About a month ago at a meeting of the Commission of Assembly, the Free Church of Scotland announced that their Moderator Designate for the 2014 General Assembly is the Rev. David Miller, pastor of Cobham Presbyterian Church.

The Rev. Miller is the child of missionaries, born in Korea and spending most of his childhood in Tasmania, according to the Free Church news item. He was trained by the Free Church and ordained to missionary work in South Africa in March 1989. While in South Africa he worked with the Free Church of Southern Africa including teaching at its school, Dumisani Theological Institute and Bible School. Upon his return to the UK he was appointed as the first pastor of the extension Cobham congregation where he continues to serve today.

He is married to Margaret (Meg) and they have three teen-age children.

Two interesting things caught my eye about Pastor Miller and his background. The first is that the Cobham Church is not in Scotland but is in a district southeast of the center of London. As mentioned above, it is an extension, a church plant, of the London City Presbyterian Church. And upon the announcement they carried the news in a piece on their Facebook page.

The second item was included in the Free Church announcement but was the lede in the article from the Stornoway Gazette: “The brother-in-law of Point Free Church Minister Rev ID
Campbell is to become the Moderator Designate for the 2014 General
Assembly.” Yup, Rev Miller was upstaged by his wife’s brother. It is noted in both articles that the marriage of Meg and David was the first wedding that Rev. Campbell preformed. And if the name sounds familiar, the Rev. Iain D. Campbell was the Moderator of the 2012 Free Church General Assembly.

And so our congratulations and prayers for Rev. Miller as he prepares to assume this role and our best wishes for his work at the Assembly and his moderatorial year.