Synod Moves Beyond TransitionThe Synod of Living Waters is no longer in transition. The final building block of its new structure was laid in place by commissioners attending the 20th stated meeting - now an annual event - January 28 at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville. The last act of transition from the old structure was approval of new Standing Rules, a six-page document which replaces the former Synod Manual. The rules lay out such details as how the Synod is organized, what officers it has and how they are chosen, how meetings are held and what staff is authorized. Preparation of the Standing Rules was the last act of the Executive/Transition Committee, which now drops the word "Transition" from its name. In appreciation for their work, the Synod gave transition team members woolen scarves and neckties woven in the blue and green Synod tartan by Sally Guy of Murray, Ky. One result of the change to new structure is that Mamie Jones of North Alabama Presbytery served the shortest full term of any moderator on record. She received the moderator's cross at the Synod's previous meeting, which under old rules was held in September 2001 at Franklin, Tenn. She passed it on to the Rev. Kenneth Dick of Western Kentucky Presbytery at this meeting, a bare four months later. Synod's annual stated meeting now will be scheduled each January. Besides Dick, the Synod installed Nolan Waller, elder commissioner from St. Andrew Presbytery, as vice moderator; he will prepare to become moderator next January. "Maybe this time we've got it right," quipped Mrs. Jones, who now becomes chairman of the Executive Committee for a year. "Everywhere I've gone, two questions I repeatedly hear are 'What is Synod?' and 'What do they do?' I have come to appreciate all that Synod does. Things get done that could not get done, presbytery by presbytery, as they do (through the Synod)." Synod Action At The Nashville Meeting Included:
At worship: Why wait?The tone for the meeting was set at opening worship by the Rev. Dr. William G. Cockrill, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Huntsville, Ala. Reading the Biblical parable of the fig tree from Luke 13, he asked, "What if we had only one more year to bear fruit?" Suppose the church had just one more year to operate, he suggested; how would we behave? After suggesting some possibilities, he said,"The question becomes, 'Why wait? Why not do it now? ' In the parable, Jesus "warns that we must all live constantly in penitence and in trust," he said. "The parable brings us back to repentance as a matter of time." While failure to repent is death - right now - our opportunity is to fill our time with true life - right now. "And that's grace," he said. Presiding over the Lord's Supper at the opening worship supper was the Rev. Theodore H. Martin, associate pastor of the host church. Later, as the business meeting started, the group was welcomed by the church's interim pastor, the Rev. Roland Perdue. As the business session began the Rev. Richard Baldwin of Memphis gave probably the shortest Stated Clerk's report on record: "Look up my report in your papers. I move it." Baldwin also installed the new moderator and vice moderator. Snellgrove said the bad news in the 2001 treasurer's report is that giving fell $112,319 below budget estimates. Despite underspending the budget by $82,261, the Synod still went $33,981 into the red. The good news, he said, is that some $100,000 carried over from previous years meant the Synod didn't have to dip into its reserve funds. The new year's budget anticipates that giving will decline as membership continues to tail off, but Snellgrove said he expects unified giving to stabilize in the coming year. Balancing the budget is expected to require the use of more carryover funds and of dividends from Presbyterian Foundation investments. Two Overtures StudiedThe Synod adopted without debate an overture to the General Assembly seeking to change provisions of G- 12.0204, the section of the Book of Order that applies the principles of participation and representation to synods' organizations. That provision was written when synods were much larger than they are today, the overture declares, and with today's smaller synods commissioners would have to serve on a number of committees to meet the demands. The overture, which will go to the 214th General Assembly meeting in June in Columbus, Ohio, proposes a new and briefer section that gives synods more freedom to make assignments while continuing to abide by the participation and representation guidelines. Another proposed overture asked the coming assembly to authorize formation of a single "PCUSA Confession of Faith for the 21st Century" and to clarify the authority of the existing Book of Confessions. After debate, it was defeated by a show of hands. The Rev. Lewis Fowler, interim executive presbyter of South Alabama Presbytery, had suggested the overture and said he hoped it could help to shift attention from annual squabbles over the Book of Order to the arena of the denomination's confessional stance. "Is the church unified enough to write a new confession for the 21st Century?" he asked. "I don't know, but we ought to make the attempt." In response, Martha Campbell, elder commissioner from the same presbytery, called attention to the PCUSA's newly created Theological Task Force, one of whose responsibilities is the consideration of a new confession. "Our church has been in the habit of doing things too soon," she said. "I think when we get the report of the Task Force, we'll have a better idea of what to do." Both overtures had been recommended by the Executive/ Transition Committee. A Primer In GrantsmanshipThe Louisville office that administers Mission Program Grants — a 50-50 match with synods and presbyteries for a variety of church programs — is reducing its response time and trying to make its services more open and available, the Synod was told by Tim McCallister and Bill Moore, who together make up the office staff. The application form has been reduced from 11 pages to 2, a line-by- line checklist has been developed to help people work through the form, and an online manual is expected to be posted by this summer. "Typically, we get requests that are more than double the amount we have to offer," McCallister said. "We try to help people write grants that will get serious consideration." The next funding cycle is due in May, he said, and a 14-member committee will review applications the first week in March. MPG grants begin at the presbytery level; presbyteries must approve and state how much support they can provide, then the appropriate synod does likewise before the application goes to Louisville. In committee reports, Martha Haynes, vice chair of the Living Waters for the World Committee, said nine water purification projects are now operating and work in four others is scheduled this year in Africa and Latin America. The committee's five-year goal is to install 12 units a year, and it is asking churches and presbyteries to suggest work sites. The committee has flyers available to publicize its work and the upcoming special offering which is requested for Living Waters for the World on Sunday, February 10. The Communications Committee will holds its annual workshop for page editors of The Voice in Nashville April 25-27 jointly with the national meeting of the Presbyterian Communicators Partnership, committee chairman Bill Williams said. Five presbyteries are joining to create a seventh Presbytery Ministry Partnership, in stewardship, the Rev. Charles Van Devender reported. Stewardship consultant Pierce Buford reported on that group's planned workshops. The Synod also heard reports on Congregational Development and Redevelopment and on Campus Ministry. Campus pastor David Burke of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga described campus ministry as "a mission field ripe for harvest." He challenged the Synod to make its college work "a showcase of growth for the church."
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