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Note #7978 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Nashville pastor is candidate for moderator
03442
October 20, 2003

Nashville pastor is candidate for moderator

Middle Tennessee Presbytery endorses K.C. Ptomey

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - The Rev. K.C. Ptomey Jr., pastor of Westminster Presbyterian
Church in Nashville, has been endorsed by the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee
as a candidate for moderator of the 216th General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (USA).

The presbytery voted Oct. 16 to endorse Ptomey's candidacy. Rita Hood,
Westminster's clerk of session, said, "This call has come at a time when K.C.
can be a reconciler and peacemaker for our great Presbyterian Church. I urge
you to confirm this resolution and pledge your prayers and support for K.C.
and for the session and congregation of Westminster as we look toward this
wonderful opportunity to share K.C. with the whole of the Presbyterian Church
(USA)."

Ptomey, 61, has served the Westminster church for 22 years. He has also
served congregations in Texas and in Tennessee, ranging in size from 60 to
more than 2,000 members.

"I am the pastor of a church with wide diversity in its theological and
political opinions," he told the Presbyterian News Service, after the
presbytery vote. "But we are a church that has always valued each other in
our differences and keeping the church together. We are called to be the Body
of Christ. So one can't say, 'We don't need your opinion,' or, 'We don't need
your point of view.'

"This congregation has taught me that  and maybe that is a gift of this
congregation that the PCUSA needs right now," said Ptomey.

Born in Birmingham, AL, Ptomey earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy
from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. He holds the B.D. from the Louisville
Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the D.Min. from McCormick Theological
Seminary in Chicago.

Ptomey has served the wider church as well, preaching at worship and music
conferences at Mo Ranch and at Montreat. He also been the keynote speaker for
Montreat youth conferences.

He served a six-year-term as a member of the General Assembly Council as a
member of the Congregational Ministries Division Committee and the Committee
on Theological Education. Ptomey has served as a commissioner to the 1973
General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (US), and the 1999 General Assembly of
the PCUSA.

Ptomey has served on numerous presbytery committees, including serving as
moderator.

"I find goodness in this denomination  joy in its people, zeal for mission,
deep commitment to Jesus Christ and a passion for keeping the things of the
mind and the heart together," he said, adding that friends persuaded him to
consider serving as moderator.

 "I don't think this is the kind of thing you aspire to; it is the kind of
thing that (one) must be convinced one is called to," he said, speaking of
his time of discernment.

Ptomey is married to the Rev. Carol Tate, a new church development pastor. He
has two grown children and two stepchildren.

Ptomey gave the nominating speech at the 1999 General Assembly for former
General Assembly Moderator Freda Gardner.

The moderator who is elected next June at the General Assembly in Richmond,
VA, will be the first to serve a two-year term since the denomination will
shift to meeting every other year.

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