Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It has been an incredible blessing to be able to serve as Stated Clerk of the General Assembly for now going on twelve years, and to serve in leadership in the General Assembly and its mission for over twenty-six years. I give thanks to God for you who have been my partners in this journey, for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and for this unique opportunity to share in the service of Christ through this great church. This has been the best job I have ever had and a wonderful way to live out my call to ministry.
However, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “for everything there is a time.” I believe the time has now come for me to conclude my service as Stated Clerk at the end of my third term, which runs through the 218th General Assembly next summer in San Jose. This has not been an easy decision to reach, but I have done so through soul searching and prayer, through helpful sharing with many friends and colleagues, and through seeking to discern the mind of Christ for me and for the church.
Serving as Stated Clerk has offered me a platform I would never have dreamed possible — to serve the church I love and to give expression to my passions, my sense of call, and my gifts for the things that really matter. It has been a tremendous privilege to give voice to the witness of our church to the gospel and to justice and peace in the world, to be a leader in the ecumenical movement, to guide the church (even in our contentions) toward unity in diversity, to uphold our Constitution, and to pioneer in new ways to express old truth as we seek to discern the mind of Christ and develop a polity and a church for the 21st century.
While this work has been a great blessing, it has also taken a significant amount of time and energy and has been accompanied with more than a fair share of stresses and strains. A change in my life patterns is probably in order. At the same time, I am also eager to have more quality time with my family, to be able to devote myself more fully to the responsibility I have undertaken since 2004 to serve as president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and to share in the life of the church, both locally and globally, in new and creative ways.
I am making this announcement now so that the Stated Clerk Nominating Committee, which was elected at the General Assembly last summer, will have ample time to search diligently and discern whom to propose to the 218th General Assembly (2008) for election as the next Stated Clerk. Know that I will continue my service as Stated Clerk for the next year with every ounce of “energy, intelligence, imagination, and love” that I can muster. I also look forward to welcoming my successor in San Jose, and I trust that she or he will also find this service to be a blessing and a solemn opportunity to serve this church for the glory of God.
