Though the Presbyterian Church in America is an intentionally grassroots denomination, it needs national support staff to function. Meeting planner Angela Nantz plays an integral role in putting together the PCA General Assembly (GA). Nantz talked with byFaith about the hidden side of GA and how she sees God at work in the details. 

What are some of the factors you consider when planning the Assembly?

We normally plan four to five years out for an Assembly. Because of inflation pressures, fallout from COVID, and staff transitions, we haven’t been able to secure the spaces that we would normally find available. While it’s been invisible to commissioners, we’ve been able to keep our hotel costs lower than other groups. But as costs go up, our negotiated hotel costs will need to follow. 

We have more people coming to each Assembly, which is great, but that [means we need bigger spaces]. There are possibilities, and we believe the Lord will bring us to a city for 2025 that will accommodate us.

One of the comments we often get is commissioners wanting to go further west and further north for General Assembly, and the biggest factor in that is hotel room prices.

We also need a host committee. The host committee handles the worship services and women and family programming, and provides key volunteers. The host city needs to have enough local people willing to volunteer.  We’ve been creative about that; Richmond [2024] is a great example. Four presbyteries are joining together to host Richmond: James River, Blue Ridge, Tidewater, and Korean Capital are all providing financial, logistical, and volunteer help.

What are some behind-the-scenes things people don’t know about?

Something will always go wrong! Over the years, I am always so proud of how PCA people handle those challenges. The hotel and convention center staff repeatedly say, “Your people have been so great to work with — so kind and so nice.” We have been in situations where we could have had a poor witness, and the Lord has shown His kindness. The Lord has used the PCA to show hospitality to those who are showing hospitality to us. Even when we are talking about hard things and not necessarily agreeing, we are united in showing Christ to our host city. I am thankful our PCA pastors, ruling elders, staff, and visitors have been kind and gracious.

You’ve attended a lot of General Assemblies. Do you have a favorite part?

I love the way our staff bonds. There is a sweetness to seeing people serve together. We have a crazy number of volunteers who serve on the stage, doing tech, at registration — people use vacation time to work long hours; General Assembly would not happen without them. The amount of work host committees put in over the years of planning and the year of preparing — it’s unbelievable.