Meet the Rev. Paul Thomas Rock   The Pastor Nominating Committee unanimously recommended on June 6, 2010, that Second Presbyterian Church call Paul Rock, an associate pastor at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, as its pastor/head of staff. Paul has been at Fifth Avenue since 2004. Prior to that he was acting senior pastor and associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Newhall, Calif. He also has done mission work in Eastern Europe.   Paul is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Fuller Theological Seminary (where he was a classmate of a former Second associate pastor, the late Catherine Price), and is nearing completion of his Doctor of Ministry degree in 21st Century Church Leadership at Drew University in Madison, N.J. He is married to Stacey Perkins Rock, who until just last Friday worked at Fordham Law School as associate director of its international and non-J.D. programs.    Paul, 42, was born in Falls Church, Va., the youngest of three children. His parents were active Presbyterians. Because of Paul’s father’s job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the family moved often, finally landing in Stillwater, Minn., where Paul attended junior and senior high school. Stacey grew up in Joplin, Mo., and has two sisters who live in Kansas City.   After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with dual degrees in education and history, Paul joined a Christian educational organization called Educational Services International (ESI) and taught English and history at a bilingual high school in Budapest, Hungary, for three years. Paul and Stacey met through their work with ESI. Together they became in-country directors of ESI’s Central European program, overseeing 60 teachers throughout Central Europe.   In 1994 the Rocks moved to Pasadena, Calif., where Stacey served as regional director for ESI and Paul began work on a Master of Divinity degree at Fuller. He says this about that experience: “The diversity of traditions and cultures represented at Fuller caused my faith to both expand and adapt. In the course of my studies and process of discernment, a call to ministry was confirmed.”   When Paul finished his M.Div. degree, Stacey began work on a law degree. He then was called to First Presbyterian of Newhall. His responsibilities there focused on families, worship leadership, youth and young adults. When the senior pastor left, Paul assumed the role of acting head of staff for two years.   In August 2004 Paul accepted a call as associate pastor at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian, a 3,400-member church in Midtown Manhattan. The program areas he currently directs or supervises have a combined budget of more than $2 million with 14 full-time and 7 to 10 part-time staff. One of his major areas of focus has been young adult ministries. He also provides pastoral and theological oversight and direction for his congregation’s Center for Christian Studies, a large adult education ministry, and he oversees the full-time director of an extensive Family Ministries program. He also oversees his congregation’s facilities budget, building superintendent and eight members of the security and maintenance staff. Until recently, Paul also oversaw outreach and mission work at Fifth Avenue, including a committee that annually disperses about $250,000 in benevolences.   Paul has been a guest lecturer, guest preacher and workshop leader in various settings and has additional experience with mission work in Central America and Japan, in addition to Eastern Europe.   As for the work ahead for the PCUSA and congregations within it, he says this: “In the 21st century, the Presbyterian Church finds itself in a culture that has moved from generally churched to generally unchurched, from shared societal values to divergent, ethnic and generational values. If current attrition rates continue, the PCUSA will no longer exist in 2060. As stewards of such an amazing Reformed theology and heritage, we cannot allow this trend to continue.”   Paul sums up his approach to ministry this way: “I strive to invite members of the community to embrace their priestly calling and grow in their knowledge, faith and gifts so that all can be employed to further the Kingdom. As a pastor, I know that I am not the shepherd, Christ is. My job is to do my best to point the community toward the head of the church and consistently remind us all of our identity and purpose in Christ.”   Paul is excited about joining our family of faith and, with us, walking into God’s future for Second Presbyterian.