PCANews -

REPORT OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE

TO THE THIRTY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

 

I.  Meetings

 

October 3, 2003

April 2, 2004

The AC also meets during the week of the General Assembly.

 

II.  Summary of the Actions of the Board of Directors

 

The members of the AC also serve as the Board of Directors of the PCA, a Corporation, a civil entity (PCA “Corporate Bylaws,” Article II Section 2). The Board of Directors meets immediately following the AC meetings to conduct civil business.

 

1. All required corporate filings of the Presbyterian Church in America (A Corporation) have been filed in the relevant states.  The Presbyterian Church in America (A Corporation) is a registered Delaware corporation.   The Presbyterian Church in America (A Corporation) is currently registered as a foreign corporation in Georgia, Missouri and Mississippi.
2. All required corporate filings of the corporations of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (acquired in the “Joining and Receiving of 1982) have been filed in the relevant states. Delaware Corporations:  World Presbyterian Missions, Inc.; National Presbyterian Missions, Inc.; Christian Training, Inc.  Michigan Corporation:  Board of Home Ministries.  Pennsylvania Corporation:  Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod.
3. The current Officers of the Corporation are; President, Mr. Edwin M. Hackenberg, Secretary and Treasurer,  Dr. L. Roy Taylor, (Stated Clerk), Assistant Secretaries, TE John W. Robertson (Business Administrator),  Miss Kristin Zeller, (Operations Manager).   Assistant Treasurers, TE John W. Robertson (Business Administrator), TE J. Robert Fiol, Assistant to the Stated Clerk, Miss Kristin Zeller (Operations Manager) [“RAO” 3-2, o., PCA “Corporate Bylaws,” Article IV].
4. As of the time of this writing there is one legal suit currently pending in a civil court against the Presbyterian Church in America (A Corporation).  Grace Presbyterian Church of Seattle, WA, Pacific Northwest Presbytery, and the Presbyterian Church in America, a Corporation have all  been named as defendants in a lawsuit,  Suzanne McDonald vs. Grace Church Seattle, Pacific Northwest Presbytery, and the Presbyterian Church in America, (A Corporation), Case number CV03-2955, filed October 1, 2003 in the U.S. District Court of Washington State.  We believe we have ground to be dismissed from the suit. 

 

III.  Election of AC Officers for 2004-2005 Assembly Year

 

            The Administrative Committee  elected the following officers:

            Chairman                                  TE Wayne C. Herring

                        Vice Chairman                           RE William “Bingy”  Moore

                        Secretary                                  TE William C. Hughes

 

IV.  Strategic Planning

 

The Committee has made progress over the past year.  Based in the previously approved Mission, Values, Identity, Vision, and Strategic Priorities of the Plan, the Strategic Planning Committee has developed Initiatives to move the plan forward.  A sub-committee composed of Frank Brock, Will Barker, Ligon Duncan, Harry Pinner, Jim Wert, John White, Jack Williamson, and Roy Taylor met frequently by conference call from June through December.  A preliminary draft report was sent to the ten Coordinators.  Changes in the first draft were made as a result of discussions in the January 20, 2004, Coordinators’ meeting.  The full Strategic Planning Committee met February 27, 2004, and made further changes in the second draft of the report.  The AC met April 2, 2004, and made additional changes.  This third draft of the report is presented to the Assembly as a result of input from several sources over a period of months.

 

Consonant with the 2003 recommendations of the SPC as approved by the assembly, the AC has discussed  Strategic Planning at both of its meetings since the Assembly.  The AC is moving forward with byFaith magazine as a means of building greater denominational understanding and cooperation. The AC is proposing an Assembly docket that should encourage greater participation of Ruling Elders.

 

V.  News Office, PCA News.com, PCA byFaith News Magazine

 

The General Assembly approved the following recommendation, recorded in the Minutes of the 30^th General Assembly, 30-62, III, 8, p. 296:

That the AC be authorized to proceed to develop “PCANews” [a print magazine] in cooperation with the other PCA Committees and Agencies while maintaining the existing web magazine and developing a hard copy for the PCA at large in the year 2003.  The AC would be the publisher and would obtain a highly qualified editor.  [Note:  No expansion funds will be expended until funds are pledged through a development effort conducted by the AC Staff in cooperation with others who will help.]                         Adopted

 

In accordance with that authorization, the AC has moved ahead on plans for the magazine.

 

• Subcommittee to Oversee a PCA News Magazine, byFaith

The Administrative Committee, in 2003, appointed a Subcommittee on PCANews, operating under and reporting to the Administrative Committee of the PCA.  The Subcommittee on PCANews produced the Mission Statement for the PCANews magazine, established editorial policy, is securing the necessary financial funding, has employed an editor, and will direct the ongoing publication of the newsmagazine.  The Subcommittee reports regularly to the AC through the Stated Clerk on the status of the magazine.  Major actions of the Subcommittee are subject to the approval of the AC, but this Subcommittee on PCA News has been given appropriate independence so that truth is protected and editorial opinion buffered from the waves of self-interest and politics which flow in every group of people.

• Terms and Numbers of Subcommittee Members

The AC approved that the number of members of the Subcommittee on PCA News be nine (9), including two ex officio members, the Stated Clerk of the PCA and the Business Administrator of the AC; and that members serve four-year terms by appointment of the Administrative Committee from nominations arising from the Subcommittee.  Individuals will not serve more than two consecutive terms, but can be reappointed after a year’s rotation off of the Subcommittee.  The ex officio members will be exempt from these rotation requirements.  The Business Administrator will vote only in the absence of the Stated Clerk and will function as the Chief Financial Officer for the newsmagazine.

• Members of the Subcommittee on PCA News Magazine, byFaith

The AC approved that Dr. Bryan Chapell (TE), St. Louis, MO; Mr. Frank Brock (RE), Lookout Mountain TN; Mr. Joel Belz (RE), Asheville NC; Mr. Victor H. Hanson II (RE), Birmingham AL; Mr. Ed Harris (RE), St. Louis MO; Dr. Paul Kooistra (TE), Atlanta GA; Mr. John Prentis (RE), St. Louis, MO; Dr. L. Roy Taylor (TE), Atlanta GA; and Mr. John Robertson (TE), Atlanta GA, be appointed to the Subcommittee on PCANews.  (Note: RE Ed Harris found it necessary to resign from the subcommittee).

• The Publisher

The Administrative Committee of the PCA is the Publisher of the newsmagazine being established and the magazine operates under the Presbyterian Church in America (A Corporation) for all needs of legal entity and business operations.

• The Editor

A position of editor has been established and is overseen in the following manner. The editor serves at the pleasure of the Subcommittee on PCA News.  The editor, operating under Sub-committee-approved policy, is solely responsible for the content and daily operations of the magazine.  The editor will submit policy proposals to the Sub-committee for approval.  The editor has the ordinary personnel and financial responsibility to manage the newsmagazine, and the authority to oversee and manage both is delegated to him.  RE Dick Doster has been retained as editor and  RE Nat Belz as associate editor.

§         Relationship of byFaith Magazine to PCANews.com

PCANews.com and all related aspects of its operations function under the editor of the byFaith newsmagazine when established.  These two instruments of communication are envisioned to complement each other and function together to inform the PCA and other interested constituencies of news and developments regarding the PCA and other relevant matters.  The PCANews.com web magazine is being revamped to give it the look, philosophy, and substance of byFaith.  

 

VI.  AC Financial Matters

 

1. The AC audit was performed by Robins, Eskew, Farmer, and Jordan.  It was approved by the AC and forwarded to the AC Committee of Commissioners for their review and report to the Assembly.
2. The AC reviewed all General Assembly Committee and Agency proposed budgets as required (“RAO” 4-11).
3. The AC evaluated the CAO compensation guidelines as required (BCO 14-1.13).
4. The AC reviewed the General Assembly Commissioner’s Registration fee as required (“RAO” 9-4).
5. The AC received and approved a recommendation from the Building Management Committee regarding the space cost fees for Committees and Agencies occupying the PCA Office Building.
6. The AC approved auditors for the various Committees and Agencies as requested.

 

VII.  Development

 

      The Committee continues to discuss the issue of developing more effective methods of funding General Assembly Ministries (Partnership Shares) and funding the work of the AC/SC.

• The Stated Clerk had been requested by the Coordinators and directed by the AC to prepare a proposal for an alternative to Partnership Shares.  The Clerk suggested a proportional giving plan similar to that which was suggested to the Strategic Planning Committee coming up through presbyteries last year.  The Committee discussed the possibility of moving from a per capita request of funding (Partnership Shares) for undesignated gifts to proportional  giving (requesting churches to give 5% of their offerings to the General Assembly Ministries).  That idea was considered, but abandoned as an idea that would not necessarily be an improvement.  The AC is not recommending any change to the Partnership Shares plan at this time.
• In some denominations and in most para-church ministries, administrative costs are deducted from ministry contributions.  In the PCA, however, the work of the Administrative Committee and Office of the Stated Clerk (AC/SC) is funded primarily through separate requests for contributions.  Though the AC/SC provides necessary services and structures for the PCA to exist and minister as a denomination, the AC/SC ministry is not as captivating and soul-stirring as others.  Therefore, we face a unique challenge in funding.  In our communications with churches (via letters, phone calls, conversations, and visits), for the most part the consensus response has been an expression of appreciation for the ministry of the AC/SC.  A number of churches report the necessity of cutbacks in staff and ministry contributions due to decreased giving in the churches.  The economic outlook is better now, but improvements usually take a year to make it through the pipeline of church budgets.  Fewer churches gave in 2003 than in 2002 (638 churches, 42% of the churches in 2003 as compared with 678 churches, or 45% of the churches in 2002).  On the other hand, churches that gave 100% of Partnership Shares or more increased  (267 churches, 18% of the churches in 2003, as compared with 234 churches, 16% of the churches in 2002).

 

VIII.  Biblical Conciliation Director to the AC Staff

 

TE John Kinser, an experienced minister who has received Peacemaker© training, is now working on the AC/SC staff on a part-time basis, as a result of requests from presbyteries and churches, to assist PCA churches in conflict management and prevention.  A network of over fifty PCA members who have received various levels of Peacemaker© training has been established to serve PCA churches in different locales.   Interested PCA churches and members help to fund this ministry.

 

IX.  Exceptions to Minutes

 

There were no exceptions of substance carried over from the previous Assembly to which the AC needed to respond.

 

X.  Assembly Exhibitors

 

In accordance with “RAO” 9-5, the AC revised the list of approved exhibitors, removing several that had not exhibited in five years and approving other new exhibitors, using the guidelines of “RAO” 9-5.

 

XI.  Annual Evaluation

 

The AC performed the annual evaluation of the Stated Clerk in accordance with “RAO” 3-3, d.  The committee recommends that the General Assembly continue the call to TE L. Roy Taylor as the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly for another year.

 

XII.  Future Assemblies

 

Future Assemblies are scheduled as follows:

§         2005, Chattanooga, TN

§         2006, Memphis, TN or Atlanta, GA

§         2007, Memphis, TN, or Atlanta, GA

We were scheduled to be in Jacksonville, FL in 2006.  The North Florida Presbytery withdrew their invitation due to several factors.  Covenant Presbytery has invited us to Memphis, TN.  They are flexible as to the date due to North Florida’s withdrawal.

 

XIII.  Overtures

 

As of the April 2, 2004, AC meeting, no overtures from presbyteries had been referred to the committee.

 

XIV.  Historical Center

 

The PCA Historical Center, located in the Library Building of Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, is served by the Director, RE Wayne Sparkman, M.A.R., M.Div.  Website activity (http://www.pcanet.org/history) has continued to increase.   Additions to the archives over the last year include:

• Papers of the Mansfield Kaseman trial of 1980.  The Kaseman Case in National Capital Union Presbytery of the PCUSA was a watershed case.  Mr. Kaseman, a candidate for the ministry, could not affirm the deity of Christ.  The case led several churches and ministers to come into the PCA and was instrumental in the formation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
• The James M. (Buck) Hatch Papers.  Rev. Hatch was for many years a professor at Columbia Bible College and had a profound influence on a number of PCA ministers.
• The James McAlpine Photograph Collection.  The collection chronicles the missionary career of the Rev. and Mrs. McAlpine, who served as PCUS missionaries to Japan.
• Over 170 volumes have been added to the Center’s 2,000-volume research library.
• The Loraine Boettner Papers.  Dr. Boettner was an early twentieth-century graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary.  Through his books and writings he influenced many.
• The Robert Dick Wilson Papers.  As part of the Allan A. McRae Papers, it was discovered that we also received the papers of Dr. Robert Dick Wilson, a noted Old Testament scholar and early twentieth-century professor at Princeton Theological Seminary.
• The Arthur H. Matthews Papers.  Mr. Matthews was a journalist who served on the staff of Christianity Today, The Presbyterian Journal, and the PCA Messenger.

 

AC Recommendations to the General Assembly

1.         That the 2004 Strategic Planning Committee Report  be approved.

2.         That the SPC be authorized to raise funds ($150,000 to $300,000) to support its work.

3.   That  the SPC be granted authority to replace members of the committee, if appropriate, should a member drop out.

4.   That the ten Committee and Agency budgets and the Building budget for 2005, as presented in the Budget and Finance Subcommittee meeting, be ratified by the Committee of the whole as approved by the Subcommittee and be recommended to the General Assembly:

·         AC - $1,920,452 Operating Budget and $1,211,052 for the Partnership Shares budget. (An additional $225,000 line item will be inserted to account for designated funds for the Strategic Planning Committee.  The SPC will raise those funds and such funds will not be included in Partnership Shares).

·         CEP- $3,062,000 Operating Budget and $1,875,500 for the Partnership Shares budget.

·         CC - $22,235,260 Operating Budget and $2,275,000 for the Partnership Shares budget.  (Note:  This was the budget submitted for the April AC meeting.  CC has advised that CC will submit a revised budget for consideration by the AC and the Assembly).

·         CTS - $8,730,000 Operating Budget and $2,255,000 for the Partnership Shares budget.

·         MNA - $6,495,270 Operating Budget and $6,250,270 for the Partnership Shares budget.

·         MTW - $43,610,510 Operating Budget and $5,732,023 for the Partnership Shares budget.

·         PCAF - $696,000 Operating Budget (PCAF is not included in the Partnership Shares budget.).

·         RBI - $1,344,135 Operating Budget (RBI is not included in the Partnership Shares budget).

·         RUM - $1,667,491 Operating Budget and $932,841 for the Partnership Shares budget.

·         RH - $1,365,207 Operating Budget and $675,855 for the Partnership Shares budget.

·         PCA Office Building - $284,177 Operating budget (The Building is not included in the Partnership Shares budget).

5.   That the Chief Administrative Officer Compensation and Guidelines for 2005 be approved as represented by the schedule below.

 

              CAO COMPENSATION & GUIDELINES COMPARISON

                                                   Proposed                 Proposed             Proposed

                                                   2005 High               2005 Median          2005 Low

AC                       144,000              129,000                   114,000

CE&P                  140,000               125,000                   110,000

MNA                    155,000               138,000                   121,000

MTW                   171,000                153,000                   135,000

CC                       169,000               151,000                   133,000

CTS                     166,000               148,000                    130,000

RBI                      148,000               132,000                    116,000

PCAF                   170,000               152,000                    134,000

RH                       127,000               113,000                      99,000

RUM*                   140,000               125,000                     110,000

 

Notes:

a.   The subcommittee assumed a definition of compensation as including any income, or form of income, from the employer which the IRS considers taxable and all forms of non-taxable benefits, such as but not limited to, housing allowance, insurance premiums, and retirement-plan contributions.  Moving expenses are not included in the definition of compensation.

b.   Calculated Median @ 3% increase for 2005 and high-lows at +12% & -12% factor of the Median to give a range of proposed high and proposed low.

c.   Dollars were rounded to nearest $1,000 to admit the estimation reality in computing compensation guidelines.

d.*  RUM officially became a permanent committee as of June 2001; therefore, these numbers of necessity were calculated without an equivalent history as compared with the other positions.

6.   That the commissioner registration fee for 2005 be kept at $250; $170 will be allocated to the General Assembly; $55 to the SJC, budgeted under “Standing Committees and Commissions,” and $25 allocated to “Stats and Publications” to cover the preparation, printing, and distribution of GA Minutes.

7.   That the General Assembly approve Robins, Eskew and Farmer, P.C., as auditors for the Administrative Committee and the Committee on Christian Education and Publications; Capin, Crouse & Co. as auditors for the Committee on Mission to the World and the Committee on Mission to North America; Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLP as auditors for the Committee on Reformed University Ministries for the calendar year ending December 31, 2004.

8.   That the Assembly approve the Building Occupancy Cost charged to each ministry at $11 per square foot for 2005.  This represents no change in costs.

9.   That the Assembly receive the charts below as the acceptable response to the GA requirement for an annual report on the cost of the AC’s mandated responsibilities:

 

 

 

 

10.  That the General Assembly continue the call to TE L. Roy Taylor as the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly for another year.