Please note: Our Interim General Presbyter, the Rev. Jim Browne, made a commitment at the June presbytery meeting to provide daily updates for the duration of the 221st General Assembly in Detroit, June 14-21, 2014.
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General Assembly, Day 1
Well, that was an interesting start to General Assembly. Opening worship was highlighted by the Alma College Pipes (bagpipes!) opening the service and great music from the Detroit Youth Orchestra and Choir. For us, the best part was seeing so many people from our Presbytery in attendance - and the good humor in surviving a long day and bus rides. (Please visit our Facebook page for photos from Day 1 of GA).
Often consent agendas continue a mix of routine and rarely noticeable actions. But it would not be right to let pass that this General Assembly's consent agenda included the final approval of the new translation of the historic Heidelberg Catechism, one of our confessional documents. This new translation includes biblical citations for all of its points. This is a noteworthy action for a nearly 500 year old work of the church.
In addition, we saw five videos from the 1991 Worship Communities challenge that demonstrated the width and depth of new ways of sharing the gospel in our Presbyterian family. The delegates then voted for the best of them.
But proving that everything old is new again, the election of the moderator didn't go perfectly smoothly. First, the plan for electronic voting by commissioners' laptops or tablets didn't work right. So on to plan B, which was to use the keypads that recent General Assemblies have used. But they didn't work right either. In the end, the commissioners voted for moderator by paper ballot. As one Youth Advisory Delegate was heard to say, "I didn't even know you could do that anymore!"
The candidates for moderator showed the breadth of our denomination. John Wilkinson, a teaching elder from Genesee Valley Presbytery; Heath Rada, a ruling elder from Western North Carolina Presbytery; and Kelly Allen, a teaching elder from Mission Presbytery, shared their thoughts and hopes for our denomination and what their service as moderator might look like. Following 45 minutes of questions and answers from the body, on the first ballot, Heath Rada, was elected as the new moderator for the 221st General Assembly.
On Sunday, commissioners have the opportunity to worship in one of literally dozens of local Presbyterian churches before beginning their committee work. Your prayers for our commissioners are not only appreciated but needed as they continue their work.
In Christ,
Jim Browne, Interim General Presbyter and
Ted McCulloch, Stated Clerk
Want to stay up to date on what is happening at GA?
Well...there's an app for that! Actually there are a couple apps and they are free:
The Guidebook App provides you with the full schedule for GA at your fingertips. It is available for both Apple and Android and is web-based for viewing on other devices. More information and downloading instructions can be found here.
The PCbiz App will keep you up to date on the voting and other items. It is available for Apple, Android and Kindle Fire. Click here for details. This is also web-based and can be viewed by clicking here.
Click here for more information on all of the GA-related apps.
There will be live streaming of GA available beginning with opening worship. Click here for details.
