Fourth candidate endorsed for General Assembly moderator
The Layman Online, January 31, 2001
Sandra Hawley, an elder at Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in Bloomingon, Minn., has become the fourth candidate for moderator of the 213th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area endorsed Hawley, who is chair of the presbytery’s committee on the ministry.
Hawley is a member of the council of advisors for the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in Iowa. She previously served as a member of the General Assembly Council and as chair of the council’s National Ministries Division.
She is an electrical engineer, mathematician and statistician.
“I want to do what I can to ensure that we live up to our call to spread the gospel, create communities of faith where people are valued and care for and serve people,” she said in a press release. “In all my experience in the Church, I’m most excited about Church vitality and growth. I want to help spread the message that God is calling us, as leaders of the denomination, to move into the 21st lcentury as a viable church that is growing in all aspects of our life together.”
Hawley lives in Bloomington with her husband, Michael. Their son, Alexander, is a graduate student at Colorado State University.
The other candidates for moderator are Nancy Maffett of First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, a former president of Presbyterians for Renewal; Dr. Jack Rogers of San Francisco, a retired seminary professor; and the Rev. M. Anderson “Andy” Sale, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of the Peaks.
The 213th General Assembly will meet June 9-16 in Louisville, Ky., the headquarters for the denomination. The election of a moderator to serve a one-year term is one of the first orders of business.