The Provincial Elders’ Conference wanted to inform you of this important announcement prior to the beginning of your Labor Day holiday. Please be in prayer for our Provincial Elders’ Conference and our church during this time of transition and new beginnings.
An Important Announcement from the Provincial Elders’ Conference
The Provincial Elders’ Conference (PEC) has approved a retirement request from President David Guthrie, effective Sept. 30, 2021. It also announces that continuing PEC members have appointed The Rev. Chris Thore to fill the vacancy on the Conference as well as to become its new president, effective Oct. 1, 2021. With the approval of his boards, Chris will continue as pastor of Clemmons Moravian Church while serving the province. He will serve as PEC president through transition after provincial elections at the next Synod, which convenes June 1, 2022.
We give thanks for the Rev. David Guthrie’s Service as PEC President.
On behalf of the Province, the PEC extends great gratitude to David for his 11 years’ service as president and his dedicated service to the Moravian Church. David left a construction career to pursue ministry in 1983. A 1986 graduate of Moravian Theological Seminary, he was ordained that year and consecrated as a Presbyter in 1991. After graduation, David accepted a call to Prince of Peace Moravian Church and later Rolling Hills Moravian Church, both in Florida, where he served until 2003. He returned to Winston-Salem to serve as executive director of the Board of Evangelism and Home Missions for seven years before being elected PEC president in 2010. In 2018, David was elected vice president of the Unity Board of the Worldwide Moravian Church and in January 2020 he became its president. He has also served on the Moravian Seminary Board of Trustees as well as in numerous ecumenical positions on behalf of the Moravian Church.
We welcome the Rev. Chris Thore as our new PEC President.
Chris returns to the PEC after serving two terms from 2010 – 2018 when he was vice president. After a management career in music, Chris earned a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell University and a certificate in theology from Moravian Seminary. Ordained in 1998, Chris’s first call was to Trinity Moravian Church. In 2001, he accepted a call to become the founding pastor of a new church plant in Huntersville, N.C., New Beginnings Moravian Church. Consecrated as a Presbyter in 2004, Chris led the growth of the congregation and expansion of facilities at New Beginnings until called to Clemmons Moravian in March 2018.
The Provincial Elders’ Conference invites your prayers for Chris and his family as he assumes leadership of our Province and for David and his family as he steps into well-deserved rest.
FROM THE BOOK OF ORDER
In the event the office of the President of the Provincial Elders’ Conference becomes vacant between Synods, the Conference may appoint a person to bring the Conference to full membership. The Conference may then choose one of its members President. If a member of the conference other than the new appointee becomes its president, the new appointee’s eligibility for election to a succeeding four-year term shall be determined by the remaining eligibility of the person elected president. The order of rotation shall be preserved in the terms of the members of the Conference other than that of president.
(Section 9 Elections and Appointments #9 in 2018 Moravian Book of Order)
The Daily Text
Friday, September 3 — Psalm 105:8–15, Jeremiah 33:6–34:7; 2 Timothy 4:9–22
The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. Psalm 33:5
Do not worry about your life. Matthew 6:25
All praise, glory, and honor to you, our most gracious Lord, for your steadfast love which banishes our fears, fills us with hope and enable us to keep your covenant day by day. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
The Rev. Dr. David A. Marcus, Jr.
Assistant to the President of the Provincial Elders’ Conference
Moravian Church in America, Southern Province