wfn.org | Donetta Wickstrom, George Inadomi Elected GAC Chair, Vice-chair

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17-February-1999 
99074 
 
    Donetta Wickstrom, George Inadomi 
    Elected GAC Chair, Vice-chair For 2000 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A Minnesotan and a Californian have been chosen to lead 
the General Assembly Council (GAC) into the year 2000. 
 
    Donetta Wickstrom, a retired police officer from Duluth, Minn., and 
George Inadomi, a businessman from South Pasadena, Calif., were elected GAC 
chair and vice-chair, respectively, during the GAC's recent winter meeting 
here. 
 
      Wickstrom and Inadomi, who already have served three years on the 
council, will assume their new duties when the 211th General Assembly 
adjourns June 26. 
 
    "I think there is some important business before the General Assembly 
this year," Wickstrom told the Presbyterian News Service. She cited the new 
Church Growth Strategy paper, a major statement on racism ("Facing Racism: 
A Vision of the Beloved Community") and two controversial reports from 
special committees: one reviewing the structure of the council itself (the 
Special Committee on Review of the General Assembly) and the other 
examining ways to better link the ministries of congregations, 
presbyteries, synods and the Assembly (the Special Committee on Middle 
Governing Bodies). 
 
    "I am sure that out of that, there will be direction coming to the GAC 
for us to implement and monitor," Wickstrom said. "We need to be attentive 
to that." 
 
    The new chair said she will emphasize partnership during her year of 
leadership. 
 
    Wickstrom, who has been involved in the work of the wider church since 
the mid-1980s, is a member of the Glen Avon Presbyterian Church in Duluth, 
in the Presbytery of Northern Waters. The presbytery is part of the Synod 
of Lakes and Prairies. Wickstrom is currently vice-chair of the National 
Ministries Division Committee, a position she will leave to serve as chair 
of the GAC. 
 
    She also has served as chair of the presbytery's council, as a 
presbytery commissioner to the Minnesota Council of Churches and as a 
member of the Presbytery of Northern Waters' Presbyterian Women's 
Coordinating Team. 
 
    She was a member of the 203rd General Assembly's Committee on 
Peacemaking and International Relations in Baltimore, and was the 
presbytery's liaison to the 204th General Assembly's Committee on Local 
Arrangements in Milwaukee. 
 
    She retired as a lieutenant on the Duluth police force after 31 years 
of service, including 18 years as an investigator of child abuse and sexual 
assault cases. 
 
    Inadomi is a member of Calvary Presbyterian Church in South Pasadena, 
Calif., which falls within the Presbytery of San Gabriel and the Synod of 
Southern California and Hawaii. 
 
    He was a pastor for 11 years after graduating from Fuller Theological 
Seminary. He is a former moderator of San Gabriel Presbytery and chaired 
that presbytery's task force to cut the staff budget by $35,000 in 1997. He 
also was a commissioner to the 207th  General Assembly in Cincinnati. 
 
    Inadomi believes that the "big problems" that have plagued the 
denomination are now in the background, and that the church is moving 
onward - but he sees opportunities as well as problems. 
 
    "The problems we've faced since I've been on the GAC reflect the 
strength of the church as well," he said, noting that the PC(USA) is a 
diverse group that is reaching out in a broad range of ministries to the 
world. 
 
    "Though I've been a Presbyterian since my teenage years, I didn't 
realize until my first General Assembly how little I knew about [the 
church's ministries]," he said. "I knew so little about the breadth and 
depth of what our church does. ... It's easy for me to get emotional about 
how proud I am to be a Presbyterian." 
 
    The current chair of the GAC is the Rev. Cathy Cummings Chisholm, of 
Vandalia, Ill.; the vice-chair is James Nai-Ching Tse of New York City. 

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