wfn.org | Payton Named New Coordinator of Presbyterian Peacemaking Program

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23-October-1996 
 
 
96426              Payton Named New Coordinator 
               of Presbyterian Peacemaking Program 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Gary D. Payton, a Presbyterian layperson of Lexington, 
Ky., has been appointed as the new coordinator of the Presbyterian 
Peacemaking Program in the Congregational Ministries Division of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  He assumes his new position Nov. 4.  
 
     A retired United States Air Force colonel, Payton left the service in 
June after a career spanning nearly 24 years.  At the time of his departure 
from the Air Force, he was commander of the National Air Intelligence 
Center in Dayton, Ohio. 
 
     Payton was the unanimous choice of the search committee that reviewed 
candidates for Peacemaking coordinator. He has a bachelor's degree in 
international affairs and Soviet studies from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 
Colorado Springs, Colo., and master's degree in administrative science and 
Russian area studies from John Hopkins and Georgetown universities.     
 
     His wife of 23 years, the Rev. Nancy Copeland-Payton, is associate 
pastor of Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Ky., and is a 
board-certified physician in internal and emergency medicine. 
 
     Due to his background in military intelligence, Payton's appointment 
did not come without controversy. 
 
     "Some people may find [Payton's] background unusual for this 
particular position in the church," said the Rev. Ed Craxton, associate 
director for Christian Education, whose office includes the Presbyterian 
Peacemaking Program. "But he brings many wonderful gifts to the program, 
including an appreciation for peacemaking that can only come from one who 
has experienced conflict and events that threaten peace on a major scale." 
 
      A Missouri native, Payton traces the beginning of his own peacemaking 
journey to more than 20 years of Air Force assignments that took him across 
America and to Europe, Africa, the Middle East and East China. 
      
     "My work," Payton told the Presbyterian News Service, "placed me near 
the center of most major international crises: the Cold War, the 
Arab-Israeli war of October 1973, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the 
rise of Solidarity and fall of the Warsaw Pact, periodic crisis on the 
Korean peninsula, the Gulf War and Bosnia. My education, my work, and my 
travel laid the foundation for my transformation to peacemaker. 
 
     "It's in that transformation, I think, that God has called me to work 
in this capacity with the Peacemaking Program," Payton said. 
 
     While in the Air Force, Payton compiled information that aided Henry 
Kissinger and the U.S.  team that negotiated SALT I (Strategic Arms 
Limitation Treaty), limiting nuclear forces of the United States and the 
U.S.S.R. Payton was involved in monitoring the implementation of SALT and 
other arms treaties. He also provided support to Operation Hope, the 
airlift of humanitarian supplies into Russia during the harsh winter of 
1992, and provided assistance to U.S. and Balkan participants in the Dayton 
Peace Accords. 
      
     Payton has been involved with peacemaking and the Presbyterian 
Peacemaking Program for several years. He helped create strategic plans for 
both Miami Presbytery's Social Justice and Peacemaking Committee and the 
Mission Committee of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton, Ohio.           
 
          
 
     Presbyterian Peacemaking Program resources have been influential in 
his personal peacemaking journey, he says .  He regards "Peacemaking: The 
Believer's Calling" as a fundamental document containing essential guidance 
for him and the entire denomination. 
 
      Payton said educational opportunities afforded by the Peacemaking 
Program have also been important. For instance, a highlight of his personal 
peacemaking journey was the 1994 peacemaking seminar at Ghost Ranch 
Conference Center, which he attended with his wife and three sons. 
 
     "For the first time, I realized that the international activity of the 
first half of my life was indeed preparation to do God's work in the second 
half of my life," he said. "As Samuel was called three times in the night 
at Shiloh before he recognized the voice of God, so too I have been called 
to peacemaking." 
 
     Payton said the church needs to take a more active role in 
international peacemaking issues. At the same time, he is aware that 
peacemaking begins at home. 
 
     "There is tension in many congregations and sometimes within the 
peacemaking community itself," he said. "We need healthy dialogue in the 
spirit of  Seeking to Be Faithful: Guidelines for Presbyterians During 
Times of Disagreement' so that we can put into action our call to 
peacemaking at all levels from the congregation to the global environment." 
 
     On the issue of the potential recruitment of religious workers for 
intelligence gathering, Payton stated, "It is inappropriate to use or 
recruit mission personnel for intelligence gathering for any nation." 
 
     As part of his vision for peacemaking, Payton cited the challenge and 
opportunity to address such things as racial discord, refugee migration and 
the "explosion of information technology." 
 
     "America in five years will be divided into two types of 
people...those that are online and those that are not," he said. "The 
information technology revolution presents our Peacemaking Program with a 
myriad of opportunities to rapidly disseminate information and garner a 
call to action via the Internet in response to both domestic and 
international crises. 
 
     "This same technology offers whole new areas for enhanced educational 
materials and networked congregations and individuals," Payton said. "In 
addition, interactive, multimedia educational materials will be helpful in 
engaging young people in the peacemaking process." 
 
     Asked what is the first thing he plans to do once he assumes office, 
Payton said he will begin a learning process that will give him a greater 
understanding of the internal relationships and partners the Peacemaking 
Program has at the Presbyterian Center, across the denomination, and around 
the world. Then he will vote, since Nov. 5 is election day. 
 
     The Peacemaking Program was created in 1980 by the General Assembly to 
assist congregations and other bodies of the Presbyterian Church as they 
are engaged in peacemaking. 
 
     While most of the Peacemaking staff work in the General Assembly's 
offices in Louisville, Ky., the Presbyterian United Nations Office in New 
York City is also part of the Peacemaking Program. 

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