As we hit the one-month mark before the 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) this is a good time to profile the three individuals that the candidates standing for Moderator have asked to join them on this journey. At the onset we can make one very sweeping generalization and say that the next Vice-Moderator will be a female teaching elder. There is also a certain unique symmetry in the choices with the candidate now from North Carolina, but with strong ties to Virginia, picking a New Yorker, the New Yorker joining with a Virginian, and the Texan running with, well, another Texan. It makes one wonder if there is a Presbyterian Camps and Conference Centers thing going on with a Stoney Point/Montreat/Mo Ranch association here, but that would beg the question of where is Ghost Ranch in this and how Virginia fits in? (Makemie Woods? Massanetta Springs? Or we could do it with Presbyterian seminaries…) But I am probably starting to go down a line that is correlation without causation, so let me return to the matter at hand.
I will take these in chronological order of announcement.
MaryAnn McKibben Dana was the first announced Vice-Moderator candidate standing with TE John Wilkinson. Teaching Elder McKibben Dana is pastor of Idylwood Presbyterian Church in Falls Church, Va. and a member of National Capital Presbytery. She has her undergraduate degree from Rice University and her M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary. She had a previous call as an associate pastor at Burke Presbyterian Church in Burke, Va. TE McKibben Dana has served the church in a number of areas including the current adventure of co-chairing NEXT Church. She is also author of Sabbath in the Suburbs with another book on the way.
In her regular blog, The Blue Room Blog, Ms McKibben Dana talks a little bit about this call. She is quoted in the PC(USA) press release as saying:
It is a joy and an honor to stand with John at this pivotal time in the
life of our denomination. I look forward to helping articulate a vision
for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that is grounded in our tradition,
yet infused with the Holy Spirit’s power to speak a vibrant word for
the current and future church.
Similarly, TE Wilkinson talks about his Vice-Moderator choice on his Moderator candidacy blog:
MaryAnn brings a welcome voice and perspective as we envision the future
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and I am grateful for her
willingness to serve and the leadership that she will bring to our
shared journey. MaryAnn is creative, thoughtful, hopeful, relational –
her strength in written and verbal communication is built upon a deep
faith and considerable pastoral giftedness.
Teaching Elder Larissa Kwong Abazia was chosen by Moderator candidate RE Heath Rada as his running mate. Ms Kwong Abazia currently serves as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Forest Hills in Queens, New York, in the Presbytery of New York City. The PC(USA) press release describes her church as “a multicultural, multiethnic congregation.” She is a native of New Jersey, did her undergraduate work at Rutgers and her M.Div. is from Princeton Theological Seminary. She has done additional post-graduate studies at the University of Sussex. Her previous calls were in Chicago and Manasquan, N.J. Among her denominational work she has served as co-moderator of Racial Ethnic Young Women Together. The PC(USA) press release quotes her as saying “I believe that we need one another to embody the fullness of the
Church,” and “Our ability to live in fellowship will
define our faithfulness to God’s call to beloved community.” In the Presbyterian Outlook’s Moderator candidate article RE Rada describes her like this:
Her experiences as a Chinese American, young adult pastor and serving a
smaller congregation in New York City have exposed her to the positive
and negative effects that others can have on one’s sense of identity.
She is passionate about God’s call to a beloved community where
individuals are invited to bring all that they are to the Table.
[As an editorial comment I would point out that I was unable to find any substantial source information on TE Kwong Abazina from RE Rada’s web site hence no references back to that source.]
Our final candidate is Teaching Elder Leslie A. King of Waco, Texas, where she pastors the First Presbyterian Church, a congregation in Grace Presbytery. Her previous call was at Osawatomie Presbyterian Church in Osawatomie, Kansas. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas, her M.Div. from McCormick Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from the Saint Paul’s School of Theology (a UMC school in Overland Park, KS, in case you don’t recognize it). From the available information, principally her biographical sheet on Kelly Allen’s Moderator candidacy web site, there is no information on service to the wider church, but see Kelly’s comment below.
On the bio sheet TE King talks about her ministry:
My inexhaustible interest is in working alongside a local congregation toward the discovery of clues. Clues often begin as mysterious experiences that can frustrate or confound. Those same clues are often the catalyst for the discovery of program, ministry and mission in Christ’s name. Discovery is at the heart of redevelopment. I am passionate about church’s clues.
In the Outlook article, TE Kelly Allen says of TE King:
When I met Leslie, I had the immediate sense that she is a leader who
could enter the most complicated situation and offer creative,
reconciling leadership. Leslie is a “rooted” pastor who describes
herself as “first and foremost a student in the classroom of the local
congregation.” Leslie is a committed presbyter. She chaired the
Administrative Commission for churches seeking separation for five years
in Heartland Presbytery. She served Committee on Ministry in two
presbyteries and on a Vision Planning Task Force. In her ministry,
Leslie works toward a “consistent integration (in pulpit, classroom and
idle conversation) of all the disciplines of hard and soft sciences,
local and global politics, literature and the arts into conversation
with Scripture.”
[Another editorial comment: For TE King I could not find a PC(USA) press release for her, probably because she is the most recent to be announced and it is still in the works.]
So there you have a rundown on the three Vice-Moderator candidates. It looks like the final count is five teaching elders and one ruling elder. Their present geographical locations are a bit limited with New York and Texas figuring prominently in the count bolstered by TE McKibben Dana being a Texas native. Of the Vice-Moderator candidates I have only found a Twitter feed for TE McKibben Dana (@revmamd). UPDATE: I now see that TE King has a new Twitter handle (@WacoPastor) and in doing so found an older existing one (@leslie66064) that I missed.
For consolidated information on all the candidates you can check out the Outlook article or the official Moderatorial Candidates Handbook which was released last week.
The 221st General Assembly convenes one month from today, June 14th, with the Moderator Elections that evening. It will be interesting. Please join me in praying for all the candidates as the GA approaches. And stay tuned…