Today the Church of Scotland announced the Moderator Designate for the 2012 General Assembly. And last week the Church of Scotland National Youth Assembly Moderator Designate was also announced. Here is some info on both of them.
The Rev. Albert Bogle was selected as the Moderator Designate for the 2012 General Assembly. Rev. Bogle is the pastor of St. Andrew’s Parish Church – Bo’ness and has his pastor’s blog titled iTalker. His Facebook page tells us that he is a graduate of the University of Glasgow and did his final theological training at the University of Edinburgh. (And as an aside, I like the Facebook profile picture better than the darker picture in the press release that the BBC article used.) He was short-listed last year in the Moderator selection process and his church’s web page has echoed the press release announcing his selection this year.
Besides the parish ministry Rev. Bogle has been involved in a wide range of ministries and in service to the church. He is involved with Sanctus Media, a non-profit that provides technology help to churches. He founded the Vine Trust that provides assistance to impoverished areas around the world and is currently working on the Amazon Hope Project that brings medical help to the Amazon region. He has served on multiple committees within the church, was the convener of the Church Without Walls group from 2004 to 2009, and is currently on the World Mission Future Strategy Group. The Church Without Walls is a theme his church has picked up on.
He has done a great job with his social media using the iTalker handle on Twitter (@iTalker), Facebook and his iTalker blog. Congratulations to Rev. Bogle on his selection and I look forward to following him and his Moderatorial year in the virtual world. May our prayers be with him as he undertakes this new calling.
It is also a pleasure to pass on the announcement of the new Moderator of the National Youth Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Mr. Euan Patterson of the Presbytery of Greenock and Paisley. Mr. Patterson can of course be found online on Twitter (@Elfangorax) and Facebook. He has contributed to the COSY Blog and for a good introduction to Euan I highly recommend his 15 minute video about his experience as a youth delegate to the 2011 General Assembly. I congratulate him on his selection and as he takes on this special calling we will be praying for him as well.