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!]

Day 0: Assembly Preview

Ed. note - I apologize to my regular readers for the delay in getting my initial posts online. I was having problems accessing my dashboard for this site, but that is now fixed.

The published dates of the Assembly - in this case June 16-23 - are at best an approximation. The General Assembly increasingly has a "rolling start" with pre-Assembly events (and some committee work) happening before the official opening.  Assembly staff are on site at least three days before the opening and often before that.

There are also multiple "assemblies" happening during the week: the "church family reunion" starts on Thursday as commissioners, volunteers, and attenders arrive at their hotels. This is the most joyful part of the week, and culminates in the election of the new moderator (or in this year's case, co-moderators -- see posts below).

By Sunday evening, the second "Assembly" takes over. This is the "discernment" Assembly as the various Assembly committees meet to consider the hundreds of business items before them. GA politicos know that this is where the real action happens. 95% of committee recommendations are approved with little or no amendment by the full Assembly, so if one is going to influence the mind of the Assembly it has to happen in committees. The coordinated use of testimony in open hearings (Monday morning) and overture advocates from sponsoring presbyteries can increase the chance of swaying the opinion of committees. Typically, advocates of contested items will work with like-minded committee members to provide talking points, raise important questions, and when needed, to offer language for committee majority and minority reports.

Then after a Wednesday morning break, the third "Assembly" - the "action" Assembly begins. With over 500 commissioners deliberating together, the process has to be tightly run or it can easily get caught up in confusion. (Commissioners rarely consider moderating skills as a factor in electing their moderator(s), even though that is one of the most important parts of the office.)  I will talk more about the politics of the plenary meetings in a later post.


In years past I have posted a "top ten" list of Assembly issues ranked according to the energy and impact of each on the Assembly and the larger church. My comments were blunt, and sometimes not received well. And, as a member of the Advisory Committee on the Constitution, I must honor the neutrality of the Committee by refraining on commenting on the merits of items before the Assembly (no matter how stupid or far-fetched they may be). So I will here offer an abbreviated top ten list, identifying only the items without comment on the merits:

10. Changes in the General Assembly rules proposed by the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly. These include limiting access to committees and giving greater discretion to the Stated Clerk.

9. Proposed changes to the Rules of Discipline. The Rules of Discipline are being comprehensively revised. Several overtures seek to amend them prior to the rewrite, including lowering the standard of proof for conviction in disciplinary cases and clarifying how persons who have renounced the jurisdiction of the church during judicial process might be restored. (Disclosure: I advise the Rules of Discipline Task Force for the ACC.)

8. Whether to establish sexual and gender identity as a representational (protected) category in the church. This could potentially affect promises made when ordination standards were changed ensuring local determination of fitness for service.

7. A call for an administrative commission to address allegations of disorder in the Synod of the Covenant (which includes my own Presbytery of Lake Huron). The synod is contesting the request which has been submitted by five of the eleven presbyteries (but not Lake Huron).

6. Middle East issues. If it's General Assembly, we will be debating Israel and Palestine.

5. Trust clause erosion: An overture seeks to limit the applicability of the "property trust clause" of the denomination. As opposed to the "pre-schism" overtures of pre-2012 assemblies, this does not appear to be ideologically driven. It is, however, likely a harbinger of changes to come as the legal landscape of the nation evolves.

4. Restructure of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board. Their request would shrink the size of the Board and increase the power of the Board over the agency.

3. G.A. per capita assessment increase. The looming financial crisis at the national level comes home to roost. A late amendment to the request reducing the cumulative biennial increase from 49% to 21% drops this from a higher ranking.

2. Fossil fuels divestment. This is the third time this request to withdraw denominational investments in some 130 corporations doing business in fossil fuels has come to the Assembly. Forty concurring presbyteries square off against the denomination's policy on Mission Responsibility through Investment.

1. The "Way Forward" for the PCUSA. Three major reports trying to chart a new course for our future come before a single standing committee (which I will advise on behalf of the Advisory Committee on the Constitution). Will we embark on a new course or stay as we are, only smaller?

There will be more to come on a daily basis now. Thanks for following!