The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, was honored at a dinner and tribute by colleagues, friends, and family. More than 800 people attended the event. Photo by Kristen Gaydos
In an ecclesiastical tribute — brimming over with affection, admiration, gratitude, tears, laughter and just the occasional touch of irreverence — the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, was joyfully celebrated for changing the denomination that shaped and changed him.
Nelson, a third-generation Presbyterian pastor and the first Black man chosen as the top ecclesial officer of the PC(USA), was elected as Stated Clerk by the 222nd General Assembly (2016), a role in which he served for seven years before stepping down on June 30, 2023.
“Our church is more courageous, more faithful and more willing to risk because you said yes,” Ruling Elder Sara Lisherness, deputy executive director for Mission Program for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, would later say.
And as speaker after speaker took the stage — or bore witness via video — new and revealing insights into the much-loved former Stated Clerk’s life, family and ministry emerged.
Introduced as “a tall handsome bloke with a captivating smile” by the Rev. Dr. Chenyangu “Cheni” Khonje, a member of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly who emceed the evening, Nelson loomed large in the gathering of some 800 Assembly attendees, his beloved wife, the Rev. Gail Porter Nelson, and their daughter, Alycia Yvette Nelson, by his side.
Parallel themes of faith and foolishness — for Christ — were echoed by each presenter.
A moving tribute from Amy Kym Kyremes-Parks, director of Formation for Children and Their Families at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Asheville, North Carolina, brought the room to tears.
She recalled how the Nelsons “adopted a 16-year-old girl from Salt Lake City,” taking Kyremes-Parks to the emergency room after a fall at Montreat Conference Center.
“While he can act a fool, he is still so modest,” she said. “He saw my snark and my cheekiness, and our lives were woven together forever. Mama Gail, thank you for serving faithfully in your support, seen and unseen; Alycia, for sharing your daddy with me and so many others; and daddy, for loving me, our family, and this world. Thank you for loving our beautiful and broken denomination. You are our ancestors’ wildest dreams.”
Throughout the evening, Nelson was lauded for cultivating young adult leadership and, in all things, for his never-ending commitment to addressing the world’s greatest social justice challenges such as poverty, discrimination, and gun violence.
The Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, said that what stood out for him in Nelson’s legacy was his quest for justice.
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, his daughter Alycia Yvette Nelson, and his wife, the Rev. Gail Porter Nelson, at the conclusion of the tribute. Photo by Kristen Gaydos
Of Nelson’s “Hands & Feet” initiative, which emphasized mission involvement with the cities hosting the biennial meeting of the General Assembly, González-Castillo said, “You would not only preach about justice and love but teach us to put that into practice every day of our lives.”
Another of the evening’s funniest lines came from the Rev. Carol McDonald, moderator of the Stated Clerk Nomination Committee that selected Nelson, when she recalled something that he said at the Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School.
“Get up off your blessed assurances and do something for Jesus,” she said to peals of laughter.
Dr. Phyllis Sanders, a member of St. James Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, where Nelson served as pastor, excelled at sharing stories of both Nelson’s ministry and family.
Once when she had accompanied Nelson to his mother’s house for dinner in Orangeburg, Sanders wondered who “Herbie” was when she heard someone call out, “Where is Herbie?”
“Shortly after I heard that, I realized it was his mother’s voice, followed by a deep, roaring voice, ‘Here am I, mother,’” she recalled. “And I said to myself, ‘Oh my goodness, my preacher is a mama’s boy! But in my community, he was known as the preacher of Jesus and justice. J. Herbert boldly confronted racism, poverty, discrimination and wage disparity; and Gail and I supported him all the way, with the understanding that we will not go to jail with you!”
The evening concluded with remarks from Nelson himself, as well as daughter Alycia and wife Gail.
After sharing highlights of the remarkable story of his own life, Nelson said, “If there’s anything where I would give a word, it would simply be not to ever allow that which God has given you to be caught in fear. The Lord has already made the decision, and will remind us each and every day what our calling is.”
Nelson, having earlier shared what a challenge it was trying to keep his daughter, who, like him, was a preacher’s kid, in school, fittingly Gail Nelson — a powerful source of support throughout Nelson’s ministry and a great preacher in her own right — had the last word.
“I want to thank the committee who made this evening possible,” she said, “and just so you can hear the end of the story, Alycia turned out very well!”