John Weaver became the Director of Music Ministry at the East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church in the autumn of 2007 following the long and dedicated career of Karen Miller, ECPC organist and choir director.  John moved to Vermont's Northeast Kingdom when he retired at the end of May 2005 following 35 years of ministry as Director of Music and Organist at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. John and his wife, Marianne, an accomplished flutist, are now permanent residents of the home that has served as their vacation retreat for many decades. 

In addition to serving the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, John also served as Head of the Organ Department at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1972 to 2003 and Chair of the Organ Department at the Juilliard School from 1987 to 2004. The American Organist named him among the 101 most notable organists of the 20th century, Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory presented him with Peabody's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1989, the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists named him International Performer of the Year in 2005, and he has received honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Westminster College, New Wilmington PA, and The Curtis Institute of Music. Philadelphia, PA.

John was the Director of Music at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City for eleven years and organist/choir-director of the Post Chapel at the United States Military Academy at West Point for two years.  He served the Westminster Choir College, Union Theological Seminary and the Manhattan School of Music. He has written numerous articles for organ and church music magazines, served as President of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, and was a member of the committee that developed the Presbyterian Hymnal published by the Westminster/John Knox Press in 1990.  He is a prolific composer of organ, chorus/organ, and flute/organ pieces as well as an accomplished liturgist and composer of hymns. 

2008 will bring an end to John's long and distinguished careerer as a concert artist.  He has played throughout the USA, Canada, Western Europe, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.  He has performed on national television and radio network programs in the US and Germany. He has made recordings for Aeolian-Skinner, The Wicks Organ Company, the Klais Orgelbau of Germany, a CD on Gothic Records for the Schantz Organ Company, a recording on the Pro Organo label on the Reuter organ at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle. His published compositions for organ, chorus/organ and flute/organ are widely performed.

John has made several concerto appearances with the Portland, Maine Symphony, the Musica Sacra Orchestra and the Harrisburg Symphony. He has played solo recitals at numerous regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists as well as the 1987 International Congress of Organists in Cambridge, England. He has been guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall and Washington’s Kennedy Center, and has played solo recitals at Boston Symphony Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Cleveland’s Orchestra Hall, as well as colleges, cathedrals and churches throughout the US.

Each Sunday, John writes about the music that is a part of the worship service, a welcome and informed addition to the bulletin that is greatly appreciated by the congregation. 

Jim MacKellar and his wife have worshiped at East Craftsbury for many years despite the 35 mile drive from their home at Newport Center on Lake Mempremagog, near the Canadian border. Jim has served as Interim Pastor of the congregation, and he continues to serve his community and the church as a licensed parliamentarian.

Jim has served both the Presbytery of Northern New England and the Synod of the Northeast as Stated Clerk. He has served the national church as the Chair of the General Assembly’s Committee on the Constitution and a member of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission.

The PC(USA)'s Association of Stated Clerks awarded Jim the C. Fred Jenkins Award at the General Assembly in 2004 for his wise, prudent, and vigilant support of the Constitution and polity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

General Assembly
            Jenny Stoner, Co-Moderator of the General Assembly's Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity, whose work ended with the General Assembly in 2006.
            John Weaver, Past President of Presbyterian Association of Musicians, Member of Presbyterian Hymnal Committee (1991)
            Dave Stoner, PC(USA)'s negotiator with the Pakistan Government on school and college denationalization (1994-2003) and Executive Director, General Assembly Council ('87-'91)           

Synod of the Northeast:
            Kay Shields, Synod Moderator (2005-2007)

Children have a very important place in the East Craftsbury congregation. Age appropriate Sunday School classes provide Christian nurture for children from preschool age to high school. Sunday School classes are held at 10:00AM on Sunday mornings. 

Kay Shields and Louise Kinsey use "Bible in Life" curriculum with the group of elementary children in another area of the fellowship hall. The children enjoy their team teaching as the study sessions are augmented with music and craft projects led by these gifted teachers.

Pastor Jack Cabaness leads the middle and high school Christian Education program and teaches the communicants' class and the adult new member classes.

With the Sunday School time separate from the worship time, all children are welcomed into the sanctuary for the 11:00AM  service. Several things enrich their experience there. Special children’s bulletins are available to guide them in their worship. During the service, the pastor invites the younger children forward for a "Children’s Conversation,"

Children ring the church bell to announce the start of worship services, assist in greeting worshipers, receive the offering, and assist the pastor in preparing the elements for Communion.

Older youth sometimes contribute to the reading of scripture in worship services, and participate in special youth service projects and occasional fellowship activities.  The youth group is currently raising funds through service projects to finance a 2009 trip to Iona.  

Summer brings several opportunities for fun and fellowship, including Vacation Bible School, as well as canoing, hiking and biking activities.

Youth also plan a neighborhood Halloween party, participate in the intergenerational (and very traditional) Christmas Pageant, and plan and lead the annual Easter Sunrise service.

The East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church adopted Northeast Kingdom Habitat For Humanity as a local mission emphasis. After several years of working on homes in the area, this affiliate decided to cease operations.

For information about Habitat For Humanity visit the Habitat web site at www.habitat.org.

Another of the mission emphases of our congregation’s Outreach Committee is Heifer Project International. HPI is a nonprofit Christian organization that for over fifty years has helped fulfill the dream of its founder, Dan West. His vision was to provide "not a cup, but a cow", that is, to give families that are hungry a source of food rather than short term relief.

As World War II came to a close, thousands of animals sailed across the Atlantic to help desperate families whose livestock - and livelihood - had been lost to fighting. In 1944 the only animals HPI’s “ark” carried were cattle. Today HPI provides families in 31 countries with 20 different kinds of animals, from yaks and camels to llamas and geese.

Erwin Kinsey, whose parents Bob and Eunice Kinsey are elders of the East Craftsbury Church, works for Heifer Project in Tanzania. Marjory Morrill, an elder, has long been active in HPI work in our region.

For more information about HPI work internationally, call 1-800-422-0474, or visit their web site: http://www.heifer.org/

With the opening of the Craftsbury Community Care Center, just across the road from the East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church, our congregation found that “mission” had moved right into our neighborhood! The Care Center (“C4”) is a nonprofit, twenty-four room assisted living community. More than just “affordable housing,” the center offers 24-hour nursing care, a community dining facility, a resident kitchen and dining area for private family use, a modest library, and large bright porches for conversation and reading.

With a grant from the Presbyterian Church (USA), the East Craftsbury Church helped establish an “intergenerational recreation area” in the center’s back yard, a place where residents and their families can enjoy warmer weather together, and where the church’s East Hill Preschool children can play in view of C4’s resident “grandparents and great-grandparents.”

To provide a warm welcome to C4 residents who might venture across the road for worship and other church activities, the church made substantial modifications to its front entrance, the first alterations ever made to its 1909 building. An accessible lift was installed to assist persons in wheelchairs and others for whom stairs would be a barrier. While this accessibility project had been considered for many years, it was the opening of the care center that moved the project into a mission priority.

Besides the recreation area and the inviting church entrance, ECPC mission at the care center includes a weekly Bible study in the C4 library, a program of visitation, and scheduling occasional worship services and meetings at C4 for the benefit of residents.

For more information about CCCC, call 586-2414.

Two local area Presbyterian women went to Pakistan in the last century as Missionaries to teach and administer health care. Alice Hill retired and returned to Vermont before she died. Josephine White was killed in Afghanistan while working as a missionary. In recent years, the long-time interest in Pakistan has been regenerated by the work on education in Pakistan by Jenny and Dave Stoner, two elders of the congregation. Several visitors from the Christian community in Pakistan have traveled to Craftsbury, been hosted by the church and shared their stories with the congregation.

The hope for the future of Pakistan lies in education and the ECPC congregation supports the denationalized schools that are under management by the Pakistan Presbyterian Education Board and the recently denationalized college, Forman Christian College, that is governed by the FCC Board of Governors.

The Presbytery of Northern New England and the Amatola Presbytery of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa have formed the Ubunye Partnership to further understanding and foster spiritual development through personnel exchanges and mutual support.

In the summer of 2003 thirteen teenagers from the Amatola Presbytery came to New England for a camping experience in Maine with teenagers from the Presbytery of Northern New England. During the summer of 2004, 17 teenagers and three adults from Northern New England went to the Eastern Cape of South Africa for fellowship and cultural experience. Families and churches throughout New England have hosted the South African Christians, adults and teenagers.

Four pastors from the Amatola Presbytery participated in the ministries of the churches in the Presbytery during the month of September 2007.  Rev. Sicelo, pastor of the St. Phillips congregation, King Williamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, spent a week in Craftsbury.  It is anticipated that in the near future, several pastors from Presbytery congregations will visit Amatola Presbytery to complete the exchange. 

The ECPC supports the Ubunye Partnership financially and Elder Jenny Stoner chairs the partnership committee for the Presbytery.

Each year during Advent, the congregation offers members and residents of the community the opportunity to give funds to specific mission projects in honor of family and friends. Attractive cards are provided to communicate the gift, and an explanation of the gift is also included for use by the donor.

The specific opportunities offered for Christmas 2009:

Heifer Project International

Hardwick Area Food Pantry

Christian Education in Pakistan

Craftsbury Community Care Center

Salvation Farms

Ubunye Presbytery Partnership

Growing in Faith

We are a congregation of people who seek to let Christ guide our lives.

We desire to be a warm and welcoming family, caring for each other as well as ministering to our neighbors both locally and globally.

We see the need to spread the gospel to more people, and would especially like to reach out to those younger people in our community.

We believe Christian nurture and education should be a priority.

We have a tradition of singing our faith, with music being a strong component of our worship. Our hope is that we will continue to praise God with songs of joy and thanksgiving.

Our Goals are:

1. To support a full time pastor.

2. To maintain our current level of mission activity.

3. To have a more intentional outreach and ministry to youth and young adults of the community.

4. To maintain and enhance the church property that has been entrusted to us.