from the president's desk

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

At its annual meeting in May, I announced to the Board of Trustees my desire to retire from this office on June 30, 2004. That will complete for me fifty years of ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—twenty-nine in the pastorate and twenty-one here at the Seminary. It has been a wonderful road to travel.

Accepting my request, the Board appointed a presidential search committee to discern the one God has chosen to be the sixth president of Princeton Theological Seminary. It is a strong committee of able people who in due season will be seeking comments and suggestions from alumni/ae and from the church-at-large. Please keep them in your prayers.

Meanwhile, the beat goes on at Princeton Seminary. You will hear it in the lovely tribute by Professor Beverly Gaventa to our faculty colleague Donald Juel, whose untimely death in the spring semester devastated the Seminary community. You will hear the beat also in the articles featuring our two new mission and ecumenics professors, Dr. Luis Rivera-Pagán and Dr Darrell L. Guder. The beat is very strong in the feature article on the inauguration this summer of the Joe R. Engle Institute of Preaching, which received rave reviews from the forty young pastors invited to participate.

With every good wish, I remain

Faithfully yours,

Thomas W. Gillespie