Each year, the PCA General Assembly elects its moderator, who serves until his successor is elected at the following Assembly. This means that the moderator has virtually no time to prepare for the often intricate questions of constitutional interpretation and procedure that he’s required to make.

Georgia Foothills Presbytery has proposed to modify this procedure to allow time for adequate preparation. Overture 16 calls for the Rules of Assembly Operation to be modified so that the first order of business after the election of the moderator would be the election of a moderator-elect. Election to this office would follow the same procedure as the election of the moderator. For the remainder of the Assembly, the moderator-elect would serve as vice-moderator; at the opening of the next Assembly, he would automatically be placed in nomination for the office as moderator. Nominations would be allowed from the floor, and the election would proceed as it always has.

Don Aldin, Georgia Foothills Clerk, sees creating the position of moderator-elect as fitting with the recent emphasis on making the Assembly run as efficiently as possible.

“The work of the moderator at General Assembly is an enormous task and carries with it a tremendous amount of responsibility,” he says. “Our presbytery believes that a moderator-elect will be of incredible value as he spends the year learning the work of the moderator.”

The Overture has been referred to the CCB to assess its compatibility with the Constitution, and to the Overtures Committee for its recommendation to the General Assembly.