wfn.org | THIRD CANDIDATE ENTERS MODERATOR RACE

[PCUSA_NEWS@ecunet.org]

18-Jan-95

95012         THIRD CANDIDATE ENTERS MODERATOR RACE 
 
                     by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
PHOENIX, Ariz.--Grand Canyon Presbytery unanimously made the Rev. 
Thomas A. Erickson the third announced candidate for moderator of 
the 207th General Assembly (1995) when it endorsed the pastor of 
Valley Presbyterian Church in Scottsdale at its Jan. 17 meeting. 
 
     Erickson joins the Rev. Richard J. Milford of Detroit 
Presbytery and Marj Carpenter of Tres Rios Presbytery in the race 
for the Presbyterian Church's highest elected office.  
Commissioners to the 207th General Assembly will elect their 
moderator July 16 in Cincinnati. 
 
     Erickson, 60, has been at the Valley Church since 1986.  Prior 
to that he served pastorates in San Diego; Tacoma, Wash.; Spokane, 
Wash.; Los Angeles; and Boston.  He was ordained in 1962. 
 
     Erickson has twice before served as a commissioner to the 
General Assembly.  From 1989 to 1991 he chaired the Assembly's Task 
Force on Church Membership Growth.  He has also served the Assembly 
as a volunteer committee assistant. 
 
     Among his involvements in synod and presbytery are stints as 
moderator of San Diego Presbytery (1984) and vice moderator of the 
Synod of Alaska-Northwest (1976).   
 
     Erickson is currently a trustee of Presbyterian Border 
Ministry and San Francisco Theological Seminary, where he received 
a D.Min. in 1981.  He is also on the alumni/ae council of Princeton 
Theological Seminary, where he earned a Th.M. in 1961.  He is a 
1960 graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary. 
 
     Erickson and his wife, Carol, are parents of three daughters 
and have four grandchildren. 
 
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