J. Herbert Nelson is new PC(USA) stated clerk
June 24, 2016 by Leslie Scanlon, The Presbyterian Outlook
PORTLAND, Ore. – The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has elected a new stated clerk: J. Herbert Nelson II – a third-generation Presbyterian pastor, a prophetic voice for justice.
Nelson issued a call to Presbyterians stop focusing on internal church disputes, numerical survival, and labeling each other as progressives or conservatives, and to focus on “the impact God can make through us” in a broken world.
“I believe we are not dying,” Nelson told the 2016 General Assembly. “I believe we are reforming.”
On the first ballot, the assembly voted overwhelming 447 to 112 to elect Nelson – the official nominee and the director of the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness – over challenger David M. Baker, stated clerk of the Presbytery of Tampa and its director of communications.
