Synod Events Coming Up in Historic
Southern Places: Nashville & Oxford

by Jane Hines

At the end of the October this fall, when participants in the Synod’s 15th Annual Communication Seminar look out the meeting room window, they will see the Parthenon in Nashville’s Centennial Park. Long before Nashville was known as “Music City,” it was called the “Athens of the South”, not only because of the full-scale replica of the Greek Parthenon located there, but also for its cultural heritage and many colleges and universities. The Parthenon was the centerpiece of Nashville’s Centennial Exposition in 1897.

At the end of January in 2004, when commissioners and visitors attend the 22nd Stated Meeting of the Synod of Living Waters, they will be in historic First Presbyterian Church, built in 1837 in downtown Oxford, Mississippi. They will be housed on the campus of The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), which is also home to the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. Oxford is sometimes called the literary capital of the South because of all the writers it has produced, most notably William Faulkner and John Grisham. There will be Rowan Oak, Faulkner’s home, to visit, and much distinguished service in the Civil War to be heard about, especially the “University Greys”. Walking tours are encouraged, especially around the Square, in this unique town named after Oxford in England. The Synod meeting is January 26 and 27, 2004.

Communicators who attend the seminar in Nashville will be involved in a number of interesting and useful workshops that should keep their attention from wandering out the window to look at Centennial Park or at the Vanderbilt stadium, which is the view from the other window. They will have free time to be tourists, but they will be offered an agenda that is just as compelling as sightseeing.

Beginning with a keynote speech by James Hudnut-Beumler, Dean of Vanderbilt School of Divinity, the seminar continues on the first day (October 30) with a workshop on crisis communication led by Tom McAnally and reflections by Ray Waddle on his fifteen years as religion editor of THE TENNESSEAN.

On Friday, participants will hear from Alexa Smith about her time spent as a reporter for Presbyterian News Services in the Middle East, and from Rhoda Pickett, feature writer for the Mobile Press Register.

On Friday evening, a Halloween dinner party with entertainment by impersonator Bryan Lampkin and musicians from Music City is set for the Vanderbilt Marriott Hotel.

On Saturday morning, instruction in the use of web pages and digital cameras will be provided. There will be a special time for networking by communicators from the ten Presbyterian colleges located in the Synod of Living Waters as they meet with Gary Luhr, executive director of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities.

The communications seminar is open to everyone who is interested. Click here for a printable registration form. Brochures with a detailed schedule are available in every presbytery office and from the Synod office. Registration deadline is September 10.