Having hit a short break between Assemblies, the GA of the Church of Scotland finishing this morning (my time) and the Presbyterian Church in Canada scheduled to convene in just over a week’s time, I need to get caught up on some recent developments in the PC(USA).  The first is the announcement of a sixth candidate for Moderator of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The Presbytery of Santa Barbara has issued a call for a special presbytery meeting on June 9 to act on the endorsement of the Rev. Julia Leeth, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Lompoc, to stand for Moderator of the General Assembly.  In the letter accompanying the notice Rev. Leeth writes:

I feel called to be the Moderator of the 219th Assembly because I love His Church. I feel comfortable and have some experience moderating meetings that are both pleasant and challenging.  I have skills that lend themselves to moderating a meeting that may be at time [sic] pleasant and at others challenging.  I want to be a good steward of my gifts and this is a very tangible way to respond to God’s call.  In the same way that I have tried to foster relationships with every person in our presbytery, including those who may have a different theological perspective than I, I plan to foster relationships at this General Assembly.  In this way, we can all see the wonderful things that God is doing in and through His people across the denomination.

She continues:

Finally, I stand on the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  I hope to proclaim this truth in everything that I do and say and am and am to become.

The Layman has an article on her candidacy published on May 19 that lists the called presbytery meeting for June 1.  The Outlook article of May 20 just talks of a June meeting.  And Robert Austell has added her to his list of Moderator candidates on his GA Help site.  I don’t see an article from the Presbyterian News Service yet, which is interesting because they were quick to jump on the news of the fifth candidate before he was endorsed by his presbytery.

Regarding the Moderator election most of the Moderator candidates have now named their Vice-Moderator designees.  These Vice-Moderator candidates are:

Rev. Landon Whitsitt with Elder Cynthia Bolbach
Rev. Theresa Cho with Rev. Maggie Lauterer
Rev. Marilyn Gamm with Rev. Eric Nielsen
Rev. Hector Reynoso with Rev. Julia Leeth

The General Assembly web site is filling out nicely, including the Moderator Election page with the first five candidates.  Most of the site is basic information for commissioners and the docket is not much more than the planned times for meetings but no listing of which committees will be reporting when.

In addition to GA Help there are a few other GA specific web sites coming on line.  In an individual effort, Bob Davis is putting together material at Presbyblog.  There are also advocacy group web sites tracking GA including Covenant Network,  More Light Presbyterians, Presbyterian Coalition, Presbyterians for Faith Family and Ministry, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, and Presbyterian Voices for Justice.  I’ll add the PC(USA) to my GA Junkie wiki in the near future.  And let me know of resources I’ve missed.

Well enough PC(USA) for now – that GA is still 38 days away.  There is lots more action before then.