219th General Assembly - Day 1

We have arrived at in Minneapolis, Minn., for the 2010 national meeting of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) The theme for this year's 219th General Assembly is “rivers of living water” (John 7:38).

Four commissioners and one young adult advisory delegate will use this gathering as an opportunity to discern the issues and challenges facing our congregations both in Iowa and around the world.

Presbytery of Des Moines commissioners attending are: Elder Becky Diebold (Ottumwa, First), Elder Maurice Dyer (Indianola, Trinity United), Rev. Tiare Mathison (Newton, First), Rev. Dennis Morey (Oskaloosa, First), and Naomi Maxa (Lenox, United). Overture sponsors are: Rev. Stu Ritter and Elder Ted Coppock (DM Westminster). Staff include: General Presbyter and Stated Clerk Rev. Phil Barrett, Director of Communications Kim Coulter (DM Westminster), Office Manager Betty Dyer (Indianola, Trinity United) and Sudanese Ministries Resource Person the Rev. Goanar Chol.

Other volunteers are: the honorably retired Reverend Elizabeth Knott; Intern Cindy Lou Ray (Knox United); Candidate Patti Spencer Burdette (DM, Fort Des Moines) in photo on left; the Rev. Ross Blount (Allerton, United); the Rev. Rick Carus, Julie Cloud, and Sandy Wagner (Ankeny); and Paul Walther and Lila Jean Jensen, (Audubon, First).

Today's GA meeting agenda contained basic parlamentary orientation and our own intern Cindy Ray, moderator of the GA Committee on Representation was present to ask commissioners and delegates specific demographics. It gave everyone a chance to test the voting system and see results live.

In the evening attendees heard presentations from all six candidates for the 219th GA Moderator. The new moderator, replacing the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, is Elder Cynthia Bolbach who received 51% of the vote (seen in the photo on the right with our own Phil Barrett). She is a lawyer and a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Arlington, Va. and has been serving in church leadership for many years. She currently is executive vice president and corporate secretary at the employee-owned publishing firm, BNA, Inc.

After covering the press conference for the new moderator, I was able to write my first story for the Presbyterian News Service and then went to bed around 2 a.m. All in all, a good day listening to God's voice amoungst our fellow Presbyterians!

Kim Coulter, director of communications
Presbytery of Des Moines