For whatever obscure and personal reasons, today always feels like the beginning of the build-up to the General Assembly season to me. There is something about the first Tuesday in February and the vote of the presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland for their General Assembly Moderator that perks up my interest and makes me look ahead to the upcoming GA season. But enough waxing poetic… Let’s get down to business.
In the PC Ireland today the 19 presbyteries gathered in their traditional simultaneous meetings and elected…
Rev. Ivan Patterson, pastor of Newcastle Presbyterian Church. He was on the ballot last year
and received four votes in the first round. This year he received a very strong 12 out of 19 votes. Rev. Patterson is quoted as saying “I am absolutely overwhelmed to be elected as Moderator. I am very
happy to serve the Church and to represent its members but am somewhat
daunted by the thought of the year ahead.”
There were four others on this year’s ballot:
- Rev. Joseph Andrews, Ballee Presbyterian Church (2 votes)
- Rev. Rob Craig, Kilfennan Presbyterian Church (1 vote)
- Rev. Roy Mackay, Second Presbyterian Church, Comber, also on the ballot last year (1 vote)
- Rev. Roy Patton, Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church (3 votes)
From the PC Ireland press release in advance of the election, here is the brief biographical sketch for the Rev. Patterson.
 |
Rev. Ivan Patterson
Minister of Newcastle, Ivan was born in 1949 and in 1980 was ordained as |
Thanks to @cherylmeban for the first tweet. The results were just announced with an official announcement and additional media reports should be released shortly. I will update here.
My congratulations to Rev. Patterson and best wishes and prayers for his moderatorial year.