Alabama pastor first nominee for General Assembly moderator
By Jerry Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service, September 16, 1999
LOUISVILLE, Ky.– The Rev. John L. Herndon, III has been endorsed by North Alabama Presbytery as the first candidate for moderator of the 212th General Assembly (2000), which will meet June 24-July 1, 2000, in Long Beach, Calif.
Herndon, 60, has been pastor of Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Ala., since 1985. He is a second-career Presbyterian minister, having worked previously as a mental health administrator for the state of Georgia and as an administrator and researcher for the federal government, primarily in the aerospace program.
Herndon has served with Leadership Huntsville and Leadership Alabama, on the Governor’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, as president of the Greater Huntsville Ministers’ Association and as a police chaplain.
Herndon, his wife Tommie and their seven children were named “Family of the Year” by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Herndon has also received a lifetime achievement award from the United Negro College Fund and has been honored by Livingstone College and Alabama A&M University.
Herndon is currently a member of the General Assembly Council – his term expires at the conclusion of the 2000 General Assembly – and serves on its Congregational Ministries Division Committee. Herndon has served on a number of committees of the Synod of Living Waters and his service to North Alabama Presbytery includes a term as moderator and as moderator of the presbytery’s Committee on Ministry.