Vantage - Columbia Theological Seminary

Alumni/ae
1950s
Robert S. Busey ’54 is retired and living in Asheville, NC. He has recently published Jesus and Jerusalem. This study in Luke dealing with Jesus’ conflict with authorities and his crucifixion surveys and draws from current writings on the historical Jesus…. Joe Conyers ’57 was honored as pastor emeritus by the Austell, GA, church on March 12, after 25 years of service to that congregation.

1960s
Joe Harvard ’66 was the featured speaker at the baccalaureate ceremony at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, Laurinburg, NC, on May 12….Art Jones ’68 retired after 22 years at New Hope church in Chattanooga, TN. Having completed clinical training, he now serves as a hospice chaplain….Roger C. MacKay ’68 has retired as pastor of Unity church, Woodleaf, NC….Jeff Aiken ’69 has been elected chair of the PCUSA’s Board of Pensions. He is pastor of First church, Allentown, PA.

1980s
Mark Montfort ’84 has accepted a call as pastor of First church in Oneonta, NY….Sherron George (DMin ’86) longtime missionary to Brazil, attended the recent General Assembly of the Waldensian Church of the River Plate with its interaction among the Synods of Argentina, Uruguay, and Italy. She met with the coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean along with the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil to evaluate their work in northeast Brazil and their plans for the Manaus area….David Keister ’88, along with his associate pastor and the pastor of the Vietnamese Fellowship that meets in their building, have received as a pastoral team the Pastor of the Year Award from the Association of Smaller Membership Churches, Synod of South Atlantic. Ed Cooley ’88 is interim pastor of First church, Canadian, TX, having completed 12 years as pastor of First church, Pampa, TX….Brent Bissette ’89 is pastor of the Congregational Church of Pinehurst, NC.

1990s
Eric Myers '91 received the Doctor of Philosophy from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He also holds the Master of Arts (in Liturgical Studies) from the University of Notre Dame….Kay Davis-Dudding ’92 is associate pastor for pastoral care at Westminster church, Dayton, OH. She was recently married to Fred Dudding….Mary D’Alessio ’92 serves as pastor of the Union church in Brownwood, TX. Her husband David ’92 is currently on a sabbatical….Lori Pistor ’92 serves as interim pastor at Pilgrim UCC in Durham, NC, after completing 19 months at Roanoke Island church on the Outer Banks....Beth Duttera Newman ’95 serves as pastor of First church, Swannanoa, NC…. Lisa Fulford Graves ’96 is pastor of First church, Clarkesville, GA. The church recently received the “Outstanding Small Church of the Year” Award from the Synod of South Atlantic. The small church adopted three Katrina/Rita Hurricane families (6 adults, 8 children) for 6 months, housing them, finding jobs and enrolling the children in schools….Mark Gray ’96 delivered the Sin Lau Lectures, titled “Word and World: The Book of Isaiah as a Pastoral-Missiological Resource in the Search for Justice” at Tainan Theological Seminary in Taiwan last year. His Rhetoric and Social Justice in Isaiah was published by T&T Clarke/Continuum this spring. Mark has received a call to Cooke Centenary Presbyterian Church in Belfast, where he will be installed on September 15….Steve Lindsley ’97 received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. The title of his doctoral paper is “Preaching in the Missional Church”…. Billy ’97 and Mary Katherine ’97 Robinson have moved to West Jefferson, NC, where Billy serves as pastor of Mt. Jefferson church….Walk Jones (DMin ’98) completed two years as chair of the Presbytery of Florida’s Hurricane Ivan Response Commission in October. He serves as pastor of Northminster church, Pensacola, FL….Laura Cunningham ’98 has been called as pastor of the Nauraushaun church in Pearl River, NY. She begins her new position August 1….Ralph Hawkins ’99 is beginning work on his Doctor of Ministry degree this summer at Austin Presbyterian Seminary….Shannon Johnson Kershner ’99 visited campus in March to record sermons for the Day1 Broadcasting Network. The sermons were aired on Pentecost Sunday and Trinity Sunday. Shannon is the pastor of Woodhaven church, Irving, TX. She and her husband Greg ’99 have two children, Hannah, 4, and Ryan, 2….Victor Feliberty-Ruberte ’99 is dean of administrative affairs and instructor of religion in the humanities department at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico-Poce Campus….Erin Sharp ’99 is pastor of Calvary church, Alexandria, VA. On September 3, 2005, she married David Bailey in the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria….Beth Yarborough ’99 is serving as moderator of Holston Presbytery and is pastor of the Jonesborough, TN, church.

2000s
Jonathan Carroll ’00 and his wife Kendra live in Owensboro, KY, where Jonathan is pastor of First church. He is pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree at Louisville Seminary….Becky Davis ’00 serves as chaplain at Citizens Baptist Medical Center in Talladega, AL….Chan Willis ’00 was the ’05 recipient of the Louisiana Moral & Civic Foundation Preaching Award. He was elected South Louisiana Presbytery’s Minister Commissioner to this year’s General Assembly and serves on the planning team for Presbyterians for Renewal’s Christian Life Conference at Montreat….Bobby Williamson ’01, contributing editor of Vantage, led music for the Foothills Presbytery Senior High Retreat, Montreat, NC, and the North Georgia Presbyterian Women’s Retreat, Eatonton, GA; preached and led music at the Monticello, GA, church; and, along with Laura Smith Conrad ’98, Robert Alexander ’00, and Jennifer Fouse ’02, provided stage leadership for this summer’s Montreat Youth Conferences; he recently defended his qualifying exams and dissertation proposal in the Hebrew Bible Ph.D. program at Emory University….Rachel Anderson ’01 is serving with Habitat for Humanity, Middle East, in Amman Jordan….David Kwon ’01 serves as pastor of Korean Presbyterian Church of Miami, an English-speaking, multicultural congregation in North Miami, FL. He served previously at First church, Elmira, NY. He and his wife Hyo Jin are expecting their first child in September…. Rachel Anderson ’01 visited campus in April to talk about her month-long experience in Pakistan, where she worked with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)….Peggy McClure ’02 is pastor of First church, Trussville, AL, and executive director of Community Grief Support Service in Birmingham… Samuel L. Green (DMin ’03) was elected and consecrated the 125th bishop in the history of the AME Church in July of 2004 and assigned to the 15th Episcopal District (South Africa, Namibia and Angola). Previously, he had been pastor of St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal Church in Orlando, FL, for 16 years…. Nelson DeBrosse ’04 is associate pastor of First church, Covington, GA….Bart Edwards ’05 was ordained and installed on March 19 as associate pastor of First church, Morehead City, NC….Julie Jensen ’05 accepted a call to First church in Bordentown, NJ. She was ordained on May 14….Kimberly Warwick ’05 was ordained April 2 at her home church, First Presbyterian in Sussex, NJ. She has accepted a call to the Williamsburg, OH, church….Young Jeon ’05 received the Master of Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary on May 13….Byron Harris (MATS ’06) runs a bookstore in Charlottesville, VA, called Splintered Light. The store, which focuses on theology, the arts, and cultural criticism, can be found at www.splinteredlightbooks.com.

Master of Divinity
April Love-Fordham ’06 led a six-week teaching/preaching series on Galatians at Oglethorpe church, Atlanta, and preached at Oak Mountain church, Carrollton, GA; the Stockbridge, GA, church; and John Knox church, Marietta, GA....Cheryl Gans ’07 recently published her research findings as “Weaving the Seeds of Pastoral Vocation” in the May/ June 2006 issue of Camping magazine….Craig Topple ’06 preached at the Ash Wednesday service of the Decatur, GA, church; participated in Columbia’s tour of St. Augustine Presbytery; and preached at the Arlington Heights church, Jacksonville, FL. With his wife Trasie, he led a retreat for the El Oasis campus ministry in Mexico City….Jill Tolbert ’07 and her husband Joel ’05 preached together at the Holy Week service at Northeast Baptist Church in Atlanta as part of a series of ecumenical Holy Week events sponsored by NETWorks, a cooperative Christian ministry serving persons in need in the northeast Atlanta area, and hosted a table at Columbia’s Partners in Ministry breakfast at the Atlanta Historical Society. Jill also preached at Henry Memorial church, Dublin, GA; led recreational activities for the annual staff/faculty luncheon; co-led a workshop for the That All May Freely Serve national conference, held at the Calvin Center, Hampton, GA; taught Sunday school at the Decatur, GA, church; and attended the 217th General Assembly in Birmingham as a Theological Seminary Advisory Delegate….Participants in a Street Retreat during spring break include Emily Martin ’08, Karen Miller ’06, Chris Henry ’07, Jeff Lee ’08, Sarah Cooper Searight ’06, Ani Goodenberger ’06, Insook Lee ’06, Margaret Rivera ’08, Will Shelburne ’06, Chuck Campbell, Peter Marshall Professor of Homiletics, and Dana Campbell, instructor in writing. Emily Martin’s essay on the Street Retreat is on the Columbia Web site, www.ctsnet.edu. Go to News and Events, then click on Vantage.

Randy Lee serves as Grace Presbytery’s associate general presbyter for new church development. The presbytery recently called three organizing pastors to new church developments and introduced a consultant in Hispanic ministries to work with Spanish-speaking Bible studies and develop the Commissioned Lay Pastors program. Lee also serves as moderator of the PC(USA)’s Multicultural Network, which held its annual conference in Orlando, FL, in May. With moderator Rick Ufford-Chase, Lee is helping develop a program of multicultural internships for recent seminary graduates, with ten one-year internships anticipated for 2007.

Anna Carter Florence, assistant professor of preaching and worship, preached for the That All May Freely Serve Conference at the Calvin Center, Hampton, GA; preached for the ordination of Abby Cole Keller ’06 at Bartow Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Ryland, GA; preached and delivered the Faith Nixon lecture at Westminster church in Minneapolis; preached and lectured at the Festival of Preaching in Atlanta; taught in a Doctor of Ministry course on Preaching and Bible at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN; and served as co-preacher and co-liturgist, with Kim Long, former adjunct professor, for the Montreat Worship and Music Conferences….Ann Clay Adams, director of admissions, co-led a workshop titled “Creating Partnership: Student Pipeline Issues and Diversity” at the ATS/FTE Consultation on Student and Faculty Diversity in Theological Education, Atlanta, and participated in the Presbyterian Consultation on the Training and Nurture of Young Adults toward Religious Leadership, Louisville….William Brown¸ professor of Old Testament, taught a class in the Lay Institute entitled “The Passion of the Creator: The Seven Wonders of the Cosmos in the Bible”; led a weekly Lenten class on “The Cosmic Christ,” at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Stone Mountain, GA; published “Joy and the Art of Cosmic Maintenance: An Ecology of Play in Psalm 104” in the Word and World Supplement Series 5, a volume in honor of Terrence Fretheim, and “The Lion, the Wicked, and the Wonder of It All: Psalm 104 and the Playful God” in Journal for Preachers; served as a resource theologian for a church unity consultation, sponsored by the Center of Theological Inquiry, in Malibu, CA; and presented “The Psalms and I: The Dialogical Self and the Disappearing Psalmist” at a Psalms Symposium at Baylor University….Cam Murchison, dean of faculty and executive vice president, led officer training at First church in Dalton, GA; participated in a consultation on faculty vocation and governance sponsored by the Association of Theological Schools; led a workshop on religious relativism in the Reformed tradition at Columbia’s Colloquium; and led a communion service at the Tallapoosa, GA, church…. Erskine Clarke ’66, professor of American religious history and director of international programs, received the Bancroft Prize, which recognizes a “book of exceptional merit in the field of American history,” for his Dwelling Place: A Plantation Epic, during a ceremony at Columbia University in New York; lectured at Georgia Southern University, Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library, and the Dorchester Museum; delivered the Aiken Lecture for the Atlanta Historical Society; was interviewed on Georgia Public Television and on a national broadcast of XM Satellite radio; led a week-long “Presbyterian Heritage Tour” through the Georgia and South Carolina lowcountry; and received the Malcolm Bell, Jr., and Muriel Barrow Bell Award for the best book in Georgia history published in 2005….John Clark, communications specialist, presented a five-week evening course titled “Lyrics as Literature” at Emory University, Atlanta, and conducted a workshop on “Finding God in Popular Music” at the Church of the Redeemer Arts Festival, also in Atlanta….John Knapp, director of the Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics, has been selected to serve on the board of directors of the Georgia Humanities Council…. Kathleen O’Connor, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, spoke on “Jeremiah and Surviving Disaster” at the St. Charles Avenue church, New Orleans; addressed a parents group at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Atlanta; lectured on “Loss and Hope” for a preaching institute in Ossining, NY; attended a meeting of the Council of the Society of Biblical Literature, of which she is a member; and spoke about The DaVinci Code on a program of the Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasting network, along with Elizabeth Johnson¸ J. Davison Philips Professor of New Testament….Kathy Dawson, assistant professor of Christian education, led a children’s ministry event for the collective presbyteries of South Carolina; led an orientation to “Godly Play” for Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church in Atlanta; served as a consultant on children’s literature for a group of Lutheran and Methodist educators; led a leadership and administration workshop for Central Florida Presbytery; preached at St. Mark’s church in Altamonte Springs, FL; led a workshop on Bonhoeffer and children for the Children’s Spirituality Conference in Chicago; and debuted Columbia’s new online journal, “@ this point,” which she co-edits with Mark Douglas, associate professor of Christian ethics…. Laura Mendenhall, seminary president, served on two Lilly grant advisory councils: “Reforming Ministry,” which met in Louisville, and “Seminaries and the Church Tethered Together,” which met in Minneapolis; was the keynote speaker for the Stewardship Network, Louisville; attended the 130th anniversary of First church, Orlando; met with the “Friends of Columbia Seminary” in Winter Park, FL, and in Tampa; delivered the keynote address for the Omaha Presbyterian Seminary Foundation; preached at Myungsung Presbyterian Church and at Hanil University and Presbyterian Theological School, both in Korea; met with the “Friends of Columbia” Seminary at First church, LaGrange, GA; preached and spoke at a meeting of the Presbytery of Florida; attended the presidential inauguration at Pittsburgh Seminary; and preached for the graduation ceremonies of Thornwell Home and School for Children, Clinton, SC….Michael Morgan, seminary musician, presented a Psalms festival, including a display of rare English Psalters, at First church, Texarkana, AR, and was elected to a second term as national treasurer of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians and dean of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Guild of Organists….Harvey Newman, director of the Faith and the City project, coauthored a chapter titled “The City Worships” in Introduction to Urban Studies, Vol. 3 with Michael J. Tavez; the chapter includes a discussion of the role of Columbia Seminary and Faith and the City…. Richard Blake, associate director of the library and a minister in the Reformed Church in America, conducted a wedding at Bishop’s Lodge, Santa Fe, NM, on Palm Sunday; preached at the Chinese Community Church of Manhattan; continues to lead the Theology and Literature Book Group for Columbia’s Lay Institute; and serves as an alumni representative on Bangor Theological Seminary’s accreditation review committee….Steve Hayner, Peachtree Associate Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth, served as a consultant for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Executive Team in Chicago; attended a meeting of the board of trustees of the International Justice Mission in Washington, D.C.; led small group leader training for Peachtree church’s Cornerstone Class, Atlanta; led pastors/elders evangelism training for Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery; offered a workshop titled “Evangelism Made a Little Less Difficult” at the Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery Leadership Event; served as seminary faculty for the Ethnic Workers’ Summit in Atlanta; attended a meeting of the board of trustees of World Vision/USA; and received the 2006 Alumni of Distinction Award from the Walla Walla School District in Washington state….Walter Brueggemann, professor emeritus, spoke at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church in Atlanta; preached at St. John’s UCC Church in Collinsville, IL; preached and delivered an address at First Baptist Church in Augusta, GA; participated in a Psalms Symposium at Baylor University; served as theologian in residence at the Swarthmore, PA, church; and published The Word that Prescribes the World (Fortress Press) and “Old Testament Theology” in the Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies (Blackwell Press)….G. Thompson Brown, professor emeritus, attended the centennial celebration of the Kwangju Christian Hospital in Korea….Brian Wren, John and Miriam Conant Professor of Worship, preached and led workshops on worship design at First United Methodist Church, Pensacola, FL, and taught a Sunday school class at the Broad Street church in Columbus, OH…. Sarah Erickson ’03, associate director of Lifelong Learning, participated in the Montreat Youth Conference as an adult leader with the youth from the North Decatur church, Decatur, GA….

Births
Lou Ann Sellers ’94 and Thomas Herwig, a daughter, Madelyn Clara, January 20, 2006.
Stephanie ’96 and Chris ’96 Hankey, a daughter, Rachel Joy, February 7, 2006.
Juliann Pugh Whipple ’99 and Bill, a son, William Henry, January 19, 2006
Jonathan Carroll ’00 and Kendra, a daughter, Zoe Fiona, April 24, 2006.

In Memoriam
Neely D. McCarter ’53, May 10, 2006
Robert L. Gunner ’63, January 6, 2006
Stephen J. Sloop ’68, February 14, 2006
James S. Dunovant ’76, April 5, 2006
John A. Rogers ’82, March 3, 2006
Renford Maddix ’95, January 1, 2006

Welcome!
Joshua Kriner, IT support technician, joined the seminary staff this spring. Josh’s previous experience include the Fulton County School District and VW and Audi’s Web-based learning center. He and his wife live in Woodstock.

Congratulations!
Ginger Kaney has been appointed director of Columbia’s Faith and the City program. She served the previous two and one-half years as the associate director of the program. She succeeds Harvey Newman, who has returned to full-time teaching at Georgia State.

Godspeed!
Dorrell Addison, interim chaplain since August 2005, has accepted a position as associate pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church, in Macon, GA. He begins there in August, following this year’s Greek School. Sharon Mook, assistant professor of pastoral theology and care, will conclude her service to Columbia Seminary at the end of January 2007. She will be on sabbatical during the Fall and Winter terms of the 2006-2007 academic year.