Prayers Needed

I covet your prayers for a young man who is in our church today in a very difficult meeting. His name is Adam Walker Cleveland and he has been, for the past few years, a candidate for ministry in Kendall Presbytery. Adam was due to have been examined by Kendall in December, but his exam and subsequent ordination were put on hold through a series of unfortunate events.

I am partly to blame as a member of what would have been Adam's Ordination Commission I was curious about an unfamiliar person preaching at the planned service. And so I googled that person's name and found out some things about him that were a concern for the church in which he was to preach for Adam and so I called several people in the presbytery. My hope in those phone calls is that the muckity mucks at presbytery would encourage Adam to find someone else to preach or search for a different venue for the ordination. Instead two pastors in our presbytery have stalled Adam's ordination. One, I believe because he is in his late fifties and cannot relate to a twenty something candidate for ministry and the second minister who disagrees with Adam's theology.

Don't get me wrong, both pastors are entitled to their opinions, but I wish they had acted more like pastors and looked for a way through things instead of erecting barriers to a fine young man's future of serving God and the church. Granted, I have my biases, but please pray that the Holy Spirit has the final word in the meeting between Adam and members of our Presbytery and not some political/theological ax.