The Institute on Region and Democracy (IRD) based in Washington, D.C., has issued a press release calling on Presbyterian Church (USA) Stated Clerk Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick to not seek a fourth term as stated clerk when his present term is finished at the next General Assembly in 2008.  Rev. Kirkpatrick said in a recent interview that he will pray and reflect on his fourth term this summer.  The first paragraph of the IRD statement reads:

WASHINGTON, DC– The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), under Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, has seen a steady decline in membership.  Kirkpatrick, an affable man, has failed to show true leadership that would strengthen, expand, unify, and stabilize the PCUSA. Now, in an interview with the denominational news service, he is hinting at a run for a fourth four-year term. He claims that the PCUSA “is in a potential tipping point of renewed growth and vitality.” The Steering Committee of the IRD’s Presbyterian Action program has asked Kirkpatrick to “decline nomination for a fourth term in 2008, for the good of the denomination.”

I would note that the IRD is a conservative organization not associated with a denomination whose slogan is “Reforming the Church’s Social and Political Witness.” Their Presbyterian Action Director is James D. Berkley who blogs on the IRD site as well as his own “The Berkley Blog.”