Every year, the commissioners of the PCA’s General Assembly elect a moderator to facilitate their meeting. It has been the custom to alternate between teaching elders and ruling elders. The only exception to the customary election of a moderator occurred in 1998 when the 26th General Assembly was held in St. Louis, Missouri.
When the time arrived for the election of the moderator, the minutes record an extraordinary action.
“The Moderator opened the floor for nominations for Moderator of the 26th General Assembly. TE Paul Settle nominated TE Kennedy Smartt, North Georgia Presbytery, who was elected by acclamation. RE Samuel Duncan offered prayer for the new Moderator. The Moderator assumed the chair, and shared with the Assembly a report concerning the health of TE Donald Patterson. The Assembly elected TE Patterson Honorary Moderator of the 26th General Assembly, and prayer was offered for the Pattersons by TE Paul Settle. It was ordered that this action be communicated to TE Patterson as soon as practical.”
The motion to elect Patterson as honorary moderator came from the Administrative Committee. In the reasoning for their motion, it was stated, “he has recently gone through chemotherapy for cancer which resulted in severe damage to his heart that has prevented his attendance at this Assembly, and…it was the intent of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Committee to nominate him to serve this Twenty-Sixth Assembly as its Moderator.” Once the motion was approved, TE William Joseph offered a prayer for Patterson.
Patterson had been influential in the formation of the PCA through his service as chairman of the steering committee for a Continuing Presbyterian Church. He had served as senior minister at West End Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia, McIlwain Presbyterian Church in Pensacola, Florida, and First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi, before serving as pastor-at-large for Mission to the World. He served as vice-president of the World Relief Commission, chairman of the PCA’s Mission to the World Committee, and participated four times in the World Congress on Evangelism. Belhaven College awarded him a Doctor of Divinity Degree.
The task of evangelism was central to his ministry. As Patterson preached at the first General Assembly in Birmingham, “I may have misunderstood the Scripture, but my impression of the Church was that it was never meant to be some kind of a fortress out of reach of the people. The Church was to be an outgoing, proclaiming, evangelistic body of believers dedicated to the passion for the world-wide evangelization of people.”
Patterson passed away later in 1998, with a memorial service held at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson on December 29, 1998. The service was led by Smartt, his friend and co-moderator.
To this day, Patterson remains listed in the succession of moderators included with the minutes of the General Assembly. He remains the only elder ever afforded such an honor.
View the Succession of Moderators in the PCA here.