For these reasons I am strongly considering formally asking that my name be removed from the rolls of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina’s list of commissioned ruling elders. As such I understand that I would also be giving up my privilege of serving God as moderator of the session of Oakwood, and administering the Sacraments. Those things in and of themselves causes me such pain that I was almost willing to swallow the truth. But, I cannot. I cannot because nothing is worth the cost of my soul.

A Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation is where I had my first understanding of God and His love for me. From age 7 I have grown up in the Presbyterian church and sought to serve in various capacities. I began my service as a teenager working in the nursery and volunteering with Vacation Bible School at Blacknall Presbyterian in Durham N.C. I attended King College, a PCUSA institution on a PCUSA scholarship, with an eye toward entering the ministry. In fact during college, I became the youth pastor at First Presbyterian in Bristol, Tenn. There I taught high school Sunday school, and was leader of the youth group. I graduated from King with a double major in English and Bible and Religion. I looked at attending Princeton Seminary at that time, but the call was not there, at least not yet.

After college, I settled in Goldsboro, N.C., where I attended First Presbyterian. There I taught high school Sunday school, and assisted with the youth group. Then I began to teach an adult class, and had my first stint as an officer in the PCUSA serving as a deacon.

My career took me to the mountains of North Carolina and I attended First Presbyterian Church of Morganton, N.C., where I began to teach adult Sunday school. In Morganton, I worked at Broughton Hospital where I met the Rev. Phillip King, a Baptist minister and chaplain at Broughton. He encouraged me and asked me to fill in for him, my first experience in the pulpit.

In addition to being the chaplain at Broughton, he was also pastor of a small Presbyterian church called Oakwood Presbyterian in Lenoir, N.C. The people there were very friendly and welcoming. I filled in for Rev. King a few times and they encouraged me to attend. I joined Oakwood Presbyterian, and I also began to attend the Presbytery of Western North Carolina School for the Laity.

I was elected and ordained as an elder at Oakwood Presbyterian and served in the unofficial capacity of associate pastor. Rev. King was semi-retired and traveled a great deal so I was in the pulpit many times a year including a six month stint as chaplain at Broughton Hospital a State psychiatric institution. After completing the Commissioned Lay Pastor program I was called to Conley Memorial Presbyterian Church in Marion, N.C. I served for more than seven years as the solo pastor of the church. That included everything from preaching to plumbing. Meanwhile Oakwood, a church that I held dear in my heart was struggling. They were struggling financially, they were struggling with pastors with agendas and more importantly they were struggling spiritually/theologically.

Finally, I understood my call was back at Oakwood. I had served Conley faithfully, and went with their blessing.

I have served Oakwood for the last two years as solo pastor. I teach Sunday school, preach Sunday morning service and lead a Bible study on Wednesday nights as well as other pastoral duties such as visitation.

I clearly remember the joy I had as I administered the sacraments for the first time. A thrill that still has not left me and is there each time I administer Communion or Baptism. It is incredible knowing that God’s grace is inherent in the services whether the response is there or not. It is as the Holy Spirit bestows faith, these acts of grace can bear greater fruit, just as the Word of God is constant though fruitless without the work of the Holy Spirit.

In addition to my ministry at Oakwood I have another God-Called vocation. I have a full time job as the Senior Services Director of Avery County. I oversee programs such as Home-Delivered and Congregate meals; In-Home Aide Services; Volunteer Avery; the Senior Center, and much more.

In my life in the Presbyterian Church I have encountered and been influenced by many great men and women. Rev. Ed Henegar of Blacknall Presbyterian Church is the first pastor I really remember; Rev. Allan Poole, also of Blacknall Presbyterian Church; Dr. Errol Rohr, chaplain of King College; Dr. Richard Ray, First Presbyterian Church of Bristol and professor at King College; Dr. Richard Burnett, First Presbyterian Church of Bristol and professor at King College; many professors at King College, and so many more.

I owe much to the PCUSA. I was baptized in the PCUSA, educated by the PCUSA, and commissioned as a lay pastor in the PCUSA. So it pains me greatly to have to consider parting ways with the PCUSA. It pains me more than I can easily express in words.

However, one thing remains. “We must obey God rather than men.”(Acts 5:29 – ESV), and I personally must obey God rather than to submit myself to a denomination that has left Biblical truth for heretical but politically correct teachings.

I have tried to live in peace and unity with the PCUSA for many years as it seemed to drift further and further from purity. I hoped to be part of the voice within the PCUSA that dissented with the wave of non-Biblical anthropology that seems to be sweeping through our denomination.

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