At its opening session on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, the 43rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America elected Ruling Elder Jim Wert as Moderator. The PCA General Assembly is holding its annual meeting in the Chattanooga Convention Center in Chattanooga, Tenn., through June 12. Wert is a ruling elder in the Intown Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Ga.

Also nominated was Richard A. Springer, a ruling elder in Calvary Presbyterian Church in Allenwood, N.J.

Wert was nominated by the Joe Novenson, pastor of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian near Chattanooga, Tenn. He noted of Wert, “We need institutional memory and visionary cultural engagement right now. One cannot be sacrificed on the altar of the other. It’s an unusual man who can do that. And I think Jim can.”

Novenson stated that from his conversion in 1969 in one of the churches that gave rise to the PCA pastored by the later Rev. John neville, Wert has deep roots in the denomination.

Wert has served as a ruling elder at Intown Community Church in Atlanta for many years. He has also served in leadership positions in the Metro Atlanta Presbytery, the Overtures Committee of the General Assembly, and consulting for the Strategic Planning process of the PCA from 2002 to 2004.

Because of this broad experience at all three levels of church governance, Novenson indicated that Wert will be able to help the denomination think deeply about the past and pray about the future of engaging our culture with the gospel. Wert’s has worked with Christian ministries helping them to develop strategic clarity and organizational strength, learning much of these principles from his MBA from Harvard.