Note: We have limited free internet access here. I will only be able to update the blog in the early morning or late at night, but rest assured I will do my best to get it done.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006
It was an interesting trip to Birmingham. Diane took a half day off of work to take me to the airport. Alot has changed at the airport since the last time I flew. There were no camouflaged military personal with M-16's at security. I still felt . Each ticket counter now has their own baggage scanner. Well, I finally made it to Birmingham around 5 PM, I thought it was 6 PM because I had a layover in Cincinnati which is in the Eastern timezone. No wonder the flight looked so short, Birmingham is back in the good old Central timezone. Once I got here I got on a bus and went to the hotel to register. When I went to register I found that even though I had requested a no-smoking room I had been assigned to a smoking room. Fortunately I am staying at the Sheraton Hotel which is next door to the convention center. The young man at the front desk told me that he was unable to change my room and that I would need to find Nancy Spence in the General Assembly office which is on the far side of the convention center. I stopped at the registration desk to take care of that before going to find Nancy. When I asked about the debit meal cards they told me they would be in Thursday morning. I then headed down to the General Assembly office. After telling Nancy why I was there she immediately called the front desk and left the ok for the room to be switched to a no-smoking room. Off I went, baggage in tow back to the registration desk. Unfortunately the message had not yet made it into the computer system yet so it would be another 5-10 minutes before I would be able to go up to the room. A small price to pay. I was also happy that he was pleasant in the way that he handled the situation. I found out later that someone had an unfortunate experience with one of the other people at the front desk and that it had gotten a little loud. My room is nice, but I will not be using the high-speed access as in the room in is $11.95 a day.

After getting settled in I headed back to the registration area to make sure that I had not missed anything my first time through. I took a few minutes to go into the main meeting hall and test the wireless system. It took only a few moments to figure out that everything was up and running properly so I headed back to get something to eat. Mistake. The first place I looked at in the atrium of the hotel had a dinner buffet for $15 per person. I decided that I really was not that hungry. I headed back to the room to change and go to the PFR (Presbyterians For Renewel) reception. Once there, Brian from PFR greated me and showed me where to get some food. Yea, free food! I got something to eat and sat down. I had a nice conversation with an Elder Commissioner from a small rural church. Later I meet someone from Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship. We shared stories about one anothers churches and he was very encouraged that Hus was forging its way into the future when at the same time he wished his church was moving in that direction. After a short time Ron Lewis (Christ Church C.R.) found me and we talked for until the candidates for moderator were introduced. Each of the candidates gave a short speech and then we layed hands on them and prayed for them and the 217th General Assembly. After that I headed back to the room to settle in for the night. When my roommate arrived I felt bad for him (Carter Lester) and those that had travelled with him. They had struggled with weather delays and had finally arrived at the hotel at 10:30 PM. What a long day. Carter and I had some time to talk and I found that he had been a lawyer before entering into ministry. His wife is also a minister.


Thursday, June 15, 2006
When I woke up this morning I had no idea that I would be so tired from yesterday. I actually slept in alittle bit and then went for a walk. The only problem with going on that walk is that I forgot that I had a ticket to go to a pre-assembly conference on the PUP (Peace, Unity, Purity) report. On my way there I stopped at registration only to find that the debit cards were delayed until 9 AM. Fortunately I made it just before the muffins ran out and I was able to stay through lunch and hear from different members of the task force on their perspective of the report. After their presentations we had the opportunity for table discussions and then to send questions to the panel to be answered. Did this help me understand the report better ... no. It did give the opportunity to look to God and to listen to what He has to tell me. Each table then sent a question up to the panel for them to address. As each question was answered I began to have more comments and questions:

• The Task Force still has not answered how the PUP report will be brought to the local congregations.
• How much additional energy will be placed on the PUP report if it is passed?
• How do we keep theology from getting into the Book of Order? That is not what it is meant to have.
• Is the PUP report open to additional interpretation?
• The Task Force does not seem to want to alienate anyone in the church with dealing with yes/no ... up/down absolutes. I hate to tell them this but that is inevitable.
• No matter what happens with the PUP report there will be winners and losers, regardless of how the Task Force feels about it.
• God's Word is His Word. I do not remember ever seeing any AIs (authoritative interpretations) in the Bible.
• One of the Task Force members made it clear that the Prebyterian Church (USA) already ordains those persons that are gay or lesbian as long as they are chaste in singleness. Since they cannot be married the fidelity clause does not apply to them. That threw me at first, but then I began to think about it some more. Homosexuality is a sin as are many other things. If one is repentant of a sin and is not longer involved in that sin they are restored by the grace that God gives us.

Our time together ended with a Bible study on Matthew 14:22-33. This passage was one of the first Bible studies that the Task Force did when they first met. We need to be like Peter and get out of the boat and walk on water. We simply need to step out in faith together regardless of the risk because God's grace is sufficient.

Okay, now the debit cards will not be here until Noon.

At the first of three commissioner orientations I sat with a Minister Commissioner (Rev. Susan Barnes) from East Oregon who had roots (her grandmother) in Pella, IA. Susan had a hard time remembering her grandmothers maiden name is that she was married three times in all. This was because she out lived the first two. It must have been due to her Dutch heritage.

As I was leaving the second orientation this afternoon I was approached by a gentleman from the Twin Cities who had grown up in Marion, IA. He asked what church I was with and I told him Hus Presbyterian never expecting that he would know where that was. More amazing than that, he grew up at Hus. His name is Charles Nove. He remembered many of our current members and also those that have gone to be with the Lord. The last minister that he remembered was Re. George McDill. He is currently with a small congregation that is located in the downtown area of the Twin Cities.

The situation with the debit cards was getting almost comical. During the break after orientation there is was a sign that the debit cards will be distributed at 4 PM. After the break it was announced that the bank had messed up and that some will get debit cards and some will not. Those who do not will be advised what they are to do. This will undoubtedly get very interesting as the week goes on.

At the end of the afternoon session Rick Ufford-Chase gave the moderator's report. He shared from the blog he has been keeping since becoming moderator in 2004. Rick's blog address is www.what-I-see.blogspot.com. What an incredible witness to what Rick has been doing over the past two years. As I listened I realized that this was not about theology, it was about doing the mission work that God has asked each of us to do. He concluded by reading Exodus 17:5-7.

Just before the dinner break they announced that there was an alternative to the debit cards and that we need to go out to the registration area to get it. So out we went. Fortunately we are relatively close to the doors so the lines had not gotten to long before we got there. The alternative to the debit cards was cash. The old paper stuff works just as well as the cards. About this time I met the Rev. Randy Campbell from the Presbytery of De Cristo (AZ). We went down to the Cafe300, but finding the line too long we went to one of the concession stands. We took our meal out to a courtyard area where there were a couple of waterfalls, trees, etc. and enjoyed our meal in this oasis in middle of Birmingham. We had a wonderful time of fellowship discussing one anothers ministries, especially mission work. The garden area that we were in was very peaceful and was a great getaway from the day.

We had to skip a vote for several minutes as several of the commissioners and advisory delegates were unable to access Les from their computers so we skipped to a financial review. As they were going over the financial implications to the budget this year and for 2007 and 2008 they were talking about having to increase the national per capita. It seems like we spend too much time figuring out how much to raise per capita and seemingly none on increasing membership. Everyone wants to see the membership decline in the PCUSA to reverse but I have seen little so far dealing with it.

All other business was completed and it was time for the election of the moderator. As they prepared to speak my thoughts quickly went to how the youth of our country will be ministered to or if they even will. Youth are the future of our denomination, our country, and of this world. If we lose this generation we lose the future. The candidates went to the stage to meet with the moderator of the 215th General Assembly. The names of the candidates were read and then information was given concerning the expenditures of the candidates. All of the candidates meet the rules for expenditures. Each of the candidates were given five minutes to give a speech after taking a few minutes to decide the speaking order. Once the candidates were ready, their respective nominator was given five minutes to speak in nomination of their candidate.

• Tim Halverson
• Joan S. Gray
• Kerry Carson
• Deborah A. Block

Once the nominators had finished their speeches it was time for the candidates. Before they began I reflected on the short speeches they each gave Wednesday night at the PFR gathering. All but one of the candidates gave what I perceived was a political type speech or in other words a fluff speech. Having read about each of them and having narrowed the field if only by one after that, I had determined that it would be their speeches that earn my vote. As the speeches concluded it was apparent that only one candidate had grabbed my full attention. It was the candidates passion and excitement during their speech that clinched my vote, that is until I found out that there would be a one hour question and answer time. Have you ever hear a comment that just knocks you over? When one of the candidates, speaking on becoming a multi-cultural church said, "... I have learned to love...", ouch. That statement did not sit well with me. I wonder how many others heard it the same way? All of the candidates speak well, some are more eloquent than others, but what I found most inviting was the candidates that were real, not political in the way that they answer questions. The question of ordaining gays and lesbians was made by a Youth Advisory Delegate(YAD). It was the hardest question to that point. What was encouraging was to see who was willing to step out of the boat and in fatih and state their position openly. I was deeply disappointed by those who chose to give a politically correct (PC) answers to the questions. The Advisory Delegates voted first as their votes are not counted but are used as a litmus test for the commissioners. They voted nearly even for all candidates. So much for the litmus test. Then it was time to see what the rest of the General Assembly had decided. It was my prayer all along that whomever was elected, that it God's will would be done. And the moderator is ... up for another vote as none of the candidates had a majority. We voted over again starting with the Advisory Delegates. They were a little more diverse. The results of the commissioners still did not elect a moderator so we start again. This time the Advisory Delegates leaned toward Deborah Block and Joan Gray. Based on this information and the previous votes I felt God's nudge to through my support around one of the candidates who had the opportunity to be elected. On the final vote a moderator was elected, the Moderator-Elect of the 217th General Assembly is Joan S. Gray.
After the candidates prayed together Joan, her choice for vice-moderator, her husband, and representatives of her home presbytery came to the stage. She was then installed as the Moderator of the 217th General Assembly in a service of scripture, liturgy, song, and prayer. Thanks were then given by the Stated Clerk, Clifton Kirkpatrick, to Rick for his service over the past two years. Rick was presented with a replica of the moderators cross and a limited print. Rick spoke of his thanks to the church here and abroad for the past two years and to his vice-moderator, Jean Marie Peacock. Clifton then thanked Jean Marie and presented here with a plate and cup after which she gave her thanks.

In her first act as Moderator, Joan introduced all of the previous 14 moderators that are in attendance with this years General Assembly. Just before we recessed for the evening it was announced that Elder Commissioner Nelson Erwin had been taken to the hospital earlier and that he went to be with the Lord a short time later. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family, church, and presbytery for the untimely loss of Nelson.

The day began before 8 AM and finally concluded shortly after 11 PM. Time for bed as tomorrow begins at 7 AM with the GA Commissioner breakfast and prayer.

Because of Him,

Terry