Summary prepared by Stephen Salyards ( steve @ gajunkie .com) Permission granted for redistribution in Presbyterian entities. (Originally published: here.)
Election of the Moderator
Ruling Elder Heath Rada from
North Carolina was elected the Moderator of the General Assembly on the first ballot with
52% of the votes from a field of three candidates. He has served as President of the Presbyterian
School of Christian Education in Richmond and the CEO of the Greater Richmond chapter of the American Red
Cross. As his Vice-Moderator he selected the Rev.Larissa Kwong Abazia, pastor of Church of Forest Hills, a
multicultural, multiethnic congregation in Queens, New York.
Historically, election of a Moderator on the first
ballot is not common; the last Moderator elected on the first ballot was the Rev. Jack Rogers who served as the Moderator
of the 213th General Assembly (2001).
Mid Councils Commission 2
Synod and Presbytery action: The
219th General Assembly established a Special Commission to study the structure of the denomination and
make recommendations. The Commission's report to the last Assembly was sent back for further work by a somewhat
restructured Commission. This year the Commission brought a recommendation to reorganize the current 16 synods
into eight in a collaborative process based on “an emerging sense of purpose, partnership, context, and call.”
The Assembly increased the number to 10-12 new synods and the Sinodo Presbiteriano Boriquen en Puerto Rico
(Synod of Puerto Rico) successfully overtured to remain as is based on its cultural and geographic setting.
In related business the Assembly granted the request of the Synod of Southern California and Hawai'i that Hanmi
Presbytery be dissolved and the churches transferred to the corresponding geographic presbyteries. Hanmi did present
an overture asking for a delay in the dissolution.
