Category Archives: Moderator

Presbyterian News Headlines For The Week Ending April 13, 2013

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[Ed. note: Last year I started doing these headlines posts but dropped it during GA season and never restarted. Well, enough interesting things are happening that I thought I would restart this weekly post. As before, these are generally news items about global Presbyterianism that catch my attention but I don’t have time to blog about individually. I do however reserve the right to come back and write more about a story later. – SLS]

Lord High Commissioner for the Scottish General Assemblies
This is actually old news – Her Majesty’s Government issued the announcement three months ago – but it was highlighted this past week by a release from the Free Church of Scotland. While the Lord High Commissioner is technically only a position with the national Church of Scotland, they usually also visit the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland.

This year’s Lord High Commissioner is that same as last year, The Right Honourable Lord James Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, Baron Selkirk of Douglas, PC, QC.

New Role for Ex-Moderator
The Newsletter reports that the Rev. Dr. Stafford Carson has been selected as the new Principal of Union Theological College, Belfast. Rev. Carson was the Moderator of the 2009 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and is the pastor of First Portadown Presbyterian Church. Union College has about 300 students with about 10% of them training for the ministry.

The position still needs a series of approvals of which the final one is from this year’s General Assembly in early June.


Austin Presbyterian seminary receives $2.5 million gift
An article from the Austin Statesman informs us of a gift to Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary to endow the Blair R. Monie Distinguished Chair in Homiletics. The gift is from Mary and Robert J. Wright of Dallas and honors their pastor. The Rev. Monie has been a long-time trustee of Austin. (There is also a press release from the Seminary)

Asante Presbytery creates website to keep members informed
The Asante Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has launched a new web site. The objective is clear from the article: “…to keep its members, both home and abroad, adequately informed about its activities.“

Moderator Designees Of The Free Church Of Scotland (Continuing) And The Presbyterian Church In Canada

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Over the last couple of weeks we have news of two pastors from North America becoming the Moderator Designees for the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) and the Presbyterian Church in Canada. (Yes, you read that right.)

Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
First, in what must be a highly unique, if not unprecedented, action in the history of Scottish Presbyterians the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) has named the pastor from the Free Church in Atlanta, Georgia, their Moderator Designee for the 2013 General Assembly. The Rev. Warren Ewing Gardner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, did his undergraduate work at Geneva College and his theological training at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Based on the information in the Stornoway Gazette (I don’t see a press release on the denomination’s web site yet) it appears he was ordained by the PCUS in 1972 in Atlanta and he served three churches in that area.  He transferred to the Presbyterian Church in America in 1981 and served as a church planter for them in Georgia, for 23 years shepherding the congregation he founded there.  In 2003 he associated with the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) and again became a church planter founding his current congregation.  The denomination page includes his study at Columbia Theological Seminary so he likely began work on a Doctor of Ministry there (although that is just an educated guess on my part). He and his wife Valerie have five adult children and thirteen grandchildren.

It is worth noting that this might represent a certain Presbyterian reciprocity with Scotland as Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary have been know to get the likes of John Witherspoon and Iain Torrance from Scotland to serve as presidents of those institutions.

Presbyterian Church in Canada
The selection of the Rev. Dr. David Sutherland is also a bit unique but in a different way. Rev. Sutherland was the only nominee for the office when nominations were submitted last fall as no other candidate received the multiple presbytery nominations required to appear on the ballot. While not unheard of, this is an unusual occurrence. UPDATE: I inquired about this to the General Assembly Office and the response was that no one remembered this happening before.

With the nomination situation as it was the Rev. Sutherland was know to be the only candidate for Moderator last fall, and a detailed press release was issued by the PCC at that time. But being Presbyterians and being required to do things decently and in order and according to the Book of Forms, the position became official Tuesday as The Committee to Advise the Moderator met at the appointed time and place to make the nomination final.

Rev. Sutherland has been the pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in St. John’s, Newfoundland for almost 14 years and he has served in other churches in the Atlantic Provinces through his career. (And check out the picture of the church on Panoramio to get a better feel for the setting.)  In his career he has served in positions and on committees at all levels of the church including as a presbytery moderator, presbytery clerk, synod moderator and he now serves as the synod clerk. He has a significant number of initials after his name (B.Comm., M.Div., M.Th., D.Min.) but all the bio tells us is that he studied at Knox College. He and his wife Irma have two adult children and four grandchildren. Rev. Sutherland’s son is a pastor at the Bass River Pastoral Charge in New Brunswick.

He will be formally elected and installed as Moderator of the 139th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada when it convenes on May 31 in Toronto.

So our congratulations to both Rev. Gardner and Rev. Sutherland as they prepare for this calling and prayers and best wishes to them for their responsibilities moderating the Assembly and for their whole moderatorial year. May God continue to bless your ministries.

New Officers Of The Church Of Scotland National Youth Assembly

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Congratulations are in order to Elder Lynsey Martin and Esther Nisbet who were recently named as the new Moderator and Clerk of the Church of Scotland’s 2013 National Youth Assembly. I have not found a formal press release but the NYA officers web page was recently updated. It has been a little while since they were nominated since Lynsey’s appointment is mentioned in her church’s January/February newsletter.

Moderator Designate Lynsey Martin is a ruling elder for the Barnhill St. Margaret’s Church in Dundee and she has recently completed five years of law training and as the bio says she “is slowly adjusting to not being a student any more” and now doing administrative work at a law firm.

She has been extensively involved with the NYA and its mission trips since 2005 and has attended the General Assembly three times. Looking forward, the web page includes this quote from her about the upcoming NYA:

I’m really excited to have been invited to be the next Moderator of the
National Youth Assembly. One of the wonderful things about NYA is that
it’s constantly evolving. In our worship and discussion we take time to
learn about our Church, its work, our God and ourselves. That is why I’m
so happy that the theme this year shall be: ‘Identity: Who do you say
that I am?’ I think it’s important that we take time to reflect on our
identity, as individuals and as a Church and it’s brilliant that the NYA
is able to be a safe place for that through providing opportunity,
space, time and community. It is my hope that those attending NYA will
be encouraged to respond to this theme not only at NYA but throughout
their lives.

Clerk Designate Esther Nisbet is active in her congregation of St. Leonards Parish Church in Dunfermline. She is a music student at the University of Glasgow and also has extensive experience with the NYA having also gone on the mission trips and participated with the General Assembly twice. About this opportunity she is quoted as saying:

I am delighted to have been asked to be the Clerk of the National Youth
Assembly and I’m looking forwards to developing the role and working
with the Moderator, Lynsey!

One thing that struck me about both of the officers is that they share a love of music. Esther is not just a music student but plays violin in the praise band at her church. Lynsey is also active musically and recently began serving as the organist at Coldside Parish Church in Dundee. I suspect from the number of instruments each plays they must be active in other music groups as well.

They will be installed when the 2013 National Youth Assembly convenes on Friday 16 August in Dundee and they will help run the Assembly through the following Monday. As the quote from Lynsey said, the theme is “Identity” and the NYA page adds a bit more:

Our theme for 2013 is ‘Identity – who do you say I am?’ so we’ll be
exploring what it is to be me, what it is to be in the Church of
Scotland and what it is to be Scottish.

The page also talks about a bit of a change in the format — “For NYA 2013 our focus will be shifting from debates to other forms of learning and decision making.” It will be interesting to see how that goes.

And don’t worry, the page also says that all the usual fun social events will be there as well.

As Presbyterian youth events go this is a significant one because the topics discussed are related not just to the lives of the youth but also to the life of the Kirk and Scottish society in general. What will come out of their deliberations will be sent to the 2014 General Assembly and Lynsey will have the responsibility of presenting much of it. This event is also usually live streamed and I am looking forward to that and have blocked out the weekend on my calendar to watch. I don’t know how the new format will work with live streaming but I am interested to see.

As always, our blessings upon the Lynsey and Esther as they take up this calling and prayers for your Assembly and your year in office.

Nomination Of The Moderator – 2013 General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Ireland

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Being the second Tuesday in February this evening all the presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland met and cast their votes for one of two candidates for the Moderator of their 2013 General Assembly.

Nineteen of the twenty one presbyteries selected the Rev. Rob Craig as their next GA Moderator.

Rev. Craig is pastor of Kilfennan Presbyterian Church, on the east side of Londonderry, in the Presbytery of Derry and Donegal. He is a graduate of Queens University, Belfast, and after completing his BA he served for three years in northern India with Operation Mobilisation. He did his ministerial training at Union Theological College, Belfast, and was ordained in 1983. Last year he completed his D.Min. at Union.

He began his pastoral service as an assistant at Glengormley and then as pastor of the congregations at Clough and Seaforde. He has been at Kilfennan for almost 28 years.

This year’s GA will not be held in its usual quarters at Church House in Belfast as it most commonly is but instead will be held in Londonderry making Rev. Craig a bit of a home-town favorite.

I have not yet identified any social media points of contact for Rev. Craig but I will place that in the GA preview post if I do find any. UPDATE: Thanks to @AlanInBelfast we know that Rob Craig does tweet, occasionally, at @RobCraig54. He also has a good story on the new Moderator Designate.

We congratulate Rev. Craig and his wife Karen and their whole family on this honor. We wish them well and assure them of our prayers for the Assembly as well as his moderatorial year.

For more information there is the PCI press release as well as stories by the Belfast Telegraph and the BBC NI. More news should be available tomorrow after the Moderator designee holds the traditional press conference.

Passings — Elder Cynthia Bolbach

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Yesterday Ruling Elder Cynthia Bolbach, Moderator of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), finished her nearly year-long battle with cancer and leaving this earthly life joined the Church Triumphant.

In the last 24 hours many fine tributes to Madam Moderator have been posted, and I will link to a few of those at the end. But each of us experienced her in our own way and here are a couple of my reflections.

I never met her in person but had the opportunity to watch her as she stood for Moderator in 2010 and then, as the successful candidate, as she presided over the meeting. What probably struck you first and stayed with you the longest was her sense of humor, and particularly her self-effacing nature. When the occasion called for it she could be very serious, but in my experience she never took herself too seriously. But the next thing that struck you about her was her graciousness. As she moderated the meeting she has a welcoming touch and a manner that honored the presence of those she was with.

Cindy was a vocal proponent, and model, for one of my favorite causes, the equal place of ruling elders in our church. She not only served as Moderator of the GA, but as co-moderator of the task force that drafted the New Form of Government. And she was in a position professionally to be able to balance her career and church service – something I must admit that I admired and envied.

I do wish that I had met her in person but I did get to know her in the virtual world. I counted it as an honor when I learned that she was a regular reader of this little idiosyncratic blog of mine, and I will admit that I was really taken aback when in one of her monthly columns this blog was among the handful she recommended for news about the PC(USA). We did interacted a couple of times in comments and messages.

There are a number of other tributes to her appearing on the web including the official release from the PC(USA), a personal family reflection from her nephew Mark, a nice piece from Bruce Reyes-Chow (Moderator of the preceding Assembly), and a good one from Mark Koenig.

From what I do know of Cindy she fits what is probably my favorite line about death


“I will not die of a cold. I will die from having lived.”

(From Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather; fill in your own “what you will not die of”)

But as Christians we live with the reality of death yet also with the hope of the resurrection

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling
place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” [Rev 21:1-4]

[UPDATE] 220th General Assembly of the PC(USA) — Continuing Conversation Over Election of the Vice-Moderator

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[To cover the related events of today I thought it most appropriate to update this previous post and to place the new information here at the beginning. For the original article please jump down to the break.]

No dramatic build-up tonight — I will just jump straight to the unexpected news of the day:

Tara Spuhler McCabe, with all the controversy swirling around her, has resigned as the Vice-Moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

At the beginning of the first post-committee plenary session the Moderator called upon Ms McCabe to make a statement. Thanks to Bruce Reyes-Chow for posting her complete statement. At the end of that statement she announced her resignation which was greeted by a chorus of “No” from many of the commissioners.

In her statement she says:

I am a pastor. That is who God has called me to be. As I reflect on
what’s happening now, I think I am embodying the reality of a growing
number of pastors who find ourselves caught. We are caught between being
pastors – being with couples in those sacred moments when they make
their vows to one another . . . and having a polity that restricts us
from living out our pastoral calling – especially in states where it is
legal for everyone to be married.

She continues

The tension over all of this is real, and clearly the energy and passion
about this issue runs deep – and isn’t going away. I am surprised and
saddened by the pervasive poisonous activity that has increased toward
the overall tenor of our General Assembly and toward the Office of the
Moderator. Individuals and groups with no personal relationship with me
and have made no attempt to have one-on-one conversations with me or the
Moderator are blogging and tweeting unhelpful and, frankly, divisive
comments.

In conclusion she said

So, bottom line: I care too much about this church and about this
assembly to let this situation continue. We have important work to do
here, and so let us get to what it is God called us here to do.

In response Moderator Presa said

It was with deep sadness that the stated clerk and I received this news. But as I listened to her, I was struck by her pastoral heart and her deep love for this church and General Assembly. It is clear that there are parties within the church
who would not let her split confirmation vote rest, who questioned her integrity and even the authenticity and veracity of our eleven-and-a-half year friendship. I absorbed those attacks and still stand by her while this pernicious poison reared its ugly head. And I have an even more steely determination to seek unity in the bonds of peace. I will deeply miss what could have been but am even more determined to seek the peace and unity of our Presbyterian family.

Then Moderator Presa announced that his selection for the new Vice-Moderator would be Teaching Elder Tom Trinidad from Colorado Springs.

Mr. Trinidad was elected in the evening session of the Assembly. But in the middle of his election process a commissioner made a motion to adjust the docket to add 20 minutes to talk about what had been going on that caused Ms McCabe to step down. (Technically, that is not what the commissioner moved but the ever-helpful Stated Clerk recast the motion into an appropriate form.)
When it came to a vote the proposed 20 minute discussion was defeated by a vote of 322 to 323.
Tom Trinidad was elected the Vice-Moderator with the support of 80% of the commissioners with 12% voting no and 8% abstaining.

To use Ms McCabe’s phrase – Clearly this has touched a nerve.

There is a pretty straight-forward story form the Presbyterian News Service. The story from the Presbyterian Outlook has a bit more context. And More Light Presbyterians has also issued a statement including a quote from their Executive Director Michael Adee:

We grieve that these personal attacks did not stop with that first
article. Rather, they escalated in person and online. It is a sad day
for the Presbyterian Church (USA) when some within it resort to nothing
less than ad hominem attacks and cyber-bullying. This is a sad day for
Christianity. This is a sad day for civility.

There has been a flood of supportive statements for Tara on Twitter and on Facebook.

I am expecting at least two things – First that there will be more reaction in the social media to these developments (Bruce has promised us something more and the StayPCUSA blog which published the open letter that was cited in the resignation comments has not published an update.) Second, I would not be surprised to see this raised in various references, direct and indirect, from the floor of the Assembly much like it was this afternoon.

But this also raises questions about how to best have a discussion about items legitimately related to a call while not letting them degrade into personal attacks or talking past each other in the public sphere.

We will see what develops and I will update here.

[Original post]

After the election of Tara Spuhler McCabe as Vice-Moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Sunday afternoon I though that it would go down as a footnote for this Assembly and it would be remembered as a sore point. However when I got back to the Assembly today I found out that was not the case and it has become a bit of a lightning rod.

First the recap: As you may remember TE McCabe officiated at a same-gender marriage back in April. If you want more on that check out my summary from last week. In my writing yesterday about the Moderator election I added an update on this item.

Let me first add some detail to the election of the Vice-Moderator. When the item came up there was first a commissioner who asked if they could vote “No” on the nominee. The answer was that they could vote no and that if disapproved Moderator Presa would have to propose a new nominee.  Another commissioner then asked whether the Assembly could discuss the nominee. The answer was no, the Standing Rules do not provide for debate on this nomination but it could happen by suspending the Standing Rules. The commissioner then moved to suspend the rules and that motion, requiring a 2/3 supermajority, failed with 55% voting yes. That it even garnered that much support is an interesting sign. The Assembly then proceeded to a vote and TE McCabe was approved 60% yes, 37% no and 3% abstain.  She was then installed as Vice-Moderator.

Well, there were a few questioning comments on Twitter at the time but when I got to the convention center today and started talking with people I found that in some circles it was a non-event while in other circles it was still a very hot topic. A check on the web indicated the same thing.

So, if you want the news reports you can check out the official news story or the Presbyterian Outlook story.

One reaction was from a new group of evangelicals in the PC(USA) that have formed a group called StayPCUSA. They have issued an open letter requesting dialogue on this issue. One of the interesting lines in the letter is near the end where they say “See, most of us are pastors, and we would feel ill-at-ease accepting a call where 40% of the congregation voted “no”.” There is another commentary on the StayPCUSA blog from Jodi Craiglow, writing after the Moderator election but before the Vice-Moderator election. [UPDATE: There is a Twitter conversation suggesting that that the StayPCUSA folks have now sought out Tara in another communication channel, privately, and that they have apologized for jumping straight to the open letter.]

There are additional comments and commentary from

There are a bunch more that mentioned this, with or without commentary, as part of their recap of the day.

As the Assembly committees got to work today a number of hot-button topics were discussed probably leaving this as just the opening controversy of this Assembly.

220th General Assembly of the PC(USA) — Election of the Moderator

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I begin with a word of thanks to the four candidates for Moderator of the General Assembly – Robert Austell, Randy Branson, Susan Krummel and Neal Presa. Last night’s election session was thoughtful, entertaining, enlightening and thought provoking. In the end only one Moderator can be selected but this field of candidates has given us lots to think about for the time ahead.

  With that said I also offer congratulations and prayers for TE Neal Presa who was elected Moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on the fourth ballot, although he led the other candidates by a significant margin throughout the voting.

And in case it was ever in doubt, it should be noted that the YAADs once again successfully predicted the outcome on their first ballot giving Mr. Presa over 50% of the vote.

Now, if you want a recap of the session you should check out my live blog/stream of consciousness/data dump from last night.  My intent today is to go back and highlight and discuss a few points from last night.

First, you have to give the commissioners credit and the elephant in the room was asked right away – What about the tension in our polity between the prohibition on same-gender marriages and the need to be pastoral in jurisdictions where same-gender marriage is recognized by the civil authorities. (My wording of the question.) Randy Branson talked about trusting each other and building trust among colleagues in ministry. Neal Presa talked about it not being an “issue” but being about persons. It also gave him an opening to proactively discuss the fact that his Vice-Moderator selection had preformed a same-sex marriage (see my previous post for more on that) and how we have to listen to each other and disagree in unity. Susan Krummel shifted the focus and asked if this was about answering that question or how we go about making decisions. And Robert Austell talked about how it was not just people but about friends and parishioners. He went on to talk about how even though he supports marriage as between one man and one woman, the recent constitutional amendment in his home state of North Carolina went too far in banning civil unions and how as a pastor he had to oppose it.

A lot of good questions including “What is the Gospel?”, fostering relationships at GA and what about all our small churches.  The question about dealing with conflict got most of the candidates a nickname in the group around me, and from looking at Twitter similar monikers elsewhere in the hall as well. Randy talked about golf so he was the golf guy. Neal talked about herding cats – literally – so he was the cat guy. And Susan talked about the spice cabinet in the church kitchen (the place that is a hot-bed of church controversy if there ever was one) so she was… yes, wait for it… Spice girl. (Tweets indicate that elsewhere in the hall it was being called spicegate ) Sorry Robert, nothing stuck for you.

And in case you missed it, golf was a recurring theme for Randy Branson (maybe to his detriment because it was not an answer and metaphor that was appealing to several demographics around me and on Twitter). But I will give him credit for a great turn-around on us as he was talking about fostering a relationship with another pastor with different views and in the end where we were expecting him to say that it was all due to golf he pulled the surprise and said basketball instead. Well played!

Another interesting question asked each candidate to define “missional” and to give an example of how they had done something missional. (Or as a great tweet from the Presbyterian Outlook put it “TEC asks what is missional? show your work.”)  Great examples ranging from Susan Krummel’s presbytery’s challenge grants of $100 per church to Robert Austell’s church fostering a relationship by helping at a local school so when they needed a space for a Christmas program not only were they able to use the school but their involvement in that community drew in attendees and participants who might never go near the church building.

One of the interesting points, and a current topic, is about churches leaving the PC(USA). While this was not a specific question the speakers mentioned it in various other responses throughout the evening. None of the candidates expressed sentiments about aggressively keeping congregations or the property in the denomination. For the most part they emphasized the need for relationship and discussion even long before a church may talk about leaving – but if the church ultimately wanted to leave they should be graciously dismissed. But Susan Krummal may have made the most interesting comment when she talked about the PC(USA) being a church with particular beliefs and understandings at a particular place and time and if a church no longer feels they fit it is best for both to part ways.

Only one question was a bit off-topic. A commissioner talked about how a pro-Israel group was offering free orientation trips to Israel to commissioners related to the divestment business that is coming to this GA. While it gave the candidates a chance to talk about transparency, integrity and avoiding politics, they also said that related to policy violations as an enforcement matter it would be best referred to the office of the Stated Clerk.

A total of eight questions were asked  which were enough to give a good feel for the candidates. I do feel sorry for the two or three commissioners and delegates standing at each microphone when time was called.

The results of the YAAD vote and the first vote made it clear that at some point Neal Presa would probably be elected Moderator. He was preferred by every group except the Ecumenical Advisory Delegates who generally preferred Randy Branson all evening. The YAADs and the Mission Advisory Delegates overwhelming preferred Mr. Presa right from the start.

Even among commissioners Mr. Presa always held a double-digit lead that grew by about 4-5% with each round of voting.  (If you had known that in advance you could have extrapolated out and known it would take four ballots.)  Here is how the voting went (And yes, the reported percentages on the first vote don’t add up to 100% – I don’t know if it is a calculation error, rounding error or reporting error):

  Vote 1  Vote 2 Vote 3  Vote 4
 Robert Austell  26%  27%  25%  22%
 Randy Branson  9%  4%  2%  2%
 Susan Krummel  25%  27%  26%  24%
 Neal Presa  38%  42%  47%  52%

Interesting voting pattern. Frequently there are two candidates who have a lead on the first ballot and then there is a migration from the other candidates to those two leaders. In this case the single strong candidate first drew away supporters from the trailing candidate (with small changes in the numbers for the two middle candidates) and then the two middle candidates lost incremental support on the last vote, but it was enough to put TE Presa into the majority.

Does this indicate anything for the voting patterns in the rest of the Assembly? I don’t think so. Seldom do I see strong indicators for the rest of the Assembly in the Moderator vote and with these candidates only distinguishing between themselves in minor to moderate ways the potential for drawing theological conclusions is limited.

So we wish Neal Presa well and offer our prayers for his two-year term as Moderator. Best wishes.

UPDATE: While proofing this I had the Sunday afternoon live stream on and the election of the Vice-Moderator. This is usually a formality but concerns were raised about her officiating at the same-gender marriage. There was a motion to suspend the rules to allow for discussion of this candidate but needing a super-majority of 2/3 is failed only getting 55% yes votes. On the election itself 60% supported Ms McCabe, 37% voted no and 3% abstained. If you are looking for an indicator of theological leanings you might find one in those numbers.

220th General Assembly of the PC(USA) — Saturday Evening: Election of the Moderator

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  		Live blogging the Saturday evening session whose primary business is the election of the Moderator. As with all my live blogging you will want to refresh your browser every now and again to get the latest updates. Please excuse the typos as my fingers fly

We were welcomed by the house band from Hudson River Presbytery with a collection of acoustic instruments and with a nice selection of pieces – jazzy, folk, world and several selections from the new hymnal.

After opening in prayer and an appearance by the Sweaty Sheep bicycle team a video of the New Hope Church NCD in SoCal was shown.

Each plenary session will begin with a video about one of the 1001 new worshiping communities and a question.

Introduction of Ecumenical guests – African delegates

Gifts from COLA to the Moderator and Vice-Moderator of the 219th General Assembly

7:20 – First Nomination – Robert Austell
Second Nomination – Susan Davis Krummel
Third Nomination – Randy Branson
Fourth Nomination – Neal Presa

No speeches with the nominations but a couple of pretty elaborate nominations

Candidate Speeches:

Randy Branson – What excites you about your presbytery? In Palo Duro we now sit around facing each other, talking to each other and not the back of people’s heads.
Our fighting has weakened our witness to the world.
Need to change relationships – need stop fighting so we are not adversarial, need to create hope
Need to change dynamic of GA – Communicate to congregations that they are number one and need to consider congregations as we make decisions this week

Neal Presa – “The Lord Be With You” “And Also With You” Many anxious about what will happen next. How can we call on the Lord but use our faith as a weapon of mass destruction
We are fearful about what change means. We fight yesterday’s battles when today presents new opportunities
God holds us together with Grace. As a GA need to trust in grace to bring us through

Sue Krummel – “What were we thinking”  Look at what we have ahead of us and why would we want to be commissioners to the GA with all the topics coming up.
Important topics and churches watching what we do. Some will be trying to decide whether to leave the PC(USA).
We have hard work ahead of us – Jesus said you had to count the cost of discipleship
Let us soar into the future on the wings of hope

[Editorial note: Speeches are well practiced and the candidates are hitting the 5 minute limit very close]

Robert Austell – Work is at the local church. Being with the church’s neighbors in Christian love.
Brought this to his Presbytery Council and they recognize that Presbytery’s role is to support churches.
Charlotte Presbytery is divided – Many issues and close votes. But they were unanimous in endorsing me
I stand as a pastor whose calling is to this church. I am a good news pastor and I love this church.
God is at work – what is God doing in and around us? [Hit the 5 minute mark to the second]

The Stated Clerk gives the process for the Q and A session. Start your watches – 60 minutes

Question 1: Hearing a lot about the struggle of the last 2 years and not wanting to do hear about taking it easy the next two years. What advice do you offer those of us who are in a place legally and pastorally where we might do same-gender marriages

Branson: That is the question isn’t it – the elephant in the room. As an aside it has been a pleasure to get to know the other three candidates.
It is an issue of trust – if I do this my ordination is as stake.
Can we find a third way – One side not push the issue and the other side not press charges.
In some places would same-gender marriage grow the church? Where is the loss if it helps God’s body?

Presa: LGBT persons are not an “issue,” they are persons.
As you know my Vice-Mod candidate has preformed a same-gender marriage in DC. This question is not a hypothetical but a real question. We disagree on this issue and it is an opportunity to discuss it.

Krummel: Is this about answering the question or about how the GA makes decisions. Even on hard topics we are called together to listen and pray together and then discern together.

Austell: This is what is at the center of what weights on our hearts as a church. This is not just an issue, not just with people, but with friends and members of my church. As a pastor while I believe marriage is designed for a man and a woman, the pastoral response is to talk with them and cry with them. The NC amendment not only fixed the definition but took away other unions and blessings and that did not show love for my neighbor. Want to bring to the church answering these questions with both truth and justice.

Question 2: What is the Gospel? [Yup that is it]

Presa: God’s good news that he loves us and we have to take that those that have not heard it
Krummel: It is not about you – it is what God has done for us
Austell: [Sorry – missed this typing]
Branson: The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has come near. And the good news is that God loves you unconditionally

Question 3: Concerned that commissioners may have taken a trip to Israel to promote the Israeli side in the current discussion

Krummel: Always surprised that Presbyterians are surprised when someone does something that is wrong. Need to address that through what is already in place but still need to seek God’s will
Austell: Not sure Moderator Candidates are the best route to address that concern but through the Stated Clerk
Branson: How long has this issue been around? Need to be peacemakers – create occasions for dialogue where people can share. We have a responsibility to be peacemakers in the world
Presa: Need to find ways to be engaged in these discussions without letting politics get in the way

Question 4: What will be your personal initiative to bring people to Jesus Christ?

Austell: [A moment of thought to formulate the answer] Have a big heart that goes out to those who feel they need to leave the Presbyterian Church. Wrote the commissioners resolution that challenged presbyteries to do what it took to stay out of litigation when a church wants to leave. Also travel to churches to tell them why his church feels called to stay
Branson: Big part of ministry – creating relationships based in Christ. Being colleagues in ministry with other pastors. One case of caring about a pastor completely changed the relationship between the church and the presbytery.
Presa: Together we stand, divided we freak out…  This past Tuesday Elizabeth Presbytery dismissed its first churches to ECO. In discussion they all came to understand it was not that the PC(USA) was apostate but the broadness of theological perspective. We need the freedom to give churches the space to discern their calling
Krummel: History in Illinois was a shattering over slavery. Presbyterian history is a history of defining who we are at a particular time and then letting churches decide if they fit. It is very sad but
 we also need to be able to say who we are and we are leaving a light on for them.

Landon assumes the chair

Question 5: Dealing with Conflict

Branson: Each church I have served has been in conflict with I arrived. Worked to get them to deal with each other on a human level. Marriage councilors start with other issues to show how they got into conflict and that at one time they did really like each other. [ Comment from next to me that Branson is big on golf and golf stories]
Presa: How to herd cats… Church has a history of sheltering cats and when zoning had a problem a defense fund was set up. When Neal got hate mail the cat people became his allies.  Bring a pastor’s heart and be a non-anxious
Krummel: Nobody calls the Presbytery office to say they love their pastor. [OK, let’s all go call our presbytery offices and tell them we love our pastor] The conflict in one of her churches was not cats but spices in the church kitchen. Someone decided to throw old spices away. Need to get those that know the most about the situation to address the situation.
Austell: I’m not going to describe a church situation since most of his congregation is watching.  But from Presbytery: Planning for vote on 10-A. Even discussed whether they should have police come. Looking ahead it had all the earmarks of a Presbytery fight. Instead proposed to have him and a friend be presenters and to introduce each other.

Question 6: Ex
plain what you think Missional means and something you have done

Presa: To be present where God is doing things. At his church it is now not about sending money but about seeing eye-to-eye and face-to-face.
Krummel: What he said about the definition. Encouraged churches in presbytery to be missional by giving each church a $100 check to do something unusual. One church planed a community garden that is still going years later and giving food to food pantries. Gives several other nice examples.
Austell: What is God doing in and around us and how can we be part of that. Our church started doing that 7 or 8 years ago. Went to principal of local elementary school asking what the church can do. After years of working with school asked to use it for Advent program and many families from school came.
Branson: Suggested to churches in presbytery to figure out ways to invite people to places Christians hang out. Quotes Marj Carpenter – In some places in the world Christianity is the only hope there is.

Question 7: What are ideas for fostering relationships here at GA?

Krummel: One way we will discern here at GA is to know what each other’s needs are, to pray together, and talk together.
Austell: This is not the best setting to build relationships but we are getting better. But the only way we are going to grow in relationship is to hear each other’s stories. In discussing where we differ in the context of our friendship we learn so much more. It is not just about warm fuzzies
Branson: “The simple answer is golf.” Telling a story about a political relationship that was fostered over basketball. The legislated solution has got to stop. It is relational.
Presa: Social media. Let’s continue the discussion. Beyond our thoughts of right and wrong there is a feel.

Last question:
Question 8: What about small churches?

Austell: Doing music workshops on choirs in small churches at Wee Kirk conferences. Healthy church is not size or budget or appearance. It is the understanding that God has called you together to send you out. This shift does not cost money and does not require a church of a certain size.
Branson: Would want to know context – healthy churches are different in different contexts. Cites the three marks of the true church. Transformation in churches because the members became excited about ministry and started reaching out.
Presa: Moved his church from pastor-centered to more involvement of members [Editorial note: he is using “lay leadership” to refer to ruling elders]
Krummel: Where members are invited to use their gifts for the gospel.

Stated Clerk describes voting procedure and Moderator Bolbach assumes the chair.
8:55

First Vote

YAAD (votes not percentages)
Austell – 22
Branson –  21
Krummel – 28
Presa – 74

Most other advisory delegates prefer Presa but Ecumenical like Branson at 43%

Commissioners
Austell – 26%
Branson – 9%
Krummel – 25%
Presa 38%

Vote 2

YAADS
Austell – 13%
Branson – 9%
Krummel – 18%
Presa – 60%

Commissioners
Austell – 27%
Branson – 4%
Krummel – 27%
Presa – 42%

Vote 3

YAADS
Austell – 12%
Branson – 7%
Krummel – 18%
Presa – 63%

Commissioners
Austell – 25%
Branson – 2%
Krummel – 26%
Presa – 47%

Stretch break before ballot #4

Back from break. Vice-Moderator offers a prayer

Vote 4

YAADS
Austell – 13%
Branson – 8%
Krummel – 19%
Presa – 60%

Commissioners
Austell – 22%
Branson – 2%
Krummel – 24%
Presa – 52%

Neal Presa is the Moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

9:35 Neal Presa and his family have been escorted into the Assembly Hall and we are going through the service of installation including a prayer for his service lead by his two young sons

Neal is declared the Moderator and the Moderator’s cross and stole are passed.

Comments from Moderator Presa and thanks to many including his family.

Gifts from the COLA – Gavel and strike plate

The Moderator of the 219th General Assembly is presented a set of communion ware from the service this afternoon and a replica of the Moderator’s cross.

Moderator Presa calls for announcements

9:47 PM – The meeting is adjourned with prayer
Programming note – I may be spending tomorrow with family and there might not be live blogging of the Sunday Afternoon session which is usually mostly pro forma work and orientation

220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

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  		Well, many of the other American Presbyterian branches have had their Assemblies but now it is time for the mainline…

The 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gets underway at 1:30 pm local time on Saturday June 30 in Pittsburgh, PA. The theme for this Assembly is “Walking, running, soaring in hope” from Isaiah 40:31, although it is difficult to find that theme on the web site and materials. (Expect it to be emblazoned around the conference center.)

The schedule has been rearranged a bit this year with the opening worship service truly opening the Assembly on Saturday afternoon with business to follow and then the election of the Moderator Saturday night.  Committees meet Sunday evening through Tuesday evening so there will be a break in the live streaming until 2 PM Wednesday afternoon. The Assembly will conclude at noon on Saturday July 7. (I was going to make a snarky comment about fireworks on Wednesday evening but thought better of it. )

There are a lot of resources out there for the commissioners, observers, media and those following along at home:

For following along on Twitter the most important thing you need to know is that the hashtag is #ga220. While there are several official Twitter accounts the most useful will be @Presbyterian and @presbyGA. For news coverage keep an eye on @presoutlook and @lscanlon. For all the rest of us crazies GA Junkies there are Twitter lists compiled by Bruce Reyes-Chow and Sonnie Swenston-Forbes. I plan to do some live tweeting at @ga_junkie and will be posting news reweets to @gajunkie. (I will also be blogging obsessively right here.)

As with most PC(USA) GA’s there will be a ton of business – there are several committees that will report, there are over 100 overtures and an as yet undetermined number of commissioner resolutions. Several of the items have the potential for spirited debates in the committees and in plenary and a few could have significant implications for the PC(USA) going forward.  I am previewing some of the business in other posts but here is a quick list of all that you can expect.

Let me conclude with a personal note: Call me crazy but I’m coming to the Assembly with three additional special projects.  First, I am an overture advocate for Item 20-03 to provide partial disability benefits and I plan to write up my experience with this sometime after the Assembly. Second, I will be harassing interviewing people regarding social media and the church. Third, in an effort to identify and tag the true polity wonks, presbygeeks and GA junkies (and in a bit of shameless self-promotion) I will be carrying some GA Junkie bling to hand out.

And yes, I will try my best to have my GA summary sheet out by the end of the day on Saturday July 7.

 

And with that we turn our faces towards Pittsburgh and pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit and what God will do in our midst next week.

Candidates For Moderator Of The 220th General Assembly (2012) Of The PC(USA)

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With three days to go before the election of the Moderator of this year’s General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) I thought I really needed to get back to this subject a bit.

First, I wanted to mention two developments related to the field of candidates standing for Moderator and their selections for those standing with them for Vice-Moderator.

One of these is the departure of Teaching Elder Janet Edwards from the field. As she explains on her web site her husband Alvise has developed some medical challenges and this is no longer the appropriate time in her career to consider serving as Moderator of the General Assembly. our prayers continue to be with Janet and Alvise. Since she is no longer a candidate a revised Moderatorial Candidates Book has been issued. However, for my purposes here I am interested in the broader sweep of the candidates and will include her information from the original version of the book for part of my discussion below.

The second item is a bit of a controversy that has arisen around Teaching Elder Tara Spuhler McCabe, Vice-Moderator selection standing with Neal Presa. An anonymous source provided the Presbyterian Outlook, and apparently the Presbyterian Layman, with documents showing that the Rev. McCabe signed the marriage license for a same-gender marriage in the District of Columbia in April where the marriage is legally recognized. I suggest that you read the complete article from the Outlook with excerpts from their interview with Rev. McCabe because her answers are specific and nuanced. I will leave it to say that she describes her role as “standing with” the couple in their ceremony and guiding them through it, that it was not a ceremony at her church and her church was not aware of it until some time after it happened. Rev. McCabe will remain as the Vice-Moderator selection and Rev. Presa has released a statement on Unity with Difference related to the situation.

Turning to the Moderatorial Candidates Book I am struck by the incremental improvement in the candidate’s submissions with each successive GA, especially in the area of layout, design and typesetting. (The Book from the 219th GA for comparison) The candidates submit their self-formatted copy to the OGA and with the advances in desktop publishing they are looking more professionally done. In addition, throughout the time introducing themselves to the church each has established ways of branding themselves, like TE Randy Branson has done with similar graphical elements between his blog and his pages in the book. It is interesting to see that both TE Sue Krummel and TE Branson have gone to more formal portraits in their material now while TE Robert Austell and TE Neal Presa have stuck with the same head shots since they announced (if my memory is correct), neither of them appearing to be formal portraits. And you have to admire the QR code that TE Presa has put on his bio.

The Moderatorial Candidates Book has biographical and sense of call information supplied by each candidate and a page about their selected Vice-Moderator candidate. The candidates also have to provide brief (less than 500 word) answers to five questions from a list supplied by the OGA. The first three questions are required and they are:

1. What are some of the exciting possibilities facing the 21st Century church? What are the challenges that face the church in this century?

2. In the Mid-Council Commission report a great deal of the narrative spoke to the emerging shapes and forms for mid-councils. In your view, what do you find especially promising in the narrative and why?

3. How might the initiative to create 1001 new worshipping communities help the PC(U.S.A.) reach its goal of increasing its racial ethnic membership and come closer to becoming a multicultural community of faith, hope, love, and witness?

The additional two questions are selected by the candidate from a pool of seven possible questions. Interestingly – and I think this is a sign of the condition and hope for the PC(USA) – all five candidates (including TE Edwards) answered this question:

5. In F-1.03 of The Foundations of Presbyterian Polity in the Book of Order, we are reminded that, “Unity is God’s gift to the Church in Jesus Christ. Just as God is one God and Jesus Christ is our one Savior, so the Church is one because it belongs to its one Lord, Jesus Christ.” How would you work for unity within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and how would this contribute to the visible unity we seek within our church and with other churches and Christian communities?

In addition three candidates, TE Edwards, TE Krummel and TE Presa, all answered the same question as their second optional one:

10. Brian McLaren will be addressing the Office of the General Assembly breakfast on Monday morning. He has written: “Those who dedicate themselves to be agents of change in our churches will require superhuman doses of courage, kindness, creativity, collaboration, and perseverance. Thanks be to God, faithful change agents will find, like the little boy with his fish and bread, that they already have more resources for the journey than they realized.” What are some of the resources God has already provided the Presbyterian Church for the journey ahead?

For his second question TE Austell answered:

7. What suggestions do you have for identifying new directions for the development of faithful leadership for the mission of Christ?

and for his second TE Branson discussed:

8. We are living in a war-torn world. What might the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its congregations do to strengthen the ministry of peacemaking at this time?

Questions about highlighting our confessional theology, ecumenical challenges and resources, and addressing economic injustice were not answered.

Now, I need to condense each candidate’s responses down into something manageable so I decided to feed their narrative portions and the answers to their questions through Wordle. OK, maybe a bit too much condensing, but it is interesting none the less.

It should be no surprise that “God” and “Church” are prominent in almost all five candidates’ statements and “Presbyterian” comes through pretty strong as well. But there are a number of interesting subtleties. (And the images below are displayed at about half size if you want to pop them out and have a closer look.)

Let me begin with Neal Presa. As you can see his cloud is dominated by “God” and “Church” with “one”, “Presbyterian”, “Christ”, “communities” and “mission” (and “Neal”) in a noticeably lower second tier. This is consistent with a recurring theme in his statement about the Church needing to be “catching up” to what God is about.  
 In many ways Randy Branson’s cloud is a bit different than all the rest. You will note that his is the only one with “God” not dominant in the cloud and that since Wordle is case-sensitive it differentiates between his use of the “Church” universal and the “church” particular. I was surprised that with his emphasis on the PC(USA) needing a Moderator-as-pastor at this time that the word “pastor” was not more prominent, but the associated word “ministry” is there. In a technical note, TE Branson is the only one to use the church abbreviation PCUSA and so that appears prominently in the cloud. The cloud does a good job of capturing his idea that this is a time of healing for the church so it might be looking a bit more inward.  
 Robert Austell’s Wordle cloud, like TE Branson’s, has several terms primary in the cloud – in this case “world”, “Christ”, “congregation” and “community”. In particular it reflects TE Austell’s emphasis on community and the outward look to the world. With his extensive work related to worship I was surprised that word is not more prominent and similarly for mission.  
 The first thing that struck me about Sue Krummel’s Wordle cloud was that her’s was the only candidates’ cloud with their name prominent in it. This is easily explained by the story telling about her family she does in her statement as well as the fact that her endorsement letter is peppered with her full name. Since that story telling relates to mission it is not surprising to see that and “world” also prominent in her cloud.  
 For the sake of completeness here is the cloud for Janet Edwards. In addition to “God” and “church” the term “Christ” is just as prominent. There are then several terms in the second tier like “new”, “unity”, “Presbyterian”, “change” and “moderator”. It is also interesting to note that a locality comes through stronger in her cloud than any other one due to the fact that Pittsburgh is not only the location of GA but also her long-time home and presbytery as well as her teaching at Pittsburgh Seminary and having historical family ties to it.  

This obviously is not intended to be anywhere near an exhaustive discussion of the candidates’ thoughts and positions. For those making the decision on Saturday night I don’t want this to substitute for a good read of the Moderatorial Candidates Book. I do hope that it gives everyone a good overview and maybe a slightly different look at the candidate’s statements. In addition, it is my observation that the single most important phase of the election process is the Q and A on the floor of the Assembly before the vote. I intend to be there live blogging that. We can make two assertions at this point – the new Moderator and Vice-Moderator will be teaching elders and the winning ticket will be gender balanced. To the rest we trust the leading of the Holy Spirit. (And on a side note, I am leaving it as an exercise for the reader to consider the references to the three persons of the Trinity in the Wordle clouds above.)

In conclusion I need to give some full disclosure and on a personal note I want to contribute what you might call a reference check. This is the first year in a while that I have had some significant previous interaction with one of the Moderator or Vice-Moderator candidates and it should be no surprise that it would be Robert Austell. He is, after all, a first class GA Junkie as testified by his great GA Help web site and he has done me the honor of linking this blog there. In working with him I have always found him sincere, hard working and well informed as well as having a cheerful and positive attitude. I have seen him working with the diverse theological perspectives in the PC(USA) and I really believe that his gracious dismissal resolution four years ago has done much to set a more peaceful tone for the PC(USA) today. And please don’t hold our shared like of Bluegrass Music against either one of us.  I don’t know the other three candidates well enough to single out Robert as the only choice for GA Moderator, but I know him well enough to say that if he is elected he will do a good job and represent the PC(USA) well.

And with that I turn it over to the wisdom, discernment and leading of the Holy Spirit through the voice of the commissioners. We pray that God will lift up a Moderator that God has prepared for these times.