PCA General Assembly, 2009

Note:There is no webcast of the General Assembly this year. To follow tweets about the assembly use the hashtag #pcaga

Orlando

Index to our daily reports: Tuesday: June 16th, Wednesday: June 17th, Thursday: June 18th,

Note that the times are for the Orlando, Florida (Eastern) time zone.
Daily reports will be prepared by Pastor Bob Burridge Š2009
(Grace Presbyterian Church, Pinellas Park, Florida)

Pre-Assembly News: June 15, 2009
The Overtures Committee of the General Assembly will be recommending that overtures 5 and 10 be answered in the negative. If the delegates agree, there will be no study committee to look again into the roles of women in the church. The committee mentioned the enormous amount of good material that is already available on the subject, and was not convinced that the report of a study group would bring more clarity to the issue. The committees will also be recommending that the assembly should vote "no" on overtures 3, 4, 6, 8, 13, 14, and 18.

Tuesday: June 16, 2009
Evening Worship 7:30pm
The sermon was presented by moderator Dr. Paul Kooistra which was followed by the administration of the Lord's Supper.

Evening Session 9:00 pm
Brad Bradley was elected as moderator for this year's General Assembly. He is a Ruling Elder at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas.

Wednesday: June 17, 2009
Morning Session 10:30am - Noon
Reports were presented from the Stated Clerk, the Interchurch Relations Committee, and the Cooperative Ministries Committee.

Overture 2 was passed. This will modify the RAO to permit more debate on recommendations and minority reports when needed.

Afternoon session 1:30pm - 5:30 pm
Reports were presented by various Committees: Reformed University Fellowship, PCA Foundation, Covenant College, Retirement and Benefits, Covenant Theological Seminary, Mission to the World, Christian Education and Publications, and the Administrative Committee.

Evening Worship 7:30pm

Thursday: June 18, 2009
Morning Session 9:30am - Noon
With the informational reports completed, the Assembly started it's way through the various recommendations from Covenant Seminary, MTW, MNA, RBI, Covenant College, Ridge Haven, and Administration.

The overtures were handled with great speed and with a greater attendance of delegates on the floor compared with those hearing the informational reports yesterday.

Overtures 5 and 10 asking for a study committee on the roles of women, and overture 6 to make the BCO section on marriage required oonstitutionally, were sent back to the Overtures Committee to imporve its recommendations.

Overture 15 was ruled out of order.

The Assembly rejected overture 13 on the Danvers Statement, and 18 concerning homosexuals serving in the military.

Procedural overtures 1,2,3 and 9 were passed. while overtures 4, 8 and 14 failed (earlier 4 was reported as passed)

Afternoon session 1:30pm - 5:30 pm
The Nominating Committee presented it's nominees. Those elected were installed into office.

There was a lengthy debate on Overture 10 (which includes 5). A substitute motion to adopt the minority report (in favor of a women's study committee) failed. The vote was close and required a counted vote. Then Overtures 5 and 10 failed as the Overtures Committee had recommended. The Overtures to deny a study committee for the role of women were defeated by only 20 votes. According to one commissioner, only 874 commissioners were present to vote.

Worship was scheduled for 5:30pm

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