It is not often that the first serious debate of a General Assembly occurs during the annual report of the General Assembly, but what looks to most as a meeting without many major issues pending, the folks seem to decide to get to work early. One of the duties of the Stated Clerk is to... Continue Reading

he Committee of Commissioners (CoC) on Overtures, the largest of all CoC’s, will be presenting recommendations not of approve several overtures that were of high interest this year. The first was an Overture from Southern Florida Presbytery seeking term limits to be imposed for any new elected coordinators for the various PCA agencies who are... Continue Reading

Several experienced General Assembly observers believe that this report will bring about a significant amount of discussion during the report of the CoC and, in an otherwise quiet Assembly with few ‘hot button issues’, this could prove to be a significant debate. Out of the entire report presented by the Permanent Committee of Mission to... Continue Reading

Mr. Carrell, 70, a practicing attorney, is a ruling elder in the Stony Point Reformed Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Va. At its opening session on Tuesday, June 7, 2011, the 39th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America elected RE Daniel Carrell as Moderator. The PCA General Assembly is holding its annual meeting in... Continue Reading

My favorite theologian, Dr. Herman Bavinck, taught me that it’s quite easy to criticize, tear down, and critique, but if you’re going to do that, you really need to have a viable, workable alternative to what you’re being so negative about. Items for Approval at the 38th General Assembly The dust is settling over Nashville... Continue Reading

Providence PCA in Fayetteville, North Carolina Response to Pending BCO and RAO Changes that Would Levy Involuntary Taxes on Ministers and Churches Whereas, in prior years Providence PCA has voluntarily supported the work of the Administrative Committee of the PCA by freely giving a portion of our tithes and offerings; and Whereas, the 38th General... Continue Reading

The Thirty-eighth General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America met in Nashville, Tennessee June 29-July 2, 2010, at the Nashville Convention Center, hosted by Nashville Presbytery. A total of 1,311 commissioners attended (978 Teaching Elders and 333 Ruling Elders). In addition to acting upon the reports of the ten General-Assembly-level Permanent Committees and Agencies,... Continue Reading

Keller made about six points concerning what the PCA should do in the coming years to foster unity. There were two that most impressed me I am more firmly convinced than ever that the PCA will decline in membership in the decade ahead, largely because of the division between the Traditionalists and the Contemporaries, which... Continue Reading

‘Application’ is an old word, and ‘contextualization’ and ‘philosophy of ministry’ and ‘strategic plan’ are new ones, but I think they all mean the same thing. What makes a good sermon? It must be clearly based on the Bible. If it doesn’t, it may have a lot of practical wisdom in it, but there won’t... Continue Reading

Each of the major issues (deaconesses and denominational planning) may reveal interesting and unexpected twists and turns, probably not planned by some. The 38th General Assembly of the PCA will probably neither prove to be the disastrous abyss that some think nor the inauguration of the eschaton expected by others. When measured by a longer... Continue Reading