The next Moderator of the Presbyterian Church is the Rev Ivan McKay (57), who ministers in the suburban parish of Dundonald on the outskirts of Belfast.
Mr McKay was nominated by 11 out of the 21 Presbyteries who met yesterday throughout Ireland to vote for a new Moderator.
Yesterday, the Rev Ken Newell of Belfast's Fitzroy congregation, received 10 votes.
Last month, for the first time in 10 years, a meeting for the election of a new "principal public representative" of the Church ended in a tie between Mr McKay and Mr Newell.
Mr McKay will take up office on June 2nd in succession to Dr Russell Birney who will continue as Moderator until that time.
Born in Ballymoney on June 25th, 1945, Mr McKay moved to Belfast at the age of two.
He was brought up in the Oldpark congregation in north Belfast and was educated at Methodist College; Trinity College, Dublin and the Presbyterian College in Belfast.
Mr McKay was ordained in Bethany Presbyterian Church, now Immanuel, Belfast in 1969 before being called as minister to Brookside Presbyterian Church in Ahoghill in 1972.
He remained there for 24 years before moving to the Dundonald congregation in 1996. Mr McKay is married to Marleen with two grown up children and two grandchildren.
Commenting on his nomination Mr McKay said: "Despite having a month to consider the possibility, I'm still shocked. Being elected Moderator is a truly humbling experience and I look to God to help me do my best in carrying out the duties before me."
Mr McKay described himself as a "traditional minister preaching God's word and applying it to life today while pastoring people as they live out their faith in the context of their own circumstances."