(Top Photo: The General Assembly gathering. Bottom Photo: John Wilkinson, of Third Presbyterian Church, speaking to the Assembly)

Saturday
After an overnight delay in my flight plans I finally arrived in Detroit about 11:30am Saturday morning. My wife is a saint, as she got up at 4:00am two days in a row to get me to the airport.
General Assembly is taking place in downtown Detroit at the COBO center, an enormous convention center that sits on the edge of the Detroit River. Canada is directly across the river with a number of large casinos in view, but alas, I did not bring my passport:)
There is an overwhelming amount of business that comes before the General Assembly and it’s committees. It would be impossible to report on everything, so I’ll try to include a couple of actions each day that will hopefully be of interest to you. I’ll also throw in some random observations, quotes, statistics, and really bad puns.
The size of this gathering is overwhelming. There are approximately one thousand commissioners, Youth Advisory Delegates and observers from every presbytery across the country. As you can imagine, it takes a small army of people to make this event happen. The Committee on Local Arrangements includes 1600 volunteers and has been working for two years to prepare for GA.
The Saturday afternoon Plenary session began with group building. A video of parts of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech at the march on Washington in 1963 was presented. Following the video we broke into groups of 3-4 and discussed the following question. “How do Dr Kings words hold up a mirror to you of how racism has affected your life?”
My answer to this question was that even as a young child, I was fascinated by Dr. King. It was his words and the way he spoke. He captivated me. As I hung on his delivery of every word, his words affected me like no one else did. Even as a child I understood that our diversity of color and culture was not a reason for division. And he inspired me with his way of acknowledging our diversity, but moving beyond it to a higher spiritual, moral, and ethical vision of unity of all people as human beings. His words have been a mirror for me throughout my life, held up to to my behavior, my attitudes, my words, and my faith.
Most of the afternoon session was spent on house keeping items that will help the meetings flow smoothly, passing consent agendas, and hearing reports from special ministries of Presbyterian churches around the world. For the first time, delegates at this GA will use our cell phones or computer to vote. Imagine getting approximately 700 people set up on their phones or computers to vote! It didn’t take long, actually. It wasn’t all business, however. We were frequently reminded of the Spirit of God, on which we are dependent as we deliberate the many, many issues (overtures) before us.
After dinner we returned to the most anticipated event of the day, the election of a new moderator. John Wilkinson, pastor at Third Presbyterian Church was one of the candidates. There were three candidates. The process of election allowed each candidate five minutes to talk about their skills, experience, and readiness to become the next moderator. After each candidate had an opportunity to speak, there was a 45 minute question and answer period, in which commissioners were given the chance to ask a question. Each candidate was given time to respond to the question. Then we voted. Candidate Heath Rada won on the first vote (winner needs 50% of the votes). Heath is a native of Richmond, Virginia. He has served at all levels of the PC(USA), and currently serves on the boards of the Presbyterian mission Agency of the GA; the Montreat Conference Center and the Presbyterian Homes of North Carolina. He brings extensive experience that will make him an excellent moderator. From his speech I noted that he has a passion for bringing people together in conflictual situations and addressing issues of justice. Personally, I was disappointed at the obvious lack of discernment skills on the part of the assembly in not electing the brilliant John Wilkinson. I may be a little biased.
The music has been very good today, with a variety of choirs and music groups leading us with hymns from the new hymnal “Glory to God” as well as a number of contemporary hymns. Each commissioner was given a copy of the new hymnal, which I’ll lend to Henry to get his opinion.
We ended our day at 11:30, so I’m of to bed.
Dave

General Assembly will have to wait a day for me. I arrived at the Rochester airport bright and early this morning, at 5:00am, only to be told there was a ‘major’ delay in the first leg of my trip from Rochester to Washington. This meant that I would miss my connecting flight from Washington to Detroit. After a lengthy search for another flight, the attendant said that the best she could do is a flight that would have me arriving in Washington at 11:30am, but not leaving Washington until 5:30. It seemed a waste of a day, so in the end I booked that same flight schedule for Saturday morning. I will miss a couple of forums I wanted to attend on issues being dealt with during GA, but I won’t miss the official start of GA. Stay tuned.
Dave