Second Presbytery is made up of churches in UpState South Carolina (Greenville-Spartanburg and environs) along with the entire state of Georgia.  Erskine College and Seminary and the headquarters of the denomination are located within the bounds of the Presbytery which adds a bit more interest to their docket from time to time.

(Editor’s note:  The Aquila Report believes that the work of Presbyterians (and regional bodies in other faith groups) is the place where much of the important work of the church is accomplished, but is also the place which gets the least coverage in news magazines – including ours.  With no paid staff, an only two writers (and this week one Intern) we obviously cannot cover the hundreds of such meetings that take place each year.

However, we believe this is something our readers can do for us.  Using the general format of the following article, we welcome reports of highlights of actions taken (in open session, of course) of your Presbytery (or regional body).  Send reports to News Editor, Don Clements, at [email protected].  And thanks!)

Second Presbytery is made up of churches in UpState South Carolina (Greenville-Spartanburg and environs) along with the entire state of Georgia.  Erskine College and Seminary and the headquarters of the denomination are located within the bounds of the Presbytery which adds a bit more interest to their docket from time to time.

Most of the ARP Presbyteries conduct meetings on the afternoon before the annual General Synod meets.  Second Presbytery met in the Youth Activity Center at Bonclarken, convening at 2:00PM on Tuesday when the Moderator, the Reverend Mark Horby, pastor of the Highlands Presbyterian Church in Grayson, GA opened the meeting with prayer.

STUDENT SERMON:  After approving the agenda (docket), the Presbytery heard a Student Sermon (required of all candidates for licensure) from Mr. Philip Bunch, a recent graduate of Erskine Seminary.  He preached on the well-known text in Genesis 22  concerning Abraham’s willingness to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice.  After a sound exegesis of the passage, Mr. Bunch made a strong appeal for ministers to regularly preach on the promises of the resurrection, which clearly was the source of Abraham’s hope.  Later in the meeting the Presbytery voted to approve the sermon.

COVENANT WAY RETIREMENT CENTER:  At the point of adopted a newly revised Manual of Procedure (by-laws) for the Presbytery, a motion was made to exclude the chapter concerning the oversight of Covenant Way Retirement Center which is located in Due West, SC – the home town of Erskine College and Seminary.  Covenant Way is governed by an independent and self-perpetuating board of directors, who are under a form of oversight of Second Presbytery.  Dr. Rob Roy McGregor, a minister and professor emeritus of Latina and French at Clemson University, made the motion, indicating that the Presbytery was not able to do a ‘due diligence’ full oversight of the institution, especially in the area of finances.  In a recent report, the Center had reported they were borrowing up to $10K per month to cover expenses and Dr. McGregor suggested that the Presbytery might be a target of debt recovery because of the connectionalism.  After an extended debate, the motion failed.

COMMITTEE ON SMALLER CHURCHES.  At a previous meeting the Presbytery voted to erect a committee, appointed by the Moderator, to ‘to study our smaller congregations and to make recommendations to the next meeting of Presbytery concerning what might be done to assist them.’  After a thorough review of the pertinent ways in which the Presbytery may assist local churches, as spelled out in both the Presbytery Manual of Procedure and the denomination’s Form of Government – as well as identifying 5 of the smallest churches in the Presbytery, the  committee made two recommendations that were both approved by vote of the Presbytery:

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Encouraging the Committee on Church Extension in their efforts to ‘help revitalize our existing smaller churches’ to include ‘revitalization’ in their fifteen minute of training and prayer at Presbytery meetings and in their yearly  pre-Presbytery training for ministers and ruling elders.

Challenging the Committee on Church Extension in their ‘church planting clusters’ to consider initiating also ‘church revitalization clusters’ where smaller congregations can revitalize together through shared ministries (i.e. Women’s Ministry, men’s ministry groups, special services).

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One member of the committee had presented a Minority Report that, after a period of

discussion how to deal with a minority report from a committee, overwhelmingly failed approval by the Presbytery.

A motion was approved to suggest that the Moderator provide a method to appoint a relatively new Minister member of the Presbytery to serve as a consultant to the Committee in this area of its work.  The minister is the Reverend Mickey Rice, who for the past 50 years served as a pastor and evangelist in the PCUS/PCUSA Presbytery of West Virginia and who served for 10 years as part of the Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship prior to the formation of the PCA/

COMMITTEE ON ONLINE CONDUCT.  At a previous meeting of Presbytery, action was taken to set up a small committee to review possible guidance for those in the Presbytery in their online communications.  The committee report was adopted, including the two following conclusions:

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We believe the Scriptures, the Westminster Standards, and the Book of Discipline are sufficient to address all matters of Christian conduct including online conduct, and

The Committee recommends no changes to the governing documents at this time.

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CHURCH EXTENSION COMMITTEE.  Only two recommendations came to this meeting from the committee, both of which were approved.

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That Second Presbytery give approval to Clemson Korean Mission to apply to the (denominations) Outreach North America Committee for a one time grant ($35,000) and a loan from the revolving loan fund for construction of a new church building – pending approval of their application to ONA.

That Second Presbytery approve a bi-vocational call current pastor of the Travelers ARP Church in Travelers Rest, SC, the Rev Billy Barron, Sr.   Mr. Barron had been offered a 4 day a week position on the staff of the denominations World Witness committee, located in nearby Greenville, which would allow the church to use less of their resources for pastoral salary.  The congregation is seeking the services of an Intern to assist in the ministry of the church.

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OTHER BUSINESS:  At 3:30 it appeared all the business was completed; however several items under ‘Other Business’ took more than an hour to handle.

A motion was approved to ask the Parliamentarian, Dr. Bill Evans of Erskine College, to prepare a summary of procedures from Roberts Rules of Order on how the Presbytery may/should deal with Minority Reports for consideration at the next Presbytery meeting.

Approved motions to give permission to the congregation of First ARP, Augusta, Georgia to sell their current property and move to temporary quarters as they complete their long range plans for the future of the church.  The price was set as a ‘no less than’ figure (a bit below the appraised price) to allow room for negotiation with a prospective buyer.  In a related action, approval was given for the church to change their name to ‘Augusta Presbyterian Church.’

There being no further business, the Presbytery adjourned just after 4:30PM with the singing of Psalm 133.

Don K. Clements is a Teaching Elder in the PCA who serves as an Associate Evangelist with PEF, focusing on encouragement to smaller churches. He also serves as the voluntary News Editor of The Aqulia Report