wfn.org | Vice Moderator Jim Mead Tapped to Head Pittsburgh Presbytery

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18-September-1998 98303 
 
    Vice Moderator Jim Mead Tapped 
    to Head Pittsburgh Presbytery 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter and Jay Budde 
 
PITTSBURGH, Pa.-The Rev. James E. Mead, pastor of University Place 
Presbyterian Church in Tacoma, Wash., and vice moderator of the 210th 
General Assembly (1998), was unanimously elected executive presbyter of 
Pittsburgh Presbytery Sept. 17. 
 
    Mead will begin his new duties heading the largest presbytery in the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in mid-November.  Pittsburgh Presbytery 
consists of 167 churches in the metropolitan Pittsburgh area. 
 
    The Rev. Jack Lolla, who chaired the self-study and executive search 
committee for the presbytery, said, "Jim and this committee believe that he 
is being called by God to lead Pittsburgh Presbytery." 
 
    Mead told the Presbyterian News Service he was approached about the job 
at the Charlotte Assembly by members of Pittsburgh Presbytery.  Mead, who 
has a solid reputation as a bridge-builder between theological factions in 
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), appealed to the Pittsburghers, who have 
an equally solid reputation as a contentious lot. 
 
    During the examination period prior to his election, Mead told the 
presbytery that he believed the presbytery could be a model for the 
denomination of a church working across theological, political, social and 
racial lines. 
 
    Lolla particularly noted Mead's track record in the areas of 
congregational evangelism and racial ethnic ministries as key factors in 
his call. 
 
    Mead cited two more practical problems facing the presbytery: its 
over-dependence on large endowments and too many small struggling churches 
- the result of numerous denominational mergers over the last 40 years. 
For instance, he noted that in one area of the presbytery there are 25 
Presbyterian churches within a five-mile radius. 
 
    Mead, 51, and his wife, Carolyn, have two grown sons.  He has been 
pastor at University Place since 1981.  A graduate of Princeton Theological 
Seminary, he has also served churches in Sherman Oaks, Calif., and 
Portland, Ore. 

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