Note #9221 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06183 March 24, 2006
Atlanta pastor is 4th candidate for moderator of General Assembly
Joan S. Gray is seasoned leader, authority on Presbyterian polity and governance
by Jerry L. Van Marter
LOUISVILLE - The Presbytery of Greater Atlanta has unanimously endorsed the Rev. Joan S. Gray as a candidate for moderator of the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Gray is the fourth candidate for moderator. She joins the Rev. Kerry Carson, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Conrad, IA; the Rev. Tim Halvorson, of Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape Coral, FL; and the Rev. Deborah Block, pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, WI.
The election will be held at the start of the Assembly on June 15, in Birmingham, AL.
Gray is a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary (1976) who has served as an adjunct faculty member there and also has taught at Johnson C. Smith Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary. She was ordained by Atlanta Presbytery of the former Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1978.
Gray has served seven churches in the Atlanta area, most recently as interim pastor of College Park Presbyterian Church. In addition, she has extensive and varied experience in leadership positions at the presbytery and General Assembly levels of the PC(USA). She was moderator of Greater Atlanta presbytery for one term, and has served on numerous presbytery committees.
An authority on denominational polity and governance, Gray is co-author of Presbyterian Polity for Church Officers. She has been moderator of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission and of the PC(USA)'s Advisory Committee on the Constitution. Through five General Assemblies before and after Presbyterian reunion in 1983, she served on the Provisional Constitutional Committee that devised the PC(USA)'s constitution.
Gray is a trustee of the Thornwell Home and School for Children, and serves on the boards of directors of the DeKalb Rape Crisis Center and the Presbyterian Outlook Foundation. She is an honorary life member of Presbyterian Women.
In its endorsement of her candidacy, Greater Atlanta hailed Gray as "a healing leader whose desires and abilities would allow the church to clearly hear other leaders and would help to point the church into a spiritual renewal that would allow the church, with the help of God, to become its best self."
You are currently subscribed to the PCUSANEWS listserv of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to
mailto:PCUSANEWS-unsubscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org.
To update your email address, send your old email address and your new one to mailto:PCUSANEWS-owner@halak.pcusa.org.
For questions or comments, send an email to mailto:PCUSANEWS-owner@halak.pcusa.org.
To learn more, visit http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 100 Witherspoon Street Louisville, KY 40202 (888) 728-7228