08369
May 9, 2008
And then there were four
Three to challenge committee nominee Gradye Parsons for General Assembly stated clerk
LOUISVILLE — The Stated Clerk Nominating Committee announced today that three challengers have stepped forward to stand for General Assembly Stated Clerk against the committee’s nominee, the Rev. Gradye Parsons.
Under the General Assembly’s standing rules, the 13 applicants who were not chosen by the committee had until May 7 to notify the committee of their intention to stand for the office
A successor to the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick — who declined to seek a fourth four-year term — will be elected June 27 during the upcoming 218th General Assembly in San Jose, CA. Nominations for stated clerk will formally be made on the second day of the Assembly, Sunday, June 22.
The candidates standing against Parsons — who as Director of Operations for the Office of the General Assembly has for the past eight years served as one of Kirkpatrick’s top deputies — are the Rev. Edward H. Koster, stated clerk of Detroit Presbytery; the Rev. Winfield “Casey” Jones, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Pearland, TX; and the Rev. William P. Tarbell, pastor of Saluda (SC) Presbyterian Church.
Koster announced his candidacy shortly after the committee announced its selection of Parsons on April 3. Tarbell and Jones — who ran unsuccessfully against Kirkpatrick in 2000 and previously endorsed Koster — filed their declarations at the deadline.
Jones has served pastorates in Presbyterian churches in Texas since 1979. He has served on several presbytery committees.
Parsons, a Tennessee native, served a number of pastorates and then Holston Presbytery as its executive presbytery before joining the Office of the General Assembly staff in 2000.
Koster has served as Detroit Presbytery’s stated clerk since 1995. He was pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, MI for 10 years (1976-86) and is currently parish associate at First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor. Koster is also an attorney in private practice since 1992.
Tarbell has served since 1975 as pastor for several Presbyterian churches in South Dakota, Oregon, Wyoming, Missouri, and South Carolina.
A packet of information prepared by each candidate will be available to commissioners, advisory delegates and others by the beginning of the General Assembly meeting. The Office of the General Assembly will post it on General Assembly Web site as well as distributing printed copies. It will also be posted on the Stated Clerk Nomination Committee web page (pcusa.org/218ga/stated-clerk).
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