I went back to the Communications Office/Press Room the other day and got to meet Diana Ott and several of the web people in Louisville. They were all really cool and it sounds like some things are in the works for the PC(USA) internet presence.
Diana wanted people to know that there are hundreds of GA photos online for anyone’s use at: http://www.pcusa.org/ga218/photos/index.htm
That’s Adam Walker Cleaveland on my left.
From a Layman article about the GA commissioners:
“160
The number of staff members assigned to the 15 General Assembly committees. That’s more than 10 per committee. Many of those staff members will lobby for their favorite causes.”
Wow, the Layman news reporting is so good that they can predict the future! Because they would never interject their personal opinion into a news article, instead of documented and sourced facts.
“16
The number of staff members scheduled to work on peace and justice issues - generally a catchall for liberal social agendas.”
Even if they are right on this one, it’s still opinion or at best an unsupported speculative conclusion.
“2
The number of staff members assigned to work with evangelism and church growth in a denomination that has shrunken from 4.2 million members in 1965 to 2.8 million members in 2006.”
Hmmmm… I met at least three denominational people yesterday working the the New Church Development office and with the website Presbygrow (which has as its tagline “Growing healthy, missional churches in the PC(USA)”). And that doesn’t include Eric Hoey or anyone else from the Evangelism office.
And just for your information, the Presbyterian Lay Committee started in 1965 - the exact year they reference above as the start of our numerical decline. Coincidence?
Two amazing things happened tonight.
1) The live blog for GA came alive. I think there were only two or three of us when it started but by the end we had over 20 potential bloggers and who knows how many were reading it. Most of us were at the Assembly or watching it streaming, so it became less of a play-by-play and more commentary. At times the commentary was insightful, funny, sarcastic, and maybe even uncalled for. But it was real, honest, and brought a group together that had never been together before. I look forward to using it the rest of this week and if you haven’t checked it out give it a try. It’ll probably be most active towards the Thursday and Friday sessions.
2) Bruce Reyes-Chow was elected moderator of the General Assembly. I think it all started with a Facebook group started by Jon Phillips that sought to find a young adult candidate for moderator. Shortly after that I got an email from Bruce asking me if I would be on board if he hypothetically ran for moderator. So I said hypothetically, you bet! Bruce made me his Social Network Coordinator - which meant I was supposed to create and maintain the Facebook page. This was something Bruce was more than capable of doing himself, but that’s just how Bruce is.
I don’t know if I really believed that it would happen. I dearly wanted it to happen, but I figured that too many commissioners wouldn’t be able to see past his age, his hipster-ness, or his leadership style.
I was wrong.
Bruce almost won on the first vote.
Now, I’m about to head to Bruce’s post-election party.
I set up a Live Blog for GA at shiftedit.com, but they have since changed their website. The blog still exists though!
If you want to help Live Blog GA either in person or watching it online, then the the Writers’ link is: http://www.scribblelive.com/Event/PCUSA_General_Assembly_218?Invite=7A58EA2E-E3B3-4387-9B63-81D8564F675B
If you just want to read it then the Watchers’ link is: http://www.scribblelive.com/Event/PCUSA_General_Assembly_218
When I decided to support Obama in the primary, I said I would continue to support him as the Democrat nominee as long as he doesn’t conduct himself like the typical nominee. I’m looking for a true liberal, not a Democrat lite who rushes to the middle to attract swing voters. And I’m looking for someone who will choose to stand by their convictions even when it may cost them votes.
Which brings me to this story. Obama has gone back on his promise to accept public funding for his campaign. I don’t care what his reasons are - he made a promise and now he is breaking it. When he made that promise he didn’t put conditions on it (EDIT: Ok, there was one condition and that was if the Republican nominee would accept public financing - which McCain has said he is going to). He simply made a promise.
I realize that he can run a more effective campaign and have a better chance of winning if he goes the private route. I realize that outside groups can run issue ads that are for all intents and purposes candidate ads. But Obama is a smart man and he knew about both these realities when he made his promise.
I will continue to support Obama for now, but I am one step closer to voting Green again.
UPDATE: I just finished watching Obama’s video where he explains his decision. He basically says that the public financing system is broken and so he will not participate in it. So did he just learn in the last several months that it was broken? Was it not broken when he made his promise?
The other argument he makes is that this puts his campaign truly in the hands of the American people. I got the impression that he wants me to think he is taking a big risk by forgoing public financing, as if there were a chance that he wouldn’t get enough money to run.
What happened to honest talk? The reason he is not participating in this broken system is because he can get more money by forgoing it. I am really disappointed. But this is what I have come to expect from our two party system.
Somehow I think that Jesus would approve of this. This must be how lepers, prostitutes, and other outcasts felt around him.
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