{"id":1886,"date":"2015-10-29T13:28:42","date_gmt":"2015-10-29T20:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886"},"modified":"2015-10-29T13:28:42","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T20:28:42","slug":"moderator-designate-for-the-church-of-scotland-2016-general-assembly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886","title":{"rendered":"Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1887\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg?resize=340%2C208&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"RussellBarr\" width=\"340\" height=\"208\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg?w=340&amp;ssl=1 340w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg?resize=300%2C184&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/a>Early this morning the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.churchofscotland.org.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Church of Scotland<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.churchofscotland.org.uk\/news_and_events\/news\/recent\/Cramond_minister_is_Moderator_Designate\" target=\"_blank\">announced their choice<\/a> for the Moderator of their 2016 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.churchofscotland.org.uk\/about_us\/general_assembly\" target=\"_blank\">General Assembly<\/a>. He is the Rev. Dr. Russell Barr, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cramondkirk.org.uk\/whos-who\/\" target=\"_blank\">pastor<\/a> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cramondkirk.org.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Cramond Kirk<\/a> (pictured at left in an image from the Church of Scotland). However, he is well know in the church and community for his role in helping found the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freshstartweb.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fresh Start ministry<\/a> to the homeless in Edinburgh. According to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.churchofscotland.org.uk\/news_and_events\/news\/recent\/Cramond_minister_is_Moderator_Designate\" target=\"_blank\">Kirk&#8217;s announcement<\/a> this organization &#8220;has helped 2,000 people get back on their feet in the last year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He has been at Cramond Kirk since 1993, recently served as the Moderator of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edinburghpresbytery.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">Edinburgh Presbytery<\/a>, and also served as the convener of the Africa and Caribbean Committee of the Kirk&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.churchofscotland.org.uk\/about_us\/councils_committees_and_departments\/councils\/world_mission_council\" target=\"_blank\">World Mission Council<\/a>. In addition to his theological training in Scotland he holds a D.Min. from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ptsem.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">Princeton Theological Seminary<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He said of his appointment that he was &#8220;excited, honoured and overwhelmed&#8221; and that &#8220;It is humbling to be elected by your peers to serve the Church in this way.&#8221; Needless to say, among the issues he wishes to focus on during his moderatorial year are homelessness and food poverty. And he has expressed his support of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.churchofscotland.org.uk\/serve\/ministries_council\/education_and_support\/tomorrows_calling\" target=\"_blank\">Tomorrow&#8217;s Calling<\/a> pastoral recruiting campaign.<\/p>\n<p>There has been significant media coverage of the announcement that emphasizes his work with the homeless including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-scotland-34659744\" target=\"_blank\">BBC News<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/news.stv.tv\/scotland\/1331609-fresh-start-charity-founder-will-be-next-church-of-scotland-moderator\/\" target=\"_blank\">stv News<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.falkirkherald.co.uk\/news-extra\/new-moderator-announced-1-3930558\" target=\"_blank\">The Falkirk Herald<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scottishhousingnews.com\/6285\/homelessness-campaigner-unveiled-as-church-of-scotland-moderator\/\" target=\"_blank\">Scottish Housing News<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com\/news\/city-charity-founder-set-to-be-new-kirk-moderator-1-3931216\" target=\"_blank\">Edinburgh News<\/a> from the Scotsman and <a href=\"http:\/\/thirdforcenews.org.uk\/tfn-news\/charity-founder-becomes-head-of-the-kirk\" target=\"_blank\">Third Force News<\/a>. I have the usual quibble with the last one whose headline called him &#8220;head of the Kirk.&#8221; No, Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, he is only called to be the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=863\" target=\"_blank\">Moderator<\/a>. And <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IslandNewsAd\/status\/659360363356561408\" target=\"_blank\">one news source jumped the gun<\/a> on the embargo and quickly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.islandnewsandadvertiser.co.uk\/2015\/10\/28\/new-moderator-of-general-assembly-named\/\" target=\"_blank\">made the article go away<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And so we extend out congratulations to Rev. Barr, thank him for his outstanding service in the past and assure him of our prayers for the future. Best wishes as he prepares for the Assembly and may you find your moderatorial year a rewarding experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Early this morning the Church of Scotland announced their choice for the Moderator of their 2016 General Assembly. He is the Rev. Dr. Russell Barr, pastor at Cramond Kirk (pictured [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,2,32,3],"tags":[171,162,168],"class_list":["post-1886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-of-scotland","category-general-assembly","category-moderator","category-news","tag-church-of-scotland","tag-general-assembly","tag-moderator"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly - The GA Junkie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly - The GA Junkie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Early this morning the Church of Scotland announced their choice for the Moderator of their 2016 General Assembly. He is the Rev. Dr. Russell Barr, pastor at Cramond Kirk (pictured [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The GA Junkie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-29T20:28:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Salyards\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Salyards\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Salyards\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e30c1b854f165e0423ea436d3961c1c0\"},\"headline\":\"Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-29T20:28:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886\"},\"wordCount\":337,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Church of Scotland\",\"General Assembly\",\"Moderator\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Church of Scotland\",\"General Assembly\",\"Moderator\",\"news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886\",\"name\":\"Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly - The GA Junkie\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-29T20:28:42+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg?fit=340%2C208&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg?fit=340%2C208&ssl=1\",\"width\":340,\"height\":208},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/\",\"name\":\"The GA Junkie\",\"description\":\"The Politics of Presbyterianism\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GA Junkie\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Cross-Square.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Cross-Square.jpg\",\"width\":1,\"height\":1,\"caption\":\"GA Junkie\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/ga_junkie\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e30c1b854f165e0423ea436d3961c1c0\",\"name\":\"Steve Salyards\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve Salyards\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly - The GA Junkie","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly - The GA Junkie","og_description":"Early this morning the Church of Scotland announced their choice for the Moderator of their 2016 General Assembly. He is the Rev. Dr. Russell Barr, pastor at Cramond Kirk (pictured [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886","og_site_name":"The GA Junkie","article_published_time":"2015-10-29T20:28:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Steve Salyards","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Salyards","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886"},"author":{"name":"Steve Salyards","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e30c1b854f165e0423ea436d3961c1c0"},"headline":"Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly","datePublished":"2015-10-29T20:28:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886"},"wordCount":337,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg","keywords":["Church of Scotland","General Assembly","Moderator"],"articleSection":["Church of Scotland","General Assembly","Moderator","news"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886","url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886","name":"Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly - The GA Junkie","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-29T20:28:42+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg?fit=340%2C208&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/RussellBarr.jpg?fit=340%2C208&ssl=1","width":340,"height":208},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1886#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Moderator Designate For The Church Of Scotland 2016 General Assembly"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/","name":"The GA Junkie","description":"The Politics of Presbyterianism","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization","name":"GA Junkie","url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Cross-Square.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Cross-Square.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"caption":"GA Junkie"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/ga_junkie"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e30c1b854f165e0423ea436d3961c1c0","name":"Steve Salyards","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steve Salyards"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1886"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1890,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886\/revisions\/1890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}