Rick Ufford-Chase is the new Moderator   [6-26-04]

This evening's session of the 216^th General Assembly quickly elected a young elder as its moderator this evening. A quick report:

Photo:  Rick Ufford-Chase enters Assembly hall after his election, accompanied by his wife, Kitty.

Rick Ufford-Chase, director of the BorderLinks ministry in T , Arizona, was elected on the second ballot by a vote of 275 to 186 for David McKechnie and 40 for K. C. Ptomey. On the first ballot, Ufford-Chase received 226 votes to 166 for McKechnie and 101 for Ptomey.

Ufford-Chase, in his various appearances at pre-Assembly events and in the question-and-answer session this evening, repeatedly referred to his long and intense experiences on the US-Mexico, his deep passion to engage young people (and older people and everybody in the church) in mission - getting them traveling across borders, dealing with the realities of power and poverty in the rest of the world. He offered this call to mission involvement as the best for our church to deal with its conflicts and divisions - helping people talk with one another as they get involved in mission with others.

McKechnie pastors a large congregation in Texas which joined the Confessing Church movement some years ago, but he was at pains in the question-and-answer session to pledge that he would work to get affinity groups to tone down their hostile rhetoric, and asserted that the confessing church movement just "hasn't been heard from much" over the past couple years.

Ptomey, who was nominated by the Rev. Annika Lister Stroop, associate pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis (a congregation strongly committed to the Covenant Network) nominated him, praising his long ministry at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN. He emphasized his experience in dealing with a diverse congregation, showing respect for people with who he differs.

In a press conference after the evening session, the new Moderator began by sharing his excitement about his new opportunity to be involved in the church's mission in the world - a mission. He said repeatedly that he sees "a learning curve" ahead of him - and that he is eager to start the process.

Obviously the future of the ordination question was raised in various forms. McKechnie said that the present laws of the church reflect Biblical morality, and should stand as they are. Ptomey responded that he is impressed with the work of the Theological Task Force, and that he feels that any action on "Amendment B" should be postponed until the Task Force report is received by the 2006 Assembly.

Ufford-Chase expressed fairly tepid enthusiasm for the Task Force report, saying he believes their work will "lead us somewhere, but we don't know where." He asserted that the real hope for overcoming our divisions lies in a shared venture into crossing borders in mission. And in talking about the ordination issue, he spoke the word "justice" a number of times.

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