Blog

This summer’s Reel Ministry film series will again be shown at Alamo Drafthouse Village. We will screen films three Wednesdays, July 11, 18 and 25, starting at 6:30 p.m. After seeing the film, we will have the opportunity to discuss the various themes each film presents and the ways each speaks to us about such things as moral courage, forgiveness, love, faith, grace and redemption. Doors will open at 6 p.m. – get there on time to order snacks.  The films are free, and Alamo... Read More

by Drew Smith In the weeks leading up to the middle school mission trip to Oklahoma City, I was nervous. I wasn’t sure what work we would be doing, where we were sleeping or if anyone I knew would be going. I went into the tr ip not expecting anything and came away with experiences I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else. Our first da y was a scavenger hunt downtown and visiting kids at daycare. I made it through the scavenger hunt (my group came in last) and then went to visit... Read More

It’s Saturday night and most college kids are going out. Not Angela Dunlap. The Texas State University (TSU) senior routinely gets up at 5:30 a.m. Sunday is no different. She’s up at (or before) the crack of dawn, often making a 45-minute trip from San Marcos to Covenant where she is a caregiver for the Joy Ministry.  Cindy Young, a pediatric physical therapist, started Covenant’s JOY Ministry started in 2011. The Joy Ministry matches a volunteer “buddy”... Read More

Texas Tech University Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe shared her views on climate change with a large Covenant crowd late in April. Katharine said climate change is not an environmental issue. "Climate change is a humanitarian issue; it is an issue of loving our neighbor, of loving others as Christ loves us." Katharine was focused not on the right or left of the topic, but on the “crucial conversation to learn how our faith informs our being and how God might be calling us... Read More

  As one of the first initiatives of the Institute for Missional Formation (IMF), Covenant is launching three formation cohorts in the fall of 2018. The three new cohorts will start meeting in September and each will include 20 people. There will be four retreats for each of the groups, and participation is mandatory. This is a one-year commitment that will require you to devote time and energy throughout the year. We have anticipated some of your questions and answered them... Read More

by Elizabeth McBride When my kids were babies we lived in Washington, D.C. My husband took our car to work each day, so the kids and I did a lot of walking in our neighborhood. On our walks I would frequently pass by a church in our neighborhood with a sign out front that said: “God is still speaking. Are you listening?” The sign always prompted me to pause and listen for God. For about two seconds…until my daughter dropped her favorite stuffed animal on the sidewalk or my son’s... Read More

  "How do we become a love letter to Austin?" That question had been sitting with Joe Skraba. As Covenant pastors preached and discussed spreading God’s love to our city, Joe pondered: How can we utilize our campus as an outreach to the neighborhood and the entire community? His wife, Holly, felt the same. “We have this great location, and it was bugging us to figure out what we could do.” Joe's inspiration manifested as a fusion between this desire to serve Austin and two... Read More

Covenant member Alyson Wagnor attended a Covenant Lab. She wrote the following article, reflecting on the class and her background.  At the introductory session of Jon Wasson’s Covenant Lab, Creating the Beloved Community: A Christian Response to Racism, Jon asked each of us to think about our first experience with race. Long after class was dismissed, I pondered the question. Race has been part of my entire life. Yet until recently, the uncomfortable word occupied my perceptions of... Read More

Covenant Presbyterian Church hosted Q Commons in October, welcoming three local presenters and many guests. The crowd descended upon the church to be part of a global conversation on hot topics in our world. The conversations were led by Q founder Gabe Lyons, who -- along with several nationally-known presenters -- joined us via video. Covenant followed up to this event early this year, with the three local presenters returning to the church for longer, separate discussions. For a... Read More

Tish Harrison Warren was at Covenant Wednesday, Oct.5, as part of our Faith and Lecture Series. Warren, a priest in the Anglican Church in North America who serves at Resurrection South Austin, talked about vocation as our mission. She said that after the Reformation, the “earthy notion of vocation,” more than the scholastic wrangling of justice, captured the imagination of Europe and the hearts of lay people. “It was a new concept that a farmer could teach the story of God in the field... Read More

Here’s how God changed my life this year. It’s almost like He had it all planned… We all have our “church friends,” right? They are the people we look for across the patio and rush to catch for a few minutes of laughter before everyone disperses on Sunday mornings. Maybe they are the people we bump into at dinner and introduce to others as our “friends from church.” Have you ever wondered how to transform your church friends into real-life... Read More