As I anticipated in my last post, early this week we got word of the nominees for Moderator of the 140th General Assembly (2014) of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. And in the nominees we have three distinguished ministers from across the country and each from a different type of ministry setting.

In alphabetical order, the first is the Rev. Calvin Brown, currently serving as stated supply pastor of a two-point, or yoked, parish that includes Knox Presbyterian Church in the town of Palmerston, Ontario and Knox Presbyterian Church in Drayton, Ontario. That much was given in the press release and I have to admit that I was stumped for a bit in researching his background, but thanks to some pointers from Al Clarkson I am able to provide significantly more background. From Mr. Brown’s LinkedIn page we know that he has been at his current position for about three years now and before that he was the the Executive Director of Renewal Fellowship within the Presbyterian Church in Canada for over 16 years. In that position he regularly contributed the Renewal column in the Presbyterian Record, a publication of the PCC. He has his M.Div. from Knox College of the University of Toronto and his undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. He began his ordained ministry with 20 years in a missionary parish in British Columbia. He does have a Facebook page and there are a number of photographs on Flickr from the transition when he stepped down as executive director.

The Rev. Dr. Stephen Farris is currently the dean of St. Andrew’s Hall, the Presbyterian school at the Vancouver School of Theology, and a professor of homiletics at VST. He holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto, an M.Theo. and D.Min. from Union Theological College in Virginia, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University. He served five years of service in parish ministry at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Amherstview, Ontario, and then taught for 17 years at Knox College of the University of Toronto before moving to Vancouver. He is the author of numerous books and articles ( example 1, example 2 ) including the Bible Studies for the 23rd General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

The third nominee is the Rev. Stewart Folster the director of the Saskatoon Native Circle Ministry. The Presbyterian Record has numerous stories on this ministry, but one in particular – The Path to Healing: Native Ministries – Relating in Saskatoon
– profiles Rev. Folster. There is another extensive section in The Path to Healing: Sharing the pain of residential schools where he talks about his family’s experience and his ministry now.
He and the SNCM were also profiled in the PC(USA) Mission Yearbook this year. When he was ordained in 1996 he was the first aboriginal minister in the PCC. He has been active in part with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process that has been happening within the church and around the country and the SNCM is mentioned in the special Path to Healing articles and resources from the Presbyterian Record.

To the three nominees we offer our congratulations and best wishes and prayers as they begin on this journey. We will find out in early April who the church elects as it’s next General Assembly Moderator.