Kirk of the Hills session votes to leave the PCUSA Documents by denomination's lawyers on hardball legal tactics cited in decision By John H. Adams The Layman Online Thursday, August 17, 2006 Session's official announcement August 16, 2006 Yesterday the elders and the trustees of Kirk of the Hills voted to disaffiliate from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) denomination in response to decisions made by the PCUSA at the national level which depart from the authority of the Bible and the denomination's historical beliefs. Rev. Tom Gray and Rev. Wayne Hardy have resigned from the PCUSA, and have been hired by the Kirk of the Hills Corporation as co-pastors of the church. Rev. Gray said, "I ask that Christians in Tulsa and around America pray not only for Kirk of the Hills, but also for the Presbyterian denomination as a whole. We will continue to love and pray for our brothers and sisters in that denomination, and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ to use these recent events for His will, and to accomplish His work." With this disaffiliation from PCUSA, the Kirk of the Hills will affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). Rev. Tom Gray and members of the Session will be available for questions and one-on-one interaction Monday through Friday evenings, August 21 - 25, from 6:30 - 9 in the Kirk Conference Room in the church office. There will be a called Congregational meeting of the Kirk on Wednesday evening, August 30, 2006 at 6:30 pm in the Kirk Sanctuary regarding these recent actions. The session of the 2,800-member Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, Okla., the largest congregation in the Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma, has voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) and align with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The congregation's co-senior pastors, Dr. Thomas W. Gray and Dr. R. Wade Hardy, have notified the presbytery that they have resigned from the PCUSA and have been hired by the Kirk of the Hills Corporation to serve as co-pastors. Wayne Hardy, Gray's friend from seminary days, will be co-pastor. Gray is designated as the congregation's lead preaching pastor and Hardy is the lead teaching pastor. A called meeting of the congregation is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. on August 30. On Wednesday, the session posted on the Kirk of the Hills Web site a brief announcement – titled "Serious News" – about the session's decision. In an introduction to the announcement, Gray said the disclosure by The Layman Online of the PCUSA's legal strategies to claim church property helped precipitate the session's decision. (See related story.) "The session decided that, especially in response to the recently-revealed legal plans of the PCUSA, it was time to take decisive action," Gray said. "The disaffiliation, though, is independent of whatever happens with the property. We have done what we believe to be right." Gray concluded that the legal documents affirmed the strategy used in the Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma. The presbytery has filed affidavits in all of its counties declaring the presbytery's authority to limit the right of congregations to sell or encumber their church property and challenging the congregations' right to stake a claim to the property if its members vote to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA). Thomas Gray speaking at New Wineskins Convocation in July. Gray and the session have invited members of the congregation to meet with them one-on-one Monday through Friday evenings, August 21-25. According to denominational statistics, Kirk of the Hills has increased its membership by 600 since 1995 – a 27.3 percent gain – while the presbytery has lost 1,310 members, a decline of 9.1 percent. The church's multi-million-dollar building is on a rolling hilltop in Tulsa. The Kirk of the Hills budget in 2005 was more than $3.2 million. Gray, who was called to Kirk of the Hills in 1982, has worked for renewal in the PCUSA for years. He formerly served on the board of Presbyterians for Renewal and as the moderator of the Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma. He currently serves as chairman of the board of trustees of Sterling College, an evangelical school with ties to the PCUSA. Gray and Hardy were classmates at Fuller Theological Seminary. Hardy joined the Kirk of the Hills staff in 1989. He was serving on the presbytery's Committee on Ministry before resigning from the PCUSA.

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