The election of a Moderator is a strange thing.

In many ways, it’s like calling a pastor in the northern stream: you bring them in, listen to them speak, ask them a few questions, then trust that God knows what’s best.

The only problem is, instead of one candidate, there’s four of them, and you have to pick.

Each of them has served the church in lots of ways; each of them is enthusiastic about ministry and about the PCUSA; they all speak well, and have at least one funny story to share. This year, they are all Teaching Elders (also known as ‘pastors’), so they each have pastoral skills. Randy Branson, from First Church, Graham, TX has been in ministry for, like forty years; Robert Austell was graduated from seminary in 1996. Sue Krummel is a presbytery executive, and has served in every size church; Neil Presa has lived the immigrant experience in the church, and served at the highest level of the denomination.

In standing for Moderator, they must do something very difficult: tout their own skills and abilities, their accomplishments and strengths, without tooting their own horns. After an hour of question and answer, I found them all at least sort of engaging, and felt okay with the idea that they would represent the denomination. In the end, though, I started to think about the question, which one of these people could actually run the meeting for the next seven days? That helped narrow the field for me.

In the end, the Assembly elected Neal Presa, pastor of the Middlesex (NJ) Presbyterian Church. Born in Guam of Filipino parents, Presa came to the Presbyterian Church after being baptized Catholic, and came to the ministry from a pre-law background. He is married, with two young sons, and is very comfortable with the social media demands of the twenty-first century moderator (@nealpresa), while not seeming to be preoccupied with them. He has served as adjunct faculty at both New Brunswick Theological Seminary and Somerset Christian College, has authored three books, and served on General Assembly committees, Task Forces, the GA Mission Council, as well as in the international Reformed community.

It is interesting to note that in choosing, and then sticking with Vice Moderator Candidate, the Rev. Tara Spuhler McCabe, Presa is modeling the ‘living in the tension’ he described in his nomination speech. It was made public last week that McCabe had signed a marriage license for a same gender couple in the District of Columbia, where she was serving as an Associate Pastor; Presa, while strenuously disagreeing with her action, nonetheless refused to repudiate her as his choice as running mate, citing their eleven year friendship as ample evidence that people who disagree can still work and worship together.

Regardless I think he will be a good face for the church, regardless of the decisions that we make; and I think he will keep the Assembly moving in the right direction over the next week.