 Today, February 19, at the First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, Alabama, the Presbytery of Sheppards & Lapsley affirmed the 218th General Assembly's Ordination Amendment 08-B by a vote of 77 YES to 75 NO.
The Ordination Amendment Vote by the Presbytery of Sheppards & Lapsley in 2001 was a vote of 59 Yes, 109 No. So, the Presbytery of Sheppards & Lapsley is another presbytery in this extraordinary trend of presbyteries "flipping" their votes from NO in 2001 to YES in 2009. The first presbytery to "flip" from opposition in 2001 to affirmation in 2009 was the Presbytery of Western North Carolina.
The Mission Statement of the Presbytery of Sheppards & Lapsley reveals why a vote to end discrimination against LGBT Presbyterians and their families is possible within this presbytery: "We believe the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley is the corporate expression of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in central Alabama, called by grace to serve individual congregations in their collective witness to God's love for all people in Jesus Christ."
Special thanks to all those working to end discrimination against LGBT Presbyterians and their families now in the the Presbytery of Sheppards & Lapsley. You are an inspiration.
We want to offer particular gratitude to Kevin Henderson; Rev. Ron Gilmer and University Presbyterian Church, Tuscaloosa, a welcoming and affirming More Light Church; and the Rev. Elizabeth O'Neill, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Montgomery for your faithful witness and commitment to a Church for all of God's children. We are also grateful for Rev. Debra Peevey, Associate for Outreach, MLP, and Rev. Tricia Dykers-Koenig, CN, for providing outreach and serving as resource persons with this presbytery.
We want to alert all of you working in local presbyteries to pass 08-B to prepared for any of the "No Action" efforts in your presbytery and be ready to address them.
Thanks be to God for this stand for justice and call to the end to discrimination in the Presbytery of Sheppards & Lapsley! Together We are building a Church for all God's people.
with hope and grace,
Michael
PS -- Special thanks to Bruce Hahne, recent National MLP Board Member and Elder, First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto, CA, a More Light Church for number-crunching and analysis of trends so far for Amendment 08-B -- go to http://yeson08b.blogspot.com/
Michael J. Adee, M.Div., Ph.D., Executive Director & Field Organizer
Answering God's Call to Serve!
For resources, stories, presbytery vote tally, and news from More Light Presbyterians
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2/19/09 Note from Bruce Hahne
As many have now heard, it appears that Sheppards & Lapsley presbytery, in central Alabama, has flipped from a previously strong anti-equality vote to a YES on 08-B vote this year. We also have a vote count from Western Colorado with a strong positive trend.
As always, commentary and a tracking spreadsheet with all of the votes I know so far are available from http://yeson08b.blogspot.com
Sheppards & Lapsley
2001-2 01-A: 59 yes, 109 no --> 35.1% YES
2009 08-B: 77 yes, 75 no --> 50.7% YES
Coming out of nowhere (i.e. not on my radar) with nearly a 16% pro-equality shift to flip to pro-equality by 2 votes, Sheppards & Lapsley suggests that this is going to be a very interesting few months of voting. I'd be happy to discover that my more conservative speculations about which presbyteries are likely to flip pro-equality could be completely wrong (in a good way).
My presbytery map suggests that Sheppards & Lapsley includes both the cities of Birmingham and Montgomery, both of course well known historically for events that took place there during the civil rights movement.
If there are More Light supporters in this presbytery who'd be interested in having a phone conversation, I'd love to do a phone interview with you to understand how you did it. There could be ramifications for the larger LGBT equality movement. If we can understand what wins hearts, minds, and votes in central Alabama by 16% in 7 years, it could help to guide strategy within equality organizations well beyond the PCUSA LGBT equality movement.
Western Colorado
2001-2 01-A: 6 yes, 33 no --> 15% YES
2009 08-B: 11 yes, 23 no --> 32% YES
This is an excellent (17%) pro-equality shift from Western Colorado, and it breaks in a positive way with the general trend that "presbyteries under 30% previous equality support are shifting anti-LGBT in their votes". In some sense we could say this vote "cancels out" the disappointment from Glacier Presbytery a few days ago, which had a 14% anti-equality shift.
Bruce Hahne
hahne at io.com
speaking for myself |
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