The Mississippi Joint Committee on Campus Work (MJCCW) recommends to Covenant, Mississippi Valley and Grace Presbyteries that a new Joint Committee be formed and appointed directly by the respective presbyteries.

The Mississippi Joint Committee on Campus Work (MJCCW), a cooperative ministry of the three PCA Mississippi Presbyteries, Covenant, Grace and Mississippi Valley (and the original RUM ministry in the denomination), voted 8-2 on April 8, 2011 to recommend a major structural change to the joint oversight of the Reformed University Ministry campus works in their area (printed below).

Rod Mays, Coordinator of Reformed University Ministries (RUM) announced this change on April 12. He stated,

“This past Friday, the Mississippi Joint Committee on Campus Work, voted to affiliate with our General Assembly Committee. Their action is pending approval of their respective Presbyteries; Covenant, Grace, and Mississippi Valley. This is truly a result of the Lord’s work. It has been a lengthy process but one that will bring harmony and efficiency to Reformed University Ministries. Many thanks to the MJCCW, Lig Duncan, and others who have worked tirelessly to arrive at this decision.”

“I have also offered the Mississippi Area Coordinator position to Les Newsom [presently RUM campus minister at Ole Miss]. He has accepted the position and will begin on June 1 pending the action of the three Presbytery committees.”

The MJCCW recommendation comes after lengthy discussions, especially in Covenant Presbytery, about the relationship of MJCCW with RUM-General Assembly. RUM began in the mid-1970s at the University of Southern Mississippi. As the ministry spread to other colleges and universities in Mississippi, a joint committee for campus work was established among the three Mississippi Presbyteries.

In 1982, RUM became a ministry under Mission to North America of the PCA General Assembly. TE Mark Lowrey, who had served as the first coordinator of the MJCCW, was called by MNA to serve as director of campus ministry. The three Presbyteries approved James “Bebo” Elkin as the new coordinator of MJCCW.

Even though MNA had established an office of campus ministry and created the position of director of campus ministry, the MJCCW continued to maintain its own identity; however, it did enter into a cooperative relationship with RUM-GA, which outlined the working relationship between RUM-GA and MJCCW.

However, from the beginning of this cooperative relationship a couple of differences continued to exist. One difference was the funding process: who should be responsible for raising and distributing funds, and how they should be administered? The MJCCW, which had a funding plan in place before RUM came under MNA-GA, believed it should continue its established process.

The second area that caused some difficulties over the years was that of hiring and supervising coordinators and campus staff. MJCCW pointed to the enabling and founding actions of the three Mississippi Presbyteries, all of which pre-dated the founding of RUM-GA, to indicate that the MJCCW hires its own coordinator with the approval of the three Presbyteries. RUM-GA believes that RUM is one denominational ministry and hiring and supervising should come under the RUM coordinator.

In 1997 the General Assembly separated RUM from MNA and it became a self-standing program committee of the PCA General Assembly. However, the issue of funding and governance were still unresolved. In the background of the MJCCW recommendation is an attempt to resolve the issues of funding and governance that have been points of contention all these years.

On January 4, 2011, the MNA Sub-committee on Reformed University Ministries of Covenant Presbytery hosted an open forum at Christ Presbyterian Church in Oxford, Miss. One of the reasons for this open forum was to discuss Covenant Presbytery’s involvement in campus ministry and whether it should withdraw from the MJCCW and bring its campus ministry under Reformed University Ministries of the General Assembly. Covenant’s MNA Committee had erected a sub-committee in February 2010 “to study the MJCCW system in depth and consider whether it is the most effective way to oversee RUF-CP within Covenant Presbytery.” The sub-committee “determined the best process to employ to acquire information was through conducting interviews with representatives of those groups associated with RUF.” These interviews were held over two days, March 1-2, 2010.

Covenant’s MNA Committee presented its report dated October 5, 2010 to the Presbytery’s fall stated meeting, in which it outlined the process it used to study issues and concerns about campus ministry. A motion was approved to allow the MNA Committee to host a Presbytery wide panel discussion on January 4, 2011 in Oxford, Miss. The motion stated that the make-up of the panel members was to reflect the participants of the March 1-2, 2010 subcommittee meeting at which interviews regarding the work of the MJCCW were conducted.

As a result of the nature of the debate and exhausted from its intensity, Bebo Elkin submitted his resignation effective December 31, 2010. Elkin indicated that it was a long year and he sensed it was best to step down after 28 years of service as coordinator of MJCCW. He stated that he was frustrated with the attacks on him and the ministry of MJCCW, which he considers an effective campus ministry. The MJCCW board asked Elkin to continue for a short period of time until the MJCCW could formulate recommendations to present to the three Presbyteries.

A Recommendation from the Mississippi Joint Committee on Campus Work (MJCCW) to the Presbyteries of Covenant, Mississippi Valley and Grace

April 8, 2011

The Mississippi Joint Committee on Campus Work (MJCCW) recommends to Covenant, Mississippi Valley and Grace Presbyteries that a new Joint Committee be formed and appointed directly by the respective presbyteries.

The current members of your MJCCW hereby submit our resignations, to become effective immediately upon the appointment of the new members of the Joint Committee by Covenant, Mississippi Valley and Grace Presbyteries.

The MJCCW humbly recommends that the three presbyteries make their appointments to the new Joint Committee at each presbytery’s May meeting, in order to facilitate a swift transition.

The MJCCW recommends that the new Joint Committee be constituted as a presbytery-level joint committee, not a sub-committee, and directly appointed by the presbyteries through their normal nominations process, with 2 TEs and 2 REs representing each presbytery, serving 4 year terms, and eligible to serve for two consecutive terms.

The MJCCW further recommends (as per the usual method of initial committee appointments) that the terms of the first classes appointed by the three presbyteries be staggered in order to allow for a normal pattern of one Joint Committee member from each presbytery rotating off the committee per year.*

The MJCCW recommends to the three presbyteries that this joint committee be comprised of all new members and that no one be nominated or elected that has been heavily engaged in the recent controversies.

The MJCCW recommends to the Mississippi Valley Presbytery that TE Ligon Duncan (First, Jackson, MS) be one of its appointees to the new Joint Committee, and that he be named its Convener, through the mutual agreement of all three presbyteries.

The MJCCW recommends that affiliation agreements with RUM-GA be immediately requested and pursued for all campuses under its oversight.

The MJCCW informs the three presbyteries, pending each presbytery’s approval that all funds of the Mississippi Joint Committee be transferred to RUM-GA, oversight to be provided by the newly constituted joint committee.

The MJCCW further informs the three presbyteries, pending the approval of these recommendations by each of the three presbyteries, and per the commitment of the Coordinator of RUM-GA, that an account will be established with RUM-GA for all the respective campuses in Grace, MS Valley, and Covenant Presbyteries. Only designated monies will be deposited into those accounts. The Coordinator also agrees that a Mississippi Area Account will be established. It is into this account that non-designated monies contributed to the work of the Joint Committee will be deposited and only the Joint Committee may distribute those funds. (The Atlanta Office may never remove, transfer, or spend money from any of the Mississippi Accounts without written direction from the Mississippi Joint Committee).

The MJCCW humbly requests that the three presbyteries make such changes in their rules of procedure to allow for and guide the above recommendations, and that each of the presbyteries approve this recommendation as a whole, without amendation.

*We recommend the following pattern of rotation for the initial classes:

2011 2012 2013 2014
Covenant Pby RE TE RE TE
MS Valley Pby RE TE RE TE
Grace Pby RE TE RE TE

Dominic Aquila is a Teaching Elder in the PCA currently serving as President of New Geneva Theological Seminary in Colorado Springs, Colo. He is the Editor of The Aquila Report