Vantage Summer 2022

In her poem “For Those Who Have Far to Travel; A Blessing for Epiphany,” poet Jan Richardson captured the singular dilemma of anyone making a really big decision, namely, the almost complete ignorance of the outcome of that decision.

When I came to Columbia Seminary in the summer of 2015, I did not see the whole road ahead of me. I could not imagine the journey that would unfold. I was ignorant of the consequences of the really big decision I had made to take up the challenge of a seminary presidency.

In preparation and anticipation, I read leadership books that mapped the terrain of the deep and dangerous divisions in our political and religious cultures that make leadership so fraught. I paid attention to the careful analysis of trends in theological education that helped me understand potholes in the road as seminaries are navigating dramatic change. I relied on seasoned mentors and wise friends who helped me anticipate some of the dynamics of leadership that pastors also experience, dynamics such as hope, resilience, and purpose as well as scrutiny, loneliness, and criticism.

Now, after seven years of serving as the president of Columbia, I look back with the much clearer perspective of hindsight, and I can see the contours of the road I have traveled.

Two reflections stand out most clearly. First, I am filled with gratitude at the privilege of serving Columbia. At the festive dinner in May which marked my retirement, I had the opportunity to express that gratitude, both in a video presentation and in words of thanks at the end of the dinner.

I knew about Columbia throughout my career in theological education, many years before I had any idea that I would serve as Columbia’s president. The reputation that Columbia holds among seminaries nationally and globally is stellar. That reputation rests mostly on the faculty and the dedication they display every day to the formation of our students. The care and faithfulness of the staff are also highly prized, especially among our alumni/ae. So, I am grateful for the privilege of serving this excellent faculty and staff.

And I am grateful for the students! They are curious, courageous, and committed. Some of our students served in hospital settings as chaplains during the grim summer of 2020 when hospitals all over the country experienced a flood of COVID deaths. Some of our students advocated for a seminary more transparently

If you could see the journey whole, you might never undertake it, might never dare the first step that propels you from the place you have known toward the place you know not.

committed to diversity and belonging. Some of our students have wowed our professors with their insights, questions, and eagerness to learn. I am hopeful for the future of the church when I consider our graduates; they are the best of the best and I am proud of them.

My gratitude extends beyond the boundaries of our campus and embraces dozens of congregations and ministries that I have visited over the years in my role as Columbia’s president. It was a joy to preach and teach at churches and other ministries that are served by our graduates. I saw direct evidence of the effective formation that shaped them at Columbia Seminary! Some of my favorite memories of my time at Columbia will include meeting alumni/ae in their ministry settings or trustees in their home congregations or prospective students as they were considering seminary. I am grateful for the way I was able to speak to many people about the mission of Columbia and the way our mission joins in God’s gracious goals for the whole world.

Gratitude is certainly the first and most significant reflection as I consider my time here at Columbia. The courage, care, and commitment of this community will stay with me always.

The second reflection is an observation that I have based on my experiences over the past seven years. This observation names the challenges and difficulties of leading in these times. We are, after all, mere mortals. We stumble over ourselves and each other. We jump to conclusions and assign negative

motivations to leaders who must make hard decisions. We don’t know all the facts but we think we know the answers. Columbia Seminary is not immune to these dynamics and the community sometimes displayed these sorts of reactions. It is my hope and prayer that the seminary will learn to recognize these dynamics, not in order to blame and shame but rather to build durable community and genuine acceptance.

My inaugural sermon in the fall of 2015 focused on a small verse in Romans that captures the whole scope of the gospel. The text was Romans 15:7, “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” It was my conviction then, and it remains my conviction now, that this command positions us for the whole long road of faithful discipleship. Welcome takes work and patience and this challenge will continue to call out to Columbia as the road stretches out before this community.

With a heart full of gratitude for the genuine gifts and graces of Columbia Seminary and with sober realization of the challenges and costs of leadership, I now take my leave with joy and anticipation for what God has in mind for me. I take my leave with forever friendship to this community. I take my leave with continual prayers for the mission of Columbia that will continue in the power of the Holy Spirit. My favorite benediction is from that same chapter of Romans that contains the command to welcome. It is a fitting way to bid you farewell, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Robert Gamble Jane Fahey

A Prayer for New Beginnings

BY REV. DR. JANE E. FAHEY, CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES

O God of all our journeys, we have arrived at a place of new beginnings.

Our departing President Leanne Van Dyk stands at the threshold of retirement. Lying behind her now are all the years of education and preparation, of service and effort, of struggle and seeking, of lamenting missed opportunities and soaring with joy at work well done. Visit her with grace to release whatever is left undone. May she gaze now with quiet contentment on every accomplishment—whether great or small. Crown her years of distinguished service with the bounty of rest and recreation. Fill her with a new sense of adventure for the road that lies ahead— toward the pursuit of dreams long deferred. May the milestones ahead be markers of expanding wonder at the beauty of creation and the mystery of the fierce Love that lies within and around her.

Walking in your company, she has prepared Columbia for a new president. She has shaped a vision of Columbia as a house of prayer for all peoples. She has led us to that place where we listen not for echoes of our own voices but for the rushing wind of the Spirit bringing new life through new voices.

And so we stand ready to beckon Rev. Dr. Victor Aloyo, Jr. across the threshold of his new calling as Columbia’s eleventh president. May he step onto this path assured of the abundance of your provision. Fill him with confidence that you have gone before him to prepare the way. Kindle in him an eagerness to see and to celebrate the faithfulness of those who have walked the path of service here before him. Open his heart to all who share this pilgrim road, to all who serve and teach and learn here.

Awaken him to the depth of possibilities in this new beginning. May he find the desires of his life met in the opportunities to serve you here and his spirit set ablaze in following you toward destinations yet unknown.

We offer our gratitude for these leaders— each called, equipped, and sent to lead Columbia in its mission of preparing faithful, imaginative, and effective leaders for the sake of the Church and the world. We give you thanks for this baptismal community, for traveling companions claimed by a love beyond all measure and understanding, united in the one body of Christ. May every new beginning deepen our witness to your love and justice, your mercy and grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

President Leanne Van Dyk: A Living Portrait

Dr . Leanne Van Dyk, the tenth president of Columbia Theological Seminary, marked the end of her tenure in July 2022 . In 2015, she entered a seminary grieving the loss of President Steve Haynor and led it through a time of great transition including two-plus years spent navigating the ups and down of the COVID-19 pandemic . Throughout her time here, she worked tirelessly to prepare Columbia Seminary for its 3rd century.

BY JENNIFER CUTHBERTSON, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

“The Columbia that was, in 2015, is very different from the Columbia of 2022, because of President Van Dyk’s leadership and her commitment to excellence,” says Rev. Dr. Jane Fahey, Chair of Columbia’s Board of Trustees.

Commitment to Online Education Gives Columbia an Edge

President Van Dyk came to Columbia with a commitment to online education. In a video produced soon after she began office, she noted, “It is possible to do online education well, so it is not the second-class citizen of theological education. It’s a careful process of community forming, regular check-ins, thoughtful conversations.”

“One of the obvious contributions that President Van Dyk has made that has served this institution well is her commitment from the beginning to expanding online education,” says Fahey. “Many of our faculty had already done their own work in online pedagogy, but President Van Dyk pushed the whole faculty in this direction.”

Columbia has established an online Master of Arts in Theological Studies MA(TS) program. Students in this program have flexibility to take courses in any MA(TS) discipline area (Old Testament, New Testament, Theology, Church History, or Ethics).

This commitment to virtual education served Columbia well as it moved to 100 percent online learning in March 2020.

“This vision for online learning enabled the seminary to pivot very quickly and very effectively when the pandemic hit,” says Florida Ellis, a member of the Board of Trustees.

The pandemic plays into another memory of President Van Dyk that the Columbia community will hold dear for years to come, and that is the depth of her care for and commitment to this community and her role as a pastoral leader. During the pandemic she was a calming presence that regularly checked in and sent notes of encouragement and empathy.

“The last couple of years have been so hard in so many ways, and out of the blue, here will come an email from Leanne that is so pastoral and so very comforting. I am not sure where that energy came from on top of everything else that was happening,” says Claire K. Tate a member of Columbia’s Board of Trustees.

Creating a Community of Belonging

Columbia has changed greatly over the years. As President Van Dyk herself says, “Columbia is very different than we were 30 years ago. I am grateful that we have taken strides forward in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, not without growing pains. But we are certainly on the right path.”

In 2020 the Board of Trustees approved Repairing the Breach, a statement explicitly outlining steps Columbia is implementing to directly address the harm that slavery and its aftermath have done to Black people and communities. Those steps include full tuition and fees for all Black students who apply and are admitted to masters-level degree programs. This particular commitment has been fulfilled through the William Thomas Catto scholarship, named for the seminary’s first African American student.

“I think one of the things that has been transformative for Columbia is the Repairing the Breach initiative that we began in the summer of 2020,” says Dr. Love Sechrest, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty from 2018 to 2022. “There were a lot of companies, schools, and institutions that were making statements in support of Black lives during the summer that George Floyd died, but I’ve seen no other institution make a commitment like the one that was made here at Columbia Theological Seminary.”

Repairing the Breach also included a promise to publicly recognize Dr. Marcia Y. Riggs for her groundbreaking research, teaching, and dedication to Columbia by naming our signature residence hall Marcia Y. Riggs Hall (Riggs Commons). Her name is now etched in stone on that building.

Columbia’s, and President Van Dyk’s, commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging has

also resulted in a student body that is very different from classes in the past. Columbia has more students of color as well as a diversity of denominations, while still holding true to its PC (USA) identity.

“I’m convinced we’re living theologically right now straight out of our deep identity as a PC (USA) or reformed theological seminary. I am so inspired by this ecumenical openness and the deep roots of hospitality that is the Presbyterian tradition at its best,” Van Dyk says.

A Strong Foundation for the Future

During President Van Dyk’s tenure, much work has been done to establish a solid foundation as Columbia moves closer to its bicentennial observance in the 2028-2029 school year. She worked with the President’s Council, faculty, and staff to ensure the goals of the 2017 strategic plan were completed, and then moved ahead to begin a new planning initiative.

In the spring of 2021, President Van Dyk was instrumental in helping secure a planning grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. that allowed the seminary to begin work on a new vision statement. Working with the Arts & Science Group LLC, a steering committee made up of faculty, staff, and trustees engaged in a process of deep listening with the community that culminated in the writing of a new vision statement. The committee began its work with a series of individual discovery interviews with internal and external stakeholders, then held several town hall conversations, and a joint Board of Trustees and faculty retreat before finalizing the new vision statement. This statement was approved at the March

2022 Board meeting. (See page 31 for more about the Vision Statement.)

“President Van Dyk’s tenure was about preparing Columbia Seminary to step through the threshold into its third century. The new vision statement was part of that work and during its development, President Van Dyk has ensured that many voices were heard,” says David Huffine, Vice President for Advancement. “More than that, she has played a role of synthesizing those voices to create a vision that is widely embraced.”

Another way that President Van Dyk has helped ensure that Columbia will continue to meet its mission to educate leaders for the church and the world for many years to come is by helping to secure another Lilly Endowment, Inc. grant. This one for $1 million.

During the summer of 2021, President Van Dyk along with Lucy Baum, Executive Assistant, President’s Office; David Huffine, Vice President for Advancement; and Dr. Love Sechrest, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, worked together to write the grant funding the Pastoral Leadership for the Church of Many Cultures initiative. This initiative will help Columbia prioritize and respond to the challenges of preparing pastoral leaders for Christian congregations – now and in the future.

Dr. Jeffery Tribble, Associate Dean for Advanced Professional Studies, Associate Professor of Ministry, and Director of the DMin Program sums up President Van Dyk’s time at Columbia this way, “She kept showing up, doing the work, kept transforming, and kept growing in the midst of it all, and I think that’s a work of grace.”

Remembering and Celebrating

On May 16, faculty, staff, students, friends and family gathered to honor Dr . Leanne Van Dyk’s contributions to Columbia Seminary.

On May 16 more than 200 students, faculty and staff, trustees, alumni, donors, and friends celebrated President Van Dyk’s leadership over the last seven years.

During the event, President Van Dyk was presented with several meaningful gifts including a stained-glass rendition of the Columbia tree logo, a student-made stole signed by event attendees and a pair of hiking boots to wear on her adventures on the road ahead!

A special tribute video was shown which can be viewed on our YouTube channel. A Reflection of President Van Dyk’s Time at Columbia. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/5t1VmPkWAx0

Our Duty, In This Time

There’s a place in the Bible where the apostle Paul wrote, “God was In Christ, reconciling the world to himself . . .not counting our sins against us, but entrusting us with the message of reconciliation .” That is to say, in and through the person of Jesus, God was doing the work of reconciliation. Websters defines reconciliation as “the end of estrangement .” That’s what we do .

BY ROBERT GAMBLE, DMIN ’82, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THIS CHILD HERE, INC. (A VALIDATED MINISTRY IN THE PRESBYTERY OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA)

“For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one’s own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes…The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground… The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life’s most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become.”

-Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (a story of love in Czechoslovakia, 1968, following the invasion and occupation by Russia.)

A mother and children arrive by train. They stand on the street. They don’t speak, except to each other. Someone hands them a piece of paper. It reads, “If you need assistance, call this number. An American organization, This Child Here, can help.”

They call the number. Olya answers her cell. Later, Olya meets them. “You are safe,” she says, “Everything will be all-right.”

They don’t hear this.

She takes them to the supermarket. The family walks

close to the walls of buildings. It’s safer.

Olya takes the mother by the arm. Some things are certain: potatoes, flour, bread, butter, vegetables, sausage called, Kol-ba-sa. Next the pharmacy.

The last stop is registration. They are given a room, perhaps in the college dormitory. The children sign up for online school. Class meets on a cell phone.

At the dormitory, Olya says goodbye, “You are safe,” she says again. She embraces the mother. This is when the mother weeps.

“Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe ... For real change to take place, (healing) the body needs to learn that the danger has passed and to live in the reality of the present,” says Bessel Van der Kolk in The Body Keeps Score

How do we offer that to trauma?

With safety, shelter, warmth, food, tea, and sleep. Through rhythm: a time to sleep, a time to eat, a time to play, a time to gather together, through shared meals and activities and conversation; with art centers, with dance, and song. There are powerful ways to heal.

“Trauma really does confront you with the best and the worst.” Says Van der Kolk. “You see the horrendous things that people do to each other, but you also see resiliency, the power of love, the power of caring....”

Leaving Ukraine, I said good bye across a fence, just a wave of the hand before I boarded a barge to cross the Danube to Romania. I was looking at someone I love and care about. I felt relieved, safe and also ashamed. I was going home, soon, on that silver bird.

I did not feel sympathy; I felt respect. I fear for her life, not because she is weak but because she is brave. Always smiling, working hard to stay positive and strong. Our duty in this time, she always says.

You don’t own this person, I thought. This is love.

And I understood, Love makes war bearable, then after a pause, war makes love precious.

Robert Gamble is the executive director of This Child Here.

This Child Here is a registered 501(C)(3) non-profit.

Their work is with and for the vulnerable youth of Ukraine. They train foster families to receive youth and children from orphanages; they train mentors for youth in facilities. They teach peacemaking skills and attitudes to youth and adults; They work with families displaced by the war.

To learn more visit www.thischildhere.org/ or scan below.

Columbia Seminary alumnus

save the date

March 16 – 18

Just Creation: Shalom for God’s Home water, air, earth, and

fire...

Join us as we bring theologians, environmental scientists and activists, and artists together to talk about environmental justice and the flourishing of creation in a time of environmental calamity.

Workshops, plenary sessions, and worship

Details coming soon!

Center for Lifelong Learning Awards New reKindle Grants

The Center for Lifelong Learning received 25 applications for its second cohort of reKindle grants .

Those applications came from PC (USA), Lutheran, Nazarene, American Baptist, Episcopal, United Church of Christ, and non-denominational congregations .

Grants were awarded to ten congregations. Representatives from these congregations will participate in a cohort gathering the fall of 2022 led by Drs. Martha Moore-Keish, Jeffrey Tribble, and Tim Hartman.

The 2022 recipients and their projects are:

Eden United Church of Christ

Chicago, Illinois

“Like Living Stones: Embodying Sanctuary for a New Day”

Eden UCC has recently restored its historic sanctuary. Now they want to expand the definition of sanctuary and explore new expressions of “being sanctuary” both inside and outside the membership of the congregation. Eden will develop and offer intergenerational and collaborative ministry programs of educational outreach and fellowship, i.e.workshops; dinner church; a drop-in space for community called “Eden Open;” trainings for communication, relationship stress, and conflict resolution. “These initiatives express a journey of increased campuswide generosity and hospitality, ‘offering sanctuary throughout our building,’ as well as through the lives of disciples self-consciously being shaped to be more respectful, resilient bridge-builders in a divisive world.”

First Presbyterian Church of Gulf Shores

Gulf Shores, Alabama

“Investing in the Future”

First Presbyterian of Gulf Shores is interested in showing the love of Christ for their community by opening up their building, particularly the lightly used Christian Education wing, and creating a small business incubator. The city of Gulf Shores has a critical need for office space and parking. As part of the congregation’s mission to the city of Gulf Shores and for the glory of God, they endeavor to use their building to provide space for local businesses, nonprofits, artists, and others who are in need of a place from which to do their work. First Presbyterian would like to share their gifts and resources to help supply a need for the community. This action promotes the welfare of the city and helps provide for the vitality of the congregation, and the changing nature of the church.

Christ Lutheran Church Ferndale, Washington

“A New Church Door”

“What COVID has taught us is that church will never be the same again.” Even before the pandemic Christ Lutheran had been grappling with how to provide a “side door” for those who didn’t have a church background or had been turned off by the traditional church. We all are watching deep cultural shifts unfold before our eyes. Christ Lutheran believes there is a yearning in their neighborhood and county for deeper connections; that there are deep spiritual needs with the potential to be satisfied in a Christian community. They sense God’s nudging to create a “new church door” that opens both ways: a door that swings outward, opening the path for the congregation to seek and learn the stories, concerns, and spiritual longings of the community, and a door that opens inward to invite those voices to be heard so they can better shape how to serve and what to offer as a congregation.

Emmanuel Baptist Church

Albany, New York

“Reimagining the Future by Sailing on the Winds of the Spirit”

The past decade, and especially the past several years, has brought the realization to Emmanuel Baptist that they must look at significant change to be a continuing congregation of care and ministry.

Emmanuel has an aging, but historic and architecturally significant, building that challenges their finances. The church’s urban location, with religious, ethnic and cultural diversity, is part of Emmanuel’s mission and identity. However, the tension between upkeep and mission has significantly increased as congregational resources diminish. Emmanuel Baptist wants to better understand how their message should be presented to the 21st century audience. They will engage consultants and mentors, retreats and seminars, as they look at innovative models of other vibrant congregations.

Living Word Lutheran Church

Buda, Texas

“Who Are We Now?

Strategic Planning PostCOVID”

Living Word Lutheran Church feels they have become disconnected from the community around them, especially during the pandemic. The congregation will reassess their mission and vision, and learn how to communicate it anew to the wider community. Living Word will develop a comprehensive strategic plan that includes becoming more rooted in the neighborhood. The congregation’s goal is to determine whether their current mission and vision still fits the congregation’s new identity in a “post”-COVID world. They will also host a summer day camp for children.

Vienna Baptist Church

Vienna, Virginia

“Cultivating an Antiracist Church Culture”

Vienna Baptist has received a second year of reKindle funding. Their previous and on-going work focused on developing new theological and intellectual frameworks for identifying the ways racism and white supremacy shape their church culture. Church leaders are now eager to move from theory to concrete practice. Vienna Baptist will engage in practical coaching, host experiential workshops, and deepen multiracial partnerships. These activities will provide staff, leaders, and members opportunities to examine the current church practices and identify concrete ways to cultivate a more antiracist church culture.

Faith Presbyterian Church

Blue Ridge, Georgia

“Growing relationships through Service to our Community”

Faith Presbyterian is receiving a second year of reKindle funding. Their 2021 reKindle project was a joint endeavor between the Presbyterians and the Jewish Community of Blue Ridge. The Jewish Community uses the church building for monthly Sabbath Services. The two faith communities work together on Bible Study and in missional service. Relationships between these communities have flourished, as has their service to their neighbors. With the grant

extension Faith Presbyterian and the Jewish Community will expand food and community meals and support services to senior citizens and participate in Ambassador Outreach training. To further enhance this relationship, a joint Seder dinner is planned, and they are continuing the joint Sukkot picnic initiated under the first grant.

Downtown Church, PCUSA)

Columbia, South Carolina

“Dinner Series: Remember that Baptism?”

Downtown Church is a young congregation, formed in 2011. In the past two years, this church has baptized over 40 babies. Over 40 times parents have offered up their children to God. Over 40 times their youngest disciples have been publicly claimed as God’s own. Over 40 times their parents and the church have said “yes, we will guide, support, pray for, and nurture these children of God to know and love Jesus.” That last promise is the one they want to narrow their focus on. “How do we as a community fulfill our baptismal vows to these children, in a young, growing, but still very new, church congregation?” The plan is a 4-part

dinner and discussion series, where they will work communally to listen, learn, and grow alongside children of all ages. They will bring in experts in counseling, Christian education, parenting, and more. They will focus on answering the question: “How do we fulfill our baptismal vows by caring for the children and families in our church?”

St . Paul’s Church of the Nazarene

Kansas City, Missouri

“Unmasking the Powers: Becoming Culturally Aware for Cultural Inclusion”

St. Paul’s Church of the Nazarene believes they cannot thrive and serve their community if they do not unmask the powers that keep them from being an inclusive, multicultural, and antiracist church. Their project is to engage in efforts to identify and remove barriers for welcoming and including members of the community. They will develop processes to recognize and name the powers of cultural bias and racism in the world and in themselves. They will work to unveil the ways that their programs, ministries, practices, policies, and history have been shaped by these

powers. Finally, they will enter into a process of reconciliation as they implement changes and continually examine themselves.

St . Thomas Episcopal Church Abingdon, Virginia

“Regathering in the Spirit: Discipleship, Leadership, and Outreach”

St. Thomas is a smaller congregation with a big heart located in the Central Appalachian town of Abingdon, Virginia. They are seeking to move out of the COVID culture of maintenance, into an energized culture of mission.“ They have found it very challenging restarting important ministries and especially difficult re-engaging their younger members and families.” The congregation’s leadership believes that God is calling them to a transformational change of parish culture to one that is Spirit-guided, lay led, and clergy supported. They see the current time as an opportunity to refocus on their individual and communal spiritual health through a series of retreats. The goal is to discern how the Spirit is calling them to adapt to the changing circumstances of the post-COVID world. “In what ways can we toss out the ‘old leaven’ and start anew?”

@ the Center for Lifelong Learning

August 1–3

Celebrating Sabbath: Accepting God’s Gift of Rest and Delight (2022-23) PW/Horizons Bible Study Leader Seminar

With: Carol M. Bechtel

September 14–November 30

Mentor Coaching ONLINE

With: Chris Holmes

September 19–21

Leadership in Ministry Lynchburg

With: Israel Galindo, Elaine Boomer, Andrew Archie, Carla Toeniessen, Lance King, and Bill Pyle

September 26–October 8

Praying with Teresa of Avila: Exploring The Interior Castle through Image and Metaphor ONLINE

With: Elizabeth Ford Friend

October 3–November 4

Intercultural Competence and Church Leadership ONLINE

With: Youngsook Kang

October 3–5

Leadership in Ministry Boston

With: Israel Galindo, Margaret Marcusson, Elaine Boomer, Rebecca Maccini, and Meg Hess

October 13–16

Exploring Wisdom’s Wonder (Montreat Conference Center)

With: Bill Brown

November 7–9

Leadership in Ministry Atlanta

With: Israel Galindo, Michael Cook, James Lamkin, Skip Johnson, Dan Koger, and Vanessa Ellison

January 9–13, 2023

The Coaching Institute at Columbia Theological Seminary (TCI@CTS)

With: Phil Bergey, Laurie Ferguson, Chris Holmes, Youngsook Kang, and Jihyun Oh

January 9–February 6

Seeking God: An Invitation to a Deeper Spiritual Life ONLINE

With: Carl McColman and Deedra Rich

January 23–February 17

Teaching for Transformation Older Adult Ministry ONLINE

With: Joyce MacKichan Walker

September 19-21

Developing Your Pastoral Intelligence: Emotional Fitness for Ministry: This program is for clergy serving in congregational contexts who seek to assess and improve their leadership and ministry effectiveness. Includes a nine-month coaching relationship. With: Maurice Graham, Jennifer Collins, and Steve Booth

October 24-27

Wounded Ministers Clergy Retreat: A healing experience for clergy and their spouses who have experienced a forced termination from their place of ministry or who are experiencing congregational conflict that may lead to dismissal.

www.CTSnet

February 6–March 24

The Preacher and the Poet ONLINE

With: Ana Carter Florence

February 27–March 24

Thomas Merton, Spiritual Guide: An Introduction to Merton through his Writings ONLINE

With: Carl McColman

March 6–April 14

Spiritual Formation and Older Adults Older Adult Ministry ONLINE

With: Mary Anona Stoops

Continuing Her Spiritual Journey

Debra Weir, Associate Director for Spirituality of the Center for Lifelong Learning (CLL), announced her retirement at the end of the 2020-2023 academic year .

BY CHASSIDY GOGGINS, MEDIA AND MARKETING COORDINATOR FOR THE CENTER FOR LIFELONG LEARNING

Debra joined the staff of the CLL in 2014 and has provided excellent direction to the spirituality programs of the CLL at Columbia Seminary, including celebrating the spirituality program’s 20th and 25th anniversaries. Debra initiated the Certificate of Spiritual Direction program, refined the Certificate in Spiritual Formation curriculum, and widened the reach of both programs through online courses.

How has the spirituality program changed under your direction?

The Spirituality Program has certainly changed during my tenure; perhaps this can be named ‘growth.’ I have certainly grown being here! Two areas of growth come to mind programmatically. The first and most significant change to the program was the addition of the Certificate in Spiritual Direction (CSD) in 2015.

The second area of growth is the embrace of online learning. Online courses have allowed people across the country and in some cases across the globe to

participate in spirituality programs and courses.

In your own words, describe the Spirituality program at CTS?

The Spirituality Program is a wellknown and long-standing program in the Center for Lifelong Learning at Columbia Theological Seminary and offers two certificates in Christian spirituality.

The Certificate in Spiritual Formation offers courses that nurture spiritual enrichment and growth in people desiring spiritual depth. This program’s classes and retreats are open to anyone interested (and often include) those completing the certificate alongside persons interested in a particular topic. We create a lovely and welcoming community when we gather.

The Certificate in Spiritual Direction is a cohort-based experience for those called or discerning a call to the ministry of spiritual companionship and guidance. This course of study’s practical training and formation includes gentle but rigorous supervision as part of the learning process. The application for the 2022 cohort is now open.

What has been your greatest joy as director?

That’s hard! There have been so many joys, among them the many

people I’ve come to know and love through the program! In addition to this, developing the spiritual direction program and witnessing the development of gifted spiritual directors formed through the program gives me pleasure and joy.

What will you miss the most?

I will miss the people – the CLL staff who are amazing, highly skilled and supportive, the CTS community, and the leaders and participants in all the programs. You all have enriched my life beyond measure!

How do you plan to continue with spiritual practices in retirement? Will this look different from what you do now?

Though I’m retiring from CTS, I’m not retiring from life or the discernment practices that led me here. The practices of prayer and reflection are a way of life now as I wait, watch, and walk into this next season. I hope to have time for additional practices that I have limited time for now, like gardening, making art with mandalas and textiles, long hikes, walks, and spending time with family and friends. I’m curious and excited about what will come!

What do you hope your legacy is as a spiritual director?

I have always approached this role from the stance of spiritual direction, being a spiritual director for the spirituality program. I hope that the program will retain a bit of my imprint on it, at least for a time.

On a more personal note, if my presence has encouraged some folks to seek and know God more intimately, or if my companionship has assisted them in discerning new directions or next steps in life that would be enough.

what would you say?

May you be cloaked with a mantle of grace, seeking wisdom from the Source of all wisdom. May you guide these programs with clarity and gentleness, seeking the best for all. May you receive joy and satisfaction from each workday. When challenges mount, may the gifts of this community encourage your soul. And may you, this program and all who participate in it flourish during your tenure.

The next Associate Director of Spirituality Programs will join the CLL team some time this summer. To learn more about spirituality program offerings, visit Spirituality Program | The Center for Lifelong Learning | Atlanta, GA (ctsnet.edu)

If you were asked to bestow a blessing or pray for the success of your successor,

Community Calendar

Friday, October 28th

Inauguration of the 11th President of Columbia Theological Seminary, Rev. Dr . Victor Alloyo

2022 Convocation

September 9

Columbia Presbyterian Church

Installation of Dr . Christine Roy Yoder to the J . McDowell Richards

Professor of Biblical Interpretation

November 2022

MORE DETAILS TO COME

COLLOQUIUM ’23

Columbia Theological Seminary + COLUMBIA CONFERENCES 2023 Just Creation

March 16-18

Dates may change. Please visit CTSnet.edu/events for any changes.

Those are the words that Raushanah Butler (MDiv ’21) shared when she was asked about why she gives to Columbia. Raushanah says the welcoming and supportive community of Columbia’s faculty and students enabled her to live into her call. Because of the support Raushanah received while she was a student, she became a monthly supporter of Columbia shortly after her graduation.

As a new academic year approaches, we invite you to become a monthly supporter of Meet the Call, The Annual Fund for Columbia. By doing this, you’re participating in the formation and preparation of a new generation of pastoral leader that is called to serve the church and the world.

Will you make a gift today to widen the path for more faithful, imaginative, and resilient students to become the people and leaders that God has called them to be?

“Columbia gave me the opportunity to be what God has called me to be”

Congratulations, Class of 2022!

Master’s Level Graduates

Starting from lower left:

Gail Baylor, MDiv; Amy Renee Remaklus, MDiv; Karen Wilson Fletcher, MDiv/MAPT; Tracey Lynn, MDiv; Jean Homrighausen, MDiv; Candace Rowell, MDiv; Mary Kate McAlister, MDiv; Elliot Trojanowski, MDiv

Second row (from left):

Hau Sian Suan, MATS; Alisa Castilla, MDiv; Brittney Daniel, MDiv; Myungjin Kim, MDiv; Kirsten King, MDiv; Kristen Lynn Sommerfeld, MDiv/MAPT; John McCrosky, MDiv/MAPT; Ashley Lewis, MDiv

Third row (from left):

Marissa Zatezalo Carver, MDiv; Mylika Slaughter, MDiv/MAPT; Alfred Appiah,MDiv; Lauren Scott, MDiv/MAPT

Back row (from left):

Samuel Phillips, MDiv; Brandon Davis, MDiv; Martin Carver, MDiv; Jason Joseph Howell, MDiv; John Daniel DeBevoise, MDiv; Joseph Jumper, MDiv; Mung Suan Lian, MAPT; Jin-Sol Tark, MDiv

Doctorate Level Graduates

Starting from lower left: Bertha Bernice Calloway, DEdMin; Kevin Anthony Page, DMin; Paulo Fernando Candido Mendes, DMin; Owayne Frater, DMin; Glendon Constantine Young, DMin; Kristin Elizabeth Riegel, DEdMin; Nomenjanahary Mamisoa Rakotomalala EP Andrianjohary, DEdMin; Lynne A. Bundy Pabst, DEdMin; Jacqueline L. Turner, ThM

Middle row (from left)

Hope Nicole Sims Sutton, DMin; Vivian Green, DEdMin

Top row (from left)

Johnny Harris, Sr DMin; Evans Baah Mintah, ThM; Daniel Lankai Lawson, ThM; Eui Hyun Chung, ThM, Christopher Michael York, DMin; Nathanael Bien-Aime Gracia DMin; John Hardin Sawyer, DMin; Mathew Burl Frease, ThD; Travis Allen Webster, ThD; Kimberly Omeka Scott, ThM

In absentia; Joseph Kirk Weisz, ThD; Richard Henry Brooks, DMin; Chukwuemeka Victor Chiana, DMin at UTCTWI; J. Lee Hill, Jr., ThM; Katherine Suzanne Johnson, ThM; Beom Soo Jung, MDiv; Larissa Cajaiba Negreiros, MDiv; Sylvester Donkoh, MATS

Unseasonably warm weather couldn’t dampen the spirits of the graduates and their guests, and Columbia Seminary faculty and staff as the community celebrated its first in-person commencement since 2019.

2022 Awards and Prizes

Harvard A. Anderson

Alisa Shamariah Marcharea Castilla

Columbia Graduate Fellowship Katherine Suzanne Johnson

Fannie Jordan Bryan Fellowship Eui Hyun Chung & Nomenjanahary Mamisoa Rakotomalala EP Andrianjohary

Anna Church Whitner Fellowship ................................................... Alfred Appiah

James T. and Celeste M. Boyd Book Fund

The Robert Ramey, Jr. Christian Leadership Award

Marissa Zatezalo Carver

Kirsten Dara King

Samuel Charles Phillips & Mylika Michele Slaughter

Kristen Lynn Sommerfeld

Wilds Book Prize Mary Katherine McAlister

William Dudley Fund Awards Jean Covell Homrighausen & John Edward McCrosky

Buechner Award in Writing .................................................. Candace Erin Rowell

Abdullah Award for Moral & Spiritual Values .... Nomenjanahary Mamisoa Rakotomalala EP Andrianjohary

Julia Abdullah Award ....................................................... Lynne A. Bundy Pabst

Samuel A. Cartledge New Testament Studies Award ................. Alisa Shamariah Marcharea Castilla

Emma Gaillard Boyce Memorial Award ......................................... John Hardin Sawyer

Paul T. Fuhrmann Book Prize in Church History .................................. Gail Scotton Baylor

The John Nelsen Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kristin Elizabeth Riegel

George and Sally Telford Award ................................................ Kevin Anthony Page

Harold J. Riddle Memorial Book Award ....................................... Amy Renee Remaklus

Florie S. Johnson Award .................................................. Elliot Leanor Trojanowski

Indiantown Country Church Award ........................................... Brandon Lloyd Davis

Lyman and Myki Mobley Prize ...................................................... Alfred Appiah

William Rivers Waddey Award ..............................................

Lauren Catherine Scott

Buechner Award in Preaching ............................................... Ashley Margaret Lewis

Seminary News

Columbia Appoints Eleventh President, Rev. Dr . Victor Aloyo

On May 23, Columbia’s Board of Trustees announced that the Rev. Dr. Victor Aloyo will become Columbia’s 11th president effective August 1, 2022.

“Victor Aloyo brings a passion for God’s work in the church and the world that resonates with Columbia’s deep commitment to preparing leaders. His experience in congregational ministry equips him to understand the hopes and challenges for local pastors, and his experience at Princeton Seminary prepares him for leadership in theological education,” said Rev. Dr. Millie Snyder, search committee chair, Executive Pastor Myers Park Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC and Columbia Board of Trustees member. “I believe Victor Aloyo will lead Columbia to embody God’s vision for our future. Victor conveys an excitement that embodies hope for the role Columbia will have in the church, in the community, and in the world.”

Currently Dr. Aloyo is the associate dean of institutional diversity and community engagement at Princeton Theological Seminary where he is the chief strategist on matters related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Under his leadership, the Seminary developed a Diversity Action Blueprint as a resource for the seminary to establish goals, objectives, and assessment criteria to strengthen multicultural relations across departmental lines, and he initiated and led the seminary’s campuswide antiracism formational platforms focusing on matters of race, power, privilege, stereotypes, and justice. In addition, through a collaborative effort with a cohort of community leaders and organizers, faith leaders, seminary faculty and students, and administration from area colleges and universities, Dr. Aloyo prepared a Community Engagement Blueprint identifying a “place-based” model for community engagement to support a sustainable approach

Newly appointed president, the Rev. Dr. Victor Aloyo made his first official appearance on campus in May. Here, he chats with a student before meeting more staff and faculty

to urban ministry. Dr. Aloyo is also the organizing and lead pastor of La Iglesia Presbiteriana Nuevas Fronteras, a multicultural community of faith in North Plainfield, NJ, composed of families from twenty-two countries from across the globe. Dr. Aloyo and the church developed a “teaching church” model that witnessed the flourishing of twelve candidates to the ministry and created a field education platform for sixty-two seminarians during his tenure.

” I am drawn to Columbia Theological Seminary because I believe with its long and rich history, it is positioned to serve a vital purpose of leading the theological academy by preparing people for innovative, creative, and substantive leadership. My call to ministry embraces

important principles of adaptive leadership, innovation in strategic planning, trust-building, equitable distribution of resources, and access to education,” said Dr. Aloyo. “With the collaboration of trustees, students, faculty, administrators, alumni, community organizers, faith leaders, and donors, I intend to serve to equip the saints for ministry. The vision statement recently approved excites me and it speaks to my passion for continuing to explore and model how God intersects our common call at all levels of the teaching-learning-serving paradigm.”

Dr. Aloyo is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian Foundation, Family Promise, the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, the Muhlenberg Foundation, and Convener of the

Covenant Architects Network. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and Sociology from the College of New Rochelle, a Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Pennsylvania focusing his dissertation on navigating diversity and inclusion within a framework of social justice.

“Victor Aloyo’s pastoral presence and his experience with DEI and leading multicultural communities of faith will help Columbia realize its vision of becoming a community of belonging,” said the Rev. Dr. Jane Fahey, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “He has the skills and experience necessary to guide Columbia toward its third century.” Look for more on Dr. Alloyo in future news and publications.

Alta Awards Grant to Digitize Collection of Crosses and Religious Symbols

Alta, an organization that promotes worldwide scholarly communication in religion and theology by advancing the work of libraries, awarded a $3,000 grant to Columbia’s John Bulow Campbell Library. This grant allows the library staff to digitize the images of the Mary Bray Spence Collection of Crosses and Religious Symbols.

This collection includes over 750 unique religious symbols from across the globe and explores the theological representation of the cross as well as

examining how theology is portrayed across images and cultures. Upon completion of the work in 2023, the metadata for these collections will be added to the Alta Digital Library to promote discoverability and accessibility. An Atlanta archivist, Tierra Thomas, has been hired to complete the project.

Alta launched this grant program in 2021 to help its members digitize and describe special collections and archives in the areas of religion and theology to promote wider access and use. In April 2022, they awarded over $13,000 to four institutions.

Columbia Adopts New Vision Statement

In March 2022 the Board of Trustees adopted a new vision statement for Columbia. This was the culmination of a process started in the spring of 2021 when the seminary received a grant from Lily Endowment, Inc. and the Board of Trustees commissioned a Vision Steering Committee: a small group of trustees, faculty, and staff.

The steering committee engaged in a process of deep listening with the community that included listening sessions with faculty, students, staff, alumni, and trustees. With that input the steering committee was able to craft our new vision which we have already begun to embody and to determine how we can live into it.

VISION STATEMENT A Prayer for Vision in Columbia’s Bicentennial Season

…these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

(Isaiah 56:7)

On the doorstep of its third century, in a landscape of global crisis and amidst sweeping change for the church and its educational institutions, Columbia Theological Seminary proposes a vision for its future. In service to Jesus Christ, Columbia’s mission is “to educate and nurture faithful, imaginative, and effective leaders for the sake of the Church and the world.” For many generations this is what we have endeavored to do. We now desire to live out that mission inspired by the Spirit’s urging and our community’s renewed commitment to become a place of welcome, hospitality, justice, and belonging: “a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7). We seek to honor foundations laid by

our forebears, address wounds of the past, and act with courage to promote the flourishing of all, leaving a legacy for generations that will follow us.

Columbia’s Presbyterian heritage offers gifts to us in this moment. One is an affirmation that God invites us, each day, again and again, into deeper gratitude and repentance, humility and hope: we are Reformed, and always being re-formed for life together in more just and compassionate community shaped by the word of God in Scripture. We believe God is already doing a new thing among us for the sake of the Church and the world; we yearn to join in that holy work. We offer this vision as a statement of our collective intention and a prayer for moral courage to follow where the Spirit is leading.

We pray that Columbia’s students will be educated, equipped, and nurtured to become a new generation of pastoral leaders for the Church and the world.

A distinction of Columbia graduates will be that their leadership is pastoral in character. Pastoral leadership, regardless of setting, demands theological

formation that the seminary is uniquely suited to provide. In particular, Columbia graduates will be marked by their:

• witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ in life and work;

• transcultural competence and commitment to forming communities shaped by equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging;

• facility to interpret Scripture, texts, and contexts, and to reflect theologically on intersectional social locations, identities, and cultural assumptions;

• attitudes of openness, listening, and empathy;

• ability to lead with intelligence, imagination, resilience, and love in contexts of change;

• stewardship for the natural world and attention to repairing humanity’s relationship with creation;

• capacity to create and innovate in the face of challenge and opportunity;

• skills in conflict transformation;

• cultivation of spiritual practices that sustain and deepen the life of discipleship and faith.

Since its founding, Columbia’s students have gone forth to serve local congregations as pastors and

teachers, and they have also led the way in redefining the frontiers of ministry. Each generation of Columbia students has reminded us that the church of Jesus Christ is not constrained by institutional or denominational borders, but exists wherever the gospel is proclaimed and the children of God are sheltered and nurtured in spiritual fellowship. Columbia will continue to prioritize the formation of pastoral leaders for congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and other denominations. Likewise, Columbia graduates will be equipped to step into pastoral leadership across the broad spectrum of ministry, in congregations, chaplaincy, counseling, non-profit organizations, and elsewhere. Whether in our degree programs or our Center for Lifelong Learning, our faculty and staff will also partner with students in their vocational discernment, offering our best resources with academic integrity and excellence. We pray to provide spaces for students to engage in learning that joins mind and heart, equipping them to serve as pastoral leaders for new ministries to which they are called.

May our house be a house of prayer for all peoples.

O God, hear our prayer.

We pray that Columbia’s community will embody the welcome, hospitality, justice, and belonging of the reign of God.

Columbia affirms and celebrates that God forms all persons in the divine image and calls leaders to serve in Jesus’ name whose identities emerge and intersect across the dazzling array of human diversity. We claim the promise of Isaiah 56, in which God announces, “my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.” Moreover, we rejoice that the welcome we extend to one another is grounded in the welcome God extends to each of us in Christ, growing outward to bear fruit in the flourishing of all.

We affirm this promise, not lightly or naively, but confessing and repenting of the Seminary’s historical entanglement with the sins of slavery, racism, and white supremacy. We recognize that we are inheritors of theological traditions both rich and complicated, in which powerful witness to the radical love and justice of God is also mingled with painful histories of control and oppression, especially for women, BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) persons, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) siblings, and all others on the margins. We celebrate that Christ’s welcome draws us into conversation with unexpected partners across theological

perspectives, transforming conflict to build beloved community.

As Christ is able to hold space for all, we commit ourselves to the challenging work of becoming a more faithful, equitable, and just community. We pray that all may desire and experience new possibilities of relationship and belonging, healing and trust at Columbia.

May our house be a house of prayer for all peoples.

O God, hear our prayer.

We pray that Columbia’s partnerships will bring vibrant spiritual, cultural, and academic exchange, with opportunities to generate new ideas and knowledge, create connection, and engage in experiential learning.

Institutions thrive within a network of partnerships and connections, just as individuals flourish within meaningful personal relationships. Columbia’s commitment to institutional connections grounds the seminary in systems of mutual learning, support, and accountability, all of which benefit our students. We pray for renewed commitment to three main arenas of partnership:

Regional Partnerships: Columbia’s location in the Metro-Atlanta area offers abundant gifts to the seminary and our students. Likewise, the seminary’s campus and community have abundant gifts to share with our immediate neighbors. We pray to strengthen

relationships with other seminaries and universities in the region, with Atlanta congregations, non-profits, hospitals, and other ministries that afford our students practical ministry experience, opportunities for discovery, and vocational discernment. We celebrate local congregations that welcome our faculty, staff, and students into worship, community, and service. Crucially, as an educational institution in Atlanta, a city steeped in the complicated legacies of both Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement, we commit ourselves to engaging the hard truths of our personal and institutional histories in this setting, and to supporting our students’ growth toward becoming leaders of anti-racist communities and organizations.

Global Partnerships: Columbia’s long tradition of international engagement with students, scholars, and sibling churches across the globe enlivens and renews our seminary with inestimable gifts. We pray to deepen and strengthen these global partnerships. The rich interplay of complex cultural identities and spiritual traditions across boundaries of nationality and language provides fertile soil for the growth of transcultural competencies. Through relationships of mutual learning, our students, faculty, and staff deepen capacities to see their own cultures through the eyes of others. In critically articulating our own intersectional and multi-faceted social locations, identities, and cultural assumptions, we foster

an ethos of empathy, openness, and tolerance of ambiguity that makes space for transformation and renewal.

Denominational and Institutional Partnerships: As an institution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Columbia participates actively in the life of the denomination through mid-councils and the General Assembly’s Committee on Theological Education. We pray to continue nourishing these denominational roots: like the tree which forms the seminary’s logo, deep roots in a particular tradition may grow into a wide and spreading canopy in which every branch is nourished as it finds its own path toward the light. As a seminary committed to serving the Church of Jesus Christ, we will continue to resource leaders from the PC(USA) and all denominations through our Center for Lifelong Learning, our Library and Archives, and our robust alumni network.

May our house be a house of prayer for all peoples.

God,

hear our prayer.

We pray that Columbia will join boldly in the new thing God is already doing among us and in the world, enabling us to learn, teach, serve, and live joyfully in God’s holy house of prayer and in God’s good creation.

It is often in moments of profound disruption that the work of the Spirit is most evident for those who

risk and are willing to trust. In our own time, in this visioning work, we have tried to suggest some signposts for Columbia’s character that may guide the seminary into our next century.

We pray for the faith to both risk and trust, in this moment: to follow the Spirit’s leading, to join in God’s work, and to be witnesses to Jesus in resurrection hope. Columbia need not fear the future, because our future belongs to God. Anchored in that trust, we discover that the whirling winds of change are the improvisational music of Pentecost. We can step boldly into the dance, ready to move, innovate and grow—to be who we need to be, for this time on God’s earth. Buoyed by the rhythm of the Spirit, with each stumble we pray to rise again, re-formed and reborn for life together. We pray to be joyful in this, God’s house, and God’s vision for it.

May our house be a house of prayer for all peoples. God, hear our prayer.

Dr . Sechrest Receives Appointment to Mount St . Mary’s

Columbia Theological Seminary announces the departure of Dr. Love Sechrest who has faithfully served since 2018 as Columbia’s Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dean of Faculty, and Associate Professor of New Testament

Dr. Sechrest has recently been appointed as the Associate Provost for Program Development and Innovation and Professor of Theology at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland. She will oversee initiatives that enhance undergraduate student learning outside of the classroom including the Career Center and the newly formed Center for Service.

“While her departure is an enormous loss for Columbia, I know that Mount St. Mary students will benefit greatly from her leadership just as

our students have over the last four years,” said Dr. Leanne Van Dyk, president of Columbia Theological Seminary. “Dr. Sechrest has been key in strengthening our degree programs, leading numerous innovative initiatives, and bringing outstanding scholars to join our faculty. I consider it a high honor to work so closely with her.”

During her tenure, Dr. Sechrest has done much to advance Columbia’s mission and ensure the success of its students. She championed the seminary Ombuds program, which launched in her first year, and she has been an active member of the Becoming project.

Dr. Sechrest led the faculty in introducing several curricular innovations that are now in varying stages of implementation: the online MA(TS) degree, the online ThM degree, and the revised professional doctoral curriculum with new emphases in Leadership and Justice studies. Recently she led the development of a new financial aid strategy that will launch this fall, the Working Scholars Program, to improve retention and increase the accessibility of a Columbia education.

“As I leave Columbia, I am truly grateful for my time here, the students, the exceptionally talented faculty, the dedicated staff, and all that we have accomplished,” said Dr. Love Sechrest. “Together we have been able to build a strong foundation for Columbia’s third century.”

Dr . Yoder Appointed as Vice President of Academic Affairs

The Board of Trustees of Columbia Theological Seminary announces the appointment of Dr. Christine Roy Yoder as the Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA) and Dean of Faculty. The appointment begins on July 1, 2022 and extends for three years.

“The board is very grateful for Dr. Yoder’s willingness to serve in this way at this very critical juncture in our seminary’s history,” said Dr. Leanne Van Dyk president of Columbia Theological Seminary. “We are starting a reaccreditation process; we are welcoming a new president; and we are dealing with other important academic issues like curriculum review, and Dr. Yoder will be able to step in and ensure a smooth and collegial transition.”

Dr. Yoder previously served as Interim VPAA and Dean of Faculty from July 2016-June 2018. She succeeds Dr. Love Sechrest, who has been appointed the Associate Provost for Program Development and Innovation and Professor of Theology at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland.

Dr. Yoder received her B.A. in History from Swarthmore College and her MDiv. and Ph.D. in Old Testament from Princeton Theological Seminary. She joined the Columbia faculty in 1998 and is currently the J. McDowell Richards Professor of Biblical Interpretation.

Dr. Yoder is the author of Wisdom as a Woman of Substance: A Socioeconomic Reading of Proverbs 1-9 and 31:1031 (De Gruyter) and Proverbs (Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries), as well as many articles, essays, and book chapters. She is co-editor of Shaking Heaven and Earth: Essays in Honor of Walter Brueggemann and Charles Cousar (Westminster John Knox) and “When the Morning Stars Sang”: Essays in Honor of Choon Leong Seow on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday (De Gruyter).

Dr. Yoder has received several grants and fellowships, including a Lilly Theological Research Grant, a Wabash Center Group Project Grant (as co-director), and a Catholic Biblical Association Fellowship. In 201415, she was awarded a Henry Luce III Fellowship in Theology to work on her current book project, Desiring Wisdom: Human Flourishing in Israelite Wisdom Literature (forthcoming from Fortress).

Dr. Yoder has served as editor of book reviews for the Journal of Biblical Literature, and on the editorial boards of Oxford Bibliographies Online: Biblical Studies and the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Currently she is an editor for Brill’s Biblical Interpretation Series and a member of the Common English Bible Translation Board. In fall 2019, the Association of Theological Schools appointed Dr. Yoder as co-chair of the Council on Theological Scholarship and Research.

“I am grateful for the privilege of serving Columbia in this way,” Dr. Yoder stated, “As we anticipate our third century, I look forward to working with our new president and with our remarkable faculty, staff, and students to further the seminary’s mission with determination and joy.”

Leanne Van Dyk Voices for Vision Fund Provides Endowment for The Columbia Conferences

The Leanne Van Dyk Voices for Vision Fund was established in March 2022 with a dual purpose –honor retiring President, Dr. Leanne Van Dyk, and provide an endowed fund to ensure that The Columbia Conferences would have a secure future.

A committee led by Florida Ellis, Board of Trustees member, and comprised of Jane Fahey ’01, Heidi Gleason, David Huffine, Martha Moore-Keish, Kathy Reed ’07, Mitzi Smith, Todd Speed ’93, and Valrie Thompson went to work contacting friends and supporters of Columbia seminary. An aspirational range of $250,000 to $500,000 was set to be raised by May 16, the date of President Van Dyk’s retirement celebration.

On the night of the retirement celebration, it was announced that a grand total of $506,932 was raised to honor President Van Dyk and ensure the future of The Columbia Conferences.

The Columbia Conferences convene and host deep conversations about pressing, complex issues in God’s world that wise Christians must face with vision. Columbia Seminary’s rich academic resources, innovative programs, and its witness to God’s

reconciling love, compel it to engage in dialogue that welcomes diverse voices—voices of artists, scientists, educators, business and legal experts, policymakers, voices from the Church, other faith traditions, and those from outside the traditional centers of influence.

Past Columbia Conferences have brought in voices from renowned theologians, legal scholars, artists, and leaders of faith communities to discuss Migrations and Border Crossings (2019) and The Bible, Empire, and Reception History (2017). Just Creation, focused on environmental issues, is in planning for 2023. More details will be forthcoming in the fall about the 2023 conference. (See page 15 for more information.)

Columbia Conferences were initiated and led by faculty members, particularly Dr. Raj Nadella who co-led the first conference with Dr. Brennan Breed in 2015 and had the vision for and co-led the second conference with Dr. Silas Allard in 2019. The purpose of the Conferences is to facilitate and shape conversations about issues that are impacting the Church and society.

“Every two years, our hope is to pick a topic that is very relevant and bring leading scholars in the field, partner with global and national organizations, and host a big conference that will facilitate conversations about these issues. We want to become a leader in theological education that is setting the tone in thinking about these big issues,” said Dr. Raj Nadella.

Repairing the Breach Scholarship Endowment

In June of 2020, The Board of Trustees and President’s Council of Columbia Theological Seminary announced Repairing the Breach: Deepening Columbia’s Commitment to Black People and Their Flourishing, an initiative to “critically examine its structures and create new models for education .” This initiative acknowledges the reality that Columbia Theological Seminary “came into being in the context of and participated in the subjugation and oppression of Black people” along with the affirmation that “today, Columbia Seminary condemns the violent, racist injustice that has been and continues to be perpetuated.”

One tangible expression of this commitment is , through the William Thomas Catto Scholarship,

Columbia Seminary is fully funding the cost of tuition and student fees for all Black students who apply and are admitted to the seminary’s Master’s degree programs. Scholarships under Repairing the Breach have been temporarily funded out of existing undesignated funds. This was done immediately and in the short term in anticipation of long-term funding being established. Stepping out in faith in this regard was important, but now is the time to under gird that commitment for the long term. Full endowment funding for the first of the Repairing the Breach scholarships will require $450,000.

In the summer of 2021, Columbia Seminary alumnus William Pender (MDiv, 1980) made known his sense of call to initiate and spearhead fundraising for an endowment fund to support the Repairing the Breach initiative by endowing a Repairing the Breach scholarship.

“I am named after a Confederate general; my father, grandfather, and uncles spent hours debating the military strategies of the Civil War without any consideration of what this nation would be like if the Confederacy had won. I want to support Columbia’s ministry AND widen the opportunities for theological education for a population whose ancestors’ loss through slavery was an economic boost to both Columbia and my family,” said Dr. William Pender.

The Alumni Council of Columbia

Theological Seminary decided in January 2022 to join Dr. Pender in this initiative. The Alumni Council is calling on fellow alums to join in to raise the necessary $450,000 to permanently endow this scholarship for Black Columbia Theological Seminary students. As of June 2022, alumni and others have given $106,000 to this effort. We are well on the way to meeting the goal.

REFRESH, RESEARCH, AND REDISCOVER

•The 24/7 online access to a collection of religious and theological books and articles specially designed for theological alumni

•Lifetime checkout privileges for the main library collections

Our Faculty

DR. ISRAEL GALINDO, ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR LIFELONG LEARNING

April 22, Leadership in Ministry Webinar

May 16-18, Leadership in Ministry, Boston MA

May 22-26, Wabash Center Consultants Meeting, Indianapolis IN

July 11-14, Wounded Ministers Retreat, Birmingham AL

August 8-10, Leadership in Ministry Faculty Gathering IV

DR. MITZI J. SMITH, J. DAVISON PHILIPS PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT

April 22, Presentation “Our Mothers’ Gardens, Biodiversity, and Ecological Wisdom: A Response to Dr. Luther William’s [biologist & retired Tuskegee professor] Lecture on George Washington Carver,” Earth Day, Hood Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC

May 6, awarded a Wabash Center $5,000 Small Project Grant based on application “Mentoring Beyond the Womanist Classroom,” which is a podcast development project

May 10, awarded a Wabash Center $5,000 Small Project Grant based on application “In Pursuit of my Best Teaching Self as a Black Womanist Biblical Scholar in a PWI”

May 12, accepted an appointment as Professor Extraordinarius in the Institute for Gender Studies in the College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa, for a three-year period beginning June 2022, renewable. This is a research associate, nonemployment role.

June 27-July 1, attended Wabash Center, African Descent Hybrid Workshop, Crawfordsville, IN

July 14-15, invited paper presentation, Next Quest for the Historical Jesus Conference, in Bedford, UK. The presentations will be revised and included in a published volume.

DR. JEFFERY L. TRIBBLE, SR., ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR ADVANCED PROFESSIONAL STUDIES, DIR. OF THE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY PROGRAM, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MINISTRY

April 1, Online Publication of article, “Male Mentor Midwives for Black Female Religious Leadership” in the 8/22 journal of a special themed issue of Review and Expositor: “Leading Change as Sacred Praxis”

April 1-3, Attended Association of Doctor of Ministry Education Annual Meeting at Gordon Conwell Seminary, South Hamilton, MA

April 10, Preacher, Palm Sunday Service @ Faith A.M.E. Zion Church, Atlanta, GA

April 28-30, Attended Academy of Religious Leadership Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, MN

May 8, 15, 22, 29, Teaching Sunday School at Faith A.M.E. Zion Church, Atlanta, GA

May 17-19, United Theological College of the West Indies (Kingston, Jamaica) for annual review of DMin Program and Presentation of Diploma to DMin Graduate

DR. MARTHA MOORE-KEISH, JB GREEN PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY

April 10, preached for the installation service of Robert Lowry at Westover Hills Presbyterian Church, Little Rock, AK

May 12, presenter, Presbyterian Association of Musicians online town hall forum on prayers of confession and reconciliation

June 22-24, Teaching Reformed Theology for Savannah School for Laity, St. Simons Island, GA

July 17 and 24, teaching Sunday school at First Presbyterian Atlanta on the Apostles’ Creed

DR. ANNA CARTER FLORENCE, PETER MARSHALL PROFESSOR OF PREACHING

Delivered the James C. Cammack Lectures on Preaching at Campbell University Divinity School.

Led a Webinar on preaching for Grace Presbytery, Dallas, TX

Preached and lectured at the 2022 Festival of Homiletics in Denver

Recorded for "A Sermon for Every Sunday" (free sermons for small churches)

Taught a preaching course at the University of Uppsala's Pastoral Institute, in Sweden

Preached at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights, NY

Preached for Montreat Sunday Worship Service at Montreat Conference Center, NC

Served as the Bible Study Leader for the Women's Retreat at Montreat Conference Center, NC

Faculty Author Spotlight

Columbia’s faculty lead the way in their fields. They are asked to speak at conferences, they write articles, and they publish books . In our Author Spotlight, we talk to our faculty authors about the impetus behind their publications .

Kwame Bediako: African Theology for a World Christianity

BY DR. TIM HARTMAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY

Dr. Tim Hartman’s most recent book, Kwame Bediako: African Theology for a World Christianity, has been named one of “Ten Outstanding Books in Mission Studies Intercultural Theology and World Christianity for 2021” by the International Bulletin of Mission Research and one of 10 theology books to watch for in February 2022 by the Englewood Review of Books.

Dr. Hartman shares some insight about the book and its importance in today’s world.

What motivated you to write this book about Kwame Bediako and to examine not just his life and his theology but also to look at African Christianity?

I was motivated to write this book on the theology of Kwame Bediako of Ghana so that Christians around the world, especially in Africa and North America, could learn from one of the most significant theologians in Africa in the late 20th and early 21st century. Bediako’s insights about the translatability of the gospel of Jesus Christ, faithful contextualization of the gospel, and how gospel and culture should interact are significant for his context and encourage North American Christians to rethink our theological assumptions. My hope is that readers will learn about Bediako, about African Christianity, about themselves, about their own

theological presuppositions, and ultimately about who Jesus Christ is today.

Tell me about the book . What is it about?

Bediako offers a coherent theological framework that is not based on Western, Christendom-inspired assumptions, instead seeks the decolonizing of the African Christian mind. Bediako proposes “the remaking of Christian theology” by understanding Christianity as a “non-Western religion.” Through an exposition of Bediako’s published corpus and archival materials, this book articulates Bediako’s theology for a North American audience with chapters on Identity, Translatability, History, Mother-Tongue Scriptures and Indigenous Translations, Contextual Theology, the Remaking Christian Theology, Politics, and Challenges to Western and African Theologies as well as a Chronological Listing of Kwame Bediako’s Writings.

Amid today’s increasing secularization and globalization, we must ask what it means to be Christian in North America (and elsewhere). Bediako’s theology presents an alternate (non-Western) foundation for theological reflection and a path for post-Christendom theologies. Bediako’s thought reveals the cultural blinders that all Christians wear (since there is no such thing as pure theology). Further, the study of Bediako presses readers to interrogate their theological

convictions by encouraging them to reflect on Christian identity in light of cultural presuppositions. Bediako asked what it meant to be African and Christian after the shortcomings of colonialism.

The book demonstrates that Christianity is a non-Western religion by serving as a resource for the study of World Christianities amid the exponential growth of Christianity in the global South. Bediako asserted a polycentric understanding of the Christian faith based in grassroots theologies and the beliefs of actual Christians. He asserted that Christianity in Africa (and the global South) is the future of the Christian faith, but rejected any notions of African Christianity as the “next

Christendom.” The Christian faith did not need to be yoked to political power. In this way, Bediako offers a way forward in thinking about questions of religious pluralism.

Through engaging with Bediako and his critics in this book, North American Christians can have theological fellowship and learn from theology in the global South where the Christian faith is growing exponentially.

Why write this book now? Why does it matter today?

1. The book demonstrates that Christianity is a non-Western religion (serving as a resource for World Christianity amid

the exponential growth of Christianity in the global South)

2. The study of Kwame Bediako presses readers to interrogate their own theological convictions.

3. The book expands the canon of resources to expand the Christian theological imagination.

4. Corrects inaccurate portrayals of African Christianity

5. The book offers a profound exploration of the interaction of gospel and culture

6. The book offers a way forward in thinking about questions of religious pluralism

7. The book presents an African Christian theologian who values (and does not simply reject African traditional religions)

Modernity, the Environment, and the Christian Just War Tradition

BY DR. MARK DOUGLAS, PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS; DIRECTOR OF THM PROGRAM

In this volume, Mark Douglas presents an environmental history of the Christian just war tradition. Focusing on the transition from its late medieval into its early modern form, he explores the role the tradition has played in conditioning modernity and generating modernity’s blindness to interactions between ‘the natural’ and ‘the political.’ Douglas criticizes problematic myths that have driven conventional narratives about the history of the tradition and suggests a revised approach that better accounts for the evolution of that tradition through time. Along the way, he provides new interpretations of works by Francisco de Vitoria and Hugo Grotius, and, provocatively, the Constitution of the United States of America. Sitting at the intersection of just war thinking, environmental history, and theological ethics, Douglas’s book serves as a timely guide for responses to wars in a warming world as they increasingly revolve around the flashpoints of religion, resources, and refugees.

Stand Up Preaching

BY DR. JAKE MYERS, WADE P. HUIE, JR. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HOMILETICS, DIRECTOR OF MATS PROGRAM

Few vocations share more in common with preaching than stand-up comedy. Each profession demands attention to the speaker’s bodily and facial gestures, tone and inflection, timing and thoughtful engagement with contemporary contexts. Furthermore, both preaching and standup arise out of creative tension with homiletic or comedic traditions, respectively. Every time the preacher steps into the pulpit, or the comedian steps onto the stage, they must measure their words and gestures against their audience’s expectations and assumptions. They participate in a kind of dance that is at once choreographed and open to improvisation. It is these similar commonalities between preaching and stand-up comedy that this book engages.

Stand-Up Preaching does not aim to help preachers tell better jokes. The focus of this book is far more expansive. Given the recent popularity of comedy specials, preachers have greater access to a broad array of emerging comics who showcase fresh comedic styles and variations on comedic traditions. Coupled with the perennial Def Comedy Jams on HBO, preachers also have ready access to the work of classic comics who have exhibited great storytelling and stage presence. This book will offer readers tools to discern what is homiletically significant in historical and contemporary stand-up routines, equipping them with fresh ways to riff off of their respective preaching traditions, and nuanced ways to engage issues of contemporary sociopolitical importance.

Alumni Updates and News

1900s

Raymond Guterman, DMin ’80 is the Interim Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Mariana, FL, since June 16, 2022.

Daniel Sansbury, ’81 started his new ministry as Pastor at Limestone Presbyterian Church, Gaffney, SC, on March 16, 2020.

Mark Jumper, MDiv ’82 recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of his commissioning as an Ensign in the Navy Chaplain Corps. The commissioning oath was administered by CTS President J. Davison Philips in his office. Dr. Philips served as a Navy Chaplain in the Pacific Theater in World War II. Mark retired from the Navy in 2006, then pastored for seven years in Chicagoland. He is now an Associate Professor and Director of Chaplaincy and Military Affairs at the Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Kathryn (Kate) Thoresen, ’84 has served for over 30 years on staff of several congregations in the Detroit area. She pursued a DMin in Spiritual Formation through SFTS and led numerous retreats in Michigan and other states. She helped to coordinate a CTS satellite program in the Certificate in Spiritual Formation at Skyline Camp and Retreat Center, MI. Kathryn and her husband, Tom, became licensed foster parents. They founded the all-volunteer grassroots network known as the Faith Communities Coalition on

Foster Care. She is the state-wide director of this movement which seeks to increase awareness of the traumas of our kids in care and educate about what happens when they age out. Currently she serves as a Parish Associate at First Presbyterian Church Birmingham, MI. This congregation generously provides the support needed to communicate with congregations of all faiths throughout Michigan. It also offers a foster closet which coordinates in-kind and financial donations to meet urgent needs for anyone involved in foster/adoptive or kinship care.

E. Jones Doughton,’93 is the incoming President of the Mesquite Rotary Club in Mesquite, Texas, as of July 1, 2022.

Tom Watkins, MDiv ’94 is the Senior Pastor at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Raleigh, NC, since February 6, 2022.

Joe Brice, MDiv ’94 is Parish Associate of Pastoral Care at First Presbyterian Church Marietta, GA, since May 6, 2022.

Meghan Gurley, MATS ’97 is an independent minister and owner for 13 years of Beyond I Do, a wedding and marriage ministry in Atlanta, GA.

Richard Floyd, MDiv ’99 has been called as Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Hickory, NC, as of September 6, 2022.

2000s

Andrew Casto-Waters, MDiv ’01 accepted a new position at Columbia Theological Seminary as Columbia Connector, in the Enrollment & Student Affairs team, on March 25, 2022.

Dorie Griggs, MDiv ’02 moved from a volunteer chaplain with the Roswell (GA) Fire Department to part-time chaplain on May 2, 2022. Dorie continues to serve as a PRN chaplain for Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital.

Mark Miller, MDiv ’02 graduated with his Doctor of Ministry Degree from Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves, MO, on May 20, 2022. The title of his work is “BAPTISMAL IDENTITY AND THE MULTICULURAL CHURCH: Intersectionality, Black Liberation Theology, and the Original Baptismal Creed in an Intentional Multicultural/ Multiracial Congregation.”

Elizabeth Cole Goodrich, MDiv ’03 is co-owner of a general interest, independent bookstore called Thank You Books, located in Birmingham, AL.

Wes Brandon, MDiv ’03 transferred from PCUSA to Church of Scotland in 2018. Became the new minister at The Border Kirk in Carlisle in January 2022.

Hope (Italiano) Lee, MDiv ’03 was called as the Lead Pastor of Vienna Presbyterian Church—the largest PC(USA) congregation in Virginia —since October 2021. There are currently only 4 women Lead Pastors of congregations more than 1600+ members.

Rebekah LeMon, MDiv ’03 was called as Senior Pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, GA, on May 11, 2022.

Jan Nolting Carter, DMin ’04 specializes in Transitional Ministry. She is now serving her eighth church in a transitional capacity, First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, PA. She works with congregational systems to explore history and patterns of decisionmaking as they discern God’s promised future. Jan also serves as Co-Leader of Pittsburgh Seminary’s Art of Transitional Ministry Program. During the pandemic, the team worked to move the residential program to an online format using a reverse classroom model and an emphasis on cultivating online community. Currently the team is developing an Advanced Transitional Ministry model. Jan has two children: Seth (20) and Sarah (14).

Shelton Latham, MDiv ’05 joined Omaha Presbyterian Seminary Foundation as the foundation’s president in January 2022.

Meghan Foote, MDiv ’06 graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction and Graphic Narrative from the MileHigh MFA program at Regis University in Denver, CO, on January 8, 2022.

Tricia Dillon Thomas, ’06 and Kate McGregor Mosely, ’06 have teamed together to co-create Soul Ventures International. They curate travel for women, by women, with the intention to foster connection to ourselves, other women, and God. For more info: https://www. soulventuresintl.com.

Sharon Junn, ’08 has accepted the position of Associate Director of Spirituality Programs in Columbia Seminary’s Center for Lifelong Learning, as of July 5, 2022.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Turner, MDiv ’09 is the Interim Pastor at Druid Hills Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, GA, since March 2022. Betsy and her husband reside in Atlanta with their three children.

2010s

Leigh Ann Minn, MDiv ’10 was installed as Pastor of Pearisburg Presbyterian Church, Pearisburg, VA on May 22, 2022.

Wylie Hughes, MDiv ’10 is the Pastor of Orchard Park Presbyterian Church in Orchard Park (just outside Buffalo), NY, since February 2022.

Richard Carr, MDiv ’11 joined Upstate Forever in 2021 as Land Conservation Specialist. He previously served as Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Rock Hill, SC.

Kristin Stroble, MDiv ’11 is Pastor at Eastminster Presbyterian Church, East Lansing, MI, since January 2018.

Rob White, MDiv ’12 graduated with a DMin from McCormick Theological Seminary through the Association for Chicago Theological Seminaries on June 2022. His focus was in preaching.

Shavon Starling-Louis, MDiv ’13 was installed as Pastor, Memorial Presbyterian Church, Charlotte Presbytery, on April 24, 2022. She was also elected to serve as co-moderator of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. on June 18, 2022.

Jeromey Howard, MDiv ’15 is the Pastor of both First Presbyterian Church of Montgomery, NY, (since Oct 2017) and Hopewell Presbyterian Church of Thompson Ridge, NY, (since Feb 1, 2022).

Betsy Stow, MDiv ’18 has recently accepted a call to Woodstock Presbyterian Church, in Woodstock, GA, as a parttime Stated Supply Pastor. Betsy continues in her role as the Assistant Director of Public Services in the John Bulow Campbell Library at Columbia Theological Seminary.

Melva Lowry, MDiv ’18 is Assistant Director of Youth Ministry at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church and co-director of Asheville Poverty Initiative, one of Grace Covenant’s Ministry Partners, in Asheville, NC, since March 2022.

Sarah Bumgarner, MDiv ’18 accepted a new position at Columbia Theological Seminary as a Columbia Connector in the Enrollment & Student Affairs team, on March 1, 2022.

Rachel Matthews, MDiv ’18 and her husband had their first child, Benjamin, in March of 2020, and their second baby, Maria Willie Mathews, born June, 2nd. They recently moved to Birmingham where Rachel began as the Assistant Director for Development at Living River: A Retreat on the Cahaba. Their family enjoys being outside as much as possible and exploring the places they live.

Keith Thompson, MDiv ’19 is Temporary Associate Pastor at The Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC, since November 2021.

2020s

Anna Grace Claunch, MDiv ’20 has been called as Associate Pastor at Larchmont Avenue Church (PCUSA) in Larchmont, NY, and will be ordained and installed at Larchmont Avenue Church on September 18, 2022.

Nell Herring, MDiv ’21 began her new call in June 2022 as the Mission Specialist for Volunteer Ministries at Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. Nell is employed at the Presbyterian Center and is seeking validation for this position at an upcoming examinations commission meeting.

Sarah (Macy) Ruple, MDiv ’21 married Sarah Bozai Ruple on October 9, 2021. Macy is currently Associate Pastor of Copper Creek Church, in Champaign, IL, since October 1, 2021.

Rachel Sutphin, MDiv ’21 received a call as Pastor for Families at First Presbyterian Church, Charlottesville, VA, since June 2022. Rachel’s focus is programs and activities involving children, youth, and their families.

John Daniel DeBevoise, MDiv ’22 received a call as Associate Pastor of Youth and Campus Ministries at First Presbyterian Church Spartanburg, VA. John Daniel will be ordained at Park Lake Presbyterian Church, Orlando, FL, on July 9, 2022.

In Memoriam

Daniel F. Kendrick’92 August 29, 2014

Edwin G. Townsend BD ’58 ........ July 11, 2021

Jasper N. Keith STD ’79 .......... July 27, 2021

Wayne W. Hoffmann BD ’62 September 7, 2021

Jerry F. Conner BD ’63 ...... October 11, 2021

William J. Holmes MDiv ’73 .. October 28, 2021

Robert Piephoff BD ’67 .... November 10, 2021

Eugene B. Norris BD ’59 ... November 21, 2021

James P. Dickson MDiv ’92 December 19, 2021

Marissa Carver, MDiv ’22 is the Director of Children and Youth Ministries at Ormewood Church, Atlanta, GA, since June 2022.

Lauren Scott, MDiv ’22 received a call as Associate Pastor for Youth and Families at Riverside Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville, FL, as of July 1, 2022.

Mary Kate Sykes, MDiv ’22 started with Trinity Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, GA, October 2021, as their Ministry Coordinator for Church Programs. Mary Kate will provide administrative support for Adult Education, Spiritual Formation, and Small Groups.

Paulo Mendez, DMin ’22 is the Organizing Pastor for Living Torch Fellowship Presbyterian Church, Dunwoody, GA.

George W. Jones (non-degree) ...... January 28, 2022

William M. Schotanus BD ’53 .. February 4, 2022

James J. Therrell MDiv ’71 ... February 16, 2022

Susan E. Bennett MDiv ’97 .. February 18, 2022

J. P. (Phil) Noble BD ’45 March 12, 2022

Mary B. Love MDiv ’75 .......... April 13, 2022

Joseph W. Berry BD ’66 ........ April 26, 2022

Hyun W. Lee MDiv ’13 April 2022

Julian R. Cameron (Diploma) ’65 ...... June 21, 2022

Nancy C. Kinzer MDiv ’11 June 28, 2022

The Rev. James Phillips “Phil” Noble

The Rev. Dr. James Phillips Noble, 100, died Saturday, March 12, 2022 at home in Decatur, Georgia. He was born on August 18, 1921, at Learned, Mississippi, the son of William Alexander Noble and Ida Pecquet Phillips Noble. He was married to Betty Pope “Popesy” Scott of Decatur.

After graduating from King College (now King University) in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1942 with a Bachelor of Arts, Noble earned a Master of Divinity in 1945 from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, where he later served 26 years on the Board of Trustees.

The couple served first at two churches in McDonough, Georgia — McDonough Presbyterian Church and Timberridge Presbyterian Church (1945-47) — and then at Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, South Carolina (1947-1956). They then arrived at Anniston’s First Presbyterian Church (1956-1971), about five years before the KKK firebombed the Freedom Riders bus on Mother’s Day 1961.

A year or two after the firebombing, two Black ministers were searching Anniston for what one would later describe as “some brave white soul” they could talk to about the barriers facing Black people in the town. One white minister after another refused to sit down with them — until Noble

invited them to his office at First Presbyterian.

The three men prayed together. They cried together. And the Rev. Nimrod Q. Reynolds of Seventeenth Street Baptist Church and the Rev. William McClain of Haven Chapel Methodist Church believed they had found the “one white Christian in Anniston.”

It was nearly a half-century before Noble was able to sit down to chronicle the Ku Klux Klan firebombing of a Freedom Riders bus in 1961 and the effect it had on Anniston, and on him, but, Noble was transformed by the violence against Black people he witnessed in the 1960s, becoming one of the first white leaders in Anniston, Alabama, to actively support desegregation. “The Christian faith required that we deal with these issues in the name of Christ, for the sake of a people who had suffered unjustly for too long,” he wrote in Beyond the Burning Bus.

Revs. Noble, Reynolds and McClain are credited with launching desegregation in Anniston. They helped bring about a merger of the white and Black ministerial associations, eventually wielding enough influence to persuade the city in May 1963 to create the biracial Human Relations Council. President John F. Kennedy praised the action in a letter to city commissioners, saying the Anniston council should serve

as a model for other cities. After serving at First Presbyterian, Noble studied for a year at Cambridge University, England, and then became minister at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church, in Charleston, South Carolina (19721982).

Dr. Walter Brueggemann, the prominent Old Testament scholar, likened Noble to “Moses and his ilk” — people whose lives were suddenly “taken up in a struggle for the things of God.” Noble was “front and center in the struggle for racial justice, a struggle he pursued with grace, wisdom, and passion,” Brueggemann wrote in praising Beyond the Burning Bus.

Phil Noble is predeceased by his wife of 67 years, Betty Pope Scott Noble, and a son, Milton Scott Noble. He is survived by a daughter, Dr. Betty Scott Noble of Decatur, and a son, J. Phillips Noble Jr. (Nancy Madden), two grandchildren, James Phillips Noble, III, and Lizzie Madden Noble, all of Charleston, SC, and an informally adopted daughter, Jean Cleveland of Greenville, SC. He is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews and extended family.

This obituary was excerpted from Presbyterian Mission. The full article can be found at https://www. presbyterianmission.org/story/jphillips-noble

Final Word with Dr . Leanne Van Dyk

As she moves on to new journeys and adventures, we wanted to give Leanne Van Dyk the final word…

The last two and a half years have been tumultuous for everyone to say the least but have also offered the opportunity for self-reflection, learning a new hobby, or connecting in new ways and for most there have been some bright spots . What are the things you want to carry over from the pandemic period?

I have always enjoyed cooking, but during the pandemic, I started cooking more, trying new recipes and expanding my range. My daughter, son-in-law, and niece all lived with me during those months and we enjoyed cooking together. I certainly intend to

carry over into my retirement life the joys of hosting dinner parties and honing my cooking skills!

What will you miss most about Decatur and Atlanta after you return to Michigan?

There is so much that I will miss about Atlanta! I will miss the warmer winters, the sunnier skies, the green canopy of trees, the hiking trails of north Georgia, the airport where you can get almost anywhere on one plane, my unbeatable commute of walking across the street and up the sidewalk, the restaurants on the Square in downtown Decatur, the symphony, the Atlanta Master Chorale, dear friends, gifted colleagues, the students, traveling to congregations

to preach and teach, kind and encouraging trustees, the farmers’ market, the bicycle paths, the brew pubs, and the joy of joining in the mission of Columbia Seminary.

What are you looking forward to rediscovering in Michigan?

There is so much that I will miss here but so much to anticipate returning to Holland, Michigan. My family and significant friends are there. From landlocked Atlanta, I will return to the white sand beaches of Lake Michigan just minutes away from my condo. Although I will no doubt complain a bit about the winter cold, I look forward to taking up cross-country skiing again and going for a run on the heated sidewalks of downtown which melt snow and ice for a safe footing.

What are you most looking forward to catching up on in retirement?

I am often asked, “What are you going to do in retirement?”

I admit that I answer, “I’m not sure yet.” But this does not bother me. Instead, I am looking forward to being open to possible opportunities to volunteer, possible invitations to serve, possible ideas that will surprise and delight me. I am curious what the Holy Spirit might have in mind for me and I intend to be alert to what might be next. This is going to be an adventure!

What are you reading now and what is on your to-beread list?

I tend to read two or three books at a time, switching from one to another depending on my mood. Right now, I am reading a book by Arthur Brooks, From Strength to Strength, which is about the challenges of the later chapters of life, about how to make a graceful turn from productivity to imagination and wisdom. Then, I am reading a book by an author I deeply respect, On the Road with Saint Augustine, by James K.A. Smith. This book explores in a fresh way how this ancient thinker and pastor illuminates our heart’s journey and our longing for God. Finally, I am reading a book I got for Christmas, The Dictionary of Lost Words, by Pip Williams, a novel that imagines women who find and preserve words that convey women’s experiences. My plan for developing a reading list is to start asking friends who live right around the corner from my little condo what they suggest. Often, it is a personal recommendation that is just right!

How do you want the Columbia community to remember you?

It is interesting, isn’t it, that the stories that will begin to cluster around me after I leave are not really up to me. A legacy or a reputation begins to emerge after my boxes are packed and the moving truck heads up north. I hope, though, that the Columbia community remembers me as a colleague who always told

the truth, who laughed easily, especially in the hallways of Campbell Hall, who tried to be kind and encouraging, who stretched toward excellence and insisted on improvement, who listened deeply, who acted justly, who loved this community and the God who calls us. That is a tall order! But I do hope that I am remembered for these core values that I have tried to live into every day.

What final words and thoughts do you want to leave with the Columbia community?

I am very hopeful for the future of Columbia Seminary. I am delighted with the appointment of the new president and believe that Columbia, with its new Vision Statement approved by the Board in March, is ready to launch into a new chapter of service to the church and the world. I remain convinced that the mission of the seminary is more important now than ever. So, Columbia community, you have my parting blessing, my gratitude, my respect, and my hope. I encourage you to support the new president so that the mission of the seminary can truly gain momentum as the bicentennial approaches later in this decade and the seminary begins its “third century.” What a challenge and joy that will be! Blessings to you all!

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THESE FACES... THEY HAVE SACRIFICED, STUDIED, BEEN CHALLENGED, AND HAVE SHOWN GREAT RESILIENCY IN DIFFICULT TIMES.

THESE FACES ARE THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH. WE CELEBRATE BECAUSE OF YOU, AND WITH YOU, COLUMBIA GRADUATES!