Kirkpatrick was nominated at the 216th General Assembly Sunday night, along with three rivals: Bob Davis, a pastor and lawyer from Escondido, Calif.; Linn “Rus” Howard, a pastor from Venetia, Pa.; and Alex Metherell, a physician, engineer and elder from Laguna Beach, Calif. All three challengers are from the church’s evangelical branches and believe the stated clerk should go further in enforcing the Book of Order, the denomination’s Constitution.
The stated clerk is the chief executive officer of the Office of the General Assembly. The job includes putting on General Assembly meetings, representing the assembly within and outside the denomination and interpreting the Book of Order. Rivals say Kirkpatrick has been lukewarm in his enforcement of constitutional standards regarding the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers and promise a stronger voice on those issues.
Kirkpatrick, who is running for his third four-year term, has been endorsed by 27 former General Assembly moderators. Davis is executive director of the renewal group Presbyterian Forum and writes regular dispatches about issues and procedural disputes in the denomination. He’s been endorsed by Voices of Orthodox Women and by the Presbyterian Coalition. Metherell tried to force Fahed Abu-Akel, moderator of the 2002 General Assembly, to call the Assembly back into session to discuss constitutional defiance. And Howard came to Louisville with four other pastors in October 2002 to post “A Call to Confession and Repentance” on the denomination’s headquarters, arguing that the PC(USA) is “irretrievably apostate under current management.”
In a speech nominating Howard, Rodney Baker, a minister commissioner from Great Rivers Presbytery, said, “”We have a shrinking membership, a shrinking budget and a persistent conflict and I’m sure you will agree with me we need some changes.”
But the nominating committee said it favors the current leadership. “Our stated clerk has performed very well in the last term. This committee feels blessed by God to have his leadership,” said committee member Thomas Are. When the committee surveyed church leaders who worked with Kirkpatrick as stated clerk, the 166 people who responded rated his “overall effectiveness” 4.68 on a 1-to-5 scale.
In letters sent to the committee that were critical of Kirkpatrick’s performance, the biggest complaint was that he “did not fulfill his duties as regards to the Constitution,” Are said.
Those critics are misinterpreting the stated clerk’s role, Are said. “In the judgment of the committee, such criticism assumes that the role of the stated clerk should be changed.” F or the stated clerk to assume as much power as they suggest “would inevitably result in … a violation of his constitutional responsibilities.”
While committee members were clear that they enthusiastically endorse Kirkpatrick, the nominating process makes it hard for a rival to beat a strong incumbent. The rules say that if the current stated clerk chooses to run for reelection the committee decides whether or not to nominate him or her, then takes other applications. Committee leaders said in a press conference after the nominations that they couldn’t remember a case in which a sitting stated clerk who wanted to be nominated for a subsequent term was not selected.
Each candidate is nominated in a five-minute speech Sunday, but candidates won’t give stump speeches during the Assembly — though Kirkpatrick will frequently be on the podium, offering parliamentary advice. All four candidates will answer questions for an hour Friday morning before the election, which is the first item of business that day. 
