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Eric W. Tuininga
Greetings in Christ from Mbale, Uganda! Christ rules over all nations! I praise God continually that Christ's kingdom has reached many formerly pagan lands, including Europe, America, China, and Uganda!
The Mbale area is home to many tribes and languages. While visiting believers in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Uganda (OPCU), you might hear the following greetings: Mulembe! (Lugisu), Kojeyo! (Lunyole), Koizeyo! (Lugwere), Habari! (Swahili), Oli Otya? (Luganda), or even How are you? (English). Worshipping and teaching here often reminds me of the triumphant verse, "[You] have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation" (Rev. 5:9 NKJV).
The way Christ ordained for his kingdom to reach Uganda is inspiring and encouraging. The gospel first reached Uganda in 1875, about ten years after Islam first arrived. The first Anglican missionaries, invited by the king (Kabaka), arrived in 1877. One early missionary, Alexander Mackay, told the Kabaka that Islam is the religion of the false prophet Mohammad, that slavery is a great evil, and that the traditional Lubaale cult is wrong. On one occasion, to prove his point, Mackay threw a Lubaale charm into the fire, to the gasps of his terrified audience. When no evil befell him for such a scandalous act, many began to take his Christian message seriously. In 1881, the first converts were baptized.
"Here in Africa, before, people were worshipping mountains, trees, and spiritual dark powers. But now, because God has put a desire in our lives, we seek him. At first we did not seek him, but now we seek him." So said Knox Theological College student Hagada Medad, in a sermon preached in February 2013 on Isaiah 65:1.
However, wherever Christ is at work, Satan also fights. And Satan fought hard to keep the gospel out of Uganda. One missionary, Bishop James Hannington, was killed by warriors on order of the king, on October 29, 1885. His words were, "Tell the Kabaka that I die for Uganda."
The persecution of Christians intensified when one of the Ugandan kings attempted to force his pages to engage in homosexual acts with him. They refused because of their faith in Christ. He was furious that these early converts would put loyalty to Christ above loyalty to the king, and so on June 3, 1886, thirty-one of them were burned alive, bearing joyful testimony of their assurance of heaven. The blood of the martyrs proved to be the seed of the church, and Christianity began to spread, enthusiastically preached by Ugandans themselves.
The Anglican mission strategy was that wherever churches were planted, Christian schools would also be built. Poor village families eagerly sent their children to these schools. As a result, within one or two generations, Christianity had reached most of Uganda! Today Muslims are copying this strategy and building many Muslim schools, sometimes giving free tuition to attract Christian children. While 80 percent of Ugandans now consider themselves Christian, pagan practices continue in the villages. Even in the church, the true gospel is being undermined by the prosperity gospel, moralism, and empty ritual.
Into this situation, for the last twenty years, the OPC has sent missionaries to Eastern Uganda in order to assist the church here. As a result, new converts come to Christ, new churches are planted, believers grow in their faith, Reformed theological education is provided, and Christ is honored and glorified by having a faithful, godly, doctrinally solid church here in Uganda.
It has been said that there is a famine in Uganda—not a lack of food or rain, but a lack of theological training for pastors. My primary task since arriving in Uganda in July 2012 has been to train men for the ministry at Knox Theological College (KTC), a seminary operated by the OP Uganda Mission. There is a great need for solid training, and it is a great privilege for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church to be here to provide this blessing. Currently there are ten students at KTC from a variety of backgrounds: five from the OPCU, three from the Reformed Fellowship Churches of Kenya, a denomination across the border in Kenya, and two from a Pentecostal background (eagerly embracing Reformed doctrine).
Reformed theology is a great treasure that we are able to provide the church here. One of the students at KTC is from a large Pentecostal church that teaches the prosperity gospel. In our soteriology class (soteriology is the doctrine of salvation), he asked, "How can we get this doctrine to more people?" When his pastor gave him an opportunity to preach, he preached on justification by faith through the righteousness of Christ, a doctrine the congregation had never heard before. This student also had a long conversation successfully convincing an elder that the commonly held doctrine of a distinct "second blessing" accompanied by speaking in tongues is unbiblical. Pray for a modern reformation in the churches here!
I would like to give you a picture of the spiritual warfare in the midst of which KTC students and OPCU pastors are proclaiming Christ. Recently I asked the students at KTC to write a short paper describing common sins in their culture or tribe and how to address these sins. Here is a portion of what one young man wrote:
In my tribe of Banyole in Butaleja District, most people believe in the spirit gods. Each clan in Bunyole has a spirit god which they worship, and there are more than three hundred clans. Every year, beginning from August until December, they go to serve the spirits. That is when the harvest finishes, and most people have harvested the crops from the gardens. So each clan prepares to serve the ancestor spirits. During this time there is beating of drums in the whole of Bunyole. People take food, drinks, hens, and goats to slaughter blood for their demons or spirits. There is a god of the rain, a god of mountains, a god of marriage.… There are men who put on animal skins—those are the ones who present before the spirit gods all the problems of the clan…. Each clan has one man who puts on animal skins, and this man is called Omutusa. This man is chosen by the spirits/demons. This person doesn't do any work. The clan will provide for him everything because he speaks with the spirits. They offer to him food, hens, milk, etc., during the harvest time. This fellow has the power to command anything either to curse or bring barrenness [even] to the young boys and girls, and he is the most feared person, for he speaks to the demons.… Everyone in Uganda fears my tribe because of curses. They can curse a tree, and it dries—they claim to have this power. They curse crops not to grow well until they come to Omutusa [and get him] to say something; then their crops will grow well and produce.
When I come across these persons [demon worshippers], I ask them questions to know for sure if their spirits can save them from death and the wrath of God, or if they can find peace eternal. Can they have assurance of eternal life by consulting their demons?
Then I can tell them about the true God and his Son Jesus Christ, who can save them all from the bondage of sin and death. I can tell them what is written in the law—the first of the Ten Commandments—and how we were weak to keep that law, so God sent his Son, who kept it perfectly for us.
There is life in Jesus Christ.
There is grace in Jesus Christ.
There is now no condemnation in Jesus Christ.
This is the one whom we must worship, the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them. The one who has the power over death and to give life, the one before whom every knee shall bow down and worship—even their [evil] spirits are subject to him! He is the judge of all nations under the sun! And if they believe this good news, then I can pray with everyone for his salvation in Jesus' name.
Into the spiritual darkness, the light of Jesus Christ is shining as the gospel is preached! We, as the OPC, have a great privilege to partner with the OPCU churches here in this work! In addition to teaching at KTC, I help to mentor and encourage the congregations that form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Uganda. The OPCU has ten congregations: one here in Mbale and nine village churches: Bukonde, Kama, Mazimasa, Kakoli, Petete, Nampologoma, Kachonga, Kaiti, and Khamoto. I realize that to you these are just names, but to us, they are people: brothers and sisters, friends, and fellow believers. I wish you could meet them all, but I am privileged to greet them on your behalf and to enjoy the unity of Christ's church around the world!
More than 90 percent of OPCU members are peasant farmers, which means that they have no regular employment. Instead, they grow their own food, and hopefully have some to sell in order to provide for basic needs like soap, sugar, and blankets. Many of them live in very small homes with dirt floors and no electricity or running water. Many people in Uganda endure real suffering, some of whom we have had the humbling privilege to meet.
The material poverty of our Reformed brothers and sisters in Uganda provides a wonderful opportunity for us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. One of the key themes of God's Word is that believers must joyfully give to one another; especially those with more earthly possessions have a duty to joyfully give to those who have less. For example, 1 Timothy 6:17–18 ESV says, "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty.… They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share." The OPC seeks to be generous and ready to share with our brothers and sisters in the OPCU.
A wonderful example of this kind of church-to-church, cross-cultural giving is found in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. There Paul is taking collections from the Greek churches in Macedonia and Achaia, in order to provide for the poor believers in Judea. We are urged to abound in this grace: "But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also" (2 Cor. 8:7 NKJV).
In an effort to abound in this grace, the OPC helps our OPCU brothers and sisters in a variety of ways. We provide their diaconal committee with a small amount for each congregation to use to help support their widows and orphans (about $25 per month per congregation). We have an arrangement with a local Christian health clinic, whereby OPCU brothers and sisters can receive medical care. We also help to subsidize a radio program where OPCU pastors preach. We have promised to drill wells for the village churches. One goal of the mission here is to have a full-time deacon living here in Mbale to oversee these projects and help in other ways, so that the OPCU brothers and sisters can become more and more self-sustaining.
There are other ideas of how the work here might move forward, including setting up a reading room to distribute Reformed literature, starting Reformed Christian schools, and expanding KTC with vocational programs. Please pray for wisdom as we look to the future and explore how we can partner with the Ugandan churches to advance Christ's kingdom.
Thank you for your prayers! Thank you for your support! My wife, Dianna, and I, with our eight children, are very much enjoying our life and work here. Pray that we will faithfully reflect Christ and be a real blessing here in Uganda.
The author is an OP missionary in Uganda. New Horizons, May 2013.
|© 2020 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
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There are ways to help ease feelings of great loss during the holidays.
This Christmas, Karen Wrate of New Hartford, N.Y., will celebrate with her son Sean by hanging his stocking and some ornaments he made as a child on her tree. And she'll decorate a tree and a wreath placed on his grave. Sean Reilly died of a rare muscle cancer, called rhabdomyosarcoma, in the wee hours of the morning after Thanksgiving 2005. He was 18. Facing the holidays without her "tough-on-the-outside, heart-of-gold-on-the-inside" son is particularly hard for Wrate because of the timing of Sean's death. "I hate Thanksgiving," she said. On Thanksgiving 2005, Wrate knew that everyone else was celebrating as she watched her son suffer that day, she said. Despite her pain, Wrate has tried hard to carry on certain holiday traditions for the sake of her 11-year-old twins and 23-year-old daughter while creating traditions to keep Sean's memory close. "But I know I'm going to feel depressed when I first wake up (on a holiday morning)," Wrate said. The bonds we share with people never die, said bereavement counselor Linda Clark of Hospice and Palliative Care Inc. in New Hartford. "Families are families, including the people who died," she said. "They don't get smaller … The relationship is still part of your life." It's a question of balance between holding on to your memories and traditions and moving on, she said. Maintaining this balance can be especially difficult during the holidays, Clark said. And that stress is compounded by the festive atmosphere. "It's supposed to be a happy season, and the expectation is that everybody is jolly," Clark said. But people who are grieving aren't feeling jolly, she said. So how do you get through the holidays when your thoughts are on someone who's no longer with you? "For everybody, it helps to have a plan when you're grieving," she said. The anticipation is usually worse than the actual holiday, so it helps to know ahead of time exactly what you're going to do, when you're going to do it and who will be there, Clark said. Clark strongly suggests that those who will be alone for the holiday find something to do, possibly attending a church gathering or helping in a soup kitchen. Giving of yourself can help give the day meaning, she said. As for holiday traditions, Clark suggested sitting down ahead of time, alone or with the family, with a checklist and deciding which traditions to keep, which to scrap and which to modify. Everyone grieves differently and will come up with a different plan, she said. The important thing, Clark said, is to give yourself permission to change things you cannot face and to keep cherished traditions even though your loved one will no longer be there. Wrate, for example, decided to throw out the family Christmas tree last year because Sean always had decorated it, and no one else could do it "right,"she said. Now the family has a new tree and some new ornaments in memory of Sean. To make Sean a part of the holidays, the family now holds a candle-lighting ceremony in his honor on Thanksgiving and visits his grave to decorate the artificial tree and wreath. The next day, there's a Mass in Sean's memory. On Christmas Eve last year, Wrate and the twins launched balloons with messages to Sean before the festivities began and on Christmas, the family watches a video of Sean unwrapping packages when he was 14. And last year Wrate bought herself a Christmas present: she paid someone to make a quilt, including photos of Sean, out of his old T-shirts and jeans. "That was the only thing I wanted for Christmas," she said. Clark also suggested doing things for the holiday in memory of the one who died, such as carrying on a tradition started by the one who died, giving money to a charity in the person's memory or putting a memorial notice in the newspaper. Another important part of grieving, Clark said, is for everyone – the bereaved, family, friends – to remember that it's OK to talk about the deceased, preferably by name. She suggested keeping a memory book in which visitors can share memories. "Every time you can bring a story about the person to the family, that's a gift," Clark said. Yet people often try to "tiptoe" around Sean's death to avoid upsetting her, Wrate said. But she's not afraid to talk about Sean or to cry during the conversation, she said. That's what helps her heal. Wrate said she loves hearing people say Sean's name and hearing stories about him. "That's the best gift you can give a bereaved parent," she said. Utica Observer-Dispatch


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Frank K. Tang, a member of Accenture's board of directors since May 2014, is chief executive officer and managing partner of FountainVest Partners, a leading private equity fund dedicated to investments in China.
Before co-founding FountainVest in 2007, Mr. Tang was senior managing director and head of China investments at Temasek Holdings, an investment company owned by the government of Singapore.
Prior to joining Temasek in 2005, Mr. Tang was a managing director at Goldman Sachs, where he worked for nearly 11 years.
He began his investment banking career in the New York office before moving to Hong Kong, where he headed the telecommunications, media and technology investment banking effort in Asia, excluding Japan.
Mr. Tang is a board member of Weibo Corporation and IMAX China, as well as a governor of the China Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.
Mr. Tang earned his MBA from Columbia Business School—where he is a member of its board of overseers—and his Bachelor's degree from Donghua University.
Finance Committee (Member)


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Our work is applied to the internet world producing a wide range of audiovisual productions (short story-telling videos, book trailers, commercials, etc…) for a wide range of clients with a cost effective solution for your brand.


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Perfect Forever
Matthew Henry comments on Genesis 14, writing, "Jesus Christ, our great Melchizedek, is to have homage done him, and to be humbly acknowledged by every one of us as our king and priest; and not only the tithe of all, ...Read More
A Priest Forever
Perhaps the most thrilling promise of Psalm 110 is that God will set the Davidic king as ruler over all. Jesus was this king, and even now He fulfills this through His people (2 Tim. 2:12a). Are you facing difficult ...Read More
The King of Sodom
Matthew Henry comments on today's passage: "The people of God must, for their credit's sake, take heed of doing anything that looks wicked or mercenary, or that savors of covetousness and self-seeking." Appearances can be deceiving. We must take care ...Read More
Blessed Be Abram
Abram's tithe to the king of Salem is illustrative of what the people of God must do for the kingdom. Today, review your finances and look at how you schedule your time. Consider giving more of your time and money ...Read More
Lot's Kidnapping
John Calvin comments on today's passage, writing, "The more closely we are connected with the wicked and the ungodly, when God pours down his vengeance on them, the more quickly does the scourge come upon us." We must be on ...Read More
Kingly Conflict
As we will soon see, the mighty kings of Ellasar, Goiim, Shinar, and Elam were no match for Abram, a faithful covenant keeper. Though the kingdoms of this world may rage against the Lord, in the end they will be ...Read More
Abram Moved His Tent
While we who live under the new covenant know even more of the rich country awaiting us when Jesus returns (Rev. 21), even Abram understood that to trust God is better than hoarding treasures for ourselves right now. If we ...Read More
Abram Settled
Ambrose of Milan comments, "Let us not then choose that which is more pleasing at first sight but that which is truly better" (On Abraham 2.6.35). A seemingly good choice made in haste can lead to spiritual disaster. Are you ...Read More
There Was Strife
If we are not careful, we can allow the good gifts of the Creator to bring difficulties to our lives. Parents who favor one child over another can provoke envy between siblings and enmity between parent and child. Likewise, when ...Read More
The Return to Canaan
All of those who are in Christ are also the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). We can therefore expect that God is moving to provide for His faithful servants just as He did under the old covenant, even if it ...Read More


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(a) Whenever moneys, securities or other negotiable instruments are forfeited under the provisions of this article, such proceeds shall be distributed as follows:
(1) Ten percent of the proceeds shall be tendered to the office of the prosecuting attorney which initiated the forfeiture proceeding;
(2) The balance shall be deposited in a special law-enforcement investigation fund. The fund may be placed in any interest-bearing depository insured by an agency of the federal government. The fund shall be administered by the chief of the law-enforcement agency that seized the forfeited property.
(b) No funds shall be expended from the special law-enforcement investigation fund except as follows:
(1) In the case of the funds belonging to the State Police, the funds shall only be expended at the direction of the Superintendent of the State Police and in accordance with the provisions of article two, chapter eleven-b of this code and the provisions of subdivision (10), subsection (b), section two, article two, chapter twelve of this code;
(2) In the case of funds belonging to the office of either the sheriff or prosecuting attorney of any county in which the special fund has been created, the funds therein may only be expended in the manner provided in sections four and five, article five, chapter seven of this code; and
(3) In the case of funds belonging to the police department of any municipality in which the special fund has been created, the funds therein may only be expended in the manner provided in section twenty-two, article thirteen, chapter eight of this code.
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TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) Arizona Cardinals President Michael Bidwill said a decision on whether Ken Whisenhunt remains as coach will be made after the season.
Bidwill called the team's 58-0 loss at Seattle on Sunday ``unacceptable'' and said he has been evaluating the situation on a week-to-week basis as the losing streak has grown to nine games.
``I think not making a rush decision is the right way to go,'' Bidwill said Monday in his first comments on the matter.
He said he and fans have been ``living and dying with each one of these losses. It's extremely hard to watch.''
``We know we can do better,'' Bidwill said. ``I know that there is a lot of emotion around what happened yesterday but I don't intend to make any decisions based on emotion.''
Bidwill said ``there is plenty of responsibility to spread around'' in the losing streak.
``Obviously, injuries have been a factor but I think even with that we expected a much different season than what we've got going on right now,'' he said.
Bidwill, whose father Bill Bidwill owns the team, runs the franchise. He said finances would not figure in the eventual decision.
``Winning football games and staying focused on what's best for winning football games is what we're going to stay focused on,'' he said.
Whisenhunt is due about $5.5 million in the final year of his contract next year.
The evaluation of the entire organization will be more thorough than usual, Bidwill said, adding that's why it's important to have ``a complete set of facts.''
Earlier Monday, Whisenhunt said he knows only one way to respond in the face of increasing speculation that his sixth season in Arizona may be his last.
``I was a college walk-on, a 12th-round draft pick in the NFL,'' he said, ``so I've always been in situations where you had to fight.''
With three games to play, beginning at home Sunday against Detroit, Whisenhunt said he would ``stick with'' what has been successful in the past.
Whether the players are with him remains to be seen.
In the locker room before the Monday team meeting, defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said he would keep playing hard for defensive coordinator Ray Horton and fellow defensive linemen. But for Whisenhunt? Dockett said, ``No comment.''
Perhaps it's not a surprising answer since Whisenhunt fined Dockett somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 for his behavior at the end of the previous week's game against the New York Jets.
But it's nonetheless revealing about the reality bubbling below the surface in the locker room, where the defense that had been the team's strong point caved to the tune of 493 yards - 284 on the ground - in Seattle in the face of yet another awful show by the Arizona offense.
Whisenhunt once rode a wave of popularity for leading the Cardinals to a stunning run to the Super Bowl following the 2008 season, then got the team to the NFC West title the following year. But Kurt Warner retired and nothing has been the same since.
Whisenhunt knows his job is on the line.
``I control things that I can control,'' he said. ``Like I said, I understand this business. I have a job to do. I feel disappointed that we haven't done it, but my greatest disappointment is for our fans. They've been so good to me and to us. I feel like I've let them down for not being able to do what we want to do, but it's not for lack of effort and it's not from not wanting to do it the right way.''
The 58-0 loss was one point shy of the NFL record for the most one-sided shutout defeat and the franchise's losing streak is its longest since World War II. And that 1944 team, which lost 10 straight, was merged with the Pittsburgh Steelers due to the shortage of players because of the war.
So, how do you pick up the pieces?
``I don't know,'' safety Adrian Wilson said. ``You tell me.''
Whisenhunt said he felt mistakes, not a lack of effort, led to Sunday's debacle. He said that players must rely on professional pride from here on out.
``They've got to understand that they're going to be watched and monitored,'' Whisenhunt said. ``They're going to be on tape, and that's one of the things that when you're evaluating players you look at. You see how they handle those things, so we're going to continue to work. I think that we have enough of the right guys on our team, especially good young guys that want to do it right that are hurting, that it shouldn't be an issue.''
Defensive end Vonnie Holliday, in his 15th NFL season, said players are ``playing for a job, be it here or anywhere else in the National Football League.''
The coach wouldn't say whether John Skelton or rookie Ryan Lindley would start Sunday. The team added a third quarterback on Monday by claiming Brian Hoyer off waivers from Pittsburgh.
Skelton, three games after being benched, returned and threw four interceptions and fumbled the ball away once. Lindley came on and fumbled, too. Two other turnovers came from Patrick Peterson on punt returns.
Overall, Arizona had just two more first downs (10) than it had turnovers (8).
``After a 58-0 loss like that it's hard to come in to work,'' Skelton said. ``But whether we like it or not we're playing those next three games, and I think guys have enough pride to come out and still work and still try to get better for the rest of the year.''
Online:http://pro32.ap.org/poll andhttp://twitter.com/AP-NFL
Follow Bob Baum at www.twitter.com/Thebaumerphx


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The U.S. electrical grid remains vulnerable to cyber attacks that could cripple the economy, and the organization responsible for regulating electrical suppliers doesn't appear to be serious about fixing the problems, some U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday.
U.S. Representative James Langevin and other members of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology questioned whether the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), an electric industry group tasked with ensuring electric reliability, is doing its job.
NERC officials last October painted a "misleading" and rosy picture of the U.S. electric system's readiness for cyber attacks, said Langevin, a Rhode Island Democrat and chairman of the subcommittee. But Langevin has "little confidence" that the U.S. electrical grid has fully addressed the so-called Aurora vulnerability, a cyber attack aimed at shutting down electric utilities' generators or other equipment, he said.
"I still do not get the sense that we are addressing cybersecurity with the seriousness that it deserves," Langevin added. "I think we could search far and wide and not find a more disorganized, ineffective response to an issue of national security of this import. If NERC doesn't start getting serious about national security, it may be time to find a new electric reliability organization."
The U.S. and Canadian governments have given NERC authority to ensure the reliability of the electric grid. Last October, a NERC official told Congress that utilities covering 75 percent of the U.S. power grid were taking actions to fix Aurora vulnerabilities first identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2006.
But the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on Wednesday identifying numerous cyber vulnerabilities at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation's largest public power company. The GAO issued 92 recommendations to the TVA, which supplies power to 8.7 million U.S. residents in Tennessee and parts of six other states.
"The corporate network was interconnected with control systems networks GAO reviewed, thereby increasing the risk that security weaknesses on the corporate network could affect those control systems networks," the GAO report said.
On the TVA's control systems networks, firewalls were inadequately configured or bypassed, passwords were ineffectively implemented, and servers and workstations lacked key patches and effective virus protection, said Greg Wilshusen, director of information security issues at the GAO. "Until TVA fully implements these security program activities, it risks a disruption of its operations as the result of a cyber incident," Wilshusen said.
TVA's corporate network had some of the same vulnerabilities, including a lack of key software patches, limited security configurations and an intrusion-detection system with "significant limitations," the report said.
The TVA had already been working to fix the problems when the GAO investigation happened, said William McCollum Jr., chief operating officer of the TVA. The power supplier has addressed several of the issues identified by the GAO, McCollum said, and the TVA would address most of the problems by the end of the year. But McCollum could not give lawmakers a definite date when all the issues would be fixed.
NERC, with help from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is implementing cybersecurity requirements that come online in July, instead of the advisories it had authority to issue in the past, said Richard Sergel, NERC's president and CEO.
Sergel pledged to push cybersecurity issues with electric utilities and paint a clearer picture of problems before Congress. "The responsibility to be clear [about problems] is ours," he said.


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Marine Corps Motivational Poster And Quote
Semper Fi Parents | May 25, 2011
To Err Is Human, To Forgive Is Divine.
Neither of Which Is Marine Corps Policy.
Contributor's website: http://semperfiparents.com
Filed Under Conservative Musings, Military / Soldiers
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VISION The Floyd County Board of Education's Finance Department continuously strives for excellence in the fiscal management of all student financial resources, by maintaining a high level of professional integrity in and providing the best possible service and assistance to students, staff, and the community in the quest to improve student achievement.
MISSION STATEMENT The Mission of the Floyd County Board of Education's Finance Department is to provide courteous, professional, financial service to all students, staff, and community; to safeguard all student financial resources; and to provide accurate and efficient fiscal management of student financial resources, with an emphasis on assisting in the improvement of student achievement
Bid Lists
These links are for access to lists of authorized vendor the district can purchase from.
KEDC\KPC Bid Vendor List
This link provides information on all KEDC/KPC vendors the district is permitted to purchase from.
KVEC Bids Page
Finance Resources
Commonwealth Credit Union
EPES School Accounting
Use this site to determine mileage for district trips.
MUNIS Help
Ross, Sinclaire, and Associates
Floyd County Schools fiscal agent.
US Postal Service Zip Code Finder
Professional Organizations
These links are to state and national professional organizations
Association of School Business Officals International
KY Association of School Administrators
KY Association of School Business Officals
Southeastern Association of School Business Officals
These links are to state and federal sites for school business, retirement, taxes, and legal information.
County Retirement System
Internal Revenue Service
KDE Administrative Page
KY Department of Revenue
KY Teachers Retirement
Legislative Research Commission
Meet the Finance Staff
Finance Staff


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Co-founder and long term member of Transition Banyule, Mary Stringer, shares her experiences of collaborating with others within her community to create a more sustainable future, then explains the head/heart/hands philosophy of the Transition model and outlines how others can get involved in Transition Banyule.
(Video produced by Anna Morgan)
What is a Transition Initiative?
It's a place where there's a community-led process that helps that towns, cities and neighbourhoods become stronger and happier.
It's happening in well over a thousand highly diverse communities across the world – from towns in Australia to neighbourhoods in Portugal, from cities in Brazil to rural communities in Slovenia, from urban locations in Britain to islands off the coast of Canada. Many of these initiatives are registered on the Transition Network website.
There are more and more Transition Town initiatives popping up all over Australia!
These communities have started up projects in areas of food, transport, energy, education, housing, waste, arts etc. as small-scale local responses to the global challenges of climate change, economic hardship and shrinking supplies of cheap energy. Together, these small-scale responses make up something much bigger, and help show the way forward for governments, business and the rest of us.
Really, it's the opposite of us sitting in our armchairs complaining about what's wrong, and instead, it's about getting up and doing something constructive about it alongside our neighbours and fellow townsfolk. And people tell us that as a result of being involved in their local "transition initiative", they're happier, their community feels more robust and they have made a lot of new friends.
The video below is a brief introduction to Transition from Rob Hopkins, author of several books on Transition and co-founder of Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes.
What are we "transitioning" away from?
All industrialised countries appear to operate on the assumption that our high levels of energy consumption, our high carbon emissions and our massive environmental impact can go on indefinitely.
And most developing countries appear to aspire to these ways of living too. However, any rational examination of our energy supplies, our economic inequalities, our diminishing levels of well-being, our ecological crises and the climate chaos that is already hitting millions of people tells us this can't go on much longer.
We're saying that the best place to start transitioning away from this unviable way of living is right within our own communities, and the best time is right now.
What are we "transitioning" towards?
Whether we like it or not, over the next decade or two, we'll be transitioning to a lower energy future – essential because of climate change and inevitable because of diminishing supplies of fossil fuels (particularly oil).
There are a variety of possible outcomes depending on whether we stick our heads in the sand or whether we start working for a future that we want.
Transition Initiatives, community by community, are actively and cooperatively creating happier, fairer and stronger communities, places that work for the people living in them and are far better suited to dealing with the shocks that'll accompany our economic and energy challenges and a climate in chaos. And here's how they're doing it…
Here's how it all appears to be evolving
It begins when a small group comes together with a shared concern about shrinking supplies of cheap energy (peak oil), climate change and increasingly, economic downturn. This group recognises that:
- Climate change and peak oil require urgent action.
- Life with less energy is inevitable. It is better to plan for it than to be taken by surprise.
- Industrial society has lost the resilience to be able to cope with energy shocks.
- We have to act together, now.
- Infinite growth within a finite system (such as planet Earth) is impossible.
- We demonstrated great ingenuity and intelligence as we raced up the energy curve over the last 150 years. There's no reason why we can't use those qualities, and more, as we negotiate our way up from the depths back towards the sun and air.
- If we plan and act early enough, and use our creativity and cooperation to unleash the genius within our local communities, we can build a future far more fulfilling and enriching, more connected to and more gentle on the Earth, than the life we have today.
This small initiating group starts learning more about the Transition Model, adapting it to their own local circumstances in order to engage a significant proportion of the people in their community. Some may attend training courses, others buy books, some watch the movie "In Transition 1.0", many search this website for information on how Transition works, or for other people / initiatives / projects near them.
They then:
- start awareness raising around peak oil, climate change and the need to undertake a fair and just community-led process to rebuild resilience and reduce carbon emissions
- connect with existing groups, including local government
- hold focused events that help groups to form to look at all the key areas of life (food, energy, transport, health, psychology of change, economics & livelihoods, etc)
Each of these groups then starts up practical projects such as community supported agriculture, shared transport, local currencies, seed swaps, tool libraries, energy saving clubs, urban orchards, reskilling classes, draught-busting teams. As they do this work, they draw other people in.
As the initiative becomes more experienced, they often engage in a community-wide visioning process that recognises how crucial is it for us to a) cut fossil fuel use and CO2 emissions urgently and b) proactively figure out the kind of future that works for ALL of us rather than waiting for someone else to create a future that works for just a FEW of us.
These groups are beginning to create formal Energy Descent plans and to rebuild their local economies by starting up, for example, local energy companies, social enterprises and cooperative food businesses.
This co-ordinated local response strives to rebuild the resilience we've lost as a result of cheap oil, to address issues of inequality in terms of access to key resources and also to drastically reduce the community's carbon emissions.
And incidentally, in general these initiatives are not asking for permission to start this work – they're just getting on with it, sharing their successes and failures, their hopes and fears.
Where it goes from there is a path as yet untrod…
What about local and national governments and businesses?
When we emphasise the vital impact that communities can make in this process, we're not saying that national governments are irrelevant or that institutions like businesses aren't important – we know they're all vital. What we are saying is that for most people, their own local community is where they can have the quickest and greatest impact. Our hunch is that when the governments see what communities can do in terms of this transition, it'll be easier for them to make decisions that support this work.
The different shapes of Transition
The Transition model evolved in the UK, quickly moving to other English-speaking countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the US. We often wondered whether the model would be flexible enough for other cultures that face different challenges. It seems, from a couple of recent notes from Brazil, that it might be:
"In Brazil, climate change and peak oil aren't issues with the same public appeal of that in Europe. Other Brazilians working with TT probably will also have other subjects of main concern, such as assuring education and health for all, protecting biodiversity and enhancing authonomy of traditional (indigenous or not) local communities."
… and another:
"Just a brief message to say that we have enriching Transition processes going on in Brazil right now. Some examples: in Sao Paulo, transition is happening in Granja Viana, Vila Mariana & Brasilandia; there is a strong group in Joao Pessoa and emerging initiatives in Salvador and Recife; Santa Teresa, Grajau in Rio. Petropolis; in your region there is also a small town Andrelandia starting the process. Most recently, after the big land slides, Teresopolis decided to use the principles in their reconstruction process. In two weeks time I'll be running a Transition Training in Vicosa, organised by the Federal University, for which we have opened places for a group from Teresopolis.
We debate peak oil in the context of presal [Brazilian off-shore oil deposits] and as you know Brazil has also been hit by climate change."
We're working hard to ensure that the very broad range of groups experimenting with the Transition model across the world are able to share successes and failures, adding strength and momentum to the whole movement.
So far, initiatives have started up in over 35 countries around the world. It's a start, and there's a long way to go.
Cheerful disclaimer!
Just in case you were under the impression that Transition is a process defined by people who have all the answers, you need to be aware of a key fact.
We truly don't know if this will work. Transition is a social experiment on a massive scale.
What we are convinced of is this:
• if we wait for the governments, it'll be too little, too late
• if we act as individuals, it'll be too little
• but if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time.
Everything that you read on this site is the result of real work undertaken in the real world with community engagement at its heart. There's not an ivory tower in sight, no professors in musty oak-panelled studies churning out incomprehensible papers, no inflexible plans that MUST be adhered to.
This website, just like the Transition model, is brought to you by people who are actively engaged in transition in their own community. People who are learning by doing – and learning all the time. People who understand that we can't sit back and wait for someone else to do the work. People like you, perhaps…


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Rohmir's Vienne Imperiale collection was said to be a celebration of the opera glamour of the eternal imperial style of the beautiful city. Rohmir are known for their collections being a plethora of feminine, eloquent dresses and tailored suits. Vienne Imperiale, lived up to its upper class name with an opulent line up that made expert use of texture and varied fabrics. Which is no surprise, considering that founder and designer Olga Roh hails from Russian nobility. Both a former model and academic, with a PhD from the University of Bern, she has brains as well as beauty, combining a love of glamour with an acute business sense.
Italian influences are a key and running concept throughout this collection. The colour palette used this season, was as regal as the silhouettes, emerald greens, ruby reds, black and gold. By using the softest faux fur, lace and velvet detailed with statement brooches and bold necklaces. Dresses appeared in elegant oxblood and bottle green but it was shades of black with regal gold detail that dominated. Lace trousers matched with sheer and gold tipped velvet capes delivered the drama, European style.
The models hair was plaited then pinned into a traditional style, embellished with pearls, then intricately twisted into a regal up-do, again highlighting the almost princess-esque nature of the collection and the plait adorned their heads almost like a tiara, while the make-up was kept rather neutral, with bold brows with a pink stained lip and dark, smoky eyes and false lashes. The epitome of Italian glamour.
Backstage ahead of the show, the buzz was euphoric, there's so much stigma with models looking moody and being underweight, but these models were smiling, laughing and joking, it was a delightful atmosphere to be a part of, and they all looked truly radiant and of a healthy weight.
Olga herself was beaming and so full of energy and very down to earth, even seemingly looking very relaxed. The catwalk was flawless and the pieces dripped elegance and sophistication. The live opera performance added an air of emotive grace to the show, and Olga's daughter closed the show alongside the Opera, which received a well-deserved standing ovation for the collection and the performance alike.
The show entitled 'Vienne Imperiale' boasted ideas of grandeur from the outset and it was safe to say, that the show did not disappoint. The slow and sultry affair was as grand and as exquisite as promised from the title. Models slowly glided down the catwalk, rather than walk, to the soothing rhythm of the orchestral music and live opera singer. This is Vienna no compromises made.
Written by by Li Thane-Kitson