I find it fascinating to hear people’s first impressions of a Synod meeting. Some find Synods enthralling and amazing; others find them bewildering or frustrating. My own first impression was that this was an intimidating group that was careful about its theology and involved in an impressive array of ministries for the denomination’s size.

As a veteran of 22 Synods, my first impressions have stuck with me. That sense of intimidation has faded as I have come to know the men. I’ve heard many intense discussions and debates at Synod, yet one regards those things differently when one knows the debaters, their families, their pastoral records. When they debate, it is for good reason and with good motive.

I derive comfort from that. It’s the peace of seeing the presbyterian system at work, knowing that God gave us that system for our good. It will remain for our good as long as congregations that love God send well-qualified, rightly motivated ministers and elders to the higher courts of the church: presbytery and Synod.

In its most notable work as a court this year, where a case in one presbytery had been appealed to Synod, I saw this most clearly in action. So many things were at stake in the decision, and emotions ran high; but I could sit there comfortably aware that obeying the Lord in His Scriptures and for His church was a motive of each speaker. We were not debating whether to follow the Lord, whether to be orthodox, whether to love our brothers and sisters; but we recognized that the decisions made there would have implications for many people and for future generations. - - - For the past two Synods, I have been assisted in reporting on the Synod by Pastor Brad Johnston of the Walton, N.Y., RPC. Brad has the rare combination of both ministerial and journalistic giftedness and training. He has done so much work for this year’s Synod reporting that it is inaccurate to say that he assisted me.

He set up RPCNA and Synod pages on Facebook to help transmit reports from the Synod. This made it easier for younger generations to access Synod reports and also made it easier to report using different media. You can find there some of his video interviews with delegates, movies of delegates singing, recordings from devotional messages, as well as play-by-play reporting. In addition, Brad wrote the compilation news story for this issue of the magazine.

—Drew Gordon