would like folks who could do two hour shifts. If you can help us, please contact Manley. We know that folks will not have any firm ideas about their schedules until they get to San Jose. A that time we will make specific assignments. Thanks for your help. For those who cannot be at San Jose to help us, keep us and out commissioners in your prayers.

Sandy Hawley

Manley Olson, (651) 644-2848  or manleyolson@gmail.com