Two more candidates enter moderator’s race The Layman Volume 35, Number 2 Posted April 8, 2002 Presbyteries in California and Georgia have endorsed candidates for moderator of the 2002 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The candidates are the Rev. Arthur J. “Jerry” Tankersley, pastor of Laguna Beach Presbyterian Church in California, and the Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, mission pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. They join the Rev. Laird Stuart of Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco in seeking the one-year term. Tankersley Arthur J. Tankersley Tankersley, who has been pastor of the 721-member Laguna Beach congregation since 1972, previously served California congregations in Los Angeles and La Canada. He is a graduate of Westmont College, received his bachelor of divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, a master of theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. in government from the Claremont Graduate School and a doctor of ministry from the Claremont School of Theology. He was ordained in 1963. He served 18 months as moderator of the Presbytery of Los Ranchos and has led two Los Ranchos mission teams overseas – to Miraj, India, in 1993 and to Limuru Presbytery in East Africa in 1994. Abu-Akel Fahed Abu-Akel Abu-Akel, a U.S. citizen born in Kuffer Yassif, Galilee, Israel, is the son of Christian Palestinian-Arab parents. He founded and is executive director of the Atlanta Ministry with International Students, an ecumenical organization of Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and Episcopalians that provides hospitality in Atlanta to more than 5,000 college students from more than 140 countries. He also is director of the National Christmas International House Program, which provides homes during the holidays for more than 250 international students in 32 cities nationwide. Abu-Akel graduated from Southeastern College in Lakeland, Fla., and Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., and has a doctor of ministry degree from McCormick Theological Seminary. He was commissioner to the 1986 General Assembly. He served for three years on the Initiative Team on Racism and Racial Violence that produced “Facing Racism: A Vision of the Beloved Community,” a document approved by the 1999 General Assembly. Abu-Akel teaches world religion at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, which includes the PCUSA’s Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary. He has served on a variety of local, regional and national boards addressing interfaith relations, including the Interfaith Advisory Task Force of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

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