Today in the Mission Yearbook - ‘Our ancestors’ wildest dreams’

Beloved former Stated Clerk, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, is honored for his unparalleled legacy of witnessing to God’s justice

August 31, 2024

The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, was honored at a dinner and 

tribute by colleagues, friends and family. More than 800 people 

attended the event. (Photo by Kristen Gaydos)

In an ecclesiastical tribute — brimming over with affection, admiration, gratitude, tears, laughter and just the occasional touch of irreverence — the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, was joyfully celebrated for changing the denomination that shaped and changed him.

Nelson, a third-generation Presbyterian pastor and the first Black man chosen as the top ecclesial officer of the PC(USA), was elected as Stated Clerk by the 222nd General Assembly (2016), a role in which he served for seven years before stepping down on June 30, 2023.

“Our church is more courageous, more faithful and more willing to risk because you said yes,” Ruling Elder Sara Lisherness, deputy executive director for Mission Program for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, would later say.

And as speaker after speaker took the stage — or bore witness via video —  new and revealing insights into the much-loved former Stated Clerk’s life, family and ministry emerged.

Introduced as “a tall handsome bloke with a captivating smile” by the Rev. Dr. Chenyangu “Cheni” Khonje, a member of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly who emceed the evening, Nelson loomed large in the gathering of some 800 Assembly attendees, his beloved wife, the Rev. Gail Porter Nelson, and their daughter, Alycia Yvette Nelson, by his side.

Parallel themes of faith and foolishness — for Christ — were echoed by each presenter.

A moving tribute from Amy Kym Kyremes-Parks, director of Formation for Children and Their Families at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Asheville, North Carolina, brought the room to tears.

She recalled how the Nelsons “adopted a 16-year-old girl from Salt Lake City,” taking Kyremes-Parks to the emergency room after a fall at Montreat Conference Center.

“While he can act a fool, he is still so modest,” she said. “He saw my snark and my cheekiness, and our lives were woven together forever. Mama Gail, thank you for serving faithfully in your support, seen and unseen; Alycia, for sharing your daddy with me and so many others; and daddy, for loving me, our family, and this world. Thank you for loving our beautiful and broken denomination. You are our ancestors’ wildest dreams.”

The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, his daughter Alycia Yvette Nelson, 

and his wife, the Rev. Gail Porter Nelson, at the conclusion of the 

tribute. (Photo by Kristen Gaydos)

Throughout the evening, Nelson was lauded for cultivating young adult leadership and, in all things, for his never-ending commitment to addressing the world’s greatest social justice challenges such as poverty, discrimination, and gun violence.

The Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, said that what stood out for him in Nelson’s legacy was his quest for justice.

Of Nelson’s “Hands & Feet” initiative, which emphasized mission involvement with the cities hosting the biennial meeting of the General Assembly, González-Castillo said, “You would not only preach about justice and love but teach us to put that into practice every day of our lives.”

Another of the evening’s funniest lines came from the Rev. Carol McDonald, moderator of the Stated Clerk Nomination Committee that selected Nelson, when she recalled something that he said at the Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School.

“Get up off your blessed assurances and do something for Jesus,” she said to peals of laughter.

The evening concluded with remarks from Nelson himself, as well as daughter Alycia and wife Gail.

After sharing highlights of the remarkable story of his own life, Nelson said, “If there’s anything where I would give a word, it would simply be not to ever allow that which God has given you to be caught in fear. The Lord has already made the decision, and will remind us each and every day what our calling is.”

Nelson, having earlier shared what a challenge it was trying to keep his daughter, who, like him, was a preacher’s kid, in school, fittingly Gail Nelson — a powerful source of support throughout Nelson’s ministry and a great preacher in her own right — had the last word.

“I want to thank the committee who made this evening possible,” she said, “and just so you can hear the end of the story, Alycia turned out very well!”

Emily Enders Odom, Associate Director of Mission Communications, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Today’s Focus: Former Stated Clerk, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, is honored at General Assembly

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Doug Portz, Vice President, Church Relations, Board of Pensions
Sonia Prescott, Reference & Outreach Archivist, Presbyterian Historical Society

Let us pray

God of earth and altar, may the bread we share bring your life in abundance to all the peoples of the earth. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - The Stated Clerk of the PC(USA)’s General Assembly sends graduates on the road forward with a reminder to look back sometimes

The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, delivers the baccalaureate address at Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia

July 13, 2023

J. Herbert Nelson, II leads worship at a Presbyterian Mission Agency 

Board meeting in May 2017. (Photo by Randy Hobson)

Addressing the Class of 2023 at Davis & Elkins College during this year’s baccalaureate service, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II assured graduates that “it doesn’t matter if you came here cum laude or thank you Lordy. If you wear that tassel today, say thank you for the amazing way family and friends have nurtured you.”

Nelson, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), was introduced by Davis & Elkins President the Rev. Chris Wood, who told those gathered, “It never ceases to amaze me the Creator of the universe is individually interested in our lives.”

“Know that God delights in your accomplishments and your good deeds,” Wood told the graduates of Davis & Elkins, a PC(USA)-related college in Elkins, West Virginia. “You are the blessings for which we are thanking God.”

Psalm 47 and Acts 1:1–11 were the scriptural texts for the service. The two-hour, 15-minute service can be viewed here.

The people who loved and cared for the graduates as they matriculated — parents, siblings and friends “who helped you get through tests and who prayed for you” — represent “the fullness of the Scripture read today,” especially the Acts pericope, Nelson said. After the resurrection, “the disciples are walking with Jesus the miracle worker, the one who gave doubting disciples [an idea of] what it really meant to look into the deep wells of their spirit and walk by faith, not by sight. The one who said, ‘follow me,’ and they took time and learned so much from him. … Jesus said to his disciples and to us today that nothing is going to be easy. But we surely know there is a power that can keep us walking with others try to deter us.”

“You didn’t get here by yourself. You couldn’t,” Nelson said.

After Jesus was crucified, “those closest to him begin to struggle. They are afraid, and they don’t know what to do,” Nelson said. “Where do you turn? The text today helps with that struggle.”

“I know who you are — not necessarily personally, but I know the journey of trying to get a tassel when you’ve struggled during the pandemic,” Nelson told graduates. “I know some of you tried to quit. But you knew there was always a power walking with you, reminding you that you don’t walk alone. The fact is you’re still here and you’ve crossed the finish line. You have family members right next to you and, most of all, a God who never failed you but brought you thus far.”

“It’s not meant for ‘me,’ ‘my’ and ‘I,’” Nelson said. “It’s about holding people’s hand while you run the race. We need people who can stand in the midst of us and help us.”

Jesus asks the disciples “to continue to do the work and not bellyache how hard it is,” Nelson noted. “Jesus reminds us this world is a difficult world.” Now that Davis & Elkins graduates have earned their bachelor’s degree, “We have to raise the question, ‘How will we look back and bring others who have been lost in the journey, who didn’t have the opportunities, who need your help and your hope?’ I’m pressing you today because we often neglect what powers much greater than we are have done to bring us to this point. Every breath we take is truly a powerful essence of what God really is.”

Jesus orders his disciples to the Upper Room, where “they fought and argued with one another. Read your Bible,” Nelson urged those in attendance. “We do that sometimes, too.”

“You will turn a tassel today,” Nelson told the graduates. “But I want you to remember that tassel doesn’t make everything right. What makes it right is endurance — knowing that we don’t walk alone. … Take a bow and give thanks, because now there is another mission: The world needs you.”

“The world you’re about to enter is in a mess,” Nelson said. “We’ve got a lot to do in this world in which we live, my friends. … The journey is not over. We have much to do.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, delivers the baccalaureate address at Davis & Elkins College

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Gina Hagan, New Business Specialist, Engagement & Community Relations, Board of Pensions
Rob Hagan, Ministry Relations Officer, Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray

Heavenly Father, grant us grace to live lives of devotion and discipline that reflect your grace and truth. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - A Purdue-bound bus was always a welcome sight in the Nelson household

The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II tells Presbyterian Women why they’ve always held a warm spot in his heart

January 9, 2022

The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II is Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II told the triennial gathering of Presbyterian Women he has fond childhood memories of the bus pulling up to St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Orangeburg, South Carolina, the church where his father was the pastor. The bus was there to transport Nelson’s mother to PW’s national gathering at Purdue University.

“It was always a time I was grateful you were taking my mother away for a time,” said Nelson, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), speaking to the online gathering from the Presbyterian Center in Louisville. “She was the disciplinarian in the life of our house. My dad and I had a great time doing things we would never share with her for the rest of her life.”

It was members of Presbyterian Women who would “oftentimes, and not with a loud voice but behind the scenes, be the changemakers at St. Luke Presbyterian Church,” Nelson said. “We see the continued work of women stepping forward at the local and national levels,” mentioning specifically PW’s executive director, Susan Jackson Dowd, as one of the women “who guide us in many ways. I have been thankful for their support.”

Especially during the difficult times we’ve been experiencing, “I’ve seen women just step forward and do significant work over and over again,” Nelson said. “They remind us how to bring about change in the life of society, the world and even the church — and remind us that somehow or another it should be done with love. That’s a message that’s much needed in the world today.”

More and more cities, including Louisville, are suffering waves of violent crime, some being perpetuated by and against children, Nelson noted. Presbyterians “are offering ourselves as a vision and the possibility of hope in a world in need of much visioning and certainly a great deal of hope,” he said. “I believe that we will continue to see that through the active engagement of not only Presbyterian Women but men and women across the nation. We will continue to hold onto the Christian heritage we share and to walk by faith, not sight.”

With a denominational headquarters building conceived by its donor three decades ago as a potential downtown anchor, “we have some responsibility in a place where 12-year-olds are carrying guns and are part of the high murder rate we are seeing right here in Louisville. … What is the role of the church? How do we deeply connect? It is a time we have to be more vigilant than we have before.”

It’s up to Presbyterian Women and others to “remind us we still have a debt to pay — the debt of the cross,” Nelson said. “It’s about the redemption of the world.”

Nelson thanked Presbyterian Women for “lifting up the banner to be leaders in this denomination and helping us find a way to take that which seems to be a great struggle and find ways by which we allow it to be a great hope.”

“Remember — we are walking by faith in these days, in some places quite frankly we have never been before,” Nelson said. “I pray that as we talk together as Presbyterians, with other denominations and the unchurched, there is a kinship God calls us to, to love our neighbors as ourselves.”

“I stand here today proudly serving this denomination and, more importantly, being in the midst of Presbyterian Women,” Nelson said. “God’s blessing in the days ahead.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Jieun Han and Myung Han, Mission co-workers serving in South Korea, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Anisha Hackney, Manager HR/Payroll, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray

God of all nations and circumstances, we give thanks for the startling ways by which you break into our lives. The future you plan for all peoples lies before us. May we continue to be showered with the grace needed to join with you in being a blessing in the world. In Christ’s peace. Amen.