Three teaching elders announce
as GA moderator candidates
The Layman, October 20, 2011
UPDATED ON 10/20/11
Three teaching elders have announced their candidacies for moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The assembly will be held June 30-July 7, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pa., and the moderator will serve a two-year term. The candidates are Rev. Neal D. Presa, Rev. Robert Austell and Rev. Susan Davis Krummel.
Neal Presa
Rev. Neal D. Presa, pastor of Middlesex Presbyterian Church, in Middlesex, N.J., was endorsed by Elizabeth Presbytery, where he serves as the presbytery’s moderator. He is also on the adjunct faculties of New Brunswick Theological Seminary and Somerset Christian College. He is a graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary (M.Div.), Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.M.) and Drew University (M.Phil. and Ph.D.).
A Filipino-American, he served on the General Assembly Council (now the General Assembly Mission Council), and on the General Assembly Special Committee on the Heidelberg Catechism.
He told the Presbyterian News Service, “I am humbled by this affirmation of the presbytery to put my name forward as a candidate for moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA). I offer myself as a pastor, ecumenist, and liturgical theologian committed to praying and working towards what Jesus Christ prayed, ‘that they may all be one,’” Presa said. “I seek the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace at all levels of the church, and how our unity as a body impacts ministries in our local congregations, and the gospel witness. We must reclaim our unity in the God who gathers us in worship and sends us out into our communities and, indeed the whole world to invest and share our lives in others.”
Susan Davis Krummel
Rev. Susan Davis Krummel, general presbyter and stated clerk of Great Rivers Presbytery, was endorsed as a candidate for moderator by her presbytery. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She has had training in conflict management from the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center and has a certificate in executive leadership from McCormick Theological Seminary.
“The Presbytery of Great Rivers thrives today because of its many faithful members and its gifted leaders. In my view, Sue Davis Krummel is the most gifted of our leaders,” said Elder Gary Davis, the moderator of Great Rivers Presbytery’s nominating committee. “Since she became our general presbyter, Sue Davis Krummel has guided our presbytery with a clear voice and a steady hand. She will do the same for the General Assembly when she is elected its next moderator.”
According to her press release, she has served congregations in almost every pastoral role — pastor, co-pastor, interim pastor, temporary supply pastor, associate pastor, interim associate pastor — for 24 years before coming full-time to presbytery work.
She has served as moderator and stated clerk of the Presbytery of East Iowa and as the moderator of the General Assembly nominating committee twice over a five year term. She has taught polity at Dubuque Seminary and also taught in the Commissioned Ruling Elder training for the Synod of Lincoln Trails. She has served as the moderator of a General Assembly commissioner committee and as a committee assistant.
Krummel is married to the Rev. Dr. Forrest L. Krummel Jr., pastor of First Federated Church in Peoria, Ill. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.
On her Facebook page, Krumnel wrote, “The Presbytery of Great Rivers today voted to endorse me as a candidate for moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the PCUSA. I look forward to the lead up to the assembly as a time to share the insights that I have learned as a Midwestern Presbyterian all my life and as an executive presbyter working with congregations in all of their joys and needs.”
Robert Austell
Rev. Robert Austell is pastor of Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C. He was unanimously endorsed by The Presbytery of Charlotte to stand for moderator.
Austell was a commissioner to the 218th General Assembly (2008) in San Jose. He is the Moderator-elect of the Presbytery Council after having served as Vice-Moderator of Council in 2010 and Moderator of Presbytery in 2009. The Presbytery of Charlotte is the third largest presbytery in the PCUSA, with 130 churches and almost 40,000 members.
In his Facebook announcement of his candidacy for moderator, Austell said, “More info forthcoming … and prayers welcomed.”
“I have challenged my congregation to stretch beyond their walls and answer the question, ‘What is God doing in and around you, and how can you be a part?’” Austell said in a statement released Thursday. “With the discernment and blessing of my family, elders, and local congregation, standing for Moderator seems to be the clear answer of how God would have me answer that question. I see it as an extension of the calling and work which I have already been doing – loving ordinary and imperfect people and pointing them to the extraordinary grace of God in Jesus Christ,” he added.
In a media statement released Thursday by the Presbytery of Charlotte, the Rev. Timm High, acting General Presbyter said: “The Presbytery of Charlotte, in endorsing Robert Austell’s candidacy for Moderator of the General Assembly, believes that Robert’s sharing of his gifts with the [PCUSA] in this way would prove to be a blessing in an ever-widening circle of persons and places, and would be a faithful affirmation of his baptismal vows. Robert is deeply committed to nurturing relationships and identifying resources amongst all persons, faithfully rooted in his relationship with Jesus Christ and his commitment to servant leadership.”
Austell studied at Davidson College (A.B.), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M. Div. classwork), Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte (D. Min.). He is married to Heather Brackbill Austell and they have three daughters and live in Matthews, N.C. He is also a life-long musician, frequent conference worship leader, author, and computer enthusiast. Additional information and updates will be available at www.robertaustell.com. Austell is the creator and webmaster for GAhelp.net, a site designed to simplify the information gathering process, drawing from a broad range of theological perspectives to get all the information on the table in a way that commissioners and the wider church can comprehend, follow, and evaluate.