Moderator’s Challenge
serve in this role. And I must say that it has been a joy thus far. In automati- cally becoming an advisory member to all the boards and committees of General Synod, I have had the privi- lege of meeting many of you whom I did not know before and have seen to perform the duties in these im- portant ministries of our denomina- tion. I look forward to serving with you even more in the coming year. It has also been a great privilege to get to know the staff at the ARP center. Without them and the Committee on Administration, I would have been completely lost in preparing for this Synod. What a help they have been, answering every question in a timely manner and being so easy to work with. Thank you all for your help thus far.
I also would like to thank my vice moderator Rhett Carson for his con- stant prayers and support of me in the past year. He has been quick to of- fer assistance, guidance, and wisdom every step of the way.
Thank you all for your emails, texts, calls, prayers, and words of encour- agement. What a blessing it is to be a - bytery, and Huntersville ARP church. Before presenting my challenge, I
They are here today. My wife, Pam, our children and their spouses, Sa- mantha and Grant, Sam and Laura, Jim and Madeleine, and our 7 grand- children. We are greatly blessed. To them and to my parents and moth- er-in-law back home, I love you and thank you, especially Pam, for your constant encouragement and prayers.
KNOWING JESUS, GR A
KN By Beard McAulay, Moderator
year ago, when I accepted the position of Moderator-Elect, I promised to count it a joy to
The Lord is to be praised with gratitude and worship not only for his provi- sion of this family, but also for the heritage He gave me just by being born. My by way of Ireland in the mid-1700’s with his two sons. He found his church home at Sardis ARP in Charlotte, NC. His son, Daniel, later moved to northern Mecklenburg County, fought in the Revolutionary War, bought land that we still live on, and worshipped at Gilead ARP. His son, Hugh, also worshipped and is buried there. One of Hugh’s sons, John C. McAulay, my great-great grandfather, helped start a church plant between Gilead and Prosperity that would eventu- ally be called Huntersville ARP Church, where we worship today. He, along with my next two ancestors, were elders and are buried at Huntersville. My father and I, and my son and grandsons, still worship there. By my count, that makes me an 8th generation ARP, and my grandsons 10th generation. Why do I tell you this? Not to puff myself up, for none of it was my doing. I give you 2 - nation, should give thanks and praise to our God who has blessed us with a rich grandfather cannot rest on it, and we as a denomination cannot rest on it. We must be forward looking. To quote my theme for this year, we must be about KNOWING JESUS and GROWING IN GRACE! Hear this from Psalm 71:17-18.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.
There is an acknowledgement here of God’s provision and that we can do nothing without Him. But also, a recognition that we, as long as the Lord gives us breath, have work to do! We must be concerned, not only with the 10th or We, having been taught from our youth, must proclaim his might, his won- drous deeds, his power, to all under our charge, to all who will hear. The proposed Moderator’s Theme for this year, as I have mentioned is KNOW- ING JESUS, GROWING IN GRACE, from 2 Peter 3:18. A companion verse is John - dix A, that each monthly emphasis begins with the name of Jesus. As Moderator, I hope to actively promote this theme and each monthly emphasis through the ARP Magazine, email communications, and through the presbyteries. So, who is this theme about? Not us. It is about Jesus Christ. He alone is worthy to be our theme – to be at the center of everything we do. He is the seed of the woman who has crushed the head of the serpent, the source and provider of Noah’s favor with God, the Ark in which we take refuge, the Ram caught in the thicket, King David’s hope, King Solomon’s wisdom, Job’s Redeemer, the
Knowing Jesus, Growing in Grace 2 Peter 3:18 6 The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
ING JESUS, GROWIN
ING
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