Presbytery asked for 'full, fair and open debate' on validation of Williamson, Lay Committee The Layman Online Monday, December 29, 2003 The chief executive officer of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, facing a January 31 vote that may invalidate his ministry, has requested that the Presbytery of Western North Carolina take steps to ensure that the issue receives "full, fair and open debate." The presbytery's Committee on Ministry voted Dec. 9 to recommend that the presbytery "not validate" the ministry of Parker T. Williamson, who also is editor-in-chief of the Presbyterian Lay Committee's publications. Before the Committee on Ministry made its decision, the presbytery's Task Force on Validated Ministry had voted 4-1 to recommend that Williamson be placed on inactive and probationary status. Williamson, who became editor of The Layman in 1989, has been a member of the presbytery for 29 years. He was serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Lenoir before being called by the Presbyterian Lay Committee. While presbytery officials have not commented on the specific reasons for the move to invalidate Williamson's ministry, an agenda item for the Committee on Ministry provided some clues: "In light of the Validated Ministry Task Force report, 'recommends that the ministry of the CEO of the PLC and editor-in-chief of The Presbyterian Layman, because of the conduct and character of its ministry, not be validated. It would be helpful if you reviewed samples of the work on The Layman Online. It can be found at www.layman.org or you may contact the presbytery office for a copy of the newspaper." The chairperson of the task force, Mary V. Atkinson, a former employee of the denomination, refused to tell The Layman Online what the committee meant by "conduct and character." Later, she told the denomination's Presbyterian News Service that the Presbyterian Lay Committee's Declaration of Conscience "tipped the scales for us." After the Committee on Ministry's vote, Williamson said that, "Presbyterians who care more about institutional preservation than constitutional integrity have won a short-term skirmish in a battle that is wider than they can imagine. I treasure the fact that God called me to the ministry, which is as valid today as it was on the day that I was ordained." A firestorm of criticism greeted the vote, with many Presbyterians questioning the motives of the presbytery against a ministry that asked individuals and sessions to exercise their constitutional right as faithful stewards to "consider prayerfully" whether to redirect their per-capita and mission contributions that otherwise would be used to sustain some of the denomination's programs or activities that conflict with Biblical teaching and the Reformed faith. Williamson, in a December 22 letter to the "Members of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina," made several requests to ensure that the issue receives "full, fair and open debate." To date, there has been no response to his letter. He wrote that the presbytery, in the information packet it mails to all churches no later than ten days prior to the presbytery meeting, "will contain a proposed agenda and copies of reports from presbytery committees. Presumably, the Committee on Ministry report, recommending against the continued validation of my ministry, will be included in that packet." Williamson asked that the presbytery's Coordinating Council "include in this same packet materials prepared by the Presbyterian Lay Committee that describe the ministry whose 'character and conduct' have been impugned by the Committee on Ministry." Saying that the Book of Order provides that a presbytery may "accord ministers and elders from other presbyteries 'corresponding member' status, allowing them to participate in the presbytery meeting without voting privileges," he asked that "Mrs. Peggy McQuade Hedden, chairman of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and an elder from the Presbytery of Scioto Valley, and Mr. Robert L. Howard, immediate past chairman of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and an elder from the Presbytery of Southern Kansas, be granted corresponding member status." Williamson also had a request regarding presentations on the floor. He wrote that the "practice of the presbytery is to allow the chairman of the Committee on Ministry to make an oral presentation of his committee's recommendation and rationale. Following this presentation, in cases where a matter is deemed controversial and prolonged debate is anticipated, the presbytery often places time limits on responses from the floor." "On behalf of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, whose character and conduct have been impugned by the Committee on Ministry, I request that the presbytery docket, immediately following the oral presentation of the Committee on Ministry, include a period of no longer than twenty minutes for an oral response from Mrs. Peggy McQuade Hedden, chairman of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, and Mr. Robert L. Howard, immediate past chairman of the Presbyterian Lay Committee." He also requested that he be allowed to speak to the issue immediately preceding a vote by the presbytery. "On behalf of myself, whose character and conduct have been impugned by the Committee on Ministry," Williamson wrote, "and mindful of the fact that should its recommendation be approved this will be my final opportunity to address the presbytery as a member with voice and vote, I request that the presbytery grant me a period of no longer than ten minutes to speak to the issue." Williamson raised two other requests in his letter -- one regarding the actual vote and another on preparing an independent record of the presbytery meeting. Saying that "the presbytery has no standing policy on the manner in which votes shall be taken, other than relevant provisions in Roberts' Rules of Parliamentary Procedure that provide for the presbytery itself to make that determination on a case-by-case basis," he requested that "the presbytery conduct the vote by roll call, in which each enrolled elder and minister shall declare publicly his or her judgment on the matter." Williamson also asked that, "in order to assure that a record of the presbytery's proceedings on January 31 be made by parties not at interest with regard to the matters discussed, I request that the presbytery permit the presence of a certified court reporter and videographer who will be retained at Presbyterian Lay Committee expense. Certified copies of the transcript and tape will be provided to the presbytery at no cost to the presbytery."

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