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Westminster Presbyterian Church
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Appeared in WPC newsletter for January 23, 2008
THANKS TO DAILEY AND DOUG!
There are two men of our congregation to whom I, on behalf of
the entire church, would like to express a sincere word of appreciation.
They are Dailey Derr and Doug Wellemeyer. Those
aware of the "inner workings" of the church, and particularly
the session, will immediately know that we are talking here
about the position of the clerk of session.
The term "clerk" sounds so perfunctory, even mechanical, but
no session I have ever known could long exist without a person
of wisdom, sensitivity, organizational skills, knowledge of the
church, and "attuneness" to the personalities of the elders serving
as clerk of the session. Let me share with you a sentence
from the Book of Order:
The clerk shall record the transactions of the governing body,
keep its rolls of membership and attendance, preserve its
records carefully, and furnish extracts from them when required
by another governing body of the church.
Those are the formal words, but in actuality the clerk is literally
the right hand man (or woman) of the moderator (senior
minister). In fact, when a new minister arrives, the newcomer
learns from the clerk during the first year "what makes this
place tick." It fortunately has never happened to me, but I have
heard of situations where the moderator and clerk were at odds
with each other, resulting in total church chaos. I would say
that, next to the ordained pastoral staff, the clerk of session is
the next most important person when it comes to the smooth
running of the church.
Now, with all that as prelude, let me come to the point. For
many years, Dailey Derr has served as the clerk of our session.
The best way I can describe Dailey's contribution is to give
you the words of the Resolution of the Session given to Dailey
upon his retirement from the office of clerk.
RESOLUTION OF THE SESSION
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
WHEREAS Dailey J. Derr, a long-time and faithful member
of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Durham, North Carolina,
who was ordained as a Deacon in 1975 and as an Elder in
1976, and who served as clerk for nearly two years during his
term on the Session, was called again to serve as clerk of session
on September 20, 1998, and served continuously thereafter
for more than nine years until his retirement from that office
on September 30, 2007; and
WHEREAS, during his long tenure in that important and demanding
office of leadership, Dailey attended innumerable
stated and called meetings of the session; and
WHEREAS, for all such meetings, he diligently and with special
care recorded the words that were spoken and the decisions and
actions that were taken by the session for its minutes, and in addition
he planned, drafted agendas, oversaw special tasks, guided
deliberations, coordinated committee work, and provided invaluable
direction and counsel to the elders about the responsibilities
of their office whenever necessary, at all times employing his remarkable
mastery of the Book of Order to ensure the session's
compliance with it and other rules of the Presbytery and the General
Assembly; and
WHEREAS, in addition to his work at session meetings, he maintained
communications with the Presbytery of New Hope, received
and initiated correspondence with third parties on behalf of the
church such as wedding and baptism requests and other matters,
and maintained various sessional records, and he worked
collaboratively with the senior pastor, associate pastors, and the
interim pastor, the moderator, acting moderators, and the church
staff to complete the important administrative work of the church,
kept the session running smoothly and preserved proper procedure
in all workings of the session; and
WHEREAS, he devoted countless hours to accomplish these
multiple tasks without compensation at a time when he was employed
full-time and had other responsibilities, and he did all of
these things willingly and cheerfully, always sharing a smile and
good humor, and for no other purpose than to be a faithful servant
to God and God's church,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SESSION
OF WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, on
behalf of the congregation and all of its prior members, that we
express our thanks to God and our deep appreciation to Dailey J.
Derr for his enduring and faithful service to Westminster Presbyterian
Church. This resolution shall be spread upon the minutes
of the session and made a permanent part of the record.
Adopted unanimously by the session on this 21st day of October,
2007.
(Signed) Doug Wellemeyer, Clerk
Jack Walchenbach, Moderator
This was presented to Dailey in a beautiful plaque form on October
28, 2007, at a special Session event at the home of Alex and
Mary Denson.
The other person to whom we want to say a profound thank you is
Doug Wellemeyer for assuming the clerk's position beginning in
October. He, like Dailey, continues to be a wonderful person to
work with, whose organizational skills all of us on the Session
celebrate. Actually, I had a bit of worry that Doug, after thinking
through the above resolution, would be scared out of taking on the
job!
As with all who are in a wide variety of leadership positions in the
church, we say "thanks be to God for God's gifts to them," just
now we say a special word of thanks for Dailey and Doug.
Shalom,
Jack