Greetings — I will be live blogging most sessions of the PC(USA)
General Assembly.  I apologize to those with e-mail feeds or a feed
reader since you will probably only get the first section of the post
since I’ll be pushing updates throughout the session.  Also, if you are
reading this on a browser live you will also need to refresh the screen
since I don’t have push technology on my blog.  It’s tough being Web
1.99999 in a Web 2.0 world.  Thanks for your patience.

Saturday Evening, June 21, 2008
The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
7:00 
— The commissioner chairs are filling up.  People are filing in.  The observer section is about half full.

The session begins with greetings from the Reformed churches in Europe given by the representative of the Swiss Reformed church.

There were some problems this afternoon with PC-biz so one or two items from the Committee on Bill and Overtures were postponed until this evening so that all the commissioners could have the items in from of them.  Talking to my son it looked to him like server overload.  The refresh button would work for a while and then the system got slower and slower until he got an “unavailable” message.  Then the cycle would start all over again.  We will see what it does this evening but bringing new servers on-line is not something they will be able to do over dinner.  We will see.

They just announced that network changes have been made so only the commissioners and delegates have PC-biz access.  But when asked it the commissioners could get it the answer is a resounding “no.”  It looks like few of the commissioners can see it.  The item is abandoned for today.

Election of the Moderator
The Moderator election will get underway shortly.  The Moderator candidates each had four minutes to speak at the Outlook Dinner.  Bruce Reyes-Chow went first and told a funny story on himself as part of his presentation.  Entertaining and on target about the need to understand each other.  Roger Shoemaker went second and told a funny joke but not a personal relevance.  His speech, while interesting and heartfelt was probably the weakest of the four.  Carl Mazza followed him and was right on message as seen in his answers in the information booklet.  He began with, and interwove, a personal experience from his homeless ministry into his remarks.  If he keeps this pattern tonight he will touch a lot of commissioners.  Bill Teng finished the remarks and began with a hat tip to the Outlook and then well delivered remarks about the focus of the church.

The nominations begin:
(Note, I will be covering both the nominating speech and the candidate speech in the same section although all four nominating speeches are given before the candidates speech.

The nominating speech is emphasizing his connection to youth and the younger face of the church.  But they also talk about his service to the denomination, but with few specifics.  He respects the Reformed tradition but encourages dialog between diverse people.

In Bruce’s comments he begins with his Presbyterian roots and how previous generations, and Abraham, did not know the future but stepped out into it.  Is there anything too hard and too wondrous for God?  He concentrates his whole speech on the “new realities” and the future of the church.  Strong, well delivered, and tightly focused speech.  Shows a lot of passion for this.  (Wild applause from his fan base in the observer section.  He is local after all.)

The nominating speech is talking about Carl’s heart and “mission in action.”  His hands-on experience and his presence with the people.  “Leadership that lives and breaths the Gospel.”

Carl begins with two principles:  Commitment to Jesus Christ and to the mission in the world.  He was the result of mission, a Presbyterian church led him to Jesus Christ.  Tries to return the gift of honest conversation and relationship.  Then he gets into a mission story, the same one about a 14 year old girl that prayed at one of the shelters.  That leads into his big finish about being loved by God.  (His speech was a bit shaky in the middle, but once he launched into the story he spoke boldly, clearly, and passionately.)

The speech is being given by Tamara Letts, Bill’s Vice-moderator candidate.  She emphasizes his commitment to the denomination, service to the church, and love of church and commitment to its unity.  Also, his Presbyterian heritage and his multicultural background.

Bill opened with his theme of “In gratitude and hope.”  It is gratitude for what God has done that sends us out to share the love and hope of Jesus.  He repeats his theme that, if elected, he will spend the two years traveling about telling the stories of what Presbyterians have done in the past.  He too shares stories, these about the people touched by missionaries to China, including his own grandfather.  His big finish is the closing lines from the Brief Confession of Faith.

Begins with the parable of the fig tree and the tree as a symbol of Roger’s candidacy.  The church’s roots need to be nurtured and sometimes need to be thinned out.  The church needs to be cultivated and pruned, and he rattles off what Roger has done for the church.  (Hate to say it but this speech did not connect with me.  Too much time on trees in Nebraska and not enough on Roger himself.)  But the big finish was a nice connection to the healing trees in Revelation.

Roger begins with a declaration that he will be guided by the Book of Order and Book of Confessions.  He then talks about how we must live as the body of Christ to exhibit Christ to those who enter our midst.  Our witness is both financial and our presence with people.  Wants to be in conversation to find ways to grow our church.  Do we work together to save the tree or stand by and watch the tree slowly die. (Trims speech because of time but still ran way over.  Should have left it at the “work together to save the tree.”)

Questions and Answers (one hour)
1)  The question is addressed at Bruce but is reworded to be generic:  If elected Moderator how will your current ministry be covered.
Bruce:  Talks about his church, but does not answer question about ministry too directly.  The church is excited and the church style allows his absence
Carl:  Meeting Ground might enjoy some relief from him after 26 years.   But the ministry is about bringing churches together so it does not take away from his ministry but actually enhances it.
Bill:  His session has agreed to having him away 2 Sundays a month and Associates and Pulpit Supply are available.
Roger:  “I don’t have a church”  He as at a place where he can do this.

2)  How would you describe a “missional orientation?”
Carl:  The members of the church are interested in doing mission.  We need to find new ways of doing mission.
Bill: God is the God of the mission.  We do not originate but are sent in partnership with Jesus.
Roger:  The church has become a group that is willing to take a risk and love the unlovable.  Need to find ways to do it.
Bruce:  This means an institutional shift.  One thing to say, another to do.  The revised FOG moves us from prohibiting to empowering because the presbytery and people know the context.

3)  Question from a YAD about inclusivity and especially ordination.
Bill:  We as a church need to be inclusive.  Ordination involves a call to be affirmed by a wider group so it is not “inclusivity” but “fitness to serve.”
Roger:  Tough question made tougher by the narrow focus on the GLBT community.  Need to work with Book of Order and Confessions.  To make progress we first need to take down other walls.
Bruce:
  “No elephants in the room.”  Personally believes it should be extended to all people, but accepts that is now where the church is.
Carl:  Difficult and hurtful issue.  To move forward with this there must be unity.  His mission gives him a “broad understanding of humanity.”  Unflinchingly in favor of full inclusion because he has seen the hurt that denial of ordination has caused.  If mission is the goal we can get past this and with a fuller understanding of who God is we will agree on inclusion.

4) What is the Gospel
Roger:  The good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  (That was all he said)
Bruce:  The good news of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus
Carl:  Similar to Bruce but adds that we become a new creation.
Bill:  Includes much of the above, but adds transformation because of the sacrifice of Jesus.

5) With our ordination standards a particular person feels like “Jesus is being taken away from me.”  Given that, how do we grow the church
Bruce:  “Does anyone else want to go first?”   Can we really agree to disagree on this issue?  We can make Jesus real when we deal with issues like this with transparency.  People outside of the church can tell when we are not being real.  In being real we can grow the church.
Carl:  In doing mission together we are transformed.  The church must be a place of safety to come together and risk.
Bill:  The Gospel is for all people and is transformational.  God has a whole-person claim on all of us.  In this case, need to work with the person about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Roger:  Jesus calls us all and no person or body can take Him away.  But we need to work together to find answers.

Editorial notes:
The observer section is now full.
There are definite trends in answers: Bill giving a diplomatic opening to his answers, Bruce using humor to break the tension, Carl going back to his mission experience and its role in transformation, and Roger having a brief and sometimes weak or indirect answers.

6)  What do we say to members in small declining churches, particularly in small communities.
Carl:  Small churches are important.  Need talented and visionary leaders to work with them.
Bill:  Viability is not an issue of size but about the impact the church has in the community.
Roger:  Any of you also every preach to a congregation of 5?  Need to work at partnering small churches in small communities.  (Having just commented about weak answers he came up with an interesting one.)
Bruce:  Need to ask tough questions and be honest.  Is a church living in the past?  Need to ask hard questions about if a church is doing the mission of God in their context.

7)  What does the global church have to teach us?
Bill:  Has experience overseas and in developing countries the church today, like the early church, is counter-cultural.  We should not be too comfortable where we are.  Need to get out and share our faith.
Roger:  We need to meet the basic needs of our international friends and understand how they see us.  Maybe we can learn something from them.
Bruce:  We need to hear the world view of others, different ways of being.  Helps us understand the “fullness of life.”
Carl:  The strength of faith and simplicity of worship in undeveloped countries has a lot to teach us.  They also have a lot to teach us about peacemaking from their experience as the victims and marginalized.

8)  The church seems to be moving from personal righteousness to social and global issues.  What is the balance and what are the implications.
Roger:  Personal relationship comes in building blocks that are also tied to what we do in the world.
Bruce:  The two issues are not mutually exclusive.  Personal connection to God can be manifest in many ways including social causes and discipleship.  We can push each other in these different areas.
Carl:  Through many different experiences has grown in his spirituality.  By relating to a hurting brother we enhance both of our personal relationships with God.
Bill:  I am a hypocrit if I can’t love my neighbor but work for peace globally.

Time up, we move to the vote:

First ballot:
Advisory:  YADS: Bruce Reyes-Chow by a wide margin, 107 votes with 23 for Carl, 10 for Roger, and 23 for Bill.

Commissioners:  No majority.  Bruce 341, Bill 250, Carl 102, Roger 14.  Bruce got 48% and Bill got 35%.

The system is being reset for the second ballot.  Prediction:  Carl’s votes go to Bruce, Roger’s votes go to Bill.  Bruce wins in the next ballot or two.

Second ballot:
Advisory:  About the same.  I did not write fast enough.
Commissioners:  Bruce Reyes-Chow is the Moderator of the 218th General Assembly
Bruce 390, Bill 255, Carl 52, Roger 7

We now proceed to the installation.
I’ll finish the live blogging here and post pictures and a reading of the tea leaves in the next 12 hours.