While the main event in the PCA’s 50th anniversary celebration will be the General Assembly in Memphis, a committee is planning initiatives throughout the year. Celebration Committee Chairman Jim Wert spoke with byFaith about its plans.
Who is on the 50th Celebration committee, and what is the committee’s job?
Our Celebration Committee is comprised of 14 members and 6 supporting advisors including pastors, women’s ministry leaders, PCA permanent committee members and coordinators, former GA moderators, and folks who are exceptional at getting things done.
We seek to both highlight the many things we have to be thankful for and celebrate, marking God’s faithfulness over the last 50 years; and also to draw attention toward the challenges and aspirations we have looking toward the next 50 years in ways that create shared passion and unity.
What can PCA members expect from the committee?
We are pursuing specific initiatives across a number of areas:
• The 50th Anniversary focal point for many in 2023 will be our Assembly in Memphis. Our host committee has worked with RUF to plan a celebratory concert on Wednesday evening, and attendees can also expect seminars with some semi-centennial flourishes.
• One of the first things we hope PCA members see early in 2023 is some prayer material that our committee has prepared in partnership with CDM. In combination with a couple of focused days of prayer across the denomination in May and December of 2023, our hope is that our entire 50th celebration will be grounded in prayer.
• Over the course of the year, the committee will be working with byFaith to see a series of articles published across an array of 50th anniversary themes. We’re also building a 50th anniversary section on the PCA website with content that we hope encourages our denominational members.
• We hope to encourage grassroots celebrations across our presbyteries and churches. Our committee will be gathering examples and ideas of what others are doing, and sharing those across the denomination.
What are your hopes for the 50th Celebration?
We hope to celebrate what God has done over the past 50 years, and also look ahead to where He’s leading us in our next 50. We desire to attend well to the ideas and values that were present at our founding, and that continue to unite us and provide common ground and purpose. We want to provide not only facts but also stories, rooted in voices of those from around the denomination speaking from their heart — founding voices, diverse voices, and multigenerational voices.
Jim Wert Introduces the Celebration Committee Team Members:
Robert Browning, the executive pastor at Independent Pres in Memphis, is also the chairman of the 2023 General Assembly Host Committee.
Laura Dowling works in the PCA Historical Center, and lives in Alabama; her husband, Steve, has been serving on the Standing Judicial Commission.
Karen Hodge is in Charlotte, and is the current Coordinator for CDM’s Women’s Ministries.
Susan Hunt lives in Marietta, GA, and has been with the PCA since its earliest days; now a widow, her husband Gene was one of our founding fathers.
Irwin Ince is the Coordinator for Mission to North America, and has been the Executive Director of the Grace DC Institute for Cross-Cultural Mission (ICCM) and a pastor in the Grace DC Network; he was the Moderator at the 46th General Assembly in 2018.
Sean Michael Lucas is the senior pastor at Independent Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee; he has taught at Covenant Theological Seminary and Reformed Theological Seminary and authored several books on church history.
Ken McHeard pastors at First Presbyterian in Augusta. Ken is the long-serving and former chairman of our denomination’s RPR Committee.
Rod Mays is the former Coordinator for RUF, shifting to emeritus status in January 2020; he’s an author, and adjunct professor at RTS Charlotte.
Les Newsom is a Memphis native and current lead pastor at Christ Pres in Oxford, Mississippi.
Sue Pitzer is a graduate of Belhaven University and Covenant College, and has served as classroom teacher in early childhood, elementary, and high school settings. She most recently served for 21 years as head of school at Kirk Day School in St. Louis, and was very involved with the host committee during the 2021 General Assembly.
Bill Sim serves with MNA, and also within the Southeast Korean Presbytery.
Wayne Sparkman is on staff in the Stated Clerk’s office, and has been the director of the PCA Historical Center for over 23 years.
Jim Wert (chairman) is a Ruling Elder in the Metro Atlanta Presbytery, and has been involved in a lot of PCA stuff; under stress, he tends to quote J.R.R. Tolkien.
Thurman Williams is the outgoing chairman of the MNA Permanent Committee, and has just taken on a new role with Covenant Theological Seminary as their Director of Homiletics.
Amanda Burton (advisory) was formerly on staff in the Stated Clerk’s office, serving as our denominational meeting planner,
Bryan Chapell (advisory) is the PCA’s Stated Clerk, long time pastor, former Covenant Theological Seminary president, and a whole lot more with his extensive PCA resume.
Richard Doster (advisory) is the founding editor of the PCA’s denominational magazine, byFaith.
Angela Nantz (advisory) has been the long-serving Operations Manager in the Office of the Stated Clerk; she has recently shifted her role, taking on Amanda Burton’s former position as the PCA Meeting Planner, including coordination on the plethora of details associated with our 50th Anniversary General Assembly.
John Robertson (advisory) is the Business Administrator for the Administrative Committee in the Stated Clerk’s office, and the main recruiting force behind this committee.
Suellen Warren (advisory) is the Business Administrator at Independent Presbyterian Church in Memphis; she’s also on the Board for Sanctuary Counseling Center, also in Memphis.