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[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

GA990014      Two Years of Preparation Culminate as  
      Texas Presbyterians Welcome the 211th General Assembly 
                          to Fort Worth 
 
 
Fort Worth After two years of preparation involving more than 3,000 
volunteers, Grace Presbytery welcomed the 211th General Assembly to Fort 
Worth Friday at an Assembly-opening press conference hosted by the chair of 
the host committee, Betsy Pepper.  Also participating in the kickoff event 
for media was General Assembly Stated Clerk the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, 
himself a Texas native. 
     "This has been a great gift to me personally and to the 150,000 
Presbyterians of Grace Presbytery to prepare to take care of our 3,000 
guests," Pepper said.  And the plans she described for visitors to this 
Assembly   beginning with Sunday's Texas barbecue for more than 2,000 at 
Billy Bob's -- assure that they will get a full taste of Texas culture. 
     A full schedule of mission tours will take Presbyterian visitors to 
the Assembly all over northeast Texas to witness the church in action. 
Opening worship will feature a massed choir of more than 400 Texas 
Presbyterian singers, and a musical review slated for Tuesday evening at 
Fort Worth's sparkling Bass Performance Hall will star such distinctive 
native groups as the Texas Boys Choir, the Dorothy Shaw Handbell Choir, 
Ballet Folklorica/Dallas, Fort Worth Gospel Choir, Rayos de Guanajuato 
Mariachi Band, a Korean Choir of Binnerri Presbyterian Church in Richardson 
and a massed choir of 250 Presbyterians from area churches. 
 
 
     Kirkpatrick praised Pepper and the Committee on Local Arrangements 
(COLA).  "I don't know that we've ever had a better COLA," he said. 
Kirkpatrick said the committee "has done a wonderful job of making this 
combination of family gathering and legislative session welcome and 
comfortable." 
     Kirkpatrick outlined the key issues he believes are before this 
Assembly: 
     * leadership: the Assembly will elect its moderator and be asked to 
confirm the election of new heads for the Congregational Ministries 
Division and the Board of Pensions. 
     * a new strategy paper on church growth. 
     * Presbyterian endorsement of the Churches Uniting in Christ, the most 
recent expression of Christian unity devised by the Consultation on Church 
Union, or COCU. 
     * a paper addressing the persistent problem of racism in America, 
"Facing Racism: A Vision of the Beloved Community." 
     * a paper entitled "Building Community Among Strangers" with 
suggestions on how urban community life can be improved in the United 
States. 
     * the commissioning of more than 100 new missionaries to posts around 
the world. 
 
by Jerry Van Marter               

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