In 2008, I was elected to the office of moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA), at that point a denomination of just over a million members. The role required me to moderate our annual meeting of about 1,000 people and then travel the country and the world on behalf of the denomination. For our church, this was a big deal. I was the youngest person ever to be elected as moderator.
While the pride of my family, home church, and mentors overflowed, no one outside the true church-nerd Presbyterian types really cared about my election. My children once described to their friends why I traveled so much: “My dad is very important to a very small group of people.”
Still, my time as moderator corresponded to a resurgence of interest in our denomination by folks under 40. One of their own had been elected to this office! I was viewed by both younger and older folks as a tech-savvy leader who would usher in a new generation of ideas. I had the opportunity to model a different way of being.
