Evangelical Presbyterian Church

• EPC Meets in Denver (7/15/2010)
• Doug Klein Nominated as Moderator Elect (5/27/2010)
• Rob Liddon Nominated as Moderator of the 30th General Assembly (5/6/2010)
• EPC Responds to PC(U.S.A.) Report (4/28/2010)

Evangelical Presbyterian Church Meets In Denver

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Dana Cadman - 734-742-2020 x243

Evangelical Presbyterian Church Meets In Denver
EPC votes on the ordination of women and expanding presbytery boundary

Livonia, Mich. – July 15, 2010 –The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) met June 23-26 in Englewood, Colorado, at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church for its 30th General Assembly. More than 800 people from around the world gathered in Denver for this year’s General Assembly to represent the denomination’s more than 285 churches and 40 missionary teams.

This year, the commissioners of the General Assembly voted to:

• Approve a recommendation to amend the EPC Book of Government so congregations that want to call a woman Teaching Elder or endorse a female Candidate for ministry, but are part of a presbytery that would not approve a woman Teaching Elder or Candidate, can petition to become part of a neighboring presbytery that does permit the ordination of women Teaching Elders. The EPC believes that the issue of the ordination of women is not an essential of the faith. The EPC has chosen to leave this decision to the Spirit-guided consciences of particular congregations concerning the ordination of women as elders and deacons, and to the presbyteries concerning the ordination of women as teaching elders. This recommendation must be approved by at least six of the EPC’s eight presbyteries and come to the 2011 General Assembly for ratification.
• Expand the boundaries of the Florida presbytery to include the Bahamas. This paved the way for two churches from the Church of Scotland to be received as members of the presbytery.
• Create a Study Group to study the creation of one or more new presbyteries to accommodate the addition of more than 100 churches in the denomination since 2007.
• Instruct the Committee on Administration to enter into conversation with Mid-America Presbytery and the Study Group (above) and empower the Committee to establish two new presbyteries from the existing Mid-America Presbytery before the 2011 General Assembly.
• Provide stringent guidelines for virtual meetings of representative bodies. The General Assembly, presbyteries, and church sessions may develop and approve bylaws conforming to these guidelines by which they would be able to use teleconferencing and Internet technologies to conduct virtual votes, so long as all members “present” are able to hear each other and a precise record of the vote can be recorded.
• Instruct the Ministerial Vocation Committee to study the need for greater definition of the calling of chaplain, especially due to the increasing number of corporate chaplaincies. The study will include, but not be limited to, questions such as how a person ordained to Word and Sacrament functions in a corporate environment and how such chaplaincies relate to the local church.
• Approve Overseas Council (OC), Women of the Harvest Ministries, and English Language Institute/China (ELIC) as Approved Mission Agencies.

General Assemblies are the annual gatherings of the EPC, where church representatives vote on committee recommendations and reports, vote on presbytery overtures, and conduct other business of the denomination. There are also workshops, other training opportunities, and times of worship and prayer available during the 3-1/2 day gathering.

More than 99,000 people attend 285 EPC churches nationwide. To learn more about the EPC, visit www.EPC.org.

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Doug Klein Nominated as Moderator-elect

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Dana Cadman, Communications Manater - 734-742-2020 x243

Doug Klein nominated as Moderator-elect of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church

Livonia, Mich. - May 27, 2010 - Rev. Doug Klein, Pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora, Colorado has been nominated as the Moderator-Elect of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC).  The Moderator-elect is an officer of the General Assembly, a member of the national Committee on Administration, assists the Moderator as requested, and is the presumptive nominee to assume for the office of Moderator in the following year. Rev. Klein's nomination will be presented to the 30th General Assembly, meeting June 24-26 at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, Englewood, Colorado.

Doug was born 1954 in Red Bank, New Jersey and received an undergraduate degree in Communications from Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania

He was called to his first pastorate at age 25 in 1980 at First Presbyterian Church, Turtle Creek, PA (PCUSA). In 1983, Rev. Klein accepted a call from Ward Presbyterian Church, Livonia, Michigan to plant their second daughter church, Grace Chapel (Farmington Hills, Michigan), where he served for 10 years, completing a successful building campaign while also serving as Chairman of the EPC National Outreach Committee and Moderator of the Presbytery of the Mid-West.

In 1993, Doug was called to Faith Presbyterian Church, Aurora, Colorado where he has served as pastor for the last 17 years. Doug has led the congregation through a time of transition and renewal to becoming an effective urban international congregation that currently has members from eleven nations. Faith Church has started a dynamic Spanish congregation named Shekinah and houses an Afro-American, Iranian, and Arabic congregation. Doug has a special passion for the contemporary young adult service he started in 2009 focusing on unchurched young adults with a rock band named Lion Tracks.

Under Doug’s leadership, Faith Presbyterian Church has acquired two pieces of land for future satellite campuses that serve as a larger part of a vision to plant seven churches in the growth areas of Denver over the next 25 years.

Doug has a special interest in church planting internationally and serves as a team member of Dynamic Church Planting International DCPI, doing church planting training in London, Paris and Nairobi, Kenya. Doug is a Certified Trainer of DCPI church planting training materials.

Doug and his wife, Carol, have been married 29 years and have three children, Jennifer, Paul, and Jonathan.

For information on the 2010 EPC General Assembly, see:
http://www.epc.org/about-the-epc/general-assembly/2010-general-assembly

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Rob Liddon Nominated as Moderator

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Dana Cadman, Communications Manager - 734-742-2020 x243

Rob Liddon nominated as 30th Moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church

Livonia, Mich. - May 6, 2010 - Mr. Rob Liddon, ruling elder at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee has been nominated as the Moderator of the 30th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). The Moderator, elected annually, presides over the meeting of the General Assembly and represents the EPC in a variety of capacities throughout the year. The 2010 General Assembly meeting is being held June 24-26 at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, Englewood, Colorado.

Liddon was born 1950 in Corinth, Mississippi and received an undergraduate degree in economics from Vanderbilt University and a law degree from Columbia University. Upon graduation from law school, he moved to Memphis and began three decades of work for the firm that has become Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell, and Berkowitz. In his practice, he’s handled primarily commercial real estate and lending transactions.

Rob and his wife Susan were married on New Years Eve 1977 and joined Second Presbyterian Church when they moved to a nearby neighborhood in 1979. They still live in this home where they raised their three children. Over the years at Second, Rob has served as a deacon, ruling elder (since the early '90s), Steering Committee of the Session, chancel choir for 30 years, children's Sunday school teacher, Boy Scout leader, various search, stewardship and study committees, legal counsel to Second Presbyterian Church and its Foundations, judicial commissions, and short-term mission trips. At present, he is the Clerk of the Session at Second Presbyterian and curriculum coordinator for his Sunday school class. Serving in the Central South Presbytery, he has recently been Moderator and currently serves as Chairman of the Coordinating Council.

Rob served last year as the EPC's Moderator-elect, and has expressed how humbled he is to be considered for these Offices, as he feels there are many who have worked much harder and done much more than he. If elected, he stated he will do his best not to disappoint those who have asked him to serve and, with providence and protection from the Holy Spirit, to bring honor to the Evangelical Presbyteian Church and to the kingdom of God.

For information on the 2010 EPC General Assembly, see:
http://www.epc.org/about-the-epc/general-assembly/2010-general-assembly

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Evangelical Presbyterian Church Responds to PCUSA Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Dana Cadman, Communications Manager - 734-742-2020 x243

Evangelical Presbyterian Church Responds to PCUSA Report

EPC grateful that Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) finds accusation unsubstantiated

Livonia, Mich. – April 28, 2010 – A task force report from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (PCUSA) has determined that an accusation made by its Presbytery of Peace River against the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) regarding the alleged solicitations of congregations is unsubstantiated.

In 2008, the Presbytery of Peace River, a presbytery of the PCUSA, made an overture accusing the EPC, a Protestant Reformed denomination, of "actively pursuing a strategy to persuade Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) churches disaffiliate with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and be dismissed to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.”

The PCUSA Committee on Ecumenical Relations formed a task force to investigate the accusation. The task force made its report public on Thursday, April 22. The leadership of the EPC is grateful that the task force confirmed that there was no evidence to substantiate the accusations of Peace River Presbytery. The EPC also appreciated the report’s call for a better relationship and improved communication between the two Presbyterian denominations.

However, the EPC did have concerns about other findings of the task force's report. For example, the report states “other leaders from within the EPC were also willing to speak to PCUSA congregations, when a session had invited them in, often showing the PCUSA in a less than flattering light.” The task force had the opportunity to present this finding to EPC leadership in a meeting on January 15, but chose not to. The task force has also provided no supporting evidence for this assertion.

Even though the task force report has been made public, the PCUSA General Assembly has not yet met to review, vote on, or act on the assessments or recommendations of the report. The EPC has decided it would be inappropriate to make any further responses to the report until it has been reviewed, amended (if necessary), and approved by the PCUSA General Assembly, which won't meet until July.

More than 100,000 people attend 275 EPC churches nationwide. To learn more about the EPC, visit www.EPC.org.

More than 2 million people attend 10,700 PCUSA churches nationwide. To learn more about the PCUSA, visit www.PCUSA.org.

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