Joel Belz elected moderator of 31st PCA General Assembly
The Layman Online, June 11, 2003
CHARLOTTE – At its opening session on June 10, the 31st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America elected Joel Belz as moderator. The PCA General Assembly is holding its annual meeting in the Convention Center in Charlotte through June 13. Belz is a ruling elder in Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church in Asheville, N.C.
Belz is chief executive officer at God’s World Publications in Asheville. At GWP, where he began work in 1977, Belz founded and pioneered the growth of the God’s World newspapers for children, with a weekly paid circulation of nearly a third of a million. In 1986, he founded World magazine, which now has a weekly paid circulation of 130,000. GWP also includes the ministry of God’s World Book Club and the World Journalism Institute, started in 1999. The four divisions, organized as a not-for-profit ministry, have sales of about $17 million this year and employ a staff of about 125.
Belz was born in 1941 in rural Iowa. There, his father prospered in the grain and lumber business, but left that vocation in 1946 to enter the Presbyterian ministry. In 1951, his parents established Cono Christian School, which Belz acknowledges left indelible marks on him concerning the importance of the right kind of education. His parents also launched a printing business in the basement of their home, dramatizing the importance of the printed page. All of Belz’s seven brothers and sisters are graduates of the school at Cono, and all learned the craft of printing.
Belz is a graduate (B.A. in English, 1962) of Covenant College at Lookout Mountain, Ga., where he has served many years on the board, and for much of that time as chairman of the board. He also holds an M.A. in mass communications from the University of Iowa (1971).
After traveling for a charitable foundation in more than 40 different countries of the world, Belz became one of the early headmasters of what is now Chattanooga Christian School. In 1977, he became managing editor of the Presbyterian Journal in Asheville, which organization later became God’s World Publications, Inc.
Joel Belz and his wife Carol Esther have five daughters and eight grandchildren. He is an elder in Covenant Reformed PCA and has chaired the boards of Asheville Christian Academy and the Evangelical Press Association. In 1977, he was named alumnus of the year at Covenant College, and in 1994 received the James DeForest Murch award from the National Association of Evangelicals.
Worship service
The Rev. Joseph “Skip” Ryan, pastor of Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas Texas, gave the opening sermon as the retiring moderator before an audience of over 2,000.
Ryan spoke on the theme of not losing heart in the ministry of the gospel and emphasized the importance of centering ministry in the gospel. He challenged the commissioners and guests to keep a clear focus on the gospel and allow it to do its powerful work in all hearts.