As this article is being posted, I am on an airplane headed for Louisville, Kentucky. The General Assembly Council (GAC) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) meets from Wednesday through Friday. I have to arrive a day early to serve detention. (Actually, it is the personnel committee meeting, and I suspect it is like detention for them to put up with me for an extra day.)
Last April, the GAC voted to do a major reorganization, reduce the budget and eliminate about 25% of the paid positions. Nearly a year later, we completed much of this disruptive transition and hired most people for key leadership positions. It is time to complete the work we agreed to a year ago and make the Mission Work Plan, focusing on objective outcomes, a reality.
I have some posts I have written in advance that I will post this week, but as you can imagine, I might have limited time to respond to comments. I will do my best. I may write some about the GAC events, although I know many of my readers are not PCUSA, and I have noticed that my blog hits nosedive when I focus too much on these issues. Most of what is newsworthy gets reported in news outlets, and while I might be able to tell you additional things, in many cases, I would have to kill you afterward (although I would do so in a Christ-like manner.)
I enjoy the people I get to work with at these GAC meetings, but I must tell you that having not grown-up Presbyterian, I don’t have the nostalgia that frequently comes up in conversations. I am also of a temperament that strongly identifies with Mark Twain’s admonition that, “No committee should ever have more than three people …. preferably with two of them always absent.” I do my best.
Anyway, please keep us all in your prayers.
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