The 53rd Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) General Assembly (GA) was held in Louisville, Kentucky, during the week of June 22-26, 2026. If you are new to Presbyterianism or to our denomination, the PCA General Assembly is the annual national gathering and highest court of the Presbyterian Church in America, where elected Teaching Elder and Ruling Elder commissioners worship, deliberate, vote on church business, and govern the denomination. This year, 2,373 commissioners attended the Assembly: 1,573 Teaching Elders (TEs) and 800 Ruling Elders (REs). RE Mel Duncan of Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, South Carolina, was elected moderator, succeeding last year’s moderator, Kevin DeYoung.
CPC sent four commissioners this year to represent our church: Pastor David Stephenson and REs Adam Sanders, Jason Coffey, and yours truly. Jonathan and Emily Calloway also represented CPC as volunteers, and we are deeply grateful for their many years of faithful service to the church through General Assembly. As I did in last year’s newsletter, rather than attempting a broad overview of everything that happened, I will share a few key takeaways and direct you to helpful summary links at the end.
This year, the Assembly elected TE Fred Greco as the PCA’s new Stated Clerk. The PCA Stated Clerk is the denomination’s chief constitutional and administrative officer, keeping General Assembly records, preparing its business, advising on procedure, and carrying out Assembly actions. TE Greco, a former ruling elder and attorney who later attended seminary and became an ordained minister, has been warmly described as “loud, Italian, and loves the church.” In his acceptance speech on Tuesday night, he said, “I am not your boss; I am your servant.” During a Tennessee Valley Presbytery (TVP) meeting last year, our Christian Education Committee invited TE Greco to preach in worship and teach a seminar on our Book of Church Order (BCO). He did a fantastic job, and we welcome his servant leadership as our new Stated Clerk.
Our own TVP also had a moment in the spotlight during this year’s Assembly. It is common for several overtures dealing with presbytery boundary changes to come before the Assembly, and most pass unanimously with little discussion. This one, however, received more attention. During the winter meeting, and again at the spring meeting, TVP voted to multiply our presbytery into two: TVP will remain centered around the Chattanooga area, while a new presbytery, Smoky Mountain Presbytery, will be formed around the Knoxville area. The vote was close but conclusive at both presbytery meetings, and after debate on the floor of General Assembly, the decision was reaffirmed one final time.
Questions related to sexuality, gender, and church office again appeared on this year’s docket, as they have for several years. The most consequential and direct was Overture 37, which sought to allow women to serve as ordained deacons. The Overtures Committee answered this overture in the negative by an overwhelming vote of 115-14-1, or 88%. I am grateful that our denomination took such a strong stance on a key issue. I am also grateful for TE Jeffrey Choi, a supporter of ordaining female deacons, who had the courage to write a clear and direct overture and then stand before the whole Assembly to defend it. If you want to understand what Presbyterian polity looks like when done well, I encourage you to read TE Choi’s comments after the Assembly.
In this writer’s opinion, the quality of speeches at this year’s Assembly was stronger than in previous years. On more than a few issues, I found myself persuaded back and forth by thoughtful speeches on both sides of a debate. I even changed my mind and voted against my original position on one overture. The most memorable speech of the entire Assembly came from cheeseburger-loving Taiwanese-American TE Jackson Lee, who spoke in support of an overture thanking God for the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.
One less inspiring, but certainly memorable, part of this year’s Assembly was the trouble with the electronic voting devices - quickly nicknamed “Clickergate.” At several points, commissioners experienced confusion or uncertainty about whether votes were being properly recorded, which led to delays, explanations from the platform, and understandable frustration during an already full docket. While the Assembly was able to continue its work, the problems were a reminder that even a well-ordered church court depends on ordinary practical details working as they should.
More broadly, General Assembly showed that our denomination is flourishing. We are planting churches, sending missionaries, and seeing record numbers of adult professions of faith. In a time when many denominations are shrinking or abandoning faithfulness to Scripture, the PCA is growing and standing firm on God’s Word.
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