Cynthia Bolbach elected Moderator on fourth ballot   [7-4-10]

by Jerry Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service

Cynthia Bolbach, an elder from National Capital Presbytery, was elected Saturday night as Moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010) on the fourth ballot. She was the only elder in a field of six candidates.

Bolbach employed brief answers and a winsome sense of humor to win over the 712 commissioners and steadily gained ground, rising from 149 votes (30 percent) on the first ballot to 325 votes (53 percent) on the decisive fourth ballot. None of the other five candidates exceeded 23 percent of the vote on any ballot.   Read more.

Blogger John Shuck offers his enthusiastic comment on the election >>

Leslie Scanlon reports on the election for The Presbyterian Outlook >>

Bolbach's responses to PVJ's questions to the candidates >>

He begins:

Presbyterians have the vapors over General Assembly this weekend. Plenty of websites and blogs are claiming to be the place to go for the news.

But you know who really loves you.

Shuck and Jive is your home. I don't even need to be in Minneapolis to give you the lowdown. I just intuit the news you need via secret and special revelation.

For instance, I have channeled the LayMAN to give you this picture of our six candidates for moderator:

They all have nice smiles. Like you, I don't know any of these people from Adam or Eve. Here are interviews in the LayMAN and Presbyterian Voices for Justice. Julia Leeth didn't respond yet to PVJ but the Presbyterian Outlook had questions for her here.

California pastor 6th to stand as moderator

Presbytery to vote on endorsement June 9

by Bethany Furkin, Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — May 26, 2010 -- A sixth candidate has announced her intention to stand for moderator of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which meets in Minneapolis July 3-10.

The Rev. Julia Leeth is pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Lompoc, CA.

The Presbytery of Santa Barbara has called a special meeting June 9, at which it will vote on her endorsement.

Leeth joins five other candidates standing for moderator: elder Cynthia Bolbach (National Capital Presbytery), the Rev. Jin S. Kim (Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area), the Rev. Maggie Lauterer (Presbytery of Western North Carolina) and the Rev. Eric G. Nielsen (Northern Waters Presbytery) and the Rev. James A. Belle (Presbytery of Philadelphia).

Presbytery to vote on endorsement May 25
[5-10-10]

by John Sniffen, Special to Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — May 10, 2010 — A Philadelphia pastor, the Rev. James A. Belle, is the fifth candidate for moderator of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Belle, pastor since November 2005 of Holy Trinity-Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, notified the Office of the General Assembly last week of his intent to seek the post. A vote to endorse his candidacy is scheduled when the Presbytery of Philadelphia meets May 25.

“I see biblical and confessional ‘illiteracy’ as the major obstacles facing our church today,” Belle wrote in a statement on key theological issues. “I hold ministers of the Word and Sacrament directly responsible within the last 20 years for the lack of confessional and polity training to and for our laity. Without an understanding of the Scriptures and their historic linkage to the confessions, the Book of Confessions is difficult to understand.”

Ordained in 1996 by Coastal Carolina Presbytery, Belle has held pastorates in North Carolina, Nebraska and Pennsylvania. He is a fourth-generation Presbyterian. His father, the late Rev. Milton Moses Belle Sr., was a Presbyterian pastor and civil rights activist in North Carolina.

Outgoing moderator the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow selected Belle as vice moderator of the Middle Governing Body Issues committee for the 2010 General Assembly. He was also a minister commissioner to the 2002 GA and a theological student advisory delegate to the 1995 GA.

The ministry is Belle’s second career. After graduating with a degree in music from the University of North Carolina, he served for 10 years in the U.S. Army band as a pianist, vocalist, auxiliary percussionist, arranger and resident composer. He has performed for three U.S. presidents and appeared in numerous productions, singing the leading roles in Porgy and Bess and Jesus Christ Superstar, among others. While earning master of divinity and master of church music degrees from Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, he also served as chapel musician and accompanist at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. His interest and participation in music continues through his second career.

Belle is divorced and the father of one teenage daughter.

The other moderator candidates are elder Cynthia Bolbach (National Capital Presbytery), the Rev. Jin S. Kim (Twin Cities Area Presbytery), the Rev. Maggie Lauterer (Western North Carolina Presbytery) and the Rev. Eric G. Nielsen (Northern Waters Presbytery).

Northern Waters Presbytery endorses Eric Nielsen for top post

by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service
[5-10-10]

LOUISVILLE — May 7, 2010 — The Rev. Eric G. Nielsen, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Eau Claire, Wisc., has been unanimously endorsed by Northern Waters Presbytery to stand for moderator of the upcoming 219th General Assembly, July 3-10 in Minneapolis. The presbytery took its action May 6.

He joins three other candidates for the Assembly’s top post — the Rev. Jin Kim of Minneapolis in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area; Elder Cynthia Bolbach of Washington, D.C. in National Capital Presbytery; and the Rev. Maggie Lauterer, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Burnsville, N.C. in Western North Carolina Presbytery.

Nielsen, who has served as pastor of First-Eau Claire since July of 2001, is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He was ordained to the ministry in 1991.

He previously served pastorates in East Moline, Ill., and Conrad, Iowa.

Nielsen's service to synod and presbytery is extensive. After serving for a year as vice-moderator of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, he served as the synod’s moderator in 2006. He has also chaired the synod’s Finance Committee.

In Northern Waters Presbytery he has chaired the Program Strategy Committee and served on the Finance and Budget Committee and the Permanent Judicial Commission. He also served on the Permanent Judicial Commission of Great Rivers Presbytery and chaired the Committee on Preparation for Ministry of North Central Iowa Presbytery.

Nielsen is a volunteer police chaplain in Eau Claire and has also served on boards overseeing health care and ecumenical ministry in the community.

Pastor endorsed by Presbytery of Western North Carolina
[4-30-10]

by Bethany Furkin, Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — April 28, 2010 — The latest candidate to stand for moderator of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was named yesterday.

The Presbytery of Western North Carolina endorsed the Rev. Maggie Palmer Lauterer to stand for moderator at its presbytery meeting.

Lauterer is the third candidate for the moderator position, joining the Rev. Jin S. Kim (Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area) and Elder Cynthia Bolbach (National Capital Presbytery). The new moderator will be elected July 3, the first day of the weeklong biennial meeting in Minneapolis. The winner will succeed the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the 218th GA.

Since 1999, Lauterer has served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Burnsville, N.C. A second-career pastor, Lauterer came to the ministry after working in newspaper, magazine and television journalism. She also made an unsuccessful run for Congress, being the first woman to run for a congressional seat in western North Carolina.

"I do not believe that growth of the Church has as much to do with age and location as it does with our openness to the transformative powers of the Holy Spirit as we are called toward new frontiers — the new front lines of being Christ's Church, of "doing Christ's Church" in the light of the radical love Christ has taught us. That standard will be my standard," Lauterer said in an essay.

Lauterer's experience, listening skills and "enthusiasm and passion for growing small churches" make her a good candidate for moderator, said the Rev. Bobbi White, general presbyter of the Western North Carolina. "We think she would make a wonderful moderator," White said.

Lauterer's small church is 113 years old and had split twice in the 10 years before she arrived. The congregation has grown by 300 percent during her tenure.

Lauterer earned her MDiv. from Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education. She has served in a variety of ways in her presbytery, including a term as moderator. She currently serves on the Committee on Ministry. She also served as a commissioner to 218th GA (2008).

Lauterer is married to Zack Allen and has two children and two grandchildren.

Jin S. Kim is second candidate for GA moderator

Minneapolis pastor is endorsed by Twin Cities Area Presbytery

by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service
[1-12-10]

LOUISVILLE — January 12, 2010 --  The Rev. Jin S. Kim, founding pastor of Church of All Nations in Minneapolis, was unanimously endorsed June 9 by the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area to stand for moderator of the upcoming 219th General Assembly (2010). The Assembly will be held July 3-10 in Minneapolis.

Kim joins Elder Cynthia Bolbach of National Capital Presbytery as candidates for the top elected post in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The winner will succeed the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow of San Francisco, moderator of the 218th General Assembly.

Kim, 41, was born in Korea and came to the United States with his family in 1975, grow up in a multi-ethnic environment in Columbia, SC and Atlanta. He holds degrees from Georgia Tech (1990), Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div., 1993), and Columbia Theological Seminary (D.Min., 2005).

He is currently moderator of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, serves as a PC(USA) delegate to the National Council of Churches, and sits on the boards of the Minnesota Council of Churches and the Greater Minnesota Association of Evangelicals. He is also a part of the Jewish-Presbyterian Dialogue and the Special Committee on the Belhar Confession.

Kim speaks widely on the renewal of the church at conferences, colleges, seminaries, presbyteries and congregations, both in the U.S. and abroad.  He was a preacher at the 2004 and 2008 General Assemblies, is adjunct faculty at Dubuque Theological Seminary and has also taught at Princeton Seminary, Columbia Seminary, and Duke Divinity School, as well as at seminaries in Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Russia, and Korea. 

His household includes his wife Soon Pac; children Claire Nicea, 10, and Austin Athanasius; and his parents.

Elder Cynthia Bolbach endorsed by National Capital Presbytery
[1-6-10]

by Bethany Furkin, Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE - National Capital Presbytery has unanimously endorsed the first candidate to stand for moderator of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The assembly will be held July 3-10 in Minneapolis.

Elder Cynthia Bolbach, 61, is a lawyer and member of First Presbyterian Church in Arlington, Va.

"I feel called to stand for Moderator to help our church - proud inheritor of the Reformed tradition - discern how best to proclaim the timeless Gospel message to a 21st century world that is multi-cultural and religiously pluralistic," Bolbach said in a presbytery press release.

She has leadership experience in many levels of the church. Bolbach served as co-moderator of the GA Form of Government Task Force. The task force first reported to the 218th GA in 2008 and will report to this year's Assembly when its proposal was referred back for more study and refinement.

Bolbach has served in several positions at the presbytery level: as moderator of National Capital Presbytery, as chairwoman of its Committee on Ministry and its council and as its interim general presbyter.

She was ordained as a deacon and elder at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, where she also served as clerk of session. She previously was a commissioner to the 209th GA in 1997.

Professionally, Bolbach is executive vice president and corporate secretary of BNA, Inc., an employee-owned firm that is the sole independent U.S. publisher of specialized legal and regulatory information services.

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PVJ's Facebook page

Mitch Trigger, PVJ's Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!

Voices of Sophia blog

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John Harris’ Summit to Shore blogspot

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