Monthly Archives: June 2008

PC(USA) membership statistics for 2007

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In conjunction with the convening of the General Assembly the Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has released the membership statistics for 2007.  While it is tempting to say “same old, same old” and move on, there are a couple of numbers in there to be looked at.

The first item, and one that has bugged me in the past, is that while the number of members and the number of churches has been declining the number of ministers and candidates for minister keeps increasing.  Now, the increase in ministers is pretty small this year, only 8 which would be 0.04%. But with more ministers for fewer people and churches will this stretch the resources?  Is there a significant number of these ministers going into non-parish ministry?

The second observation is that while there is an increase in the loss rate of members and churches, it is not a spike like some were expecting.  Now, that higher rate can be expected to continue for at least this year, but it is only a bit higher than last year.  The PC(USA) lost 46,544 members in 2006 and 57,572 members in 2007.  That corresponds to a 2.0% versus a 2.5% loss.

But in reflecting on these numbers I began to wonder how some of the churches that are departing are being accounted for.  If there is a “true church” remnant that stays PC(USA) I would expect that the number of churches would remain the same and only the loss of members included.  What if a church “disaffiliates?”  It was not dismissed so if there is no “true church” I would expect that it would fall into the category of “dissolved” which rose from 56 in 2006 to 71 in 2008.

The OGA has issued a press release talking about the numbers.  The first thing that jumped out at me was the statement:

Of those congregations that submitted their annual numbers, the total loss in membership was just over one percent from 2006.

Sorry, I’m having trouble with this statement;  I can’t make the membership loss numbers come out to 1%.  As I say above, the total membership drop is 2.5%. 

In the statement PC(USA) Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick expresses “disappointment” at the loss of members, but he is “encouraged” that giving is up.  Let’s look at that.

Contributions for 2006 were $2.133 billion and for 2007 were $2.162 billion, an increase of $29 million.  Fair enough.  That equates to a contribution increase of 1.4%.  But the CPI change for 2006 was 4.1% so inflation adjusted giving was down 2.7%.  Things look a little better if you consider giving per church, which increased 2.1% and giving per member which increased 4.0%, almost at the rate of inflation.

Interestingly, the Presbyterian Church in America just released their membership statistics at their GA earlier this month.  (Please remember, I use the PCA numbers because in general PC(USA) churches that depart do not go there.)

In 2007 the PCA grew from 1648 to 1666 churches, an increase of 1.1%.  Similarly, membership grew from 338,873 to 342041, an increase of 0.9%.  (2006 Statistics, 2007 Numbers in the clerks report)

I’ll tackle some of these implications another time, but for now the decline in the PC(USA) continues unabated.

The 218th General Assembly of the PC(USA) — Reflections on the Moderator Election

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The election of the Moderator of the General Assembly is the highest in “high-drama” that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has.  The room was comfortably full.  A row of seats near me held the past Moderators in attendance. And the webcast was followed by people around the country, in spite of the time differences.

First, my sincere thanks to all four candidates for standing for Moderator.  This is an awkward position in our polity: campaigning for an office when the office is supposed to seek the candidate.  But all did it well, respectfully, and decently and in order.  There is an important value in having choices because in the discussion, debate, and thought about the selection we not only chose who will lead us, we air the topics that are on our hearts and help focus our thinking about these issues.  In this respect alone these four men have done a profound service to the denomination.

Second, my highest respect for Elder Roger Shoemaker and his stand for Moderator.  As the only elder in the group, including the Vice-moderator candidates, he made an important statement by being willing to take the time and commit himself to being willing to be elected to the office.  As I now see our biennial GA’s play out I am becoming more concerned that with a two year term of office we are pricing elders out of the market.  The first question that was asked last night was very profound.  The question, as reframed, was about how each candidate would balance the role of Moderator with their other professional and family responsibilities.  Bill and Bruce pretty much said that their churches have the depth that they could take time away from them for the term.  Carl had an interesting twist that in his specialized ministry his role as Moderator could actually enhance that ministry to allow him to work on it at a higher level.  Roger flatly replied “I don’t have a church.”  This reveals two things: the bias of our thoughts about Moderators being ministers, and the near necessity of elders needing to be retired to take on the position.  (Note: I am not saying that there was this bias in the question since the question was actually asked of Bruce and is very legitimate considering his church and family circumstances.  However, the question needed to be reframed because all candidate get to answer each question.)

What concerns me is that while this is a major commitment for any servant of the church to take on, as Bill and Bruce demonstrate, it is easier for a minister to go to their session and figure out a way to make it happen.  If I were to go to my employer and try to work something out it would have to involve a big chunk of vacation time.  I’m pushing the boundaries enough right now as Vice-moderator of a synod.  For most elders, serving as Moderator of the General Assembly is something that can only be reasonably considered in retirement, especially with a two year term.

And during the Q&A each candidate showed their style.  Bill was the master at answering questions and addressing it back to the person asking the question.  Carl was ever ready with one of his profound and moving experiences.  Roger was true to his straightforward and “down home” approach.  And Bruce was lively and humerous when appropriate and serious and profound when he needed to be.

The other thing that struck me last night was that Carl’s late wife Marsha was mentioned only once, briefly in his nominating speech.  I do owe everyone an apology because in retrospect I should have mentioned her passing last month in this blog but I never got to it.  While I was not expecting any significant mention to be made, none the less I was both impressed and intreagued that so little was said.  I will leave it at that, but belated condolances to you Carl, you have been in my prayers.

When last we met…
I signed off last night just after the election results were announced and Bruce declared the new Moderator.  Following that Bruce and all the members of his family were escorted on stage for the installation service.  One of the moving parts of the service was the prayer of installation that was lead by Bruce’s mother and his oldest daughter.  The cross and stole were passed and Bruce began following the script. (Yes folks, for all these formal occasions, and in fact any thing that can be scripted, there is a script.)  Then the outgoing Moderator and Vice-moderator were thanked and all the former Moderators in attendance came on stage to be recognized.

The one additional comment that I would make is that when Bruce came back into the room and at one other point the stage crew turned on all these wild disco or light show lights.  While the event should be celebrated, Bruce was installed in a worship service, I guess I feel the light show trivializes it, or at least makes it more like the person is seeking the office.  That’s my $0.02.

And in closing on this topic, Bruce has cited me as “painfully fair.”  Don’t expect that to change brother.



Now, on to some analysis.
In a previous post when I referred to Bruce as a “YAD magnet” I was half joking.  I did not realize how prophetic that was.  On the first vote Bruce got 61% of the YAD vote (107 out of 163 votes) with the remainder somewhat evenly spread across the other three candidates.  I did not get the exact numbers from the second ballot, but they were pretty much the same.  Yes, once again the YAD’s called it on the first ballot.

Talking with my son this was no surprise to him.  He said that the buzz among the YAD’s had been so much about Bruce that this outcome with them was totally expected.  Get ready for Moderator 2.0.

But the commissioners are what really count.  On the first ballot it was Mazza 102, Reyes-Chow 341, Shoemaker 14, and Teng 250.

One the second ballot it was Mazza 52, Reyes-Chow 390, Shoemaker 7, and Teng 255.

While I usually think that these things are complex, in this case I am fairly comfortable figuring the very similar numbers do reflect the actual shifts:  Mazza lost 50, Reyes-Chow gained 49; Shoemaker lost 7, Teng gained 5.  In the Q&A, particularly the questions on inclusivity, we saw that Mazza and Reyes-Chow favor ordination and Teng and Shoemaker do not.  Shifts between these candidates in these positions would be logical.

But does this mean we have 262 conservatives and 442 liberals with us this week?  No, there are so many factors in play here that I don’t think we can make that call.  I know that among the YADs there were multiple evangelicals who were comfortable enough with Bruce to vote for him.  I would expect the same among the commissioners.  Bruce brought a freshness, vitality, and humor to the Q&A, as well as an honestness, that I think there were many “slightly right” commissioners who were led to him.  And please don’t read this as a purely political statement.  I do believe that the Holy Spirit was working in the Assembly last night and Bruce is the man for this time.

Having just denied purely political thinking I will take the risk and look ahead to the Stated Clerk election.  From what I saw last night I’m thinking Gradye Parsons will be the sucessful candidate.  While I do know Gradye the best of the four, he does strike me as the one with the most freshness and vitality like Bruce showed.  If the same dynamic plays out that would favor Gradye on top of his experience in the system.  But I’ve been wrong before.  Stay tuned.

The PC(USA) General Assembly — Live Blogging Moderator Election

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Greetings — I will be live blogging most sessions of the PC(USA)
General Assembly.  I apologize to those with e-mail feeds or a feed
reader since you will probably only get the first section of the post
since I’ll be pushing updates throughout the session.  Also, if you are
reading this on a browser live you will also need to refresh the screen
since I don’t have push technology on my blog.  It’s tough being Web
1.99999 in a Web 2.0 world.  Thanks for your patience.

Saturday Evening, June 21, 2008
The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
7:00 
— The commissioner chairs are filling up.  People are filing in.  The observer section is about half full.

The session begins with greetings from the Reformed churches in Europe given by the representative of the Swiss Reformed church.

There were some problems this afternoon with PC-biz so one or two items from the Committee on Bill and Overtures were postponed until this evening so that all the commissioners could have the items in from of them.  Talking to my son it looked to him like server overload.  The refresh button would work for a while and then the system got slower and slower until he got an “unavailable” message.  Then the cycle would start all over again.  We will see what it does this evening but bringing new servers on-line is not something they will be able to do over dinner.  We will see.

They just announced that network changes have been made so only the commissioners and delegates have PC-biz access.  But when asked it the commissioners could get it the answer is a resounding “no.”  It looks like few of the commissioners can see it.  The item is abandoned for today.

Election of the Moderator
The Moderator election will get underway shortly.  The Moderator candidates each had four minutes to speak at the Outlook Dinner.  Bruce Reyes-Chow went first and told a funny story on himself as part of his presentation.  Entertaining and on target about the need to understand each other.  Roger Shoemaker went second and told a funny joke but not a personal relevance.  His speech, while interesting and heartfelt was probably the weakest of the four.  Carl Mazza followed him and was right on message as seen in his answers in the information booklet.  He began with, and interwove, a personal experience from his homeless ministry into his remarks.  If he keeps this pattern tonight he will touch a lot of commissioners.  Bill Teng finished the remarks and began with a hat tip to the Outlook and then well delivered remarks about the focus of the church.

The nominations begin:
(Note, I will be covering both the nominating speech and the candidate speech in the same section although all four nominating speeches are given before the candidates speech.


The nominating speech is emphasizing his connection to youth and the younger face of the church.  But they also talk about his service to the denomination, but with few specifics.  He respects the Reformed tradition but encourages dialog between diverse people.

In Bruce’s comments he begins with his Presbyterian roots and how previous generations, and Abraham, did not know the future but stepped out into it.  Is there anything too hard and too wondrous for God?  He concentrates his whole speech on the “new realities” and the future of the church.  Strong, well delivered, and tightly focused speech.  Shows a lot of passion for this.  (Wild applause from his fan base in the observer section.  He is local after all.)


The nominating speech is talking about Carl’s heart and “mission in action.”  His hands-on experience and his presence with the people.  “Leadership that lives and breaths the Gospel.”

Carl begins with two principles:  Commitment to Jesus Christ and to the mission in the world.  He was the result of mission, a Presbyterian church led him to Jesus Christ.  Tries to return the gift of honest conversation and relationship.  Then he gets into a mission story, the same one about a 14 year old girl that prayed at one of the shelters.  That leads into his big finish about being loved by God.  (His speech was a bit shaky in the middle, but once he launched into the story he spoke boldly, clearly, and passionately.)


The speech is being given by Tamara Letts, Bill’s Vice-moderator candidate.  She emphasizes his commitment to the denomination, service to the church, and love of church and commitment to its unity.  Also, his Presbyterian heritage and his multicultural background.

Bill opened with his theme of “In gratitude and hope.”  It is gratitude for what God has done that sends us out to share the love and hope of Jesus.  He repeats his theme that, if elected, he will spend the two years traveling about telling the stories of what Presbyterians have done in the past.  He too shares stories, these about the people touched by missionaries to China, including his own grandfather.  His big finish is the closing lines from the Brief Confession of Faith.


Begins with the parable of the fig tree and the tree as a symbol of Roger’s candidacy.  The church’s roots need to be nurtured and sometimes need to be thinned out.  The church needs to be cultivated and pruned, and he rattles off what Roger has done for the church.  (Hate to say it but this speech did not connect with me.  Too much time on trees in Nebraska and not enough on Roger himself.)  But the big finish was a nice connection to the healing trees in Revelation.

Roger begins with a declaration that he will be guided by the Book of Order and Book of Confessions.  He then talks about how we must live as the body of Christ to exhibit Christ to those who enter our midst.  Our witness is both financial and our presence with people.  Wants to be in conversation to find ways to grow our church.  Do we work together to save the tree or stand by and watch the tree slowly die. (Trims speech because of time but still ran way over.  Should have left it at the “work together to save the tree.”)

Questions and Answers (one hour)
1)  The question is addressed at Bruce but is reworded to be generic:  If elected Moderator how will your current ministry be covered.
Bruce:  Talks about his church, but does not answer question about ministry too directly.  The church is excited and the church style allows his absence
Carl:  Meeting Ground might enjoy some relief from him after 26 years.   But the ministry is about bringing churches together so it does not take away from his ministry but actually enhances it.
Bill:  His session has agreed to having him away 2 Sundays a month and Associates and Pulpit Supply are available.
Roger:  “I don’t have a church”  He as at a place where he can do this.

2)  How would you describe a “missional orientation?”
Carl:  The members of the church are interested in doing mission.  We need to find new ways of doing mission.
Bill: God is the God of the mission.  We do not originate but are sent in partnership with Jesus.
Roger:  The church has become a group that is willing to take a risk and love the unlovable.  Need to find ways to do it.
Bruce:  This means an institutional shift.  One thing to say, another to do.  The revised FOG moves us from prohibiting to empowering because the presbytery and people know the context.

3)  Question from a YAD about inclusivity and especially ordination.
Bill:  We as a church need to be inclusive.  Ordination involves a call to be affirmed by a wider group so it is not “inclusivity” but “fitness to serve.”
Roger:  Tough question made tougher by the narrow focus on the GLBT community.  Need to work with Book of Order and Confessions.  To make progress we first need to take down other walls.
Bruce:
  “No elephants in the room.”  Personally believes it should be extended to all people, but accepts that is now where the church is.
Carl:  Difficult and hurtful issue.  To move forward with this there must be unity.  His mission gives him a “broad understanding of humanity.”  Unflinchingly in favor of full inclusion because he has seen the hurt that denial of ordination has caused.  If mission is the goal we can get past this and with a fuller understanding of who God is we will agree on inclusion.

4) What is the Gospel
Roger:  The good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  (That was all he said)
Bruce:  The good news of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus
Carl:  Similar to Bruce but adds that we become a new creation.
Bill:  Includes much of the above, but adds transformation because of the sacrifice of Jesus.

5) With our ordination standards a particular person feels like “Jesus is being taken away from me.”  Given that, how do we grow the church
Bruce:  “Does anyone else want to go first?”   Can we really agree to disagree on this issue?  We can make Jesus real when we deal with issues like this with transparency.  People outside of the church can tell when we are not being real.  In being real we can grow the church.
Carl:  In doing mission together we are transformed.  The church must be a place of safety to come together and risk.
Bill:  The Gospel is for all people and is transformational.  God has a whole-person claim on all of us.  In this case, need to work with the person about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Roger:  Jesus calls us all and no person or body can take Him away.  But we need to work together to find answers.

Editorial notes:
The observer section is now full.
There are definite trends in answers: Bill giving a diplomatic opening to his answers, Bruce using humor to break the tension, Carl going back to his mission experience and its role in transformation, and Roger having a brief and sometimes weak or indirect answers.

6)  What do we say to members in small declining churches, particularly in small communities.
Carl:  Small churches are important.  Need talented and visionary leaders to work with them.
Bill:  Viability is not an issue of size but about the impact the church has in the community.
Roger:  Any of you also every preach to a congregation of 5?  Need to work at partnering small churches in small communities.  (Having just commented about weak answers he came up with an interesting one.)
Bruce:  Need to ask tough questions and be honest.  Is a church living in the past?  Need to ask hard questions about if a church is doing the mission of God in their context.

7)  What does the global church have to teach us?
Bill:  Has experience overseas and in developing countries the church today, like the early church, is counter-cultural.  We should not be too comfortable where we are.  Need to get out and share our faith.
Roger:  We need to meet the basic needs of our international friends and understand how they see us.  Maybe we can learn something from them.
Bruce:  We need to hear the world view of others, different ways of being.  Helps us understand the “fullness of life.”
Carl:  The strength of faith and simplicity of worship in undeveloped countries has a lot to teach us.  They also have a lot to teach us about peacemaking from their experience as the victims and marginalized.

8)  The church seems to be moving from personal righteousness to social and global issues.  What is the balance and what are the implications.
Roger:  Personal relationship comes in building blocks that are also tied to what we do in the world.
Bruce:  The two issues are not mutually exclusive.  Personal connection to God can be manifest in many ways including social causes and discipleship.  We can push each other in these different areas.
Carl:  Through many different experiences has grown in his spirituality.  By relating to a hurting brother we enhance both of our personal relationships with God.
Bill:  I am a hypocrit if I can’t love my neighbor but work for peace globally.

Time up, we move to the vote:

First ballot:
Advisory:  YADS: Bruce Reyes-Chow by a wide margin, 107 votes with 23 for Carl, 10 for Roger, and 23 for Bill.

Commissioners:  No majority.  Bruce 341, Bill 250, Carl 102, Roger 14.  Bruce got 48% and Bill got 35%.

The system is being reset for the second ballot.  Prediction:  Carl’s votes go to Bruce, Roger’s votes go to Bill.  Bruce wins in the next ballot or two.

Second ballot:
Advisory:  About the same.  I did not write fast enough.
Commissioners:  Bruce Reyes-Chow is the Moderator of the 218th General Assembly
Bruce 390, Bill 255, Carl 52, Roger 7

We now proceed to the installation.
I’ll finish the live blogging here and post pictures and a reading of the tea leaves in the next 12 hours.

The PC(USA) General Assembly — Saturday Afternoon Reflections

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As the commissioners are being “oriented” this afternoon there is no business going on and I have been kicking back and chatting.

One big topic of conversation is the Moderator election this evening.  Having been in several conversations about this, at this point there seems to be a consensus that there is no consensus.  For the last 24 hours the candidates have been doing a “meet and greet” in the lobby during breaks and all four with their four Vice-moderator candidates have been doing a great job.



When I took these pictures this morning I somehow missed Roger and Peter.  Sorry, I’ll try to get you in here.  But what was missing from the other side of the table were the YADs who were still at breakfast.  Yesterday afternoon as people were milling about talking to the candidates there was a clear trend for the youth to be attracted to Bruce’s little space.  I apologize for the term Bruce, but you were a “YAD magnet.”

The attraction of the youth to Bruce may be attributed his high-gear Web 2.0 presence.  It could also be related to the fact that Bruce is the youngest of the candidates, or maybe even his ideas and positions.  We will have to see if that translates to excitement with the commissioners who actually make the decision.

The groups I have been in think the current favorites are Bill and Bruce, but almost everyone also agrees that many of the commissioners’ minds will probably be made up during the speeches and Q&A tonight.  And that is the working of the Holy Spirit in this process.

I would make one further comment about the afternoon session, and this is the pleasure we had of having the Very Rev. Sheilagh Kesting, immediate past Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, open the session in prayer at the invitation of our Moderator.  Thank you.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

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Fifty years ago today my parents were married at a historic Presbyterian Church.  They now have many great years together, three children, three children-in-law, five grandchildren, and lots of friends of which many have been with them through the fifty years.  It is a marriage well practiced and lives well lived.

Looking at our family, it is in some ways a cross-section of the mainline churches today.  Now there are some differences, one of which is that we, my parents and all my baby-boomer siblings and all the grandchildren, are presently active in churches.  But in the youngest generation the mainline is losing its hold.

With my parents, myself, and my siblings, we take the mainline church seriously.  Besides my service as an elder, including the stint as a presbytery officer and now the synod circuit, my parents are elders and deacons.  My wife is an elder and deacon as well.  My sister is an elder and her husband is a Minister of Word and Sacrament and was a TSAD.  And of course, their grandson is, at this moment, a YAD.  From the foundation and example my parents gave us we have continued to find our connection to Presbyterianism.

So Mom and Dad — Congratulations, thank you, and well done!  Love Ya!

The PC(USA) General Assembly — Live Blogging Saturday Morning 1

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Greetings — I will be live blogging most sessions of the PC(USA) General Assembly.  I apologize to those with e-mail feeds or a feed reader since you will probably only get the first section of the post since I’ll be pushing update throughout the session.  Also, if you are reading this on a browser live you will also need to refresh the screen since I don’t have push technology on my blog.  It’s tough being Web 1.99999 in a Web 2.0 world.  Thanks for your patience.

Saturday Morning, June 21, 2008
The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
10:00  — The commissioner chairs are filling up.  People are filing in.  The soothing background music is playing. (I could have done with great hymns of the faith) And camera operators are ready.

There has been some questions this morning about internet access.  It turns out that there is WiFi in the hall, but you can only get to PC-biz

10:01  The Assembly is called to order with the gavel and prayer by the Moderator of the 217th GA, the Rev. Joan Gray.  Including a long period, a couple of minutes, or silence.

10:04 — Cliff Kirkpatrick leads a litany followed by the Servant Song.    Interesting this was also used in opening by the Church of Scotland GA this year.  Except with stings instead of keyboard.

10:12 — Commissioners and delegates are asked and answer the questions of “commissioning”

Another prayer, litany, and hymn “Come O Spirit, Dwell Among Us” sung to Ebenezer.

10:20 — The General Assembly is now commissioned and we move on to formalities.
A quorum is declared, corresponding members seated, and welcome from COLA.

10:30 — Move on to promotional videos and official welcome and gift to Moderator and Vice-moderator:  hand-crafted wooden boxes.

10:41 — Robert Wilson assumes the gavel and Joan Gray gives the moderator’s report with her usual humor.

We then have the report of the Vice-moderator and we are not up to the GAC report

The GAC church growth segment highlights the Highlands Church in Paso Robles, California, which has recently become the “poster child” for church planting in this day and age.

11:20 — Move on to Nominating Committee and an overview of the nominations from the floor process for challenging committee nominees

11:25 — Finance overview and financial implications.  They are listing what is covered under per capita, but there are possible changes to what budget items can be covered by per capita before this GA.  But the possible change to the mission budget, to the tune of an increase of $13,000,000, that would be caused by the proposed shift is presented as either full disclosure, or maybe a threat.

11:35 — The morning agenda has been concluded.  The afternoon is orientation so I probably will not live blog that.  Maybe a post or two of other business, but live blogging will resume this evening for the Moderator election.

The 218th General Assembly of the PC(USA) — The Journey Begins

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The marathon begins!

As I chatted with commissioners at the end of the day today they talked about how tiring a day it was.  And this was the preparatory day.  Things actually get underway tomorrow.  Today was about orientation and training.  Just wait until 1 AM on Friday night, that would actually be Saturday morning, as you still have one committee report to finish before you can go to bed.  Well, we will get there in a week.

But Today… Sed Hodie

Actually yesterday, YAD Philip, my son, made it to San Jose without any problem, got checked in, and began “YADding.”  I’ll talk more about the YAD program another time, but they keep them too busy for them to really get into trouble even though we had to sign a waiver that we understood there would be no “adult” supervision.  One of the highlights for him was riding on the shuttle bus from the airport next to Mr. Robert Wilson, Vice-moderator of the 217th GA and talking to him.  My Son The YAD seems to be doing fine when I chatted with him briefly today.  One thing he did note during the antiracism training for commissioners and delegates was that over lunch before the training the YAD’s were talking about how in their generation/culture it is not racism as it has been in the past as much as drawing lines of who is in and who is out on other criteria:  where you live, what you do, etc.

As for me, I grabbed a flight on Southwest up here and made it early afternoon.  The flight was on a new airplane, was on-time, had that little bit of Southwest’s stand-up comedy from the flight attendants (including a couple of bits I had not heard before), cost me nothing extra to check a bag, and cost less than filling up my truck twice.  But I was not the only Presbyterian on the flight.  One good friend, a few faces I recognized, and a few that were new faces to me but the “frozen chosen” stood out in the crowd.  And folks, we may like the back pews in church, but we’ll take the front seats on a plane.
Had a nice clear day for flying and it is well known among the geologists that the flight path from LA to the Bay Area follows the San Andreas fault, visible as the linear valley running from lower left to upper right in the picture.

From the airport we had a nice ride on the shuttle bus to the convention hotels and it was an honor to help a former Moderator of the GA with their luggage.

The convention center area is convenient.  There is a light rail system to help get around but most things are walking distance including San Jose State University.  I will note that I think the drivers are even crazier here than in LA LA land.  Be especially careful of cars looking like they are about to pull a right-on-red.  Then again, it is Friday evening and we Angeleno’s are at our driving “best” then as well.  After all, “L.A. is a great big freeway.”  And I do regularly confess that when I am driving is when I am probably my least Christ-like.

After checking in I got registered and started looking for friends old and new, including a number of the virtual kind.  I’ll have a few more days to do business but I did take care of some of that today.  But the surprise of the exhibit hall is that the Office of Evangelism and Church Growth and presbygrow.net has put the Easter card from Mission Bay Presbyterian Church on a t-shirt.  Had to have one.  All it took was agreeing to be on the e-mail list.  (I would also note that as I called up the web site to link it I see that the Office of Evangelism and Church Growth has changed their subdirectory from “/churchgrowth/” to “/goodnews/”  Sending a message with that one!)

I got a little time to talk to Moderator/Vice-moderator candidates but I’ll do more of that Saturday morning.  I also ran into a bunch of people I know mostly from the Web 2.0 world.  It was great to put names and faces together in the “face-to-face” world.  It got me thinking about what the wider electronic community of the Church Virtual misses when it does not gather in person.  Sunday worship will be an interesting experiment in technology as we gather in two large “arena” worship spaces but with a television feed between to share parts of the service.

I finished the evening at the Church Basement Roadshow at First Presbyterian Church of San Jose, just a few blocks from the convention center area.  A little on the Roadshow in a moment, but I was also struck by the church.  It is very “utilitarian” architecture with a sanctuary (worship space?) with theater seating for a bit over 100 that with some minor modifications could be just another lecture hall.  But it is a historic church and this is the third building they have had in their history.  One of their members spent a great deal of time telling me the history of the church.  The first building was destroyed in the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, a reminder that San Francisco, while large and having the great fire, was not the only city devastated by that earthquake.  The second building became “unsafe” and the current space was built in 1972.  There are stained-glass windows from the previous building hanging over the current windows.  While preserving the past this looks like an example, at least in its architecture, of a church that moved on to modern or post-modern thinking early on.  And what’s this about a church basement, this is California and most residences, churches, and small commercial spaces don’t have basements.

As for the Roadshow, I found it entertaining and moving.  I need to say that it is part entertainment.  It is also part promotional with the corporate sponsors and each of the principals having books on the market.  And the bucket was passed with a suggested donation of $10. (Although it seemed around me that less than half put anything in.) But it also included three significant “testimonies,” even if tied to the books.  After reflecting on this I have decided not to thoroughly review or deconstruct the evening in case others will be seeing the roadshow later on.  Getting back to the “face-to-face” thing, you should hear the testimonies in their original voice first.  But I will comment that one speaker shared a story similar to Augustine’s with “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in YOU.”  It was also a critique that as God is working in our hearts, salvation is not a “one-size-fits-all” “four spiritual laws” path to salvation, but when God calls, the call may come differently for everyone.  It is where your heart is broken and there is a place for emotions in your spiritual life.  Another testimony picked up on where your heart is broken and the call to covenant community.  The theme of love was present throughout the evening, but not in the general sense that “God is Love,” but in a very real and tangible sense of love for others in the covenant community, really caring about your brothers and sisters in Christ.  And also, like the remaining testimony talked about, loving like Jesus loved for the outcast and marginal.  The show is not for everyone.  But if you want some entertainment with some hard-hitting stories consider it.  I thought it was an evening well spent and an interesting voice about the body of Christ in the future.

As for tomorrow, this little piece of the body of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) convenes it’s General Assembly in the morning.  Back then.

The 28th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church

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We are now in the midst of the 28th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, being held in Bethesda, Maryland.  By most Presbyterian standards four days is relatively short for a GA.

Since I am currently focusing on another General Assembly that starts tomorrow, and still have two blog entries each to finish from the Church of Scotland, PCA, and my GA 101 series, I’ll have to play catch-up later on the EPC meeting.  However, I don’t feel too bad doing that since the Rev. David Fischler from The Reformed Pastor is attending and blogging.  I would also note, and David confirms, that the Rev. Bill Crawford from Bayou Christian is there as well and I would expect his comments at some point in the future.  The event is properly covered.

But some think that the real EPC fireworks will be over at the PC(USA) where an overture makes accusations of “sheep stealing” (the polite term the overture uses is “persuade” but other stronger terms are being used in private conversation) and some in the PC(USA) want an investigation and cutting formal ties with the EPC.

Blessings on the EPC meeting and I’ll try to cross-correlate later.

What’s Shaking in San Jose?

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First, this is what you get when you have a GA Junkie that has just turned in his course grades and now has a bit more time on his hands…

Second, if you are coming to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly in San Jose from some place else in the country where you don’t worry about earthquakes and the thought of earthquakes may be worrying you, you may not want to continue reading.  On the other hand, “knowledge is power” and having this info may help calm nerves.  (And you can think of that “may” in our polity sense.)

In case you haven’t caught it from one of my previous posts, my day job includes earthquake geology.  And you might have noticed in the GA Program that on Monday afternoon there is “Mission Tour 4: Hike through earthquake country” that includes a visit to the San Andreas fault.  (And no, I’m not planning on going since I’m there for the GA business.)

On the plus side, I would encourage you to be aware of earthquakes and be prepared for them.  The mantra here is “Duck, cover and hold,” although I joke with my class that “Don’t Panic” works too.  That is duck under something solid, cover yourself with that solid object, and hold on to it so it does not shake away from you.  Standing in door frames is not the current preferred safe zone since we finally figured out that most door frames also have a door attached to them and sometimes that door wants to use the frame with you so people were getting hit by the door.  If you want more info, the standard reference around these parts is “Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country,” and check out the San Francisco edition.

If you want more info:  There is the real time earthquake map of the San Francisco area and a slightly different map with more around San Jose.  There is also a page on Bay Area Earthquake Probabilities from the USGS.

Around here we usually calculate probabilities on a 30 year time period, as in there is a 99.7% chance that California will have a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake in the next 30 years.  And around here that is not called a forecast, that is a reminder.

What about for next week?  Well the good news is that there has not been a large one in the area for a while so there are no really active aftershock sequences to provide any shaking.  As for regional quakes, based on regional probabilities there is about a 10% chance that the San Francisco Bay area will have a magnitude 4 or larger earthquake in any given week. (If you want the gory details, the G-R magnitude relationship, based on the last 20 years of seismicity, is log N = 6.04 – 1.33 M.  N is the number of earthquakes in a year larger than magnitude M.)

But “California does have its faults” and San Jose is sandwiched between the big ones in the Bay Area: the San Andreas about 15km to the west and the Hayward and Calaveras faults about 10km east.  Running some rough numbers based on the State of California fault information for the area the San Andreas fault to the north and to the south, if treated as separate earthquake sources, could each produce something a bit over a magnitude 7.  No surprise here since the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake was a 6.9 on that southern segment.  The Calaveras and Hayward faults are about the same.  But the closest fault to the west is the much less active Monte Vista thrust fault about half way to the San Andreas.  Add up all their probabilities and you get about a 0.03% chance of having a large earthquake on one of these faults in the next week.

So there you are — Welcome to California.  And I’ll see you there.

Then
a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the
rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind
there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. – I Kings 19:11b, 12 NIV

Moderator of the Church of Scotland Now Blogging

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Well, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has started blogging.  The first, I think, entry is about the visit of six Malawians to Glasgow.

It will be interesting to see how this develops.  At the moment the blog is a page on the Church of Scotland web site and not hosted using the more typical CMS blog software.  When a new post is added we will have to see if it replaces the previous or they are available on the same page or the older one is archived.  And if there is an RSS feed I have not found it yet.  And as you can tell, this is not Web 2.0.  It is more like a weekly update or reflection from the Moderator and without comments it is not interactive.  We will see if this evolves.