Rev. Mikel Taxer, who has served as pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church on Talbot Street in Point Loma for 40 years, is retiring in January 2006. His church will host the November Presbytery Meeting and he will deliver the sermon during the worship service portion of the meeting. For more information about the meeting and directions to the church search elsewhere on this website.

Rev. Jim Rauch, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Escondido, will present a resolution for consideration of commissioners at the November 15 meeting of San Diego Presbytery that declares the covenant between the Presbytery and the Presbyterian Church (USA) "is in danger of being broken by those who no longer stand with us."

"As the 217th General Assembly (2006) approaches," the draft of the resolution states, "there is a very real possibility - in response to the report and recommendations of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity - by direct action or by institutional forbearance, that the standards for ordained persons will either be voided or rendered meaningless. If the Constitution is voided or rendered meaningless, the covenant will be broken."

The resolution goes on to state the Presbytery will "consider assuming primary and exclusive responsibility for self-government because such a breach nullifies and voids the covenantal obligation to abide by the polity and discipline of higher governing bodies."

"By its own action," the resolution asserts, "the Presbyterian Church (USA) will have broken covenant with us and divested itself of any authority to exercise governance over the Presbytery of San Diego."

To be presented at the November 15 meeting, the resolution will be presented for a vote sometime in early 2006.

In a separate action, a group of pastors with a different point of view gained approval from the Presbytery Council to distribute a response to the resolution at the November meeting. This group has also suggested a pre-presbytery session to discuss the resolution.

Read the complete text of the resolution.

Last month's edition of PresbyNewsOnLine, which contained EP Rev. Andy Smith's September Report, was linked directly from an article in The Layman On Line edition concerning reactions to the Peace, Unity and Purity Report. Visitors to www.layman.org who clicked on the article read about Andy's concerns about the future of the denomination if the reports recommendations are approved at next June's General Assembly. When they click on the highlighted Presbytery of San Diego they went directly to the front page of this OnLine Newsletter.

Executive Presbyter Rev. Andy Smith, Rev. Tom Theriault and Rev. Lewis Leon are among nine pastors who are on a 12-day trek to visit a mission project among the Afar people in the deserts of Ethiopia. They left on Monday, October 31, and plan to return on Saturday, November 12.

Theriault, an associate pastor at Solana Beach Presbyterian, over the past several years has spearheaded an outreach program to the Afar, a Muslim tribal people who have welcomed the interest, support and prayers of Christian missionaries. Theriault said "SBPC is at work in the desert of Ethiopia to bring the gospel and community development to a group we call 'our friends,' This partnership links several US congregations, the Ethiopia Evangelical Church Mekane Jesus, and the international relief and development organization World Vision."

Churches within San Diego Presbytery have sent checks in excess of $155,000 through the Presbytery to the PC(USA)'s Disaster Relief Fund, according to reports tallied by the Finance Office through the end of September. In addition, many churches have made donations to other relief organizations that are helping meet the needs of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Churches north of Highway 56 are banding together to support the newly formed Camp Pendleton Military Outreach Mission, which will serve the needs of military families in San Diego's North County. Presbyterian churches in Oceanside, La Costa, Vista, and Escondido have been joined by two North County Calvary Chapel churches in this newly reorganized outreach ministry.

Headquarters for the Camp Pendleton MOM will be located at Solana Beach Presbyterian, and the recently named director, Marci Tate, will be added to the Solana Beach staff. One of the Military Outreach vehicles is going along for the ride and will also be located at Solana Beach; the church will accept maintenance responsibilities as well. Dick Ray, a member of Solana Beach, is chair of the new Camp Pendleton MOM board. Jennifer Martin served as Acting Director during this interim period. Chuck Smith, who is serving as the Decentralization Program Coordinator, will continue through year-end as he works with churches in the South and East County to establish a similar ministry to serve military families in those communities.

Presbytery Council has approved a motion to be considered at the November meeting of Presbytery to raise the Per Capita Assessment by $1.00 for 2006. Seven cents of the increase would go to Synod, and the 93 cents would be designated for use by the Evangelism Committee in development and redevelopment of churches within our Presbytery. It is anticipated the increase will bring in an additional $13,500, according to Budget & Finance Committee Chair Bill Turnquist.

Rev. Jack Baca, pastor of the Village Community Church in Rancho Santa Fe, will step into the ample shoes of Elder Dick Berry as he assumes the position of Moderator of the Presbytery of San Diego for 2006. The election will be on the agenda of the November Presbytery Meeting. Nominated to be Vice Moderator is Rev. Neal Nybo of Solana Beach Presbyterian Church.

On October 21 - 22, Clark and I were Commissioners for San Diego to the annual Synod Assembly meeting held in Ventura. We would like to thank the Presbytery for the opportunity to learn and participate in the meeting. There were eight Presbyteries represented and approximately 160 people in attendance.

Synod is being downsized, in part for financial reasons, but remains a strong instrument for communication between its Presbyteries and other representatives. It is a strong supporter of ethnic and racial diversity and continues its support of Constituency Groups that reach out to various racial and ethnic groups.

A loss in revenue has caused the Synod to transfer its management of their Camp & Conference Centers to a new Board of Trustees who are elected by the Synod Assembly. They have applied for and just been granted status as a 501.c.3 corporation. This new corporation consists of a facility at Big Bear Lake which is operational but without a formal program, Wylie Woods in the San Bernardino Mountains burned in 2003 and is awaiting rebuilding until insurance matters are settled, Rancho La Sherpa also in the San Bernardino mountains is being renovated and welcomes work parties, and Zepher Point in the Tahoe Basin is fully operational and booked through 2006. This site anticipates growing from fifty-nine rooms to 436 in the coming years.

In another matter, a cooperative decision between the Synod and the Presbyteries of Los Ranchos and the Pacific have formed a consortium and assumed financial responsibility for a chaplaincy program previously managed by the Synod.

The Synod is also in the midst of negotiations with Hanmi Presbytery over the physical ownership of a church in Torrance, which is proving to be very costly. Estimates run from $150 K in legal costs in 2005 charged against a budgeted amount of $ 20 K. At this time, Synod reserves are being used to cover these unanticipated expenses.

Synod owns property on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, which serves as the Synod offices with some units used as rentals. One rental experienced damage from a roof failure and the tenant is refusing to pay rent. The Synod does plan to list this property for sale in early 2006 and upon sale will identify other less costly office space.

Synod brought forth a budget of $1.35 million, which is approximately one-half of the 2002 budget. In order to balance this new budget, the Synod was forced to make difficult decisions and one of those resulted in significant staff reductions. Specifically, six full-time positions were reduced to four and thirteen part-time positions were reduced to three. Also, the Synod Assembly voted to support a seven-cent increase in the per-capita assessment for 2006.

Rev. Edie Gause was introduced as the new Synod Transitional Executive and Elder Margy Wentz was re-elected to a third five-year term as the Stated Clerk. Rev. Gause will communicate with the presbyteries through the use of the Synod website www.synod.org where she will post weekly updates of "Edie's Epistles".

Elder Jack Shelver, a former member of this Presbytery and currently a member of Riverside Presbytery, was elected Vice-Moderator of the Synod and Rev. Roberto Colon was elected Moderator. Both men were installed during the concluding worship service of the Assembly.

The Assembly was informed that thirty-nine Presbyterian churches were destroyed or damaged in Hurricane Katrina. Susan Ryan of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance in Louisville is helping with this relief effort.

The Synod of Southern California and Hawaii is composed of eight presbyteries, including one non-geographical Korean-speaking presbytery (Hanmi). The congregations are diverse and include African American, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian and Korean congregations.

Reports and papers on the progress of Synod's Women in Ministry in a Multicultural context and from the Presbyterian Women were ably presented.

Each presbytery made a report on the floor of the Assembly and Rev. Andy Smith reported for San Diego. His report focused on the "Year of Stephen." He said the final report from the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity is posted on the PC (USA) website and has received mixed response. Military Outreach Ministries has been decentralized and hopefully will be supported by local churches in San Diego County. Presbytery raised $85K for fire victims, $152K for Hurricane relief, and $137K for tsunami relief. This presbytery has partnered with Habitat for Humanity and together they have built their first home in Descanso. Nine pastors will soon be traveling to Africa and the Afar people (see National Geographic for October '05). Reality Changers is helping under privileged youth to succeed in school, leadership, and building first-generation college students who follow God's Word. Forty students are located at Iglesia Presbyteriana in San Diego and 14 attend Solana Beach's church

In God's Work,
Clark and Clio McEuen