Moderator candidates

Candidates for Moderator, 214^th GA

Check out the candidates' responses to questions from the Witherspoon Society

Palestinian pastor is third moderator candidate

Greater Atlanta Presbytery endorses the Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel

by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE -- February 25, 2002 -- Greater Atlanta Presbytery has made the Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, mission pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, the third candidate for moderator of the upcoming 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

With the presbytery's unanimous vote, Abu-Akel, a U.S. citizen born in Kuffer Yassif, Galilee, Israel, joins the Rev. Laird Stuart of San Francisco Presbytery and the Rev. Jerry Tankersley of Los Ranchos Presbytery as announced candidates for the Assembly's top elected office. The election will take place on June 15 in Columbus, OH.

The son of Christian Palestinian-Arab parents, Abu-Akel has devoted his life and work to a ministry of hospitality. He founded and is executive director of the Atlanta Ministry with International Students, an ecumenical organization of Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and Episcopalians that provides hospitality in Atlanta to more than 5,000 college students from more than 140 countries.

He also is director of the National Christmas International House Program, which provides homes during the holidays for more than 250 international students in 32 cities nationwide.

Abu-Akel graduated from Southeastern College in Lakeland, FL, and Columbia Theological Seminary and has a D.Min. from McCormick Theological Seminary. He was ordained by Greater Atlanta Presbytery. During his 20-year affiliation with First Church, he has led the congregation to involvement in mission partnerships in many countries around the world.

At the denominational level, Abu-Akel was a commissioner to the 1986 General Assembly and helped found the PC(USA)'s Middle Eastern Caucus. He also served for three years on the Initiative Team on Racism and Racial Violence that produced Facing Racism: A Vision of the Beloved Community, a document approved by the 1999 General Assembly.)

Abu-Akel also has been active in interfaith relations, teaching world religion at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, which includes the PC(USA)'s Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary. He has served on a variety of local, regional and national boards addressing interfaith relations, including the Interfaith Advisory Task Force of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Jerry Tankersley nominated for Moderator [1-23-02]

Presbyweb reports that Dr. Jerry Tankersley, pastor of Laguna Presbyterian Church, in Laguna Beach, California, has been endorsed by Los Ranchos Presbytery for the position of Moderator of the 214^th General Assembly.

Hans Cornelder, editor of PresbyWeb, quotes Tankersley as saying "The General Assembly needs Christ-centered leadership that honors Scripture as the Word of God."

Tankersley joins the Rev. Laird Stuart in seeking the office of Moderator.

You can learn more about him, and read some of his sermons, on the church's web site.

Laird Stuart is first moderator candidate for the 214^th GA

San Francisco pastor is former moderator of the Covenant Network

by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE -- January 10, 2002 - The race for moderator of next summer's 214th Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly got its first candidate Jan. 8 when San Francisco Presbytery endorsed the candidacy of the Rev. Laird Stuart, pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco.

The presbytery's vote was 230-121, probably a reflection of Stuart's role as a former co-moderator of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians - which supports the removal of the "fidelity and chastity" standard for church officers - in a presbytery with a sizable number of conservative churches. Upon his endorsement, Stuart resigned from the board of directors of the Covenant Network.

Stuart has been pastor at Calvary Church since 1993. Prior to that he served churches in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

He has served on the board of trustees of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, including a term as president, and is currently on the board of San Francisco Theological Seminary.

Stuart told his presbytery he desires to be moderator of the whole church, not just a part of it. He suggested a process of "genuine discussion and dialogue" as a step toward overcoming misunderstanding and mistrust, saying in part: "It is time for us to try anew to talk with one another. We have spent too much time talking about each other."

Stuart has led efforts to promote such conversations within the PCUSA, serving on the planning committee for the national Unity in Diversity conference in 1999, keynoting a dozen regional Unity-in-Diversity conferences, initiating pastor-theologian dialogues involving conservative and liberal pastors through the Office of Theology and Worship in Louisville, and participating in a recent Bible study series with leaders of the Covenant Network and the Presbyterian Coalition, a conservative evangelical group that supports the "fidelity and chastity" provision of the church's Book of Order.

A graduate of Amherst College and Princeton Theological Seminary, Stuart also earned a D.Min. from Princeton. He is married to the former Virginia Kirkland. They have three grown daughters.

For other reports check out:
Presbyterian Outlook
The Presbyterian Layman