Edmiston/Anderson to stand for co-moderators of the 222nd General Assembly

Finally! A candidate for moderator of the 2016 General Assembly has stepped forward.

On Nov. 21, the Presbytery of Chicago endorsed Jan Edmiston to stand for co-moderator of the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). A change in the standing rules, which the 2014 General Assembly approved, allows two candidates to stand for election together as co-moderators, serving together as a team.

Edmiston told the presbytery her co-moderator partner is expected to be T. Denise Anderson, a teaching elder from National Capital Presbytery. That wouldn’t become formal until Anderson receives a vote of endorsement from National Capital – the vote on that is expected to come at the presbytery’s Jan. 26 meeting.

Here is background information on the two co-moderator candidates.

Jan Edmiston
Since 2013, Edmiston has served as associate executive presbyter for ministry of Chicago Presbytery. Before that, she served as the presbytery’s interim associate executive presbyter for ministry for two years.

A teaching elder, Edmiston earned a doctorate in Christian spirituality from Columbia Theological Seminary and a Master of Divinity from Andover-Newton Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina.

For 27 years, Edmiston served as pastor or co-pastor of congregations in New York and Virginia. She blogs at A Church for Starving Artists and is active on Twitter as @jledmiston. Her husband, Fred Lyon, also is a Presbyterian minister, serves as pastor of Flossmoor Community Church in Flossmoor, Illinois. The couple has three young adult children.

Denise Anderson
Since January, Anderson has served as pastor of Unity Presbyterian Church in Temple Hills, Maryland.  From 2011 to 2014, she served as a pastoral assistant for the English Ministry program at Taiwanese Presbyterian Church of Washington, in suburban Maryland.

Anderson earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Howard University School of Divinity, and a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is a member of National Capital Presbytery’s Leadership Council and serves on the strategy team of NEXT Church.

Active in social media, Anderson blogs at Soula Scriptura, posts on Twitter as @thesoulstepford and writes for a variety of publications on race, gender, diversity and theology.  Anderson and her husband, Carter, have one daughter.