Third candidate may enter
PCUSA moderator race
By Edward Terry, The Layman, April 23, 2010
According to the agenda for the Presbytery of Western North Carolina’s April 27 meeting, the Rev. Maggie Lauterer will be considered for endorsement as a moderator candidate for this summer’s 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Maggie Lauterer
If the recommendation by the nominating committee is approved, Lauterer will replace the Rev. Riley Covin as one of Western North Carolina’s commissioners to GA and then be endorsed.
Though the deadline for naming commissioners already has passed, GA rules do not have a firm date on moderator candidates, PCUSA Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons said. A presbytery can substitute commissioners after that deadline, he said, which is the case in Western North Carolina.
Lauterer is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Burnsville, N.C. and earned her M.Div. from Union Seminary – Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Va. She is a former moderator of Western North Carolina and presently serves on the Committee on Ministry.
In her statement to the presbytery, she said that the Holy Spirit, as well as the urging of several well-respected colleagues, led her to candidacy. She cites experience with a small church in the mountains of North Carolina and her mission travels among her qualifications.
“I believe members of the PCUSA are called to be global Presbyterians,” she said in her statement. “Because of my experience as a pastor, and the range of skills and talents I have developed over a lifetime of seeking God’s will, I feel I am in a position to lead our denomination as we pursue a deeper understanding of the world’s struggles and needs. … I do not believe that growth of the Church has anything to do with age or location, but openness to the transformative powers of the Trinity which calls us out into new frontiers of being Christ’s Church and doing Christ’s bidding in the radical love Christ has taught us.”
Updated – April 29
The Presbytery of Western North Carolina, on April 27, endorsed Maggie Lauterer as a candidate for moderator. Following the affirmative voice voice, with only one audible objection, members of the presbytery gathered around Lauterer for prayer.
Prior to her ordination as a PCUSA minister, Lauterer was a well-known journalist and ran for Congress in the ‘90s as a Democrat. Lauterer is married, and has two children and two grandchildren, according to the bio on Western North Carolina’s Web site.
If endorsed by the presbytery, Lauterer will face National Capital’s candidate Elder Cynthia Bolbach and Twin Cities Area candidate the Rev. Jin S. Kim for moderator.