David P. Parker, lawyer and ruling elder who has been endorsed by Salem Presbytery to stand for moderator of the 2016 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) intends to be part of a co-moderator slate.
Parker, from North Carolina, intends to stand as a co-moderator candidate with Adan A. Mairena, a teaching elder from the Presbytery of Philadelphia who is the organizing pastor of West Kensington Ministry at Norris Square, and also serves as pastor of Yeadon Presbyterian Church. Mairena still is seeking formal endorsement of his candidacy from Philadelphia Presbytery when it meets May 17 – so Mairena said by email that he will stand as a co-moderator candidate “if the way be clear.”
Ruth Santana-Grace, Philadelphia presbytery’s executive presbyter, said by email that the presbytery’s Leadership Collegium — equivalent to its council — has recommended that the presbytery endorse Mairena, and that recommendation is scheduled for a vote on May 17.
Mairena, 42, was born in Honduras but grew up in the United States; earned an undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico, and a Master of Divinity degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. From 2003 to 2006, he served as a Lilly resident in ministry at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, and he was ordained by Philadelphia Presbytery in 2005.
The son of two PC(USA) ministers, Mairena has served on the board of directors of the Board of Pensions, and on the General Assembly urban ministry leadership / organizing team.
While in New Mexico, Mairena worked as a janitor at First Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, where he later returned to serve as a seminary intern. While an undergraduate, he lived and worked at the Menaul School.
Also standing as a co-moderator slate at this assembly: Jan Edmiston of the Presbytery of Chicago and T. Denise Anderson of National Capital Presbytery, both teaching elders.
A change in the standing rules, approved b the 2014 General Assembly, allows two candidates to stand for election together as co-moderators, serving together as a team.
