I’m glad you found our website! And I hope the you will join us for one of the many activities that go on in our congregation. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
While I am one person among many in this congregation, people usually want to know something about the minister, so let me introduce myself. I have been the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Vallejo for 24 years. Before coming here, I was the associate minister in downtown Oakland for 6 years. I grew up in the South, in Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and Florida. I studied engineering at Princeton University and worked as an engineer for a natural gas pipeline for 3 years before going to Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. Between my second and final year of seminary I did an internship in Seattle, Washington, where I discovered the first girl I ever asked out in high school happened to be living. She and I started dating in Seattle, got married my final semester of seminary and now have four grown children. In 2009 I received my Doctorate from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo.
I am a student of the Bible, theology and spirituality. I love to learn and share what I’ve learned with others. My formal title as a Presbyterian minister is “Teaching Elder,” and I take that very seriously. As you look through this website you will see that I teach many classes. Recent classes have included ones on Contemplative Prayer, the Apostle Paul, and an overview of Islam. I substitute teach occasionally at Vallejo High School, and I join some of our members every Wednesday in tutoring math at Hogan Middle School. If you are interested in learning, this congregation is the place for you!
In my “spare” time I like to take long rides on my bicycle. Every summer I go backpacking in the Sierras. When the kids were younger I coached each them in soccer. In 2015 I had a sabbatical and learned how to make marbled paper, which is an ancient art. Since then I have set up a marbled paper studio in our garage and spend many hours in the evening making marbled paper, which I use to cover journals. If you’ve never seen marbled paper, Google it. It’s beautiful! If you’d like to see some I’ve made, just ask. I also like to read, which I do almost every day.
About 8 years ago I “discovered” a form of contemplative prayer known as Centering Prayer. I have now practiced this little-known form of prayer daily for 8 years. It has transformed my life in many ways. Every Monday and Tuesday I lead a class on Centering Prayer and teach it to others. For the last 5 summers I have attended a 10-day silent retreat at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado. Because I’m an extrovert, the first silent retreat I attended people in the congregation took bets about whether or not I could remain silent that long! (I can.) I also attend other retreats in the Bay Area periodically. On Thursdays, I drive to Stockton to go into a State Prison to teach and lead a Centering Prayer group for prisoners. If you would like to know more about this ancient, but little-known form of prayer, please ask me.
I would love to meet you and talk with you. I consider getting to know people one of the great gifts of being a minister. If you have questions about our congregation, the Bible, Spirituality, God or want to discuss your life, please give me a call. I look forward to hearing from you!
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Remember that time your local grocer took out a full page ad in all the major newspapers to proudly announce they were raising their prices on everything? You don't? Maybe because that's a crazy thing for any business to do. So how come that's exactly what Mission Health did this weekend?
Last weekend, Mission Health ran expensive full-page ads in North Carolina newspapers that aren't even in Western North Carolina, trying to convince North Carolinians to call Blue Cross and beg them to raise their premiums.
You don't have to read the whole thing, though it's kind of funny watching a company that is currently spending $400 million on a building project, starting a new insurance company, and just got legislation passed to let them raise their rates with less scrutiny explain why their patients should give them even more money.
First of all, $400 million in construction costs is entirely in their control. So is running ads in the most expensive media markets in the state.
But, putting that aside, as we have discussed many times, yes, medical costs are rising, and it is a serious problem for all of us. But we need Mission Health to be on our side in keeping those costs down. They say here that the rising prices are "all entirely out of Mission's control," but are they?
Mission Health is a big hospital system with a lot of power at the bargaining table. So why are they only using that power to raise rates? Why not to lower costs? Why didn't Mission buy a full page ad expressing outrage about that $475,000 leukemia treatment?
Mission, instead of fighting tooth and nail to squeeze even more money out of your patients, why don't you spend that energy working to lower costs and pass along those discounts to your customers?
Are you concerned about rising health care costs? Join our coalition to help make a difference and stay informed about the local, state and national issues that are costing you.
My mother recently went to Mission for cancer and a heart condition. The staff there are and continue to be highly skilled professionals that provide high-quality support. I also know that Mission goes out of its way to help people that can’t afford health care. Mission is also the largest employer in WNC.
This blog is obviously a failed propaganda piece, made even more obvious if you look into the author’s background. This was paid for BCBS, and does not represent our interests here in the mountains.
The company that I work for just recently changed to Aetna insurance, and I’m glad they did. I recommend that other companies follow our lead.
Ask your nurse the average experience on the floor. Most of the seasoned RN’s are being squeezed out to make way for the book smart, fresh out of school RN’s. Hire two for the price of one, managers demoted, pay dropped, and then asked to do the same job they did. It really is “clearance time” with dollar tree staff. No disrespect to any of the staff intended. It is a sad fact in all disciplines, and that includes the transfer of doctors and surgeons to other non Mission facilities in the area, with comments like “you care more about your bottom line rather than your patients”.
“Healthy State” Missions brand new (2016) for profit, insurance plan. Competition for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, except they left 10/05/17! New signs at the doctors office already for “Healthy State”. Call it a conspiracy, but can they really get these measured and erected so quickly after the event
Oh and for the former comments about the infrastructure, just take a look at the parking lot at Mission. Half blocked off, with a rumor that a civil engineer sent pictures to the authorities on the state of disrepair.
If people knew how filthy and run down the infrastructure is, they’d think twice about going to Mission
That spend nothing until a piece of equipment fails completely, then its no holds barred to get it fixed.
Mission is absolutely disgusting! I am covered by BCBS and I can say personally that yes the system is beyond broken and that insurance companies are in it for the buck BUT so IS MISSION! I’m sorry but they are the HIGHEST paid medical system in the entire state of NC they are playing woe is me and trying to use fear mongering to get patients to back their call for MORE money! Mission doesn’t need more money they need a reality check on effecttive waste control, quality record keeping, actually caring about patients and not what coverage they have and allowing that to dictate what care you receive, how about they could spend million in advertising and letters requesting donations to “fight” big “bad” BCBS as well as support teams to find patients all new providers because they weren’t willing to recognize they weren’t eligible for more money! Not only that but Mission has created an entire monopoly in the medical field in WNC to the point of shutting down fine outstanding doctors because they didn’t “like” those doctors medical record systems when really there were no problems other than they lost business to the providers outside their system! Now you have to travel at least an hour to get any kind of care outside of a Mission network provider and based on the amount of errors and disgusting treatment through their network I would take that trip any day! They knew people couldn’t afford to lose them so they used that to create a state of fear and panic to try and bully their way to more money! If BCBS was such a problem would the state have awarded them the government insurance contracts multiple years in a row including this year despite Missions claims?! Think about that for a minute! Someone really needs to investigate Mission and what’s really happening in WNC community because the patients are the ones that are suffering NOT MISSION and NOT BCBS!
Typical propaganda piece from Big corporate insurance who is always are more interested in profits than anything else under the sun, including the truth or anyone’s health.
“Matt Bales is Executive Director of the North Carolina Coalition for Fiscal Health. He brings to the job a real-world knowledge of politics from experience as Political Director of the North Carolina Republican House Caucus. He produced winners in 19 of 21 targeted races in 2012, creating the GOP’s largest state House majority in history.”
Just in ER last night with my mom…unbelieveable chaos and little reason to be impressed. A couple of nurses were awesome but the majority were either too new or too indifferent. Sad state of affairs…while the CEO is pulling in at least a million a year.
BCBS states they don’t negotiate during a period of contract termination, as they have to focus their resources on getting patients to new physicians and hospitals. This is LAUGHABLE!!! Do they really think we are so stupid as to assume that the people handling the phone calls and network information are the SAME people who are doing the negotiation of rates with Mission? They truly insult our intelligence.
We appreciate all the comments on our site, and are excited to foster a discussion about healthcare costs in NC.
It is understandable that the subject of Mission Health and BCBSNC raises a lot of emotion. It is very frightening to not know whether your local hospital will continue to accept your insurance.
The Coalition stands behind the accuracy of this post. We believe health care costs should be going down, not up, and that it is up to everyone in the industry, including hospitals and insurers, to do what they can to make costs more affordable for patients, not more costly.
Though we are proud that Blue Cross NC has shown their commitment to lowering healthcare costs as one of our many coalition members, NCCFH is an independent organization. You can learn more here http://www.fiscalhealthnc.com/about
Nice try BCBS (with heavy emphasis on the BS part). You are the elephant in the room not Mission. Mission cares about their patients and employees before profits. BCBS on the other hand is driven by profits and noting else. You could care less whether someone lives or dies as long as you get paid for your services. You could say BCBS is more like the Mafia in how they protect you. Once you are signed-up it’s “F U Pay me or else” Did you get FOX News to write this for you?
As someone who is covered by BCBS, I am disappointed that they felt the need to put this story out there, especially how they tried to make it look like a blog created by someone without a vested interest in the issue. BCBS – I really wish that you had spent the time and money that went into this “blog post” sitting back down at the table with Mission and trying to get things worked out. Compromise is needed to work this out, but you currently seem more interested in trying to influence the court of public opinion. In the meantime, I am still not covered for any expenses at Mission starting in a month. I don’t mean to say that Mission is not to blame as well, just that putting out “blogs” like this make me think that BCBS is more interested in painting Mission as the “bad guy” than they are at resolving this issue.
BCBS profits DWARF Mission profits. Further, Mission cares for anyone coming into their ER / facilities regardless of payor. Will BCBS cover me if I miss my payment?? Not a chance! Why would anyone side with BCBS?
In addition .. BCBS states if Mission will sign a contract, THEN they will negotiate with them. Don’t you negotiate BEFORE the contract is signed? I’ll never have BCBS again in my life.
The top one is a Deep River Rattler and the bottom two are Baby Merlins. The top two are painted by John Bennet, very early production paint jobs. At least 15 years old. These later became Attack Lures when Dan McGrath took over. The pink one is far older, timber with a very pointy bib. If you know more about these lures please let us know.
Here's the little pink fellow from above. Tiny little lures, hand made. It's not hard to see the talent needed to make these things.
You should get the chance to get a few more in a few weeks time. All you`ll need is a bit of time on your own inside Aladin`s cave.
Great collection of JB's Falky. Better bring that little spotted dog to Glenbawn mate,reckon the bass'll chew the crap outta it
Don`t worry Chief I`ll look after your gear mate , I think Goodoo might be right, we`ll have to watch them other blokes
Better bring the popgun mate, we're up against a tough ugly bunch that lack in the intelligence department this trip
Better bring the popgun mate, we're up against a ugly bunch that lack in the intelligence department this trip [/quote]
Falky wrote: Come on guys, this Sth Aussie isn't that bad but you better watch your tackle boxes though
Adam, I`m sure the chief will correct me if I`m wrong but it`ll be tackle boxes in the front & Fang & Falky in the boat.
siegfried wrote: Adam, I`m sure the chief will correct me if I`m wrong but it`ll be tackle boxes in the front & Fang & Falky in the boat.
but sorry mate, these are rare as hens teeth and plus a good mate gave it to me so it won't be going anywhere
I know this seems unbelievable, but it really happened. Many women are in constant search for something like this. They want to find that magic potion that will remove their extra pounds and typically they want them to come off quickly.
A quick note, the best and most healthy way to lose weight is slow and steady. A good rate to target for your weight loss is 1 to 2 pounds per week. This can be achieved by diet and exercise. A slower, more steady rate allows your body to adapt properly and truly get to its healthiest state.
With that said, there are several remedies that can be used to jump start your weight loss goals. These will typically remove more weight faster and can be a good tool when starting, if you hit a plateau or when you need that final push to get you to where you want to be.
I’m here to share with you the story of Ramiza Turzimehich. She is the one who wants you to know her secret. It’s a drink. Yes. She lost 11 pounds in 2 days drinking one drink. Her determination to lose weight was huge. That’s how she found about parsley.
You know that green herb hanging around your house? Oh yeah. That one. She said parsley is really amazing. And, in a matter of 2 days she lost a total of 11 pounds by using the remedy below.
As you can see it worked for someone. The recipe is more than simple. It is like making any other regular tea.
Weight loss wasn’t the first thing that came to her mind that made her drink this tea. The problem she had with her kidneys made her do it. When she started looking for solution, everyone kept telling her parsley is amazing for her kidneys. Her advice is to drink at least 1L of parsley tea during the day.
The best thing is that you can drink it hot or cold. While we are here, let’s check out the benefits of parsley real quick. Parsley is really good.
I know this seems unbelievable, but it really happened. Many women are in constant search for something like this. They want to find that magic potion that will remove their extra pounds and typically they want them to come off quickly. A quick note, the best and most healthy way...