Day 1: Heating Up (Friday June 15)

There is a heat warning in St. Louis. Outside temperatures have been up to 95 degrees with high humidity. It's not as bad as Pittsburgh was in 2012, but it is pretty oppressive if you have to do any outside walking. Fortunately, the hotels are all pretty close to the convention center, though there are no shuttle buses this year.

The Convention Center here is well-suited to the business of the Assembly. This is a smaller venue without the quarter-mile walks between meeting rooms we have seen in other cities. The exhibit hall, the plenary hall, and meeting rooms are all pretty close together and on only two floors of the building. The city is currently overrun with Chicago Cubs fans for the weekend series with the Cardinals, which makes for an interesting mix in the restaurants and bars. The downtown amenities are somewhat scarce for an urban center, with almost no retail and little night life. However, there are a few signs of hope to be found:

The registration process is simpler and less crowded than at previous assemblies. The volunteers from the host Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy are warm and hospitable. While there are always unexpected developments in running an Assembly, the OGA operations team (including Kerry Rice, Deborah Davies, Tom Hay and others) seem to have mastered the process.

The Exhibit Hall continues to shrink in size and number of exhibits. There are the usual mission agencies, interest groups, seminaries, and vendors. The ideological organizations have largely disappeared, making the task of laying out the hall (which used to be like charting seating arrangements at a dysfunctional wedding reception) much easier, I suppose. There is also less "swag" being distributed, though kudos for the best swag go to PILP (Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program) for providing blue umbrellas. Rain is forecast. The most unusual enticement was the VR (virtual reality) tour of San Francisco Theological Seminary.


I am making the rounds with "Flat Staci" - a cardboard sleeve with a picture of Presbytery of Lake Huron Communications Manager Staci Percy. At last year's NEXT Church Conference, Staci brought "flat Dan" - and managed to get me a mention in the Presbyterian Outlook. Now, it's my time to return the favor (or get even, if you prefer). First to pose with Flat Staci? The NEXT Church organizers and, most importantly, Outlook reporter Jana Blazek who gave Flat Dan his 15 minutes.

[I apologize for my delay in posting this - it has literally been posting ready since Saturday. This Assembly has been enormously time consuming for me with my work representing the Advisory Committee on the Constitution to The Way Forward Committee. Last night (Monday) for example, I got three hours of sleep. Welcome to the General Assembly experience!]