wfn.org | Bills and Overtures committee prepares for heavy Assembly agenda

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.apc.org>]

29-June-1996 
 
GA96009 
 
 
 
    Bills and Overtures committee prepares 
    for heavy Assembly agenda 
 
ALBUQUERQUE--Like traffic cops directing city motorists, the General 
Assembly committee on Bills and Overtures rolled up its collective sleeves 
June 29 in anticipation of managing an unusually heavy Assembly agenda. 
 
    The 28-member council has the responsibility of referring all General 
Assembly business to the appropriate committees and nearly all the 
committees will be "busier than usual," according to the Rev. Barry Van 
Deventer, Bills and Overtures committee moderator of Charleston-Atlantic 
Presbytery. 
 
    "There are a number of issues that have been postponed or referred from 
previous Assemblies which means the workload here is going to be 
tremendous," Deventer said. "But we feel that the referrals from the Stated 
Clerk's office have been well thought out. And for the most part, we'll 
recommend and reaffirm during the [Assembly] plenary session the 
preliminary referrals that have been prepared by the Stated Clerk's 
office." 
 
    Deventer said the committee has received all overtures dealing with the 
ordination of gays and lesbians, the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) 
and the expansion of  the roles and responsibilities of commissioned lay 
pastors, which are expected to be among the most important and potentially 
controversial items to be considered by the 568 elected commissioners. 
 
    Another big chunk of Assembly business the committee will have to 
consider includes overtures stemming from the Quadrennial Review 
committee's report,  confirming the re-election of GAC executive director 
the Rev. James D. Brown, and the election of the Stated Clerk. 
 
    The Rev. Garnett Foster, Bills and Overtures vice-moderator from 
National Capital Presbytery, said the committee spent a considerable amount 
of its time June 28 listening to people who were not happy with the Stated 
Clerk's recommendations for overture placement and deciding whether to 
refer them to another committee or leave then alone. 
 
    Foster said the committee will have received all of  the commissioner's 
resolutions by the time it convenes Sunday at 6:30 p.m. 
 
 
 Julian Shipp 

------------
For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 

--