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2020 Vision Team to hold first meeting this weekend in Dallas

 

The 2020 Vision Team – which the 2016 General Assembly created and charged with developing a “guiding statement” for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and coming up with a plan for implementing it – will hold its first meeting Feb. 11-12 in Dallas. The assembly stated: “The process of developing such a guiding statement will help us to name and claim our denominational identity as we seek to follow the Spirit into the future.”

The assembly also said “the intention is that there be a new vision for the denomination” by the General Assembly in Baltimore in 2020.

The 2020 Vision Team is one of three General Assembly entities currently working on questions related to the structure and future of the denomination – the other two being the Way Forward Commission, convened to consider the structure and function of General Assembly entities, and the All Agency Review Committee, which is looking at the interaction of the six PC(USA) agencies.

The Way Forward Commission has met twice and will gather next in Atlanta March 6-7. The All Agency Review Committee will hold its first meeting in Louisville Feb. 21-23.

There is some interaction among the three groups – Mark Hostetter, moderator of the Way Forward Commission, said during the commission’s conference call on Feb. 7 that he expected to meet with the leadership of the other two groups this week.

The 2020 Vision meeting in Texas is expected to be a combination of getting-to-know-you for the team’s 15 members; an exploration of how the team will go about its work of discerning regarding the future of the denomination; and a setting of timelines and process for embarking on the tasks ahead.

In creating the vision team, the assembly stressed diversity of both experience and demographics (including gender identity, geography, young adults, people of color, theological views and those engaged in parish and validated ministries).

And it said the vision team should build on the work begun by Heath Rada, moderator of the 2014 General Assembly, and by the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly in the report “When We Gather At the Table” – a listening project, which drew responses from more than 3,400 Presbyterians.

The assembly instructed the vision team to conduct “targeted listening exercises” (which could include congregations, presbyteries, synods and seminaries) regarding the calling of the church and “the vision these constituencies have of how God is calling them to respond to ‘what breaks God’s heart’ in their communities,” to use the language of Jan Edmiston, co-moderator of the 2016 General Assembly.

Bernadette Coffee, a ruling elder from Tres Rios Presbytery, and Lisa Juica Perkins, a teaching elder from Grace Presbytery, will serve as the vision team’s co-moderators.

The 2020 Vision Team’s members are:

 

Joshua T. Andrzejewski (Presbytery of the James) has been the chaplain for Pediatrics and Women’s Health at VCU Health, Richmond, Virginia, since 2012. He is the moderator of the presbytery’s committee on nominations, was a commissioner to the 222nd General Assembly where he served on the Way Forward committee, and recently completed two years of service as the covenant pastor for Cove Presbyterian Church.

Justin Botejue (Presbytery of Inland Northwest) is a recent graduate of Whitworth University, a historically Presbyterian-affiliated college. He has been a youth observer to the 221st General Assembly (2014) and a youth adult advisory delegate for the 222nd General Assembly for the Presbytery of Los Ranchos. As a lifelong Presbyterian, Botejue attended the Presbyterian Youth Triennium both as a participant and volunteer, participated in various PC(USA) conferences, including Big Tent, and received the PC(USA) Student Opportunity Scholarship while studying at Whitworth.

Bernadette “Bernie” Coffee, co-moderator (Presbytery of Tres Rios) is a ruling elder in the Presbytery of Tres Rios. She has just completed six years on session as clerk of session. Coffee is active on the missional ministry team (formerly COM) and is currently moderator elect. She is currently involved in local church, presbytery and synod. Coffee serves on at least four community boards.

DèAnn Cunningham (Presbytery of Charlotte) is currently serving as clerk of session and volunteer church administrator for Smallwood Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is also currently serving on the presbytery’s church development committee; working with the local churches to equip, engage and pray for these houses of worship; and the strategic planning taskforce to restructure the work of the Presbytery of Charlotte.

Michael Fagans (Presbytery of San Joaquin) is a ruling elder, photojournalist and filmmaker from Bakersfield where he works as the coordinator for the Kern Coalition Against Human Trafficking as well as the director of strategic communication for United Way of Kern County. He served two full terms with the church’s national Self-Development of People committee and most recently was the coordinator for the Tour Against Trafficking, an ecumenical, nonprofit and corporate partnership issue awareness and fundraising effort.

Deborah G. Foster (Presbytery of Foothills) serves as associate stated clerk and associate pastor for the Presbytery of Foothills. She also serves as parish associate at Central Presbyterian Church in Anderson, South Carolina. Foster is an ICF certified coach and lead consultant with Ministry Architects. She currently serves as the president of SOAP (South Atlantic Puerto Rico Association of APCE). She has served the PC(USA) for more than 30 years in a variety of ministry settings.

Salvador D. Gavalda Corchado (Presbytery of San Juan) serves as the Swanigan Fellow for the Synod of Mid- America. He has served as moderator of the Sínodo Boriquén in Puerto Rico and on its mission council. He is a member of the Iglesia Presbiteriana en Caparra Terrace in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Lisa Juica Perkins, co-moderator (Presbytery of Grace) serves as admissions associate for ecclesial partnerships at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She has served as moderator of the young adult ministry committee and is currently a new beginnings facilitator for her presbytery. She works with youth, young adults and churches looking to be faithful followers of God’s call upon them.

Don Lee (Eastern Korean American Presbytery) is the English ministry pastor at Praise Presbyterian Church in Somerset, N.J. He also serves as one of the pastors coordinating the Second-Generation Korean-American Pastors, a national conference held every year working to bring guidance, vision and unity for the Korean American church at-large in the PC(USA).

Jerrod B. Lowry (Presbytery of Utah) is the pastor of Community of Grace Presbyterian Church in Sandy, Utah. He serves on the coordinating council of the presbytery and has served on the Stated Clerk Nominating Committee, the Committee for the Office of the General Assembly and the General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations.

Chris McCain (Presbytery of Greater Atlanta) is director of strategic partnerships at the Forum for Theological Exploration, a leadership incubator that supports emerging leaders for the church and academy. He also chairs the presbytery’s grants committee and serves on the transition committee for his congregation, Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

Joshua Narcisse (Presbytery of New York City) is a ruling elder at Dunton Presbyterian Church, and has served as a YAAD to the Synod of the Northeast, the 220th General Assembly (2012), and as member to the Transitions Working Group of the Synod of the Northeast. He currently serves on the Committee on Congregational Ministry and Nurture for the Presbytery of New York City while attending Yale Divinity School as a first-year M.Div. student.

Karen Sapio (Presbytery of San Gabriel) is pastor of Claremont Presbyterian Church in Claremont, Calif. She is co-chair of San Gabriel Presbytery’s Vision and Strategy Team, and has previously served as chair of that presbytery’s committee on ministry. Karen serves as co-chair of the NEXT Church strategy team as that organization supports innovation for and creative conversations about change in the PC(USA).

Sabrina Slater (Presbytery of Inland Northwest) currently representing the PC(USA) at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland. A Princeton alum, in seminary she interned with the Office of Public Witness and served on the Presbyterian Women delegation to the 58th UN Commission on the Status of Women. A member of the PW Churchwide Gathering committee and ready to serve as a pastor, her prayer is to see with God’s eyes, to hear with God’s ears and to have a heart broken where God’s heart is broken.

Rebecca Snedeker-Meier (Presbytery of Maumee Valley) is a student at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. She was a YAAD for the 222nd General Assembly representing her church, First Presbyterian Church of Upper Sandusky, and is active in her presbytery, including serving on the worship planning committee. Earlier this year she studied abroad in Cork, Ireland, and had the opportunity to visit several other countries in Europe while she was there.

 

 

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