Class Notes

1946
Graden Grobe (B), retired but still active in ministry in his eighties, goes to the Federal Prison Camp in Hermantown, Minnesota, once a week to visit and share in fellowship with the inmates. He has volunteered at the prison since 1983.

1948
Charles Brackbill (B) writes, “Fifty-eight years after graduation, I have ended my ministry in the same city I started in, Elizabeth, New Jersey. Then, I served a neighborhood parish a few blocks from the big old (1664) First Presbyterian. Who knew I would end up as an interim in the place? Now no longer rich and powerful, we have incorporated The Old First Historic Trust to restore [the church], and I became the trust’s president. We have more than six million dollars in hand and promised, for repairs and for ensuring [the church’s] future as a place of service in the heart of the city.”

1953
Stuart Saul (B) has published Clearings: Uncommon Words for Common Life—Reflections on the Old Testament from Joseph Parker’s The People’s Bible (Xulon, 2006). Saul writes, “The book includes 273 pages of segments from the sermons and prayers of Joseph Parker, the outstanding thirteenth-century English preacher whose book The People’s Bible was recommended in Dr. Donald Macleod’s homiletics classes.”

1957
John Topping (B) lost his wife, Paula “Pat,” on May 19, 2005. He transferred his credentials from the presbytery in Washington DC to the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference in October 1967. The church he founded, the Church at Northern Virginia, can be seen at www.cvna.org.

1960
James E. Aydelotte (B) has been elected stated clerk of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina. He is also the governor of the Western North Carolina District of Rotary International.

1962
J. David Muyskens (M, ’78P) has written Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God: The Practice of Centering Prayer (Upper Room Books, Nashville). It is a forty-day introduction to contemplative prayer and contemplative living for individuals or groups, suggesting practices of prayer and Scripture meditation for each day.

1964
Lloyd Evans (B) became the new pastor of Mingus View Presbyterian Church in Prescott Valley, Arizona, in November 2006.

William L. Flanagan (B) retired in April 2005 after forty-one years of specialized ministry in congregations in Burbank, California, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Newport Beach, California. He is still leading divorce recovery workshops around the country and volunteering for Teen Challenge in mentoring and staff training programs.

1965
Harold Ellens (M) has published Sex in the Bible: A New Consideration (Praeger, 2006).

Ken Parker (B) raises therapy animals for visitation in nursing homes, adult retirement communities, schools, and prisons. He writes that his therapy service animals are miniature donkeys, of which he has twenty-five.

1966
Richard Coleman (B, ’67M) has written a second book that examines the intersection of theology and science. Eden’s Garden: Rethinking Sin and Evil in an Era of Scientific Promise (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006) follows Competing Truths: Theology and Science as Sibling Rivals (Trinity Press International, 2001). Coleman’s popular Gospel Telling: The Art and Theology of Children’s Sermons (CSS Publishing) is back in print. He lives with his wife, Ruth (’66E), in Pembroke, Massachusetts.

1967
Charles “Chuck” D. Robison (B) left the pastorate of Christ Presbyterian Church in Telluride, Colorado, to join his wife, Karen, as producer of “What If It Really Works?” a company in Austin, Texas, that produces two radio shows. The NPR show is aired in Telluride over KOTO radio and the Internet show over www.contacttalkradio.com. Both focus on the practical issues of discovering the juncture between science and consciousness. Robison can be reached at 512.382.9118.

1968
John N. Bixby Jr. (B) recently retired as copastor of the Cumberland Congregational Church (UCC) in Cumberland, Maine. He and his wife, Mary Ellen, have a home in Brattleboro, Vermont, and a summer residence in Yarmouth, Maine.

H.J. Happ (B) is professor emeritus at California State University, Northridge, and in February 2006 was made honorary canon of the cathedral in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

William Presnell (M) was guest lecturer at the National Conference on Native American Spirituality at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, at the end of October. He presented a relationship systems approach to resolving conflict in families and communities of faith.

1969
Robert L Muse (B, ’71M) completed his D.Min. degree at Palmer Theological Seminary (formerly Eastern Baptist Seminary) in 2005. His thesis topic was “Spiritual Formation: A Study of Christian Faculty in a Non-Traditional Degree Program.” He is adjunct professor at Eastern University and the Haverford Adult School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and interim pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Westmont, New Jersey.

1970
William J. Larkin (B) is a member of Palmetto Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America. He has been given permission to labor outside ecclesiastical bounds to teach at Columbia International University’s Seminary and School of Missions in Columbia, South Carolina. He has taught New Testament and Greek there since 1975.

In March and April David Powell (B) will colead the China Institute of Substance Abuse at the Institute of Mental Health in Shanghai and at the Beijing Medical University Hospital in Beijing, where he teaches, specializing in addictions.

1972
Jacquel E. Kelewae (B) has been a management consultant for the last sixteen years, providing organizational development, outplacement, career management counseling, coaching, management training, team building, conflict resolution, and executive search to businesses. He is a member of Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Terry Martinson (B) writes that he is “still where I started—at The Old South Union Church, United Church of Christ, in South Weymouth, Massachusetts.” He began his thirty-fifth year in June and is still enjoying working with the church’s youth groups. He spent a week in August at camp with 320 of the church’s youth.

1973
In November Gail Ricciuti (B), associate professor of homiletics at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York, was the guest preacher at Colgate Rochester’s twelfth annual Helen Barrett Montgomery Conference. She preached on “The Many Moments of Sophia in Our Lives.”

As of January 2007, Henry S. Wilson (M) is the executive director of the Foundation for Theological Education in South East Asia. He is now living in India.

1974
Michael Lindvall (B) was the guest speaker at The Presbyterian Publishing Corporation’s breakfast at the annual conference of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators in February. He is the pastor of Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City, and author of A Geography of God: Exploring the Christian Journey.

Kenneth A. Sprang (b) is general counsel for the Psychiatric Institute of Washington DC and adjunct professor of law at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in Washington.

1975
Michael J. Alliegro (m) has been promoted by the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre to the rank of Knight Commander. He currently serves as executive director of the Department of Worship and Liturgical Formation and coordinator of episcopal ceremonies for the Diocese of Metuchen. He is also pastor of St. Bartholomew Parish in East Brunswick, New Jersey.

1976
Steve Jacobs (B) has been appointed assistant provost for accreditation at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, one of twenty-eight Jesuit universities in the United States, where he has held various leadership positions since 1988.

Joan Martin (B) concluded the Association of Theological Schools’ (ATS) October Women in Leadership Seminar, “Understanding Our Institutional Contexts: Challenges and Strategies,” held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her plenary address reviewed “how women in theological education are ‘back to where we started,’ yet also, in some ways, in a different place.” Fifty-two women attended the seminar, funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc., planned with hopes that women leaders in ATS member schools would achieve “greater understanding about their work in theological education, informed perspectives about the unique issues women in theological education encounter, and increased satisfaction in their work.”

1977
Gary S. Eller (B) teaches in the Theology Department at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, while serving as interim pastor at the First Presbyterian Church in Omaha. He writes, “Interacting daily with Creighton students is a refreshing ecumenical experience.”

Allison Seed (B) was part of a delegation of top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) that traveled to the Middle East in January to show their continued support for the region’s Christians and to get a personal look at the area’s dynamics. The delegation traveled to Lebanon and Israel/Palestine, where they met with Israeli Jewish and Christian leaders.

1978
Major Peter E. Bauer (B) was recalled to active duty as an army social worker in May 2006. He has been working in the Army Substance Abuse Program at the Department of Social Work at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Fort Gordon, Georgia. He will spend the next nine months at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, working with military personnel who are being deployed and returning from deployment. He will return to Fort Gordon in August 2007 and then back to San Antonio, Texas, in September to work for the Department of Veterans Affairs. ›

 

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 15, Hendricks Davis (B, ’93M) spoke at the South Orange-Maplewood Community Coalition on Race’s sixth annual “Making It More Than a Dream: An Interfaith Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.” Davis is the executive director of Habitat for Humanity Newark, Inc.

Nancy A. Eldredge Hess (e) is executive director and president of Calumet Lutheran Ministries in West Ossipee, New Hampshire.

After thirteen years as pastor of a “wonderful” Presbyterian church in Marquette, Michigan, Lawrence Jones (B) writes that he was “called back to be the school minister of Mercersburg Academy” in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, in August 2006.

Asriel Gamaliel McLain (B) is pastor of West Tabernacle Baptist Church in Beaumont, Texas.

Jeffrey M. Young (B) moved to a new ministry position in the army chaplaincy this past summer at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He writes, “Thank you for your prayers for our young men and women who are deployed and stationed around the world—and their families.”

1979
C.W. Dawson Jr. (B), Riley Scholar in Residence in Religion and Philosophy at The Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, graduated on May 12, 2006, as the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in philosophy in the history of the University of Missouri. He holds dual ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the National Baptist Convention. He brings two decades of experience in urban parishes to the classroom. ›

 

Gary Dorrien (M, E) began Highland, North Carolina’s Highlands Institute for American Religions and Philosophical Thought series in July with two lectures, “Imperial Designs: Neoconservatism, the Permanent War, and the Ethics of Resistance” and “Imagining Progressive Religion: The Making of American Liberal Theology.” He is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.

On November 1, Birda Buzan Ferguson (B) began an interim pastorate at the Third-Westminster Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Virginia L. Scott (B, ’84M) was named senior minister of Pilgrim Congregational Church in Warren, New Jersey, in June. She had been the associate minister of the church since its formation in 1993.

Robert A. Wendel (B) is a bi-vocational minister, working as a chaplain at the Veterans Medical Center in Beckley, West Virginia, and as professor of philosophy at the Beckley branch of Concord University.

1980
Peter Gavin Ferriby (B, ’00D) is associate university librarian at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Arden Krych (M) retired in August as senior pastor of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Springfield, Pennsylvania.

Richard Kyle (M) is a professor of history and religion at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas. His seventh book, Evangelicalism: An Americanized Christianity, was recently published. He has taught twice as a Fulbright Scholar, most recently at Yanka Kupala State University in Belarus.

David Laubach (M) has written his first book, 12 Steps to Congregational Transformation: A Practical Guide for Leaders (Judson Press, 2006). He is associate director for program ministries at the American Baptist Churches, USA. He is chair of the Church Renewal Workgroup of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), and a member of the BWA Evangelism and Education Executive Committee. A former pastor of churches in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Laubach has devoted much of his life’s work to evangelism, renewal, and transformation.

1981
Roehnell Drue (B) has worked for the past twenty years at Genesis Recovery Center in Zanesville, Ohio: fourteen years as a chaplain and the past six years as a chemical dependency counselor. She also has a private mental health counseling practice. Her son, Steven, is a senior in high school, and her daughter, Jennifer, is a high-school sophomore.
Dale T. Irvin (B) was elected the eleventh president of New York Theological Seminary on July 19, 2006. He had served as acting president since January 1, 2006, and before that was the seminary’s academic dean and vice president for academic affairs.

1982
Virginia B. “Ginny” Smith (B) and her husband, Richard, have moved to Downers Grove, Illinois. She began serving as associate executive presbyter for ministry in Chicago Presbytery in July.

Carlos Wilton (B) writes, “I have been battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the past year, but thankfully I am now in remission. I have been writing of the experience in a blog, ‘A Pastor’s Cancer Diary.’ I also have two new books, both by CSS Publications: Lectionary Preaching Workbook (Cycle C) and Hear My Voice: Preaching the Lectionary Psalms (Cycles A, B, and C).”

1983
Mark D. Atkinson (B) is pastor of Fairview Presbyterian Church in Glenmoore, Pennsylvania.

Brett Webb-Mitchell (B) has a new book, Follow Me: Christian Growth on the Pilgrim’s Way (Seabury Press), a compilation of personal essays gathered in the many pilgrimages he has taken around the world.

Howard K. Williams (E) was installed on December 3, 2006, as the new Episcopal archdeacon of Brooklyn, New York, at The Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, Long Island.

1984
Wesley Avram (B), pastor of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in suburban Philadelphia, preached at the Memorial Church at Harvard University in February. He was also featured in small reflection segments on the Hallmark Channel’s New Morning program throughout 2006.

Scott Janney (B) began a new position in January as director of planned giving at Main Line Health in Radnor, Pennsylvania. He will be working with donors to Bryn Mawr, Paoli, Lankenau, and Riddle Memorial Hospitals. He and his wife, Rebecca (’84B), live in Horsham, Pennsylvania, with their son, David.

In October, Donald Marsden (B), his wife Laurie (’86b), and their son Jeremiah returned to the United States for a nine-month furlough after nine years of mission service in Russia. They have settled in Richmond, Virginia, and plan to visit churches in the western United States during their furlough. Their daughters Hannah and Christiana are in college in the States, and Jeremiah, fourteen, is enrolled in NorthStar Academy, an online Christian school. They took a trip back to Russia in February to spend time with their partners in ministry and the staff of The Narnia Center in Moscow, a mission initiative founded by Marsden, as well as a two-week trip to Salekhard in Siberia to explore possible future work there.

Linda Roberts-Baca (B) was installed as designated pastor of Rio Grande Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on August 27, 2006. Roberts-Baca is Rio Grande’s second female pastor. ›

 

1985
Noel K. Anderson (B) has published Those That Leap (Tate Publishing and Enterprises, 2006), a work of spiritual fantasy/fiction that illustrates the search for a deeper faith. He is executive pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Bakersfield, California.

William G. Carter (B), pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, was the worship and music leader at the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators annual conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in February.

Joe Dunkerson (B) will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of his call to Farringdon Independent Church (the only Inghamite Church in Canada) in Brantford, Ontario, in May. The Inghamites were (and a few still are) followers of the Reverend Mr. Benjamin Ingham. Dunkerson writes, “Farringdon Independent Church was founded in Brantford, Upper Canada (now Ontario) in 1833 during the reign of King William IV and Queen Adelaide. We have remained Inghamites (independent of the established Church of England) ever since. Farringdon is a thriving congregation, and I love it here. Check out our web site at www.farringdonchurch.ca.”

Bruce D. Ervin (B) says that “after serving full time for seven years as the director of spiritual care at Presbyterian Homes of Arden Hills, Minnesota, I recently left that position and, along with my wife, Lisa, who is also a licensed marriage and family therapist, am developing a private therapy practice and educational ministry incorporated as Ervin Counseling and Family Life Ministries, P.A., located in Edina, Minnesota. In addition to our work, we find great joy and satisfaction in parenting our beloved three-year-old daughter, Hannah Grace.”

James S. Hogue (B) is chaplain with Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado.

Christopher Ocker’s (M, ’91D) book Church Robbers and Reformers in Germany, 1525–1547: Confiscation and Religious Purpose in the Holy Roman Empire has been published by E.J. Brill in Leiden, the Netherlands. Ocker is professor of church history at San Francisco Theological Seminary and at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.

1986
Bill Bailey (B) has accepted a call as pastor/head of staff of the Presbyterian Kirk in the Pines in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.

John Chandler (B, ’87M) has been named leader of the Ray and Ann Spence Network for Congregational Leadership (www.rasnet.org), and his new book, Courageous Church Leadership: Conversations with Effective Practitioners (Chalice Press), is available on www.amazon.com. The book features interviews with some of America’s leading pastors, including Leith Anderson, Erwin McManus, Fred Craddock, and Brian McLaren.

Judith A. Crilley (B) writes, “Celebrate with me. After twenty-one-plus years, I was finally ordained by Grace Presbytery! What a journey. I am a staff chaplain at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. My spouse, Bob Crilley (’87B), remains head of staff at the First Presbyterian Church of Grapevine, Texas.”

Margaret Grun Kibben (B, ’02P) safely returned home from a seven-month tour as a military chaplain in Afghanistan. She is currently stationed in Washington DC.

Lori C. Patton (B) continues to teach at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. She teaches three courses for the School of Religion, as well as working part time for Abingdon Press.

Nancy Lindell Sautter (B) was recognized by the congregation of Neshaminy-Warwick Presbyterian Church in Hartsville, Pennsylvania, for her twenty years of ministry. She is currently serving as interim pastor of the congregation.

Anna Clock Saxon (B) became designated associate pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois, in July. She had been serving as a stated supply associate at this church for five-and-one-half years. She also continues to serve as a chaplain at Methodist Medical Center in Peoria.

Sharon Taylor (M) has been named the Donald G. Miller Librarian and director of the Barbour Library at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary as of March 1, 2007. Taylor had served for the past seventeen years as the director of the Franklin Trask Library at Andover Newton Theological School.

1987
Wayne C. Darbonne (B) received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2006, writing his thesis on “Verification of Identity: The Role and Praxis of Evangelism in a Congregation’s Renewal of Its Missional Identity.” In August he began his new call as pastor/head of staff of St. James Presbyterian Church in Littleton, Colorado.

David Welton (B) has written The Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in Pastoral Counseling: Community and Silence (The Haworth Pastoral Press, 2006). The book “introduces a new treatment model based on Quaker ideas and practices that can be used in conjunction with medical and psychological practice for treating manic-depressive illness.”

1988
Anna Carter Florence (B, ’00D) led a preaching workshop, “Fight the Good/Fair Fight: Preaching in a Time of Conflict,” in January at Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware. She is associate professor of homiletics at Columbia Theological Seminary.

R. Ward Holder (B) writes, “Things have been busy this year. During one year, I was awarded tenure at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, promoted to associate professor, and had my first book published. The book came out with Brill Academic Publishers, and is titled John Calvin and the Grounding of Biblical Interpretation: Calvin’s First Commentaries. All in all, a full year!”

Sheryl (B) and Scott (B) Kinder Pyle relocated to Spokane, Washington, in November. This transition comes after ten years of new church development at Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Limerick, Pennsylvania. Scott will be the organizing pastor of a new church development in Latah Valley in the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest. Sheryl writes that their children “Ian, fourteen, and Philip, twelve, are eager to check out the new wildlife.”

1989
Randy Bush (B) became the pastor/head of staff of East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in March 2006. He writes that he is “enjoying the opportunities for ministry, mission, and music at this diverse, urban cathedral. Beth has settled into the theatre world, already landing a role with the Civic Light Opera. Our two children, Ian, seven, and Charlotte, five, are enjoying their new hometown. I will be teaching a course in an upcoming D.Min. program at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.”

Len Hedges-Goettl (B) was selected by the American Psychological Association to be part of a U.S. delegation to Vietnam and Cambodia in November with the People to People Ambassador Program to discuss “families, children, community, and crisis.”

Kang-Yup Na (B), Westminster College’s associate professor of religion, traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, last summer with his student research assistant, Christopher Stone, a sophomore international politics and philosophy major, to present Na’s research at the annual international meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. The research, “Hermeneutics and Postmodernity: A Methodological Sachkritik,” deals with biblical interpretation. Na (left) is pictured here with David Noel Freedman (center) and Christopher Stone.›

Claus-Uwe Rieth (U) is a pastor in the Evangelische Landeskirche in Baden, Germany, in the town of Kandern (www.evang-kirche-kandern.de).

Cynthia L. Rigby (B, ’98D) was inaugurated as the W.C. Brown Professor of Theology of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary on November 14, 2006. She is presently completing two books, The Promotion of Social Righteousness (Witherspoon Press) and In Fullness the Faith: A Christian Feminist Theology (Baker Academic).

The First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey, celebrated DeForest B. Soaries Jr.’s (B, ’93m)
sixteenth year as the congregation’s pastor in November. The celebration events included midweek services at the church, services at Cathedral International in Perth Amboy, a “Sweet Sixteen” anniversary banquet, and a special anniversary recognition during a service of worship.

1990
Frances Hayes (B) has served for the past nine years as pastor of Littlefield Presbyterian Church in Dearborn, Michigan. She is also moderator of the Presbytery of Detroit and was a commissioner to the General Assembly in Birmingham, Alabama. This past spring she traveled with one hundred Presbyterians to Jerusalem and Bethlehem for a Steps Toward Peace conference. ›

Phil C. Zylla (M) did his D.Th. in practical theology at the University of South Africa. He was recently appointed academic dean of McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

1991
Dale P. Andrews (B) spoke at the 2007 Festival of Theology at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in March. The festival focused on “Pastoral Care in Death and Dying.”

Christhard O. Greiling (U) is a minister in the eastern part of Westfalia, Germany, working in his church, the Evangelische Kirche von Westfalen.

Anne McAnelly (B) is pastor of Remsenburg Community Church in Remsenburg, New York, and the First Presbyterian Church of East Moriches, New York. The two parishes share a pastor.

Roger Edmond Patton (B) is a physician doing residency training in psychiatry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.

Tracy Weatherhogg (B) is associate minister at Grace Congregational United Church of Christ in Rutland, Vermont. Her husband, John (’88B), is the church’s senior minister.

1992
Linda (B) and Tim (’94B) Lane-Bortell traveled to Ghana on a mission trip with Christ Presbyterian Church in Terra Linda (San Rafael, California). They met the moderator of the Global Evangelical Church (a Presbyterian denomination) and hope to build a bridge between the church and the PCUSA. Linda was a guest preacher in Kasoa, Ghana, and writes that “we were both richly blessed by the drumming and dancing in worship.” Pictured here (left to right) in the head office of the Global Evangelical Church (GEC) in Accra are: Linda Lane-Bortell; the Reverend S.K. Ofori, GEC synod clerk; the Right Reverend Dr. E.K. Gbordzoe, GEC moderator; the Reverend Dr. E. Dovlo, director of studies at the Global Theological Seminary; and Tim Lane-Bortell. ›

Hyungsuk Samuel Lee (B, m) has been serving since May as pastor of Tacoma Central Presbyterian Church in Lakewood, Washington.

James Reed (M) has been named Social Science Division director at Northwest Mississippi Community College, returning to his native Mississippi. He previously served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Statesville, North Carolina.

1993
Allan G. Demond (M) is senior pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Kerrimuir, Victoria, Australia.

Jin S. Kim (B), founding pastor of the Church of All Nations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was a 2006 Campbell Scholar at Columbia Seminary. He and his family took a six-month sabbatical and traveled the world (www.xanga.com/jinskim), and his church has merged with a PCUSA Anglo congregation to expand its mission and ministry.

I. “Teresa” Sophia Ko-Davis (B) works part time as clinical pastoral education supervisor-in-training at New York-Columbia Medical Center in New York City. After graduation from PTS, she served as an associate pastor, a pastor, a short-term missionary, a U.S. military chaplain, and a hospital chaplain. She writes, “However, raising our kids, Elise Claire, three, and Joshua Peter, two, was the most challenging and rewarding [job] for me and my hubby. Praise God for His/Her faithfulness and love! I am happily remarried to Dr. Richard J. Davis, a research scientist and developmental geneticist. Since we moved to Princeton, I have been a speaker at local churches to promote contemplative spirituality/spiritual direction (companionship) in churches and para-church groups in and around the Princeton area. I am available to deliver presentations, and I am also open to do or to make referrals about spiritual direction to anyone who might be interested. Contact me at 908.907.5814 or iteresakd@comcast.net.”

1994
Yeong J. Bae (B) writes, “A full twelve years after graduation, I took the plunge and was ordained as a tentmaking pastor and appointed to the Wyoming Presbyterian Church in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, as moderator and stated supply. For most of the past twelve years I’ve been practicing social work in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and in New York City. I am now program office supervisor at Families United Network in Scranton, where I oversee foster care and adoption services. I’m excited about my ordination because I see myself eventually transitioning to full-time ministry in an inner-city context. Looking forward to reconnecting with PTS in various capacities, too. Peace and blessings to the PTS family, especially my graduating classmates from 1994!”

Chang Uk Byun (M, ’03D) is returning to Seoul, Korea, to teach at a seminary after serving for three-plus years as academic dean and professor of the history of missions at Manila Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Manila, the Philippines.

Newly installed pastor of La Jolla Presbyte-rian Church in La Jolla, California, Paul Cunningham (B), center, celebrates with those who came from out of town to serve on the installation team (left to right): Jeff Holland (’93B), Paul Barrett (’00B, E), Jeremy Grant, and William Vanderbloemen (’95B). The installation service was in November. ›

Douglas Allen Learned (B) is pastor of The National Presbyterian Church in Washington DC.
Elizabeth A. Perry (B) is pastor of Lexington United Methodist Church on the Upper East Side of New York City.

Kate Bowers Pettersen (B) is the primary caretaker for her two girls, Emily, seven, and Zoe, four. She works twenty hours a week as a director of hospitality at Clarkston United Methodist Church in Clarkston, Michigan.

Steve Shaffer (B) is a fellowship group director at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.

1995
Dustin Ellington (B) graduated from Duke University with a Ph.D. in religion/New Testament in December 2004. He and his wife, Sherri, are PCUSA mission coworkers in Egypt, where he is professor of New Testament at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo. The Ellingtons have two sons, Clayton, eight, and Christopher, four. Dustin writes, “You can find out more about our life and ministry at http://pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/ellingtond.htm. We’d love to hear from people.”

Robert MacSwain (B) is in his third year in Durham, England, working on a Ph.D. on Austin Farrer. He writes, “Canterbury Press has just published a Farrer reader I edited with Professor Ann Loades: The Truth-Seeking Heart: Austin Farrer and His Writings (distributed in the United States by Westminster John Knox Press), part of a series titled Canterbury Studies in Spiritual Theology. Since October 2005 I have been a fellow and chaplain at St. Chad’s College, so I’m dividing my time (rather unequally!) between pastoral work and research.”

1996
Kathleen Edwards Chase (B) is the new senior pastor of the First Reformed Church of Pompton Plains, New Jersey. She previously served as minister of the Reformed Church in Woodstock, New York.

Rolando Galvez (B) belongs to Eagle Brook Church in Hugo, Minnesota. His involvement spans missions to men’s ministry and small groups. He writes, “Our men’s launch event this year had more than 1,500 men.” He spent time last year in Brazil and recently returned from a leadership conference in the Ukraine. He is working on a leadership training program with Stem Ministries International and is sending another team to the Gulf Coast to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina. “We are also in the process of adopting a community in Mozambique through World Vision, and we are sending a team to Ethiopia to build the first women’s hostel in the country,” he writes. Galvez will also teach at Northwestern Theological Seminary this spring.

Peter Henry (B, ’01M) is the new pastor of Grosse Pointe Memorial Church in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.

1997
Nidia E. Fernandez (B) recently participated as one of the speakers at the New Jersey Governor’s Conference for Women in October. She spoke on “Violence in America and Its Impact on Mental Health.” She is an interim pastor for the Hispanic ministry at Hammonton Presbyterian Church in Hammonton, New Jersey.

LaVerne M. Gill (B, ’98M) has been appointed the United Church of Christ Chautauqua Society chaplain administrator, beginning in 2007. As the chaplain, she is responsible for the selection of the chaplain of the week for each of the nine weeks of programs held by the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, New York, each summer. She is the first African American to hold the position of chaplain for a denomination.

Lisa Nichols Hickman (B) is associate pastor at New Wilmington Presbyterian Church in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. She and her husband, James (’01B), have two daughters, Leah, five, and Caitlyn, three. Her first book, The Worshiping Life, was recently published by Westminster John Knox Press.

Jung-Sook Lee (D) participated in the Ninth Calvin Congress held in Emden, Germany, in August, and met several PTS graduates. Lee says, “We all enjoyed the congress and the fellowship among us.” Pictured here (left to right) are Professor Yang-en Cheng (’94D), Taiwan Theological College and Seminary; Dr. Herman Selderhuis, president of Apeldorn University; Professor Ruben Rosario-Rodriguez (’04D), St. Louis University; Professor Elsie McKee (’82D), PTS; Professor Akira Demura (’64D), Tohoku Gakuin University in Japan; Professor Jung-Sook Lee, Torch Trinity Graduate School of Theology in Korea; Professor Gary Hansen (’87B, ’90M), University of Dubuque Theological Seminary; and Professor Gyeung Su Park (’97M), Presbyterian Theological College and Seminary in Korea. ›

Marc Oehler (B) and his wife, Nicole, welcomed their second child, son Caleb Scott, born on April 20, 2006. They also have a three-year-old daughter, Esmae Grace. Oehler has served for the past seven years as associate pastor at the Presbyterian Church of Chatham Township in New Jersey.

1998
Bryan Bass-Riley (B) was approved in August to be a certified pastoral counselor in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. He recently accepted a new position as the pastoral care coordinator at Inglis House, a long-term care wheelchair community for younger adults with physical disabilities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His daughter Anna began kindergarten in the fall, and Abby is now three.

Greg B. Jones (B) is minister of Christian education for Union Baptist Church of Montclair, New Jersey, and is the new vice president and senior information security trainer for Citigroup in New York City.

Amy Marga (B, ’06D) is assistant professor of systematic theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

David W. Miller (B, ’03D) has published God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement (Oxford University Press, 2006). The book traces the history of the modern day Faith at Work movement from its roots in the late nineteenth century to its modern trajectory and formulation.

Matt Stith (B, ’04D) continues to serve as pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in West Fargo, North Dakota. Last summer he was coleader of a group of twenty “mostly youth” from the Presbytery of the Northern Plains who visited their sister presbyteries in Kenya.

Anne Weirich (B) has accepted a new call as associate pastor for mission and pastoral care at her “home” church, Westminster Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Troy D. White (b) has completed his Ph.D. in philosophical and systematic theology from Trinity Theological Seminary in Newburgh, Indiana, with high distinction. His dissertation focused on the relationship between the threefold office of Christ and the Christus Victor motif of the atonement in Reformed theology. “Anybody hiring?”

Karen P. Willis (B) requests prayer as she searches for a new call (due to financial limitations at her present church).

1999
Jane Tanaskovic Brady (B, ’01M) was ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church on July 8, 2006. Participating in the service as preacher was the Reverend Dr. John S. Mbiti, formerly John A. Mackay Professor of World Christianity at PTS. Brady is currently assistant to the rector at the Episcopal Church of St. John on the Mountain in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

Ron Choong (B, ’00M) was ordained into the PCA in New York and serves out-of-bounds as the founding director of the Academy for Christian Thought (www.actministry.org) in Manhattan. He received an S.T.M. in 2004 from Yale Divinity School in Islamics and philosophy, and he continues to speak, teach, and preach each summer in Asia and Africa. Choong expects to complete his Ph.D. from PTS this year in the philosophy of science and the doctrine of creation.

Skip Ferguson (B) is pastor of Manassas Presbyterian Church in Manassas, Virginia, after serving for the past six years as the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Washingtonville, New York. He writes, “I began my ministry here in July. We have a congregation of about 450, and our church will celebrate its 140th anniversary this year.”

Chip Hardwick (B) is entering his fourth year serving as a parish associate at Montgomery Ministries in Skillman, New Jersey, working with classmate Michael Prewitt (’99B, ’00G), and is in the Ph.D. program in homiletics at PTS.

Jay Richards (D) spoke in October at the Civitas Forum on Principles and Policies for Public Life at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Richards is a research fellow and director of Acton Media at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The forum addressed the topic of alternative conservative media.

Andrew Tatusko (B, ’00M), his wife, Brenna, and their son Alexander have relocated to Duncansville, Pennsylvania, where he is program director for the Title III grant to integrate technology into teaching, learning, and advisement at Mt. Aloysius College in Cresson. He is also a candidate for the Ph.D. in higher education leadership, management, and policy at Seton Hall University.

2000
C. Edward Davis (B, m) earned his D.Min. from the Howard University School of Divinity in May 2005.

Nannette Pierson (B) received her D.Min. in May 2005 from Drew University. Her project, “Preparing Children in the Presbyterian Denomination for the Recep-tion of the Lord’s Supper,” was, she said, “received with open arms by the session and supported wholeheartedly” by the members of the First Presbyterian Church of New Vernon, New Jersey. During this time, Pierson became a member of the Presbyte-rian denomination and was invited by the session to proceed toward ordination. “PTS was the place where God led this devout Roman Catholic of forty-three years, and the place where this wonderful journey began ten years ago,” she writes.

Carie Stanley (B) is interim minister at Lower Valley Presbyterian Church in Califon, New Jersey. She participated in a mission trip this past summer with the Presbytery of Newton to Nairobi, Kenya.

Arthur Sutherland’s (D) book, I Was a Stranger: A Christian Theology of Hospitality, was published by Abingdon Press in November 2006.

Philip B. Wilson (M) married Hannah Simpson in Banchory, Scotland, on August 12, 2006. Both bride and groom were students of President Torrance during his Aberdeen days. Wilson was ordained on September 15, 2006, as minister of Bushmills Presbyterian Church in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and is chaplain to the moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland for 2006–2007.

2001
Alesana Eteuati (M) is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in New Testament studies at Otago University in New Zealand. He would love to hear from fellow classmates at aksanajr@hotmail.com.

Sangkeun Kim (D), professor of missiology and religious studies at Yonsei University in Korea, became an associate dean of the College of Theology last March. He recently published Strange Names of God: The Missionary Translation of the Divine Names and the Chinese Responses to Matteo Ricci’s Shangti in Late Ming China, 1583–1644 (Peter Lang Publishing, 2004).

Jennifer Martin (B) is the Presbyterian campus minister and executive director of the Koinonia Center at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Manoj Shrestha (M) is principal of Nepal Ebenezer Bible College. The school offers a three-year B.Th. course. At present they have forty-seven students from different parts of Nepal and India. Shrestha writes that he “would appreciate your prayers for my ministry.”

2002
Lucy S.L. Amerman (B) was welcomed as the new rector of Trinity Church in Buckingham, Pennsylvania, on August 6, 2006. She is the twenty-seventh rector in the 170-year history of the church.

John Becker (B) was installed as the pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in La Plata, Missouri, on November 12, 2006.

Rhonda Britton (B) spoke at the Sunday evening service of the 153rd Annual Sessions of the African United Baptist Association. This is an annual gathering of the twenty-one historically Black Baptist churches of Nova Scotia. This year’s theme was “The Power of Worship.”

Rodney Francis (B) was the speaker at the Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church’s (Palatka, Florida) gospel revival in October. He is the director of volunteer and community relations for the Columbus, Ohio, YMCA, at their newly built five-million-dollar family center that serves families experiencing housing crises.

Anne Eldridge Koehler (B) is interim rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.

David McNutt (B) has begun a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in theology and the arts.

Jocelyn McWhirter (D) is assistant professor of religious studies at Albion College in Albion, Michigan.

Lidija Novakovic (D) will join the New Testament faculty at Baylor University in the fall of 2007.

Holly Robertson (B) is “thrilled” to be participating in the clinical pastoral education residency at the Mayo Clinic in 2006–2007.

Danny L. Thomas (B) is pastor of New Covenant United Methodist Church in Hamilton, New Jersey.

Tiffany Triplett (B) is associate pastor at Metro Baptist Church in New York City and director of family programming for Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries, the social service arm of the church. She was ordained in November 2005.

2003
Peter Dietz (B, E) left his position as the school minister at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, to serve as a navy chaplain full time. He trained in Newport, Rhode Island, in the fall, and now serves the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He “enjoyed the summer off in New Hampshire.”

Sherry Elliott (B) was ordained in January 2006 at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Devon, Pennsylvania. She was installed as solo pastor at Stone Valley Parish in Dalmatia, Pennsylvania, in May 2006. She had been serving this two- church union parish (ELCA and UCC) since November 2005.

Mandy Sloan Flemming (B) and Matthew Flemming (B, ’04M) welcomed their second son, Cooper James Flemming, on August 5, 2006. Cooper joins his two-year-old brother Jackson in the Flemming family’s journey in ministry, as Matthew is pursuing his Ph.D. in homiletics at Emory University and Mandy is serving as the minister of family life at Grace United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Mandy writes, “The family is happy, healthy, and blessed by these two wonderful boys.”

Cathleen Jaworowski (B) was hired in July as the first female staff chaplain at Yuma Regional Medical Center in Yuma, Arizona. Her primary responsibilities include spiritual care for labor, delivery, neonatal intensive care, and pediatrics. Early in her ministry there, she conducted the first memorial service for families who have lost children. She can be reached at cathleen.jaworowski@juno.com.

Heather McDivitt (B) graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh last summer and began teaching at Wingate University in Wingate, North Carolina, in the fall. She is assistant professor of religion.

Marcia Lee Muir (B) is interim pastor of the United Presbyterian Church in Reedsport, Oregon.

James Taneti (M) has moved to Richmond, Virginia, to continue his Ph.D. program at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education. He writes, “Mary and I are blessed with two children: Vismai (four years old) and Vismitha (two years old).

Kevin “K.C.” Wahe (B) is pastor of the Community Presbyterian Church of Littlerock, outside of Palmdale, California.

2004
T. Becket A. Franks (P) writes, “As director of advancement for my religious community [Saint Procopius Abbey in Lisle, Illinois], I edit a new publication called The Clerestory, published three times per year. Also, I am beginning to lead and help direct fundraising efforts and starting to organize public relations for the Benedictine community here.”

Kimberly Gaffney Groves (B) is Christian education director at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Bethesda, Maryland. She began serving there in August.

Nathan Hart (B) is the New York City area director of Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools.

Kara Kilpatrick (M) married Jeno Smith on September 1, 2006. She is working with Methodist Alliance Hospice in Memphis, Tennessee, as a chaplain.

2005
David Hyungsok Chae (B) is pastor of Francis Asbury Methodist Church in Rockville, Maryland.

Megan Collins (B) and her husband, David (B), are copastors of Corinth Presbyterian Church in Dayton, Ohio.

Katherine Cooke (B) has been associate pastor at the First Presbyterian Church in Oxford, Mississippi, since June 2005. She writes, “The church had the great honor of hosting [former PTS professor of Old Testament] Pat Miller and his wife, Mary Ann, in September. Dr. Miller lectured and preached on the Ten Commandments, and we had a wonderful visit.”

On September 25, 2005, Erica Liu Elsdon (B) was ordained and installed as campus copastor at Pres House, a PCUSA ministry to the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She serves with her husband, Mark Elsdon (’04B), who is campus copastor/executive director at Pres House.

Peter Geel (B) has been director of youth and family ministry at Sand Point Community United Methodist Church in Seattle, Washington, since February 2006. He writes, “Having a great time with the ministry and also enjoying my new home in Seattle, where I moved after graduation.”

Lerone A. Martin (B) is a Ph.D. candidate at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in the area of American religious cultures.

Last August, Bianca A. Robinson (M) completed a yearlong CPE residency at Emory University Hospital Center for Pastoral Services in Atlanta, Georgia, and began a position at Zion Baptist Church in Marietta as their full-time director of youth ministries.

2006
Matthew Bruce (B) is doing an M.Th. at the University of Edinburgh. His wife, Kristine Aragon-Bruce (B), is working as an assistant to the minister at the parishes of Spott and Belhaven in Dunbar, Scotland (both Church of Scotland parishes).

Peter D. Chen (B) writes, “God’s called me to be an English pastor in Taipei, Taiwan, at Suang-Lien Presbyterian Church, which already has Mandarin and Taiwanese services. The English ministry is a new ministry, begun in March 2006 with lots of potential to reach the ninety-seven percent of Taiwanese who are not yet believers, and also foreigners who are in Taiwan for work, vacation, or studies. Pray for us.”

Heather Prince Doss (B) married Eric Hayden Doss on September 16, 2006, in Charleston, South Carolina. They reside in the Washington DC area. She is working as the volunteer coordinator for the Dinner Program for Homeless Women.

Jim Erickson (B) has accepted a position at Princeton Presbyterian Church in West Windsor, New Jersey, as the director of Christian education, small groups, and family ministry. He started in December.

Julie Hoplamazian (B) is a college ministry facilitator for the Diocese of the Armenian Church in America in New York City. She began her position in June.

Colin Jones (B) is youth pastor at the Mount Aery Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The congregation has 2,600 members and is still growing. His wife, Imani (B), is pregnant with their second child.

James Kumin-Severance (B) writes that he passed his ordination examination with San Gabriel Presbytery. “I was ordained at the First Presbyterian Church in Pomona, California, on October 22, 2006. I am still a member of San Gabriel, but am serving outside the bounds at Cornerstone Christian Reformed Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and while here I am a corresponding member of Detroit Presbytery.”

Nicole Massie (B) has joined The Park Ministries, which includes two local churches—University Park Baptist and The Park South in Charlotte, North Carolina—as minister of young adults and singles. In her new role, Massie will lead efforts to cultivate the personal and spiritual growth of parishioners in their twenties and thirties, as well as all singles.

Jonathan Mitchell (B) is associate pastor of Christian education and family life at the First Presbyterian Church in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Andrew Nagel (B) is associate pastor for adult ministry at Neelsville Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Maryland.

Matthew Overton (B) is associate pastor for youth and young adults at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Yuba City, California.

Jeremy Sanderson (B) is associate pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield, New Jersey (www.haddonfieldpres.org). “Our manse has seven bedrooms, plenty of room to come visit,” he offers.

Valmadge Towner (B) is pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Greenwood, Mississippi (www.
friendshipmbchurch.com). He also serves as superintendent of schools for the Quitman County school district.

Jennifer Van Zandt (B) was ordained and installed on February 11, 2007, as the thirteenth pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Boonton, New Jersey. PTS professor Katharine Doob Sakenfeld was part of her ordination commission.

Katie Walsh (B) is a guidance advisor at McKinley Middle School in Massachusetts, a public school that serves children with emotional and behavioral disabilities. She is also working on a Masters of Social Work part time at Boston College.

Eunice Washington (B) is doing a resident chaplaincy program at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.

Stephen Whitaker (B) is solo pastor/head of staff of the First Presbyterian Church in Delavan, Illinois.