 March 28. Answering God's Call to Serve! Today another milestone was reached in the national ratification campaign for the 218th General Assembly's Ordination Amendment 08-B: Genesee Valley Presbytery became the 60th presbytery to vote Yes, with the Presbytery of Susquehanna Valley the 61st.
This makes today's voting a Clean Sweep for 08-B with 5 Yes Votes in Grace, Philadelphia, Western New York, Genesee Valley and Susquehanna Valley.
In 2001-2, 42 presbyteries voted for Ordination change, for justice and to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Genesee Valley Presbytery's vote of 93 Yes to 24 No to approve Amendment 08-B makes it the 60th presbytery, with the Presbytery of Susquehanna Valley in central New York voting YES as the 61st presbytery.
Genesee Valley Presbytery serves churches in Rochester, New York and the surrounding five counties. The vote in 2001-2 for Genesee Valley Presbytery was 98-62, so today's vote of 93-24 is an 18.1 % gain in support for LGBT equality, plus a 79.5 % Yes vote.
Special thanks to all those working to end discrimination against LGBT Presbyterians and their families now, especially the pastoral and lay leaders from Third Presbyterian Church, the Downtown United Presbyterian Church, Calvary-St. Andrews, and John Calvin Presbyterian Church, the four More Light Churches of Rochester.
We are particularly grateful for Betty Iwan, Ralph Carter, the More Light Committee, and Rev. John Wilkinson, Rev. Rod Frohman, and Rev. Martha Langford, of Third Presbyterian Church, Rochester; along with Rev. Debra Peevey and Sonnie Swentson for offering educational resources and information on Amendment 08-B You are an inspiration.
The 25 Presbyteries that have flipped from "NO" in 2001-2 to "YES" in 2009 so far include: Western North Carolina, Lake Huron, East Tennessee, Cimarron, Southeastern Illinois, Charlotte, Maumee Valley, Great Rivers, Scioto Valley, Sheppards & Lapsley, Tres Rios, New Hope, Greater Atlanta, Ohio Valley, Arkansas, Yellowstone, Whitewater Valley, Transylvania, Eastminster, West Jersey, Mackinac, Newark, West Virginia, Philadelphia and Grace.
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.
Some opponents of Amendment 08-B are saying that when 08-B passes, then pastors who vote against 08-B, oppose LGBT ordination or the ministry offered by LGBT Presbyterians, would not be allowed to serve which is simply not true.
Thanks be to God for the Presbyteries of Genesee Valley and Susquehanna Valley for taking a stand for justice and calling for the end of discrimination in our Church. Together We are building a Church for all God's people.
61 Presbyteries have voted for Amendment 08-B with many traditionally-supportive presbyteries yet to vote. Have Faith. Continue praying. Keep working.
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! YES on 08-B Campaign
For resources, stories, presbytery vote tally, and news from More Light Presbyterians
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This afternoon's note about the Genesee Valley Presbytery meeting from Betty Iwan, Elder, Co-Chair, More Light Committee, Third Presbyterian Church, Rochester, New York:
Dear Friends,
Sorry I do not have time to give the details now but I can tell you the vote in the Genesee Valley Presbytery today for 08-B was FOR - 93; Against - 24. The discussion was very civilized and short. At our Presbytery meeting 2 months ago we spent an hour discussing 08-B. We broke into 15 small groups with approx. 8 persons per group and focused on amendment 08-B. Today, the agenda allocated 1 hour for the discussion. We used less than 1/2 hour. I think many people said what they wanted to say in the small groups so they did not feel they needed to say more. We had 2 microphones, one for FOR and one for AGAINST. About 6 people spoke against the amendment and 10 people, FOR. Discussion was limited to 2 minutes per person. The vote was taken around 11:15 am but the results were not announced until after lunch and worship around 2 PM.
Praise to God;
Betty Iwan, Elder Third Presbyterian Church
PS. Since I did not have e-mails handy for several other people, please pass on the results to others you know who would like to hear the vote. Thanks! B |
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