Bruce Reyes-Chow

Who is Bruce Reyes-Chow?

Bruce Reyes-Chow is an American Teaching Elder of the Presbyterian Church.

Reyes-Chow was the Moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. Reyes-Chow was elected as Moderator on June 21, 2008 from a field of four candidates. He received 48 percent of the vote on the first ballot and 55 percent of the vote on the second ballot. At the time, the youngest Moderator ever elected at 39 years old, upon his election those from the liberal parts of the church compared his election to that of the Barack Obama presidential campaign, saying, "Like Obama, Reyes-Chow is young, incredibly smart, a gifted communicator, comfortable with new technologies, a facilitator who knows how to harness the wisdom of the larger group, and completely comfortable in a globalized, diverse, post-racial, post-gender, post-partisan interconnected world", while some on the conservative church questioned, "Has the General Assembly put the future of the Presbyterian Church at greater risk by electing Reyes-Chow as moderator for two years?" He ended his time as Moderator on July 3, 2010 when his successor, Elder Cynthia Bolbach was elected at the 219th General Assembly.