Kirk of the Hills members vote overwhelmingly to leave PCUSA
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, August 31, 2006
More than 1,000 members of Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church in Tulsa met Wednesday night and overwhelmingly approved their leaders’ proposals to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) and join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
They also voted by acclamation to affirm the ordinations of Dr. Thomas W. Gray and Dr. R. Wayne Hardy as the pastors.
The vote to disaffiliate from the PCUSA was 967-36 (96.4 percent approval) with eight abstentions. Members voted 973-31 (96.9 percent approval) with eight abstentions to affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
The members crowded the sanctuary beyond its rated capacity of 750, while an overflow crowd of nonmembers observed by video in the fellowship hall. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., but people began registering at 5 p.m.
“I thought last Sunday was electric; nothing compared with tonight,” Gray said on his Web blog. “People were talking excitedly. Those who greeted Wayne and me on the way in usually did so not only with a smile, but a ‘thumbs-up.’ There were repeated ovations, some standing, throughout the meeting.”
It was the second meeting this week related to Kirk of the Hills’ decision to leave the denomination. The Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma held a meeting Monday night. About 70 Kirk of the Hills members attended – but there was no breakdown on how many were opposed to leaving the denomination.
Presbytery leaders have not revealed what tack they will take. But they are seeking to identify “true church” members in a possible attempt to take over the property of Kirk of the Hills, a multi-million-dollar facility on a rolling hilltop.
The evangelical congregation’s session took action calling for separation from the denomination before the presbytery could convene an administrative commission. Greg Coulter, the executive presbyter, was contacted earlier this week by The Layman Online, but he refused to comment on the situation.
Gray has contended that the presbytery precipitated the sudden move to leave the denomination by filing affidavits, with copies to lenders, in an attempt to deny congregations from securing loans or selling property without presbytery approval. Coulter previously told The Layman Online that the affidavits were not aimed at Kirk of the Hills, but were primarily in response to property issues at a few Native American congregations.
But Gray has contended that the presbytery was following the course recommended by the denomination’s attorneys in “privileged and confidential” documents that were disclosed by The Layman Online, and that the presbytery was seeking to prevent Kirk of the Hills from considering leaving the denomination.