June 9, 2023
Next week is the PCA's 50th General Assembly. Since being ordained in 2003 (on June 15, so I'll be celebrating my 20th anniversary as a pastor next Thursday!), I've always looked forward to GA. It has not only been a time to catch up with old friends who pastor around the country and world, as well as a time to geek out on parliamentary procedure with my acquaintance Dr. Robert and his rules of order, but it's also a privilege to participate in deciding how the PCA will look moving forward through votes on different recommendations that come from our committees and Presbyteries.
GA is a week of worship, seminar instruction, fellowship, networking, learning about different organizations and resources in the exhibit hall, hearing presentations from our committees, and voting on overtures.
You can learn more about the various parts of GA by reading this article by Pastor Jared Nelson.
You can watch a livestream of the GA - the debate of the various overtures happens on Thursday afternoon (overtures are requests by Presbyteries to change the Book of Church Order or to make a particular statement or to take a particular action).
Speaking of the overtures, there are again several that seek to address the issue of same-sex attraction and homosexual self-description as it relates to officers. The GA approved an amendment to our Book of Church Order last year, but it failed to pass the required number of Presbyteries. So hopefully this year we can approve something that the Presbyteries will pass, to make crystal clear that those who do not conform to the biblical norms of sexual purity in their descriptions of themselves, in their convictions, and in their conduct, are not eligible to hold office in the PCA. Several overtures deal with how to conduct discipline cases that involved abuse. One overture asks the civil authorities to renounce the sin of medical/surgical sex change procedures in minors. All of the overtures are first debated by an Overtures Committee, and only those that pass that committee are debated on the floor of the Assembly.
You can read all the overtures here.
Because this is the 50th GA, there will be a special emphasis on how God has been faithful to see us through to this golden anniversary, and prayer for Him to keep us through the next 50 years. The church of Jesus is in decline throughout America, yet the PCA continues to see growth. Let us pray that we will continue to be "Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed faith, and Obedient to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ." At 8:00 on Wednesday morning, there will be an Assembly-wide seminar entitled, "Memories and Aspirations of our Founding Fathers and Sons," in which several men will be sharing how God began and sustained the PCA. I encourage you to watch that as you're able!
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This Lord's Day morning we have the privilege of hearing God's word from one of our church planters, Rev. Mark Horn. Mark is planting a church in Ocean Springs, MS, and hopefully you've had a chance to read his prayer updates the past year. I'm looking forward to learning more about the work God is doing through Mark on the coast in a place that is far more post-Christian than most of Mississippi.
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Continue to pray for all our mission teams and summer youth trips! Also, there is much work being done around the church campus, and the new high school building is nearing completion. Let us pray without ceasing that the Lord would use POPC as a church, and each one of us as individuals and families, to bring sinners to a knowledge of Jesus, and to transform them into the likeness of Jesus. "Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person" (Colossians 4:5-6).