Day 1 - Thursday

So... we convened today!! It was an amazing day... and I'm just going to put my bulleted list up here and you can read my little notes. The big thing was electing a moderator which was a totally amazing process. I'll try to write about it later... for now I need bed, because it's 12.20am and I'm getting up at 5.45am.

Congratulations to our new Moderator, Joan Gray. I'm excited about her and will write more soon.

Oh.. and if you think of it, be praying for the family of Nelson Irwin - an Elder Commissioner. He passed away today at GA - he had a heart attack. It was a sad thing to hear about and I can only imagine how his family must be mourning him.

Here are my notes from the day:

• Thursday, June 15, 2006: 1:00-5:45PM
• Opening
• Worship
• Joyful, Joyful
• Hebrews 12.1-2
• Reaffirmation of vows of ordination
• Called as Partners in Christ’s Service
• Cliff Kirkpatrick
• Quorum
• Corresponding members
• COLA
• Intro of team
• Video on Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley
• Missionary team to Congo
• Lapsley – white man
• Shepherd – son of slaves
• Orientation Sessions
• Interesting note: most rooms/leaders/speakers referred only to the YADs, not the TSADs. While we are adult enough to live with that… we were definitely feeling slighted.
• Greetings from CPCA, CPC
• Rick Ufford-Chase – 216^th Moderator
• Excerpts from his blog – what-i-see.blogspot.com
• Wisdom from under the Mango tree (may 2005)
• 9/12/2005
• 10/2005 – Peru
• November 2005 – Comm. Pres. Church, Washington
• May 2006 – US/Mexico borderlands
• Exodus 17.5-7
• Changed his stole for each story… appropriate for location/situation… NICE touch
• John Detterick – Executive Director of GAC
• Intro of Stan Anderson
• $150 million gift to create “Loaves and Fishes Fund for Church Growth”
• Presbytery that receives commits to:
• Give 10% of grant total to mission, matched by Presbytery’s own funds
• 1% theological education – matched in same way
• He keeps referring to “Presbyterian Seminaries”
• Does that exclude Fuller, etc?
• All about matching funds at every level – multiplying the gift
• Money at Pres Fund by end of November
• General Assembly Nominating Committee
• Melva Costen – Moderator, explained the process
• Basic business items
• Declare a quorum, etc.
• Announcements


• Thursday, June 15, 2006: 7:30-??PM
• Judith Wellington – Moderator, Bills and Overtures
• Review of work done
• Move and approve 01-01:04
• This session began with silly problems with LES
• It was fun to see R U-C and the Stated Clerk work together
• They polled us twice on if we could actually use LES – so funny.
• Election of the Moderator!!
• None spent more than the allowed $1500 for campaigning
• “I wanna sing, I wanna shout” and “Swing Low” J
• Nominating speeches
• Tim Halverson
• White man with white woman as vice-mod
• Churches grow with him
• Family focus
• Passionate about growth
• Joan Gray
• White woman with black man as vice-mod
• Presbyterian Polity for Church Officers – co-author
• Interim experience
• Focus and emphasis on elder leadership, training, and empowering
• Kerry Carson
• White man with white woman as vice-mod
• Musician (potential for creative thinking) but traditional (might be stuck)
• Supporter and builder-up of women in ministry
• **Over time**
• Deborah Block
• White woman with black man as vice-mod
• History of leadership, powerful women in her life
• Experience in our polity
• Seminary prof – polity, worship, preaching, church revitalization/organization

~~~~~~~~~ Why are all the candidates older? ~~~~~~~~~

• Candidate speeches
• Tim Halverson
• Didn’t mention TSADs – :P
• Using passion to cover up not much stuff...
• Centrist vs. moderate-middle
• Focus on church growth/evangelism
• “Membership decline stops” – but no real plan/vision
• “I will lead from the center”
• HUGE emphasis on “reformed”
• Joan Gray
• Polity will not save us. :P
• Relationships over polity… nice
• God makes a way… says this a lot
• “in spite of having a wee bit of laptop anxiety”
• Kerry Carson
• Quoted Nichole Nordeman “Brave”
• “Status quo led to status decline”
• Going the extra mile is not a burden but a privilege
• Deborah Block
• Stories from Africa
• “On the day of Pentecost…”
• Presence and power of the spirit…
• Spent 3 minutes talking about Africa – not enough time to talk about her plan for Moderating
• **over time**
• Questions
• Youth/Young Adult experience
• Multi-cultural church
• Saving Lordship of Jesus Christ
• Brought by Rev. Michael Carey – Central Florida
• Ordination of openly gay candidates
• Deborah
• Church is slow to recognize gifts for ministry in minority groups (ethnic, gender, etc)
• Currently looking at ordination standards
• Live “by the book” AND “by the Word”
• Inclusion of all persons
• If openly gay meets the qualifications based on standards
• Tim
• MLK, Jr. – Dream “content of character, not skin”
• Not made a biblical case yet… need to wait until this is in place
• Not yet, but it is his dream
• Joan
• Acceptance for who they are, do the work of the church
• Not yet able to get mind around homosexuality as God’s plan
• Uncomfortable place to be… but ok with that
• Keep listening, reading, watching DVDs
• Waiting to hear God’s still, small voice
• Roll of Moderator
• Officer of the church – stands where the church stands
• Will stand on the Constitution
• Kerry
• Comes back to scripture
• Homosexuality not in accordance with God’s will
• Until able to read scripture differently, not yet
• Greatest challenge facing our denomination
• Tim – declining membership
• Joan – recapture our spiritual energy
• Kerry – find hope again
• Deborah – live as a people of the Word, live out of that Word in trust and in courage
• In time of struggle, pain – where in scripture do you turn?
• Kerry – usually starts with hymns first (musician), My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, Micah
• Deborah – Psalms (especially Laments), Paul’s letters, stories in Acts
• Tim – Romans 8.28; hopelessness is a part of hope, wilderness is a part of faith, but in all things God is there.
• Joan – Psalm 139
• Evangelism – South to North, North to South
  OR How to manage new “Loaves and Fishes” fund
• Recommendation 5 in light of Ordination of Women (Maxwell)
• Tim
• Made an error with Maxwell
• Standards are found in the Confessions – not just a laundry list
• Joan
• Polity as an ever-evolving process
• #5 will not solve theological differences – we will still struggle
• Find new and creative ways to engage each other in the midst of differences
• Kerry
• #5 is not the answer – his opinion
• If the body feels it is, he suggests we put it in a referendum and send to the churches
• Deborah
• Pay a lot of attention to #5
• Liked result of Maxwell/Kenyan
• Not sure we should link the 2 items
• #5 – ‘new way of doing church’
• Picture of the church in 2 and 4 years
• Joan
• Calvin’s seal – hand with heart on fire
• Kerry
• Hands clasped together, fingers intertwined
• Deborah
• Handprints of children on a banner
• Tim
• Windmill – firm foundations, tilts into the wind, does something!
• Voting
• Vote #1
• AD
• Mine – Joan S. Gray
• C
• DB – 143, 28%
• KC – 109, 22%
• JG – 139, 28%
• TH – 113, 22%
• Vote #2
• AD
• Mine – Joan S. Gray
• C
• DB – 160, 32%
• KC – 69, 14%
• JG – 205, 41%
• TH – 69, 14%


• Vote #3
• AD
• Mine – Joan S. Gray
• C
• DB – 152, 31%
• KC – 19, 4%
• JG – 307, 62%
• TH – 20, 4%
• Installation service
• Thanks to Rick Ufford-Chase and his team, family
• Hinged cross necklace – replica of moderator’s cross
• SW Art – Days of Christ
• Thanks to Jean Marie Peacock
• Plate and cup stoneware with Presby seal
• Recognition of past moderators
• Announcements
• 9am committee start
• 7am breakfast
• Nelson Irwin’s death