The UCC's 90-member Executive Council unanimously confirmed the Rev. Geoffrey Black on March 22 to be the candidate for General Minister and President. Black now awaits "call by election" by delegates attending the denomination's General Synod in June. If elected, Black will succeed the Rev. John H. Thomas, who ends 10 years in the office in September.

Black, 60, who has served as New York Conference Minister since 2000, was presented to the joint meetings of the UCC's five autonomous boards on March 21 by the Rev. Henry Simmons, pastor of St. Albans Congregational UCC in Queens, N.Y., who chaired the GMP search committee.

Simmons commended Black's leadership in all settings of the UCC, his cooperative and collaborative leadership style, and his ability to maintain perspective and balance in difficult circumstances as reasons why Black should be confirmed and elected as General Minister and President.

 "He has a deep love and devotion to our church," Simmons said.

Black began his remarks by acknowledging the "context of the times" – the difficult economic realities that face not only the UCC, but the nation and the world.

"Whatever hard decisions we have to make, I think they will be received with understanding, because these are difficult times," Black said.

Black said he is "always struck by the wonderful, gifted, dedicated people I meet who are in this church." He said he sees across the UCC many "vital and growing churches that are deeply grounded spiritually with a real commitment to the Gospel."

"There is a world out there waiting for a church like us," Black said. "We just have to keep knocking on the door."

Black said he believes in the power of persistence "because I've seen the results of persistence." He pointed to the late Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, who first introduced a civil rights bill in Congress in 1946. "Eventually in 1965, it happened," Black said. "That's persistence."

The UCC Constitution and Bylaws call for the Executive Council to offer at least a two-thirds plurality for a GMP candidacy to move forward.

"I am pleased to announce that Geoffrey Black has been unanimously confirmed as the candidate for General Minister and President," announced the Rev. Jim Moos, pastor of Bismarck (N.D.) UCC and chair of the Executive Council, after the vote was taken.
 
The United Church of Christ is a denomination of 1.2 million members in 5,600 autonomous local churches that are joined together in Christian mission through local Associations, regional Conferences and the biennial all-church General Synod.