Carol Bechtel has been elected vice-president of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America. The election was held June 11 at the General Synod meeting on the campus of Central College in Pella, Iowa.
She will serve a one-year term for the denomination’s top governing body along with president, John Ornee. He is pastor of Peace Church in Zeeland, Mich.
Bechtel is professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary and attends Hope Church in Holland, Mich. She also is author of Above and Beyond: Hearing God’s Call in Jonah and Ruth, the 2007-08 Horizons Bible study published by Presbyterian Women.
Ten times a year, The Presbyterian Outlook publishes study resources, written by Rosalind Banbury, to supplement the study guide published by Presbyterian Women.
“God has gifted me with a passion for preaching and teaching the good news of God’s grace as revealed in Scripture and experienced in the risen presence of Jesus Christ,” Bechtel said to those attending the synod meeting. “The sweetest blessing of my life has been to use that gift all across the RCA and beyond.”
Bechtel has served her denomination on the Commission on Christian Worship and as General Synod professor of theology. She preaches and teaches widely and has published three books and three Bible studies in addition to the Horizons study.
Between travels for the RCA this summer, she is speaking at several regional Presbyterian Women conferences to equip circle leaders for the upcoming study year.
“I am overwhelmed by your trust and I promise to do my utmost to be worthy of it,” she told the synod delegates. “I also promise to work to nurture trust in this church that we all love so much.”
