The General Assembly confirmed Wednesday the election of Frank C. Spencer as new president of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Board of Pensions and reconfirmed the re-election of Tom Taylor to a second four-year term as president of the Presbyterian Foundation, two of the denomination's six agencies.
Spencer, former president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity, Charlotte, has a long Presbyterian heritage. His maternal grandfather was a Presbyterian pastor. His father, Samuel R. Spencer Jr., served as president of two Presbyterian colleges, Mary Baldwin (Virginia) and Davidson (North Carolina). Spencer grew up around the Davidson campus. He has taught Sunday school and served as a ruling elder in several Charlotte congregations. He also has served as chair of the board of Montreat Conference Center.
As they gathered in one of America's major cities with a reputation for violence, some of those attending the 221st General Assembly (2014) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) watched a denominationally produced documentary on gun violence, and then tackled how to address the issue.
“It’s insane really," said Saul Green of Ceasefire Detroit, which works together with law enforcement and community service groups to impress upon young people the price they will pay for criminal activity. "Why are young people killing each other over mundane things like shoes, or cell phones?”
About 35 years ago, Frank James made what he called “a snap decision” when his church asked him to consider becoming a ruling elder.
“It may not have been a considered decision,” James said during Wednesday’s inaugural ruling elder luncheon at the 221st General Assembly (2014) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), “but it turned out to be one of the most important decisions of my life.”
Violence against women and children takes many forms – human trafficking, domestic violence and rape, for example. But one commonality is the need for religious communities to address the problem.
Those at Wednesday’s Ecumenical and Interfaith Breakfast at the 221st General Assembly (2014) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) heard from Presbyterian, Muslim and Sikh speakers on ways people of faith can stand against violence toward women and children.
Teaching Elder Mark A. Tammen has been awarded the C. Fred Jenkins Constitutional Services Award, which honors a person or group that has given wise, prudent and vigilant support to the constitution and polity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
“Fred made me believe in Mark; he pressed me to try what I was wary of, most often successfully – to his delight,” Tammen said in an email read at Tuesday evening's Association of Stated Clerks of the PC(USA) dinner at the 221st General Assembly (2014). Tammen was unable to attend due to jury duty.
After meeting 220 times, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) opened the business of the 221st General Assembly (2014) with a brand new twist designed to help speed up handling of routine items, leaving more time to deal with more controversial issues – and not incidentally hoping to reduce the need for multiple late-night sessions.
The inaugural "Wednesday Consent Agenda" contained 132 items that had received super majorities of 75 percent or more during committee deliberations. Assemblies have always had consent agendas during each committee report, but this pulled all such items into one action.
Presbyterian Teaching Elder Mike McClenahan is a self-described evangelical with a simple message for Presbyterians who share his theological convictions: Immigration reform is needed now.
“A challenge for us as a church is to convince pastors like me who are evangelical that this is a biblical issue that must be addressed,” said McClenahan, senior pastor of Solana Beach Presbyterian Church in suburban San Diego. Evangelical Presbyterians, he said, have not been as active on immigration issues as more progressive Presbyterians.
The report from Mid Council Commission II was approved by the Mid Councils Issues Committee of the 221st General Assembly (2014) Tuesday without major amendments. Only a change to the target number of synods that will remain following synod consolidation was made by the committee.
The committee settled on 10 to 12 synods that would remain post consolidation. The report recommendation was for no more than eight synods to remain after presbyteries and synods participate in a collaborative process to reinvent synods and allow some to combine over the next two years.
Author and educator Bill McKibben made a video plea to those gathered Tuesday for the Presbyterians for Earth Care luncheon, urging them to stand up to power.
“Standing up to power is what we are called upon to do as Christians,” McKibben said in a six-minute video. “I know it can be tough to convince others, especially Christian communities, which tend to be conflict averse. There are times we are called to stand up to power, and there are no greater powers and principalities than those who derive wealth from fossil fuels and use that wealth to go to places we don’t want to go to as a civilization.”
“Jesus is the great disruptor,” Mark Labberton, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, said in his sermon during morning worship Tuesday at the 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
He told the story of a man of great wealth, power and success who asked Labberton for some bullet-points about Jesus so he could have better dinner conversation with his church-going wife. Labberton told the man, “I’m not very good at bullet points. And if I gave you some, you might have to rethink everything. Jesus might make his way into your life. He might overturn it.”