About 50 of us visited First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood, Missouri, this morning, which is about 30 minutes from downtown St. Louis in one of the many suburbs that make up the Greater St. Louis area. The church is large and relatively new, with a membership of about 1000, but about 500 active participants. The worship service was impressive, but what make it extra special is that the person who was director of music at the big opening service that I wrote about yesterday was the person who was the director of music at this church, so the music was spectacular. The prelude was three pieces by a brass and percussion ensemble, they had a new pipe organ that played so loud that I could barely hear myself sing (which I just love), and the chorus was about 70 voices of very good singers. Hymns were accompanied by both the organ and the brass ensemble, and it all was very pompous and grand. They were happy to have us commissioners there and fed us a good meal after the service.
 
I sat with several other commissioners at the meal, all from North Carolina. I have met so many people from the east and wondered why they outnumber us, but today I learned that the 10 largest presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church (USA) are in the east, and North Carolina itself has four of them. 
 
The plenary session from 2:30 to 5:00 was rather difficult to sit through because it was one report after another. We heard a report from the 2020 Vision Team, from The Way Forward Committee, and from the All Agency Review Committee, among others. I was relieved when it was over.
 
Every commissioner is assigned to serve on one of 13 committees. I’m assigned to the GA Procedures Committee, and this evening we had our first meeting, but we spent most of our time in worship and then in getting familiar with each other. Tomorrow and Tuesday we have no plenary sessions, only committee meetings, so I doubt that I will write anything until Tuesday night. Just a heads up – one of the items of business my committee will consider is a proposed raise in the per capita amount. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Stage

​Nearly a year ago, at a joint Grand Canyon and De Cristo presbytery meeting held on August 12, 2017, I was elected to be a delegate to the 2018 General Assembly that would be held in St. Louis June 18-23. The process required each candidate to present a short speech in which the candidate stated why he or she wanted to attend the Assembly. I said that Valley Presbyterian had gone through a very bad year since the death of our pastor, and I was looking for something that would be uplifting and joyous that could be brought back to my congregation so it could lift them up as well. I added that, since my friend Linda Freeman had told me that the General Assembly would be life-altering, I was eager for the experience.

Presbytery de Cristo has three delegates – a Teaching Elder (Rev. Bart Smith of St. Mark’s in Tucson), a Young Adult Advisory Delegate (Michael Tuohy of Immanuel in Tucson), and a Ruling Elder Delegate (me). To prepare for the big event, in March, the delegates from the Synod of the Southwest attended a workshop in Albuquerque where we were told what to expect at the General Assembly and what we needed to do to prepare for it. Basically, we were told we would be expected to be in attendance at the meetings nearly every moment we are there – that attendance is not taken, but someone is watching very closely. We were also told that we would be getting registration information at the beginning of April.  Another workshop was held in May, but a death in my family prevented me from attending. I’ve been reading many, many overtures, which are motions for business at the assembly.

The registration process was especially confusing for two reasons:  First, I could sign up for tours of many different areas of St. Louis, which really looked interesting until I realized that there was a meeting that I was required to attend going on at the same time. Second, I had to choose which church I was going to attend on the only Sunday I was there, and there were over a hundred to choose from. Knowing nothing about St. Louis, I finally selected a church, but now I have no idea which one it was. I also arranged for my hotel and my travel at the same time. A few days later I was notified that I had been assigned to a committee, as every delegate is, and committees start work two days before the General Assembly.

I ask for your prayers as I attend the most important meeting the PC(USA) holds. I need wisdom to make the best choices for the church, and strength to get through a schedule that leaves me with very little downtime for over a week. When next you hear from me, it will be to report on my experience.