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Stated clerk committee hears testimonials to candidates


From PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>
Date 26 Jun 2000 17:29:15

Note #5988 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

GA00042
June 26, 2000

	Stated clerk committee hears testimonials to candidates
				by Alexa Smith
LONG BEACH, Calif., June 26 – The Stated Clerk Review and Nomination
Committee (SCRNC) heard testimonials to the character, skills and piety of
the two men now seeking the denomination’s top ecclesiastical office and
spent the morning formulating questions to pose to the two candidates who
will appear there Monday.

	In a not unexpected move, the Rev. Winfield "Casey" Jones, the pastor of
First Presbyterian Church in Pearland, Texas, was nominated for the office
of stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from the floor of the
212th General Assembly Sunday.  He is running against the committee’s
previously recommended nominee and the present clerk, the Rev. Clifton
Kirkpatrick.

	The SCRNC nominated Kirkpatrick in the spring, after evaluating a
four-year-term where he worked, largely, to articulate a vision for unity in
the midst of diversity so great that some have threatened schism in the 2.5
million-member PC(USA).

	The committee must now discern the qualifications of the two candidates and
bring a recommendation to the 558 commissioners who will elect a clerk
Friday morning.

	"We’re now beginning to formulate the questions," said the Rev. William
Maloney of Pittsburgh, Pa., who chairs the 19-member committee. The room in
which the SCRNC was meeting was littered with papers with questions  such
as: "What is your vision for the church of the future and what,
specifically, would you do as stated clerk to assist in accomplishing that
vision?" and "If there is a major conflict between you, the stated clerk,
and ... [other groups], how would work toward reconciliation?"

	Committee members will pose questions directly to the candidates later
Monday, but, in the meantime, they heard from five backers of each
candidate.

	Supporting Kirkpatrick were: former moderator Marj Carpenter of Big Spring,
Texas; the Rev. Bryant George of Washington, D.C.; former moderator Freda
Gardner of Princeton, N.J.; former moderator the Rev. Douglas Oldenburg of
Decatur, Ga.; and the Rev. Brian Ellison of Parkville, Mo., who chaired the
committee that nominated Kirkpatrick for clerk four years ago.

	Jones’ backers were three women elders: Shirley Prey of Old Greenwich, Ct.;
Anne Chappee, a former member of Jones’ Pearland congregation; and Lynn
Cinciripini, clerk of Pearland church Session; and two pastors, the Rev.
Brad Long, executive director of Presbyterian Renewal Ministries
International, Black Mountain, N.C.; and the Rev. James Logan of Charlotte,
N.C.

	Calling Kirkpatrick "a big man with a big heart," Gardner told
commissioners that if the PC(USA) "has a Christian, human face .... Cliff
Kirkpatrick must be given credit for that."  Thanking those who had
foresight to call him to this position four years ago, Gardner spoke to his
character, citing tact, humor and patience as his trademarks.  Oldenburg
said Kirkpatrick represents the middle of the church, "exactly," he said,
"where the stated clerk ought to be."

	The others’ went over the long litany of Kirkpatrick’s accomplishments in
his long denominational service, much of it spent coordinating worldwide
missions and cementing international ecumenical relationships.  "As I have
gotten to know Cliff," Ellison told the group, "I know the rigorous process
of seeking this office does not come easily to him. He would rather preach
than give stump speeches, rather embrace in fellowship than shake hands in
campaigning.  He would rather be about the real work of the Church.  What
keeps him in this is a deep sense of call – of responsiveness to God’s call
as it has come to him through brothers and sisters, and in his heart, and
the voice of the Assembly once before.  I encourage you, in your prayerful
discernment, to look at the past ministry, the present quality and the
future opportunity presented in the person of Clifton Kirkpatrick."

	Drawing on biblical metaphors and emphasizing his spiritual gifts, Jones’
supporters identified his prayerfulness, piety and leadership as strengths
he would bring to the national scene which is, they said, in spiritual
crisis.  Cinciripini told her listeners that the Pearland church does not
want to lose Jones as its pastor, saying that he "empowers other people to
action," "not only connects with people but people respond to him," and
"moderates a Session with the finesse of a foreign diplomat ...

	"What he has done in Pearland, we know he can do for the denomination as a
whole."

	Prey, too, focused on Jones’ prayer life and told the room that she’d "seen
him on his face before God."
	"I know he prays effectively for others," she said.  "And he also prays for
me."

	In a more emotional presentation, Long, a former PC(USA) missionary in
Korea and Taiwan, insisted that Jones’ pastoral experience will help mend
what he called "the chasm" that separates the General Assembly and local
parishes.  "It is hard to go against the tide," he said, emphasizing his
respect for Kirkpatrick.  "I’m not opposed to Cliff; but rather, I am for a
new thing.

	"And it is a new style of leadership that Casey Jones will bring ... with
his gifts, with his caring, with a vision that is needed now."

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