Describe your relationship with Jesus Christ and its effect on your life:

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1 Name: The Rev. Bart Smith Church: St. Mark s Presbyterian Church pastorbartsmith@gmail.com Phone: (520) WRITTEN STATEMENT AS A TEACHING ELDER COMMISSIONER NOMINEE TO THE 223RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2018) A brief biography: I moved to Tucson in early 2015 to serve as the Pastor to St. Mark s Presbyterian Church and was drawn to St. Mark s because of its strong, historic commitment to pursuing the common good. Previously, I served Raleigh Court and Green Ridge Presbyterian Churches in Roanoke, VA as a temporary pastor. I received my M. Div. from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, TX, where I was active in immigration work and the youth ministry of University Presbyterian Church. Between college and seminary I worked as a salesperson for a logistics firm and as an administrative assistant at the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. My undergraduate studies were at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA where, as a criminology major, I apprenticed the chaplain of the local jail. My family s roots run deeply in middle Georgia and I claim both Macon and LaGrange as hometowns. I m proudly married to the Rev. Elizabeth Smith, and we spend most of our time outside of church traveling, hiking, exploring the Southwest, and playing with our hound-mix dog, Gumby. Your confession of faith: Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10) Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again to show us what life under the loving rule of God looks like. God s will is done and God s reign is made manifest when the hungry are fed, the sick are healed, the estranged are reconciled, outcasts are included, strangers are welcomed, captives are liberated, and sinners forgiven. The calling of followers of Jesus is to imagine, embody, and pray for the reign of God in our personal lives and in society until Christ comes again to make all things new. Knowledge of current issues before the denomination: I know that as local congregations are struggling to figure out how to do ministry faithfully and effectively in a rapidly changing environment, so are Mid-Councils and other denominational entities. Next June the General Assembly will be hearing from a commission on a possible plan for restructuring the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Though it is still early in the cycle, I also anticipate the GA considering overtures and recommendations concerning the PC(USA) s social witness. The church is in a time of tremendous flux, so I imagine most of its energy will be spent answering the larger question, How is God reshaping us to meet the needs of ministry in the present and the future? Describe your relationship with Jesus Christ and its effect on your life: Being claimed as a child of God in baptism is central to who I am; as the Brief Statement of Faith says, in life and in death we belong to God. I was fortunate to be raised in a family that taught me to pray and to be nurtured by two wonderful congregations that taught me about Jesus,

2 so I have sensed God s constant presence since childhood. I made a conscious commitment to be a follower of Jesus in high school, though that commitment has looked differently in various stages of my life. Jesus is, to quote Colossians, the image of the invisible God to me. I love him, trust him, hope in him, and try to follow him in my daily life and ministry. And when I inevitably fail at doing all of that, God s grace picks me right back up. What do you believe the role of the church is in today s world and how have you been involved? In every age, the church is called to be an embassy of God s reign in a broken and hurting world. That takes shape in a unlimited number of ways in how we proclaim and nurture people in the faith, advocate for justice, open ourselves to the Spirit s presence in worship and prayer, and show mercy and compassion to those in need. One of my favorite verses, Ephesians 3:20, expresses how I understand the essence of the church: Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine We re in a position in which we re stretching our imaginations about what God can do through us, and we have to therefore foster more creativity in how we engage people. To that end, I ve been enthusiastic about helping congregations focus on community outreach and youth and young adult ministry as a pastor, lay employee, and church member. Why do you wish to serve as a General Assembly Commissioner? I have yet to attend General Assembly as a commissioner or observer, but I ve heard from others that participating in GAis like getting a bird s eye view of the denomination, which sounds exhilarating to me. When I think about the possibility of serving as a commissioner, I get excited about the chance to meet Presbyterians from all across the country and to see firsthand the depth and diversity of our common ministry. I also hope to offer a voice steeped in border issues, as well as a discerning eye for what the Spirit is doing in the wider church. Serving in this capacity would be an honor and a joy. WE THE SESSION OF Presbyterian Church endorse this application. We hereby place their name in nomination for GA Commissioner to the 222 nd General Assembly. Clerk of Session Date Submit to the Presbytery Nominating Committee Chair by September 30. Presbytery Office, Attn: Nominations, 4423 N. 24 th St. Ste 200, Phoenix, AZ 85016

3 Name: Rachel M. Srubas Church: Mountain Shadows Presbyterian Church Phone: A brief biography: WRITTEN STATEMENT AS A TEACHING ELDER COMMISSIONER NOMINEE TO THE 223 rd GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2018). Born in 1964 in the Chicago area, I was raised in a family that practiced no religious faith. During my childhood, I experienced spiritual yearnings that went unfulfilled until my early twenties. As a college student, I fell in love with a young adult Presbyterian elder named Ken McAllister. Through Ken s love for me, God invited me into a faith that began when I prayed privately and flourished after Ken and I began worshiping with a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation. I was baptized in 1988, married Ken in 1989, and was ordained as a ruling elder in The 1990s were for me a time of deep spiritual formation. I attained the Master of Arts in Theological Studies and the Master of Divinity degrees from McCormick Theological Seminary and began to publish my faith-based writings in such periodicals as The Christian Century and Theology Today. Since my ordination to the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament in 2000, I have been a member of Presbytery de Cristo. I have served as the solo pastor of Mountain Shadows Presbyterian Church since Contemplative spirituality and writing are essential aspects of my Christian vocation. For Presbytery de Cristo, I have taught several Big Event workshops based on these commitments. I have published three books on Christian spiritual life and am at work on a fourth. I also serve as a private spiritual director to a few local religious professionals and I teach on the faculty of the Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction. Your confession of faith: God the Creator makes and nurtures the universe. By giving life to, and providing for, all beings, God loves creation. Humankind in all our diversity bears the image of our Maker, whose handiwork we witness in our bodies and throughout creation, and whose wisdom we can detect in our desire for right relationship with others. Our self-centered behaviors, systematized injustices and destructive capacities reveal a rift in need of healing between ourselves and God, who holds us dear despite our rebellions. God draws near to us in Jesus, who embodies God s vulnerability and mission to restore to wholeness humankind and all creation. To the world, Jesus intimates God, who nevertheless remains Holy Mystery. Jesus befriends and instructs all who are open to transformation, especially people who have been pushed to the edges of the human community. Graciously, Jesus heals, judges, and liberates sin-sick souls, making manifest God s compassion and justice on earth. Jesus forgives even those who crucify him, extending mercy to all. Jesus dies in solidarity with mortals. On the cross, creation descends into chaos and despair, yet all destructive powers are put to death. Christ s resurrection to new life renews the world and demonstrates divine love s power to overcome evil and death. Risen, Jesus breathes on his bereaved followers, imparting God s Holy Spirit to them. Released from the resurrected Christ, God s breath of original creativity now bestows forgiveness and peace on all who fall short in our callings to live in right relationship with our Maker and neighbors. God s Spirit summons many kinds of people into one body of faith, inspiring the proclamation of God s Word, enlivening the church s ministries, emboldening disciples to transform society in accord with God s vision of wholeness and equity for all, and hallowing water, bread and wine as sacraments by which the hungry and thirsty are cleansed and fed.

4 Knowledge of current issues before the denomination: Multigenerational Communities. The Presbyterian Church (USA) seeks to be Reformed and everreforming according to God s Word in all its ministries. Among these is the creation and sustenance of new worshiping communities. Many such communities are innovative and focused on reaching young adults and communities underrepresented in our denomination. At the same time, more traditional PC (USA) congregations like my own, whose members are generally adults over age sixty, have a rich opportunity to reject ageism, claim lifelong vitality in Christ, and cultivate Gospel-infused wisdom for the second half of life. Justice and Peacemaking. Especially with the leadership of the 222 nd General Assembly s Co- Moderators and Stated Clerk, the Presbyterian Church (USA) is engaged in antiracism efforts. These include studies and programs to dismantle white privilege as well as ministries of welcome that extend Christ s unconditional love to migrant and refugee communities. Through its Racial Ethnic and Women s Ministries, the PC (USA) seeks to be an increasingly diverse and inclusive church that develops leaders from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Fellowship has released the Gun Violence Prevention Congregational Toolkit to aid local worshiping communities in helping to reduce murders, accidents, injuries, and suicides caused by firearms. The PC (USA) s commitment to justice and peacemaking in Christ s name is evident not only domestically but also globally, through the ministries of international mission co-workers. Mission and Administration. The Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) and the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) are in discernment and transition. They are dealing with institutional changes and resource reductions while striving to equip all agencies and people of our denomination to follow and serve Christ. A way forward is being sought for these administrative bodies of our denomination. This may result in the streamlining of the PMA and OGA, revised staffing plans, and some amendments to the Book of Order. Those engaged in the Way Forward Commission express hope that their work will point the PC (USA) toward the following: enhanced empowerment of local congregations; a missional (rather than bureaucratic) emphasis at the church s national level; culturally diverse church leadership; updated models for relations between national and regional church bodies; clarification of the PC (USA) s public identity and voice. Crucial to the health of our denomination s structure and message will be profound trust in God s abundance and resurrecting power, by which we may overcome nostalgia for the past church and fear for the future church. Worship. The proposed, revised Directory for Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is intended to foster congregational worship that is faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ, formative of new and seasoned disciples alike, and relevant to the diversity of cultures, needs, and liturgical styles that comprise our society. People of the Presbyterian Church (USA) are called by Christ to address all issues facing our denomination, from the most to the least controversial, in a spirit of reverence and humility befitting the worship of God. Describe your relationship with Jesus Christ and its effect on your life: I encounter and learn from Jesus Christ primarily through the stories told in the Gospels. I experience Christ as the living Word who speaks as much to my own heart and mind as to the church and the world. For many years, as a contemplative discipline and as a mode of sermon preparation, I have practiced the prayerful reading of Scripture called lectio divina. In this, the living Word directly addresses the reader, who thinks, reflects, prays, and ultimately seeks to act according to the Word s wisdom and guidance. As a Minister of the Word and Sacrament, I experience the Word as a sacrament, as a means of grace that communicates Jesus love to me and equips me to express that love through ministries of preaching, pastoral care, teaching, church leadership, spiritual direction, and contemplative writing. Sometimes I experience Christ as a living Word of judgment and challenge, urging me to search my conscience and undertake the personal transformation of which repentance consists. Even at its most personally intimate, my relationship with Jesus unfolds within the

5 context of the church, the beloved community, the Body of Christ. The living Word speaks to me through sisters and brothers of faith, continually calling and encouraging me to unite with them in loving God and our neighbors. What do you believe the role of the church is in today s world and how have you been involved? Despite differences of viewpoint among those present, the 222 nd General Assembly of the PC (USA) reportedly reflected commissioners mutual forbearance and respect. These virtues are all too scarce in the society that our church is summoned to serve in Christ s name. In a broken and fearful world (as A Brief Statement of Faith puts it) the church is called by God s Spirit to speak and act with kindness, compassion, and courage, demonstrating a redeemed quality of life that previews the promised new heaven and new earth. As no other community can do, the church must offer a life-giving alternative to social division and despair. Most recently, in order to address these problems, I have taught classes at Mountain Shadows Presbyterian Church on Bridging Divides, Building Community, and on Facing Fear Faithfully. I have attempted to express kindness, compassion, and courage, and foster human unity and hope, in all aspects of my service to Christ s church. Of course, I have not always succeeded, but, forgiven, I have persisted. My particular involvements in the church s work have included the following: active pastoral ministry within Presbytery de Cristo since 2000; terms of service on the Presbytery s Committee on Preparation for Ministry and on its Administrative Commissions for the Korean Presbyterian Church and Middle Eastern Presbyterian Fellowship; participation in the Macedonia Ministries Pastors Cohort; leadership of prayerful retreats for several congregations of Presbytery de Cristo; membership in the National Association of Presbyterian Clergywomen; past membership in the Presbyterian Writers Guild; and written contributions to such Presbyterian publications at Presbyterians Today, Presbyterian Outlook, and Horizons: The Magazine of Presbyterian Women. Additionally, I have cultivated ecumenical relationships, particularly through the Order of St. Benedict, a monastic tradition from which I learn contemplative practices (such as lectio divina) that deepen my reading of Scripture and inform my prayers, preaching, teaching. Why do you wish to serve as a General Assembly Commissioner? If the Presbytery should elect me to serve as a GA Commissioner, I wish (never before having attended a General Assembly gathering) to experience God s workings in our denomination at its national level. I wish to enlarge my engagement with and understanding of the Presbyterian Church (USA). I wish to exercise my Godgiven gifts for listening, attention, friendship, prayer, learning, discernment, and leadership, to help the Assembly discover and carry out God s purposes through our denomination. To the extent that one person can do so, I wish to lend a reflective, contemplative presence to the Assembly. I wish to interpret the GA back to Presbytery de Cristo and to my congregation, to help my colleagues in ministry and my congregants comprehend the General Assembly s work. WE THE SESSION OF Mountain Shadows Presbyterian Church endorse this application. We hereby place their name in nomination for GA Commissioner to the 223rd General Assembly. Clerk of Session Date Submit to the Presbytery Nominating Committee Chair by July 30, Presbytery Office, Attn: Nominations, 4141 E. Thomas Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85018

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