wfn.org | Stotts retired -- Bullock confirmed

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

04-July-1996 
 
GA96095 
 
                  Stotts retired -- Bullock confirmed 
 
ALBUQUERQUE - The Assembly today recognized the retirement of one seminary 
president and welcomed the new dean of another.  Dr. Jack Stotts retired as 
president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, Texas, July 
1.  Dr. Jeffrey Francis Bullock was confirmed yesterday as dean of the 
seminary and vice-president of the University of Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa. 
 
    Stotts spent 21 years as a seminary president.  He served as president 
of McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Ill., from 1975 to 1985.  He 
then went to Austin, where he served from 1985 to 1996.  He received the 
B.D. from McCormick and the Ph.D. from Yale. 
 
    Archie Stevenson paid tribute to Stotts, calling him an "outstanding 
preacher, wise leader, inspiring teacher." Stevenson is vice-moderator of 
the Assembly's Committee on Christian Education and Theological 
Institutions.   Possibly Stotts' "greatest contribution" to the 
Presbyterian Church, Stevenson said, was serving as chair of the committee 
which drafted "A Brief Statement of Faith." The "Brief Statement" is the 
Presbyterians' most recent confession, adopted in 1988. 
 
    The Assembly responded by giving Stotts a standing ovation. 
 
    In his remarks, Stotts called his service to the seminaries a 
"privileged time."  He said it was a privilege "to have been called to 
assist in the preparation of men and women for the ministry of Jesus 
Christ."  He said students "refreshed my hope and nourished my spirit." 
 
    Stotts also said it was a privilege "to serve a church that worships 
Jesus Christ with the mind."  This commitment, he continued, "calls for 
rigorous scholarship."  The denomination and its theological schools, he 
went on, "are always partners in discerning what God calls us to be and 
do." 
 
    Stotts said he welcomed the opportunity to say "thank you to the 
denomination. . ., which is finally the last thing any of us have to say 
when we come to the end or near the end of our ministry and our life. 
Thanks be to God who gets us from the beginning to the end." 
 
    Bullock, in brief remarks to the Assembly, commented that he had been a 
pastor for 14 years before going to Dubuque.  "It is my love for pastoral 
ministry that has led me to an institution that is committed to preparing 
women and men for pastoral ministry, often in numerically smaller 
churches," he said.  He pledged to honor "the ordination vows taken 11 
years ago" in his new call. 
 
    Bullock most recently served as pastor of Queen Anne Presbyterian 
Church, Seattle, Wa.  He received an M.Div. from Pittsburgh Theological 
Seminary, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington. 
 
    Stevenson also introduced the presidents of the other theological 
institutions.  In doing so, he introduced Dr. Cynthia Campbell, president 
of McCormick, as president of Pittsburgh.  As commissioners laughed, 
Moderator John Buchanan asked, "Is that a motion?"  Dr. Carnegie Samuel 
Calian, president of Pittsburgh, joined in the general laughter. 
 
 
Peggy Rounseville 

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