The Rev. CeCe Armstrong and the Rev. Tony Larson following their election as co-moderators of the 226th General Assembly. Photo Rich Copley.
Commissioners to the 226th General Assembly have chosen two South Carolina pastors, the Rev. CeCe Armstrong and the Rev. Tony Larson, to be the next Co-Moderators. They will serve a two-year term and are the fifth straight team of Co-Moderators to win election.
Armstrong and Larson were elected Sunday night by a vote of 249 to 171 during an evening plenary in the Salt Palace Convention Center in Utah. Soon afterward, they were installed by their predecessors, the Rev. Ruth Faith Santana-Grace and the Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis, who received a standing ovation for their service and gave the victorious team a glimpse of what lies ahead.
“You will have the privilege and the burden of representing the Presbyterian Church, at home and abroad, speaking with the church and to others outside the church, all of this that Christ might be glorified and made more fully known,” Santana-Grace said.
The team had enthusiastically stumped for votes the previous night at a downtown reception and pledged to continue serving their local congregations while also serving the greater church as Co-Moderators. Larson is pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church of Southside Beach and Armstrong is associate pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church on St. James Island.
The procession of the newly-elected co-moderators during plenary at the 226th General Assembly. Photo Rich Copley.
“We trust and believe that God called us together and we are grateful for the opportunity to stand,” Armstrong said prior to the final vote. “This is our journey to stand.”
Larson and Armstrong were jointly endorsed earlier this year in a historic vote by the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery and the Presbytery of New Harmony.
They defeated fellow candidates the Rev. Dr. Marian McClure Taylor and the Rev. Dannny Morales, who also stood as a team. McClure Taylor had recently served as pastor of South Frankfort Presbyterian Church in Frankfort, Kentucky. Morales is a hospice chaplain and the pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church in Liberty City, Florida.
Prior to the commissioners taking a vote, the teams gave opening statements, then commissioners and advisory delegates were given the opportunity to ask a few questions.
Throughout the night, Larson and Armstrong found ways to emphasize the three talking points from their “Journey to Stand” campaign — the importance of good communication, being in alignment with God, and building relationships.
Larson showed his sense of humor by telling a story from his first year of ministry. He thought he’d blown it by giving an overly lengthy sermon on the doctrine of the Trinity. But then his wife, Heather, discovered a bulletin from the service with a doodle on it. The drawing was of him and the words, “Blah, blah, blah, God. Blah, blah, blah, Jesus. Blah, blah, blah, Holy Spirit. Blah, blah, blah love.”
While that might seem like a negative thing, Larson was encouraged because “this child heard that God exists in relationship,” he said, adding a bit later, “We are called to communicate, to align with God's will for us, and it is all about love.”
Armstrong, a former youth pastor who was raised in Detroit, brought her can-do attitude to the forefront, telling the crowd, “So tonight, there'll be thousands to tell you that it cannot be done. There are thousands who will prophesy failure. There will be thousands who will point out to you, one by one, all the dangers that wait to assail you. Just buckle right in, with a bit of a grin. Just take off your hat and coat and go to it. Just start to sing as you tackle all the things that couldn't be done, and PC(USA) can do it.”
With the specter of budget cuts looming ahead, Elizabeth “Lizzy” Healy, a Young Adult Advisory Delegate from Shenandoah Presbytery, asked how the church could be smaller but stronger.
Armstrong immediately turned to love, noting that it is a powerful force that can hold things together, so there should be more love and less of everything else.
The Co-Moderators of the 226th General Assembly celebrate their election with family and co-moderators from previous assemblies on Sunday night. Photo Rich Copley.
Adding a bit more to the team’s answer, Larson noted that he often tells his church “God has given us everything we need to do the mission that he has called us to.” Furthermore, “it may be in this season that we need to be smaller so that we can be clearer about what it means to love our neighbors.”
Prior to being elected, the pair wore stoles that were designed to form the PC(USA) logo but only when the pair stood together, a symbol of the importance of working together for the good of the church and those it serves.
Those stoles were later covered by a new set, presented by Acting Stated Clerk the Rev. Bronwen Boswell, with green backgrounds and nature-inspired decorations, including the sun and mountains, evocative of the region.
To commemorate the occasion, Larson and Armstrong also were presented with handmade mallets from the Presbytery of Utah.