First Presbyterian Church
                      1140 Cowper St., Palo Alto, CA
                             650-325-5659
                            www.fprespa.org

         Statement by the Session of First Presbyterian Church 
            on the Judicial Attacks against Rev. Rob Martin

                             May 14, 2003

Palo Alto, CA, May 14, 2003

The Session of First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto has received
word that Paul Rolf Jensen, a Virginia-based attorney known for his
ongoing barrage of Presbyterian Church judicial actions, has filed
heresy charges against Rev. W. Robert "Rob" Martin, the new senior
pastor recently called, but not yet installed, by First Presbyterian
Palo Alto.
 
Under Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) law, the immediate effect of these
judicial charges is to prevent First Presbyterian from installing
Rev. Rob Martin as its new pastor until the court cases have been
resolved, a process which could take one or more years.  Rev. Martin
has already informed his current church, Warren Wilson Presbyterian in
Swannanoa, NC, of his pending departure, was approved by the
Presbytery of San Jose to serve as First Presbyterian Palo Alto's new
pastor, has sold his house in North Carolina, and had intended to move
to California with his wife and children to begin his new pastorate in
Palo Alto in late June 2003.  All of these plans must now be put on
hold until the pending judicial accusations are dismissed or resolved.
Unlike most of Mr. Jensen's previous litigation, the charges against
Rev. Rob Martin are unrelated to the issue of ordaining gay or lesbian
people, but rather concern Rev. Martin's views about the bodily
resurrection of Jesus, an issue which the Presbyterian Church settled
in favor of diversity of opinion in the 1920's.

"We regret that certain minority factions of the PCUSA continue to sow
division through their ongoing campaign of litigation against
Presbyterians who don't conform to certain 19th-century conceptions of
orthodoxy," noted First Presbyterian interim senior pastor Rev. Nan
Swanson.  "When dozens of PCUSA churches are forced to spend hundreds
of thousands of dollars and countless hours responding to legal
action, the true work of the Church - feeding the hungry, clothing the
naked, preaching the gospel - gets put on hold."

"Mr. Jensen's willingness to exploit the legal system to prevent
churches from calling a new pastor means that no church in the PCUSA
is safe," noted First Presbyterian elder Bruce Hahne.  "Until
Presbyterian General Assembly passes legislation to prevent vexatious
litigation and to significantly increase the rights of the accused,
any Presbyterian church in the country could find its choice of a new
pastor blocked by spurious litigation on matters settled a century
ago."

The Session of First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto affirms its full
commitment - materially, financially, and spiritually - to bring
Rev. Rob Martin to Palo Alto to serve as senior pastor.  We have the
utmost confidence that the Presbyterian court system will rapidly
exonerate Rob and allow him to join us as our new pastor.  Even as we
wait patiently for justice, we remember that "blessed are you when
people revile you and persecute you... for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you."  We celebrate this
opportunity to come together as a congregation to strengthen our work
for theological diversity, to strengthen Rev. Rob Martin as he endures
these judicial attacks, and to strengthen the Presbyterian Church
U.S.A. by working to put an end to judicial harassment and
intimidation within the body of Christ.


About First Presbyterian Church:

First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto is...
  A Sanctuary Church, supporting refugees and conscientious objectors;
  A More Light Church, welcoming gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and
    transgender persons into full membership;
  A Peace and Justice Church, working for human dignity and survival; 
  An Earth and Spirit Church, loving the earth as God's creation


About Rev. W. Robert "Rob" Martin:

A graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary, Rob Martin has
served as pastor and head of staff of Warren Wilson Presbyterian
Church (Swannanoa, NC), and chaplain at Warren Wilson College, for the
past seven years.  During his pastorate at Warren Wilson, membership
increased by over 30% and church school enrollment doubled.
Rev. Martin was called by First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto to
serve as senior pastor and head of staff after a two-year search
process which considered dozens of candidates from all over the U.S.
He is married with two children.


Media contacts:
Rev. Nan Swanson, interim pastor, 650-325-5659 x102, nswanson@fprespa.org
Rev. Jeff Vamos, associate pastor, 650-325-5659 x103, jvamos@fprespa.org

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