Member Recommendations for the Officer Nominating Committee 2014-2015 First Presbyterian Church, Houston The Standing Committee on Nominations asks the congregation to recommend members to form a new Officer Nominating Committee for the upcoming year to select the slate for the Elder Class of 2019.
What is an Officer Nominating Committee? Each year an Officer Nominating Committee ( ONC ) is seated to recommend to the congregation a slate of six candidates for the next class of Ruling Elders for election at the annual Congregational Meeting. The Ruling Elders serve three-year terms. Together with the called Teaching Elders (pastors) the Ruling Elders make up the Session, the governing board of the church. This form of governance and the selection and election process is established by the Constitution of the PC(USA). The Standing Committee on Nominations is a committee of the Session charged with nominating to the congregation an ONC each year and Pastor Nominating Committees when necessary. The final nominees are drawn from nominations made by members of the congregation. The members of this standing committee serve for two years and include Ruling Elders active on Session, members of the congregation at large, and the Senior Pastor. The members are listed below. Standing Committee on Nominations Scot Luther, chm David McCarty Joni Calkins Tom Graves Carlton Currie Keith Cole Martha Barnes Jim Birchfield lutherproperties@sbcglobal.net k5gn80@gmail.com joni_calkins@gensler.com Tegravesii@yahoo.com Hccurrie@gmail.com kcole@waterlensusa.com marthabarnes85@yahoo.com jbirchfield @fpchouston.org Who is the ONC and what do they do? The ONC is composed of two active elders and nine other church members who have not served on an ONC or Pastor Nominating Committee within three years. The ONC meets during the first half of each year, with particular effort spent after Easter to deliver to Session the recommended candidates before June 1. The committee studies and reaches a shared understanding of the role and nature of a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church. It solicits nominations from the congregation, vets and interviews those nominated, and prayerfully selects the slate of officers to recommend to the Session and then to the congregation at the Annual Congregational Meeting held each year in the fall.
Who should be recommended for the ONC? The goal of the Standing Committee on Nominations is to put together an ONC that can work together to discern the will of the Lord in recommending officers to govern the church. As such, members recommended for the ONC should have deep faith, a close walk with Christ, and exhibit a relatively high level of involvement in the activities of the church. Willingness to serve is a must. They should be forwardthinking and focused. They should be good team players, willing to speak up but without a personal agenda, and even more willing to listen. They must be members of FPC. The Standing Committee on Nominations will strive to put together a diverse team, reflecting a range of areas of involvement, gender, age and life experience, and approach to problem solving, so that the ONC is well equipped to represent our congregation. How do I nominate someone? First, take it to the Lord in prayer. If after prayer you decide to recommend a member who meets the general criteria above, ask your potential candidate about willingness to serve. This will be a significant commitment of time and energy next spring. Next, fill out the Officer Nominating Committee Recommendation Form below in full. For more information, please contact one of the committee members listed above. You may submit your recommendation (1) on-line via the form found on the FPC website, (2) via e-mail to Scot Luther, Chair of the Standing Committee on Nominations at scn@fpchouston.org, or (3) by postal mail to the address below. First Presbyterian Church, Houston, 5300 Main Street Houston, Texas 77004 Attention: Scot Luther, Standing Committee on Nominations. You may be contacted by a member of the committee for clarification or further information.
Statement of Faith Of the Session of First Presbyterian Church The following Statement of Faith was adopted unanimously by the Session of First Presbyterian Church, Houston at its stated meeting on June 17, 2014. GOD. God has revealed himself to be the creator and sustainer of the universe and the living and true God, perfect in love and righteousness in all his ways, one in essence, existing eternally in the three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. JESUS CHRIST. God, who discloses himself to humankind through his creation, has spoken in the words and events of history -- seeking to redeem creation and to establish the kingdom of God. This redemptive history is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, God s eternal son, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, the incarnate Word, fully human and fully divine, who is made known to us by the Holy Spirit through Scripture. THE HOLY SPIRIT. The Holy Spirit as the third member of the Trinity inspired the writing of the Bible and enables the believer to read and hear the Bible as God s Word. The Spirit also bears witness to Jesus Christ as he is attested in Scripture and works to both transform and restore all creation. The Spirit, through the proclamation of the gospel, renews our hearts, persuading us to repent of our sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit we are led to trust in God s mercy, receive forgiveness for all our sins, are justified by our faith and granted the free gift of eternal life in God s present and eternal kingdom. THE AUTHORITY & INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. Scripture is an essential and trustworthy record of God s self-revelation. All the books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, are the written word of God. The Bible, as God s word, is infallible in all that it teaches concerning the redemptive history of God s people and in matters of theology, faith, ethics and the practice of day to day living as a disciple of Jesus Christ. All Scripture is to be interpreted in light of Christ s centrality in God s plan for the salvation and redemption of all creation. Priority should be given to gaining the most plain (simplest or most direct) interpretation of a text within its narrative, grammatical, cultural and historical contexts.
All Scripture is to be interpreted by other Scripture; searching the whole of Scripture when studying a particular issue or text and evaluating all texts within the larger context of the centrality of Jesus Christ. Scripture has precedence over all other authorities, including church tradition, human reason and experience, and culture. At the same time, the interpretation of Scripture is to be done in humility, with a deep understanding of the potential fallibility of human interpretation. SIN. God, by his word and for his glory, freely created the world out of nothing. God made man and woman in his own image, as the crown of creation, that we might live in fellowship with him. Tempted by Satan, all have rebelled against God, consistently refusing to honor God or to give him our gratitude. In doing so, we became separated from God, inwardly broken, falling short of God s intended best for us and worshiping all manner of idols. Apart from grace, we are incapable of restoring our relationship with God. SALVATION. The only and exclusive mediator of God s grace and the exclusive means by which we are saved is Jesus Christ our Lord. By his voluntary death on our behalf, he revealed God s divine love while also upholding God s justice. In so doing, he removed our guilt, reconciled us to God and instituted God s Kingdom on Earth now, although not yet in its fullness. Having redeemed us from our sin, he rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and evil, and ascended into heaven where, at God s right hand, he intercedes for his people and rules as Lord over all creation. SANCTIFICATION. God graciously adopts us into his family and enables us to call him Father. As we are led by the Spirit, we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, freely keeping his commandments and endeavoring so to live in the world that all may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. (First Presbyterian Church, Houston, is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). This means that its theology is Reformed as expressed in the Book of Confessions and its governance is Presbyterian ruled by elders as defined in the Book of Order, all under the authority of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. The Session of FPC has adopted this Statement of Faith drawn from the Confessions to guide its work in leading and nurturing the congregation.)
Officer Nominating Committee Recommendation Form 2014 2015 Person recommended (print name) Phone number Email Home Address Why do you think this person should be on the Officer Nominating Committee? Recommended by (print your name) Your phone number Your Email Prior to submitting this form, I have confirmed the willingness of the person recommended to serve, if called. Please submit your recommendation by Sept 21.