wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Biographical information released on Israel Palestine special committee members

[newsservice <newsservice@PCUSA.ORG>]

You are currently subscribed to the PCUSANEWS

email list of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

To ensure continued delivery, please add newsservice@pcusa.org
to your address book or safe senders list.

========================================

This story available online:

www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09104<http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09104

Biographical information released on Israel Palestine
special committee members

Nine-member group to prepare a comprehensive study for 2010

>GA

>by Bethany Furkin and Jerry L. Van Marter
>Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE ― The Office of the General Assembly has
released biographical information on the nine-member
special committee charged by the 218th General Assembly
(2008)  to prepare a "a comprehensive study, with
recommendations, that is focused on Israel/Palestine within
the complex context of the Middle East."

Membership of the committee ― which was selected by
Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow and his two immediate
predecessors, the Rev. Joan Gray and Elder Rick
Ufford-Chase ― was announced
[www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09084] by Reyes-Chow last week.

The Assembly said the study "should include an evaluation
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s mission and
relationships, including an assessment of the future for
the Christian presence and witness in the Middle East; an
overview of the complex interactions among religions,
cultures, and peoples that characterize the region; an
analysis of U.S. policies that impact the area; and steps
to be taken with our partners in the Middle East and the
United States to foster justice, improve interfaith
relations, and nurture the building of peace toward a
secure and viable future for all."

This Special Committee to Prepare a Comprehensive Study
Focused on Israel Palestine is also to report back to the
219th General Assembly (2010).

>The bios:

The Rev. Susan R. Andrews: is general presbyter of Hudson
River Presbytery. She previously served  as a parish pastor
for 32 years, most recently at Bradley Hills Presbyterian
Church in Bethesda, MD. Andrews has also served as
moderator of two presbyteries and was chair of the General
Assembly Call System Task Force from 1986-1990. She was
moderator of the 215th General Assembly (2002).

Elder Frederic W. Bush: is a retired professor of Ancient
Near Eastern Studies and Old Testament at Fuller
Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. As a professor, he
directed a summer program that took students to Israel to
study biblical Hebrew. Bush holds a bachelor's degree from
the University of Washington, a Master of Divinity from
Fuller Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Brandeis
University.

Elder Nahida H. Gordon: is a biostatistics professor at
Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. A
Palestinian-American, Gordon and her family emigrated to
the United States when she was young. Gordon was a
Fulbright scholar at Birzeit University in Palestine in
1997. She is a member of the PC(USA)'s Israel Palestine
Missionary Network and gives talks about Palestine around
Northeast Ohio.

The Rev. John Huffman: is pastor of St. Andrew's
Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA. He is on the
boards of World Vision U.S. and Gordon-Conwell Theological
Seminary and is chairman of the board of Christianity Today
International. Huffman chaired the PC(USA) delegation to
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A. from 1992-2000 and served on the Mission Initiative:
Joining Hearts and Hands national steering committee.

Elder Lucy Janjigian: A painter, Janjigian has volunteered
as a short-term mission worker with the Armenian Missionary
Association of America and introduced crafts to coordinate
with Bible studies and vacation Bible schools in Armenia,
Georgia and Ngorn Kharabakh. Janjigian was born of Armenian
descent in Jerusalem and worked with the United Nations
Relief Works Agency among Palestinian refugees.

The Rev. Rebecca Reyes: is the project coordinator for the
Latino Health Project at Duke University Hospital in
Durham, NC. An ordained minister for 28 years, Reyes has
served the PC(USA) as a pastor, campus minister, global
recruiter and General Assembly staff associate. She has
also led several global faith seminars in such countries as
South Africa, Nicaragua, Mexico and Canada.

The Rev. Marthame Sanders: has served as pastor of
Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church in Atlanta since 2005.
Before that, he and his wife served as PC(USA) mission
volunteers in the Palestinian Christian village of
Zababdeh. They also produced a documentary film series,
"Salt of the Earth: Palestinian Christians in the Northern
West Bank." Sanders is a graduate of Yale University and
the University of Chicago's Divinity School.

The Rev. Ronald L. Shive, chairman: is pastor of First
Presbyterian Church in Burlington, NC. He previously served
at several churches in South Carolina. A commissioner to
the 218th General Assembly (2008), Shive served on the
Assembly Committee on Peacekeeping and International
Relations which proposed the special committee. He was the
convener and organizer for the first Peru Mission Network
meeting and serves on the board.

The Rev. John W. Wimberly Jr.: has been for 25 years been
pastor of Western Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. He
has served as moderator of National Capital Presbytery and
the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic Synod. Wimberly is co-founder
of numerous social justice/service programs that have
focused on such issues as battered women, rape victims and
the homeless. He has also helped build a congregation in
Ghana and a health care ministry in Ethiopia.

Information about all of the General Assembly special
committees named to date is available online
[www.pcusa.org/oga/newsstories/ga218-spec-cmtes].

========================================

You are currently subscribed to the PCUSANEWS

email list 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-request@halak.pcusa.org.

>For questions or comments, send an email to
>mailto:PCUSANEWS-request@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