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Note #8304 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Arizona elder chosen as moderator
GA04014
June 26, 2004

Arizona elder chosen as moderator

Ufford-Chase urges Presbyterians to 'get in the boat with Jesus'

by Bill Lancaster

RICHMOND, June 26 - Elder Rick Ufford-Chase, a 40-year-old border mission
worker from the Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona, was elected
moderator of the 216th General Assembly Saturday night.

Ufford-Chase will be the first Presbyterian Church (USA) moderator to serve
for two years.

He apparently impressed the commissioners with his deep commitment to risky,
life-on-the-line mission work.

Ufford-Chase founded BorderLinks, a bi-national organization that tries to
connect and educate people of faith on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border.
He has served BorderLinks for 17 years.

He has a bachelor's degree from Colorado College and entered Princeton
Theological Seminary, but says he soon discovered that his call was not to be
an ordained minister, but to serve in ministry as an elder.

Ufford-Chase also works with the Evangelical Center for Pastoral studies in
Central America in Guatemala, and has been a co-moderator of Presbyterian
Peace Fellowship. With his wife, Kitty, he has been trained to serve as a
reservist with Christian Peacemaker Teams, an organization that has sent
teams of "accompaniers" to Colombia, Iraq, Palestine and the U.S./Mexico
border region.

"God can use us to transform the world," he told the commissioners. "I have
found that fear and fulfillment go hand and hand."

He described how his young son wanted to slide down a rope from a high tree,
and screamed the whole way down, until he was in his father's arms.
Ufford-Chase said he realized the scream expressed both joy and fear. That's
how it is to be in mission for Jesus Christ, he said.

"We are invited to get in the boat with Jesus, like those disciples," and
take a risk, he said. "I want to be part of a church that says 'Yes' and gets
into that boat with Jesus."

The new moderator told the commissioners how his home church enabled him to
have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as a teenager. He said his
experience of Jesus Christ took hold during backpacking trips with a young
pastor and a confirmation class.

Ufford-Chase was elected on the second ballot over the Rev. David McKechnie,
the pastor of 4,300-member Grace Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX, and the
Rev. K.C. Ptomey, Jr., pastor of the 1,800-member Westminster Presbyterian
Church in Nashville, TN.

On the first ballot, Ufford-Chase got 226 votes, McKechnie 166 and Ptomey,
101. In the second tally,  275 commissioners voted for Ufford-Chase, 186 for
McKechnie and 40 for Ptomey. For election, a candidate must glean a majority
of commissioners' votes.

Responding to a question from a minister commissioner about efforts to remove
a section of the Book of Order that forbids the ordination of non-celibate
homosexuals, Ufford-Chase said: "I have close friends who are gay, lesbian,
bisexual or transgendered. This church should welcome their gifts. ...
Although it is quite fair for you to ask my opinion and for me to share it,
if I am elected, it is not appropriate for me to advance my opinion."

He said the church must risk its life in mission. If the PC(USA) will do
that, he said, divisive issues will fade into the background.

In response to the same question, Ptomey said: "I look forward to the time
when this denomination can delete G-6.0106b from the Book of Order, but as
moderator, my personal agenda must take a back seat. My agenda as moderator
is your agenda."

In his turn, McKechnie said: "I want to uphold the standard of the church,
because I think it is aligned with the church's theology and with scripture.
I would like the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity to
complete its task first. Ordination is a privilege, not a right, and this
privilege is for the church to decide. I do not expect everybody to agree
with me, but I will promise to represent all persons fairly."

Ufford-Chase was nominated by the Rev. Patricia Mason of the Presbytery of
Pittsburgh.

This story and many others may have photos, media, video clips that can be
found at http://www.pcusa.org/ga216.htm.

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