Aware Magazine | Fall 2022

AWARE magazine Fall 2022

A NEW STRATEGIC PLAN FOR GARRETT-EVANGELICAL AND THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH (PAGE 7)

Aware Magazine Fall 2022

3 | Presidential Perspective 4 | Lives of Leadership: Called to Serve in Churches & Beyond

12 | "This Is Only the Beginning"

Dotson Institute Officially Launches with Successful Inaugural Event in Atlanta

6 | 2021-2022 Year at a Glance

14 | Meet Our New Trustees

7 | Same Gospel, New Dimensions:

15 | Alum News

A Strategic Plan for Garrett-Evangelical and the Thriving of the Church

Aware magazine is published quarterly by the offices of

development and marketing and communications for alums and friends of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, a graduate school of theology related to The United Methodist Church with an ecumenical outreach.

Feedback and comments for the Aware Editorial Board should be directed to seminary.relations@garrett.edu.

PRESIDENT Javier A. Viera EDITORIAL BOARD Mary Bowmann Arents Katharine Duke Joseph R. Emmick Tasha N. Sargent Maudette Watley

PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVE REVEREND DR. JAVIER A. VIERA Like individuals and relationships of all sorts, institutions have seasons of life. These seasons are marked by ups and downs, challenges and opportunities, moments of reframing and new understanding, new directions, and deepening commitment and purpose. The healthiest of these weather tough times and even threats to their survival, but through faith in God, resilience, critical self-examination, and trust in being called to meaningful service, they can reimagine themselves for new seasons of life and continue to thrive. I believe Garrett-Evangelical is in such a season of its long and storied institutional life, and I’m excited to share this next season with each of you.

In this issue of Aware, we share the culminating work of many people in our community—alums, students, faculty, staff, administrators, trustees, and friends—who for nearly a year labored to discern how we are being called into that new season of institutional life. The 2022-2027 Garrett-Evangelical Strategic Plan seeks to map a way forward that more deeply connects and commits us to the churches, peoples, and communities we serve and hope to serve. It is ambitious. This is because we believe that God is not calling us to be cautious or timid in this moment of national and global uncertainty and upheaval. We believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ should embolden us in particular ways in the world, in ways that are reflected in our new mission statement: Forming courageous leaders in the way of Jesus to cultivate communities of justice, compassion, and hope. As the din of our world intensifies and grows increasingly vacuous, as leaders in both public and private spheres continuously seek personal gain above the common good and the church in North America perpetuates its precipitous decline, we are committed to being an alternative voice and presence. We believe that preparing wise leaders with a moral vision of a just world, who embody a confident humility and an infectious joy, who compellingly and intelligently articulate the Good News, and who are equipped with the skills to cultivate communities of justice, compassion, and hope, is exactly what our world needs and what will bring renewal to the Church. This is why our new Vision states simply and clearly what we hope the impact of our work will ultimately be: For the thriving of the Church and the healing of the world. For me, that is a high calling and a compelling institutional purpose. I hope you too can share in that calling and find yourself compelled by such purpose.

Of course, that can only happen if collectively we strive to strengthen Garrett-Evangelical. We are so deeply blessed as a seminary to have more than 1,700 alumni, friends, faculty, staff, and students who financially supported our work and mission in fiscal year 2022.

That kind of generosity is what makes dreams possible, what enables us to be bold in our vision of the future, what causes us to be ambitious in times when other institutions like ours must be more cautious. Because of your generosity, we can respond faithfully and courageously to God’s call, and for that, I thank each and every one of you who sacrificially give to support the mission of this school.

Support of seminary comes in myriad ways, not just financial. We have an outstanding Board of Trustees who give countless hours out of their already busy lives to ensure that we are soundly governed and managed and that your generosity is rightly stewarded. We have vocational networking mentors, class stewards, field education site supervisors, and alumni recruiters who volunteer countless hours in service of our mission, who send prospective students to inquire about our programs, and who introduce donors and friends to the seminary in the hope that they will be inspired by what is taking place here. We are able to do what we do and be who we are because of the work of so many generous people in the country and around the world who believe in our work and believe that we can make a difference in their ministries and communities and for the thriving of the church and the healing of the world.

This generosity makes a difference in what it makes possible. For example, this fall we welcomed our largest entering class in many years, a sign that our message and direction is resonating with those seeking theological education. Our annual giving increased, and we launched new hybrid degree programs and began new Chicagobased and global partnerships, and so much more. We are indeed blessed and ready for this new season of life that is calling to us. Onward!

Javier A. Viera President

AWARE MAGAZINE | FALL 2022 3

LIVES OF LEADERSHIP:

CALLED TO SERVE IN CHURCHES & BEYOND For the Reverend Dr. Duane Gebhard (GTS 1969, 1972), the call to serve came early in life. He grew up in Minnesota, surrounded by pastors and religious educators. His father, Edward Gebhard, and all three of his father’s brothers were Methodist pastors. His mother, Anna Laura Gebhard, wrote several books about family worship and life in the parish, and his grandfather, Harry C. Munro, was a nationally known pastor, Christian educator, and author in the Christan Church (Disciples of Christ).

in the Minnesota Annual Conference from 1991 to 1998, and taught faith formation in the Course of Study at Garrett for 20 years.

Even after he retired in 2005, Gebhard continued to serve for nine years as pastor half time to churches in northern Minnesota. During those years, he also served as chaplain to the clergy of the North Star District in Minnesota. This brought his years in mission service and parish ministry to more than 53. “My deepest desire has been to live as a follower of Jesus and help others come It’s no wonder that Gebhard knew from a young age that to know the presence of Christ in their lives,” Gebhard he wanted to become a teacher and pastor. “I felt early said. “My connection with Garrett-Evangelical over the on a call to pursue some form of ministry,” he said. years has helped to strengthen that path.”

As a student at Winona State University in 1961, Gebhard followed the certification process to become a local pastor and was appointed to serve a nearby rural church in Minnesota. After graduating from college, Gebhard served as a shortterm missionary in the Congo in Africa for three years and then enrolled at Garrett Theological Seminary.

While pursuing his studies full time, he also served as part-time associate pastor at Edison Park Methodist Church.

When he graduated in 1969, Gebhard was appointed to Emmanuel United Methodist Church in North Chicago, Illinois. He continued to study at Garrett and earned his master of arts in Christian education in 1972. For the next 33 years, Gebhard served as a pastor and Christian educator in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and in Rochester and Winona, Minnesota.

He completed his doctor of ministry degree at Iliff School of Theology in faith formation in 1982, served as the district superintendent of the Northwest District

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Left: Gebhard baptizes a child Bottom: Serving on a NOMADS volunteer project

The call to serve continues to weigh on Gebhard’s heart. He and his wife, Jennifer Therkilsen-Gebhard, are members of “Nomads on a Mission, Active in Divine Service” (NOMADS). NOMADS is a group of retired persons who live and travel in their RVs and provide volunteer labor for United Methodist agencies

throughout the United States. Since Gebhard and his wife began serving in this capacity in 2017, they have completed 12 three-week projects in nine states. Living in their home near Park Rapids, Minnesota, when not on the road, they will continue to serve as long as they can, Gebhard said.

Organizing the co-liberating power of the gospel Cassandra Chee (G-ETS 2021) came to Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2018 with a call to ministry – but not necessarily a call to the church. “The only thing I felt certain about was that I wanted to learn how to live the Gospel in more liberating ways alongside those most vulnerable in my communities,” Chee said. Thanks to a connection she made during her Field Education placement at Garrett-Evangelical, Chee was able to find work that allowed her to equip people to respond to injustice in their community in ways driven by their faith.

She is now the director of community organizing at Faith Action for Community Equity (Faith Action), an interfaith grassroots organization on the Island of Oahu in Hawaii that addresses the root causes of social injustices facing the community.

Among other things, she is currently working on criminal justice reform and shutting down a Navy facility that has polluted the area’s water supply.

“I like working at Faith Action because I am able to connect people of multiple faiths and backgrounds together to make change in our community,” she said. Chee, who earned a bachelor’s degree in visual communications design from the University of Washington, is also a printmaker. “I love telling stories through art,” she said.

"I was sick, and you visited Me"

Stephanie A. Welsh (middle) meets with members of the spiritual care team she manages

From Top: Chee surveys bus drivers about affordable housing | Collage of work at A Just Harvest | Collage connecting struggles

Reverend Dr. Stephanie A. Welsh (G-ETS 2012) served as pastor in the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church for more than eight years. During her time in pastoral ministry, she amassed several significant accomplishments, including saving the historic Israel CME Church in Gary, Indiana, from foreclosure.

Although she enjoyed pastoral ministry, much of her work at Israel CME Church focused on ensuring the church had the funds necessary to pay bills and apportionments. “I felt like I was doing more fundraising than ministry,” she said.

Instead, Welsh said she wanted to more closely follow Jesus's mission to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and visit the sick. So, in 2014, she started clinical pastoral education training to become a chaplain. Now, board certified, she serves as the spiritual care manager at Loyola University Medical Center, a 547-bed quaternary care facility in Maywood, Illinois, where she leads a team of 11 while providing spiritual care to patients.

Before joining Loyola in June of 2021, she served nearly six years as a chaplain at the University of Chicago Medicine, supporting the trauma patient population as well as the burn, neurological, surgical, cardiac, and neonatal intensive care units. While there, Welsh received the University of Chicago Medicine Making a Difference Award for the care she provided to a trauma patient, their family, and the staff. In 2020, she was among three chaplains featured in the CNN article, "Hospital Chaplains Are Bridging the Gap between Patients and Their Grieving Families Who Can't Stay by Their Bedside during the Coronavirus Pandemic."

For now, Welsh said she is content serving in ministry as a spiritual care manager, chaplain, and associate minister, even though she doesn’t rule out returning to pastoral ministry should the spirit of God so lead. To read more about Reverend Dr. Stephanie A. Welsh’s life and ministry, go to Garrett.edu/Welsh.

AWARE MAGAZINE | LIVES OF LEADERSHIP 5

2021-2022 At a Glance Enrollment

91 Incoming Students 72 Domestic 19 International

Development

$7,098,049 Total Dollars Raised 1,746 Donors 845 Alumni Donors 24 New Planned Gifts Service

26 Class Stewards 31 Vocational Networking Mentors 51 Field Education Site Sponsors Finance

$106,000,000 Endowment as of 6/30/22 $2,900,000 Scholarship Awards Academic Year '21-'22

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AWARE MAGAZINE | COMMENCEMENT 7

Our Mission: Forming courageous leaders in the way of Jesus to cultivate It’s no secret the religious world is changing. communities of Open any magazine from The Christian Century to Time, and you’ll find people talking about a justice, compassion, crisis within Christianity—how churches struggle to retain members, how politics turn folks and hope. against each other, how technology disrupts people’s lives and patterns—how a model for Church that worked in 1960 simply isn’t meeting today’s challenges. Pastors know this.

Denominations know this. And we at GarrettEvangelical know this. But we know something else, too: This crisis isn’t new. Past centuries are filled with examples of how religious movements rise and fall—and how churches have changed and adapted to best serve God’s people and the world.

At Garrett-Evangelical, this isn’t just a story; it’s our story. We were born from three predecessor institutions—the Garrett Biblical Institute, the Chicago Training School, and the Evangelical Theological Seminary—who prepared ministers to serve the particularities of their communities.

From stewarding westward migration to the challenges of urbanization like confronting poverty, expanding education and welcoming immigrants, the seeds of our instruction have always been measured by the fruit they bear.

And so, as we look to the shifting religious landscape, we don’t see a crisis. We see an opportunity, a chance to dig deep into the values that made Garrett-Evangelical flourish and shape the ministers and leaders who will lead us through the coming century.

This five-year plan will focus on three core objectives: Increasing affordability and accessibility, expanding our audience and reach, and securing Garrett-Evangelical’s future.

Nestled within those broad callings is a truly radical hope. Widening the pool of people who receive a Garrett-Evangelical education isn’t simply about diversifying the Church. It enables us to hear the divine Word speaking in many tongues about God’s dream for a more just world. Amplifying our voice isn’t only about attracting high-caliber students, it’s about providing mid-career pastors with fresh tools to revitalize their ministries and nurturing Christianity around the globe. And deepening our financial stability won’t just increase the size of our endowment, it will also enable us to embrace God’s bold vision for a Church in the 21st Century.

Our Vision:

For the thriving of the Church and the healing of the world.

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I: Increasing Affordability & Accessability Unfortunately, the words Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in 1963 are true 59 years later: 11:00 a.m. on Sunday is still the most segregated hour in the United States. But The United Methodist Church, with our wide and interconnected global partnerships, has a prime opportunity to rectify this deplorable fact. However, change doesn’t just come by broadening individual churches’ call to welcome—it also demands we train different people to lead them, and that includes making education more affordable and providing students with appropriate cultural and technological resources to help them flourish.

Changing the pool of who matriculates will sow dramatic changes in the broader church, but it will also enliven and improve the education in our own classrooms. By challenging GarrettEvangelical to become a more just and inclusive community, we bring everyone closer to God and equip students to lead the nation and world in our fight for racial reconciliation.

But the pernicious evil of racism isn’t the only challenge facing new ministers. Leading churches isn’t the same job it was 50 years ago.

Many pastors find themselves on the frontline of serving communities as they acutely suffer, tumbling through communities’ tattered safety net. Ministers are also expected to be technical experts: livestreaming worship, designing websites, and preaching the gospel in social pulpits as well as traditional ones. Still others find themselves employed in bi-, co-, or multivocational ministries—knitting different calls together into a life of service.

Key Signs of Success

Our location in Chicago provides a fertile ground to nourish leaders who will leap headfirst into all of these challenges with joy! By re-envisioning our relationship with Chicagoland networks and relationships with Latinx leaders, communities, and institutions, we’ll both expand our pool of prospective students and offer current ones exciting opportunities to explore fresh horizons for their ministries. And by enriching the global theologies, histories, and traditions across the seminary curriculum, we’ll offer our new partners valuable resources for their work and learn from and with them as well. All flourishing is mutual, and we intend to flourish.

al n o i s s e prof d ns: n o a i p t p Ex o aling i g, t n n i e l d e e s r n c cou , y ofit c r p n i a n l o p cha try, n ity s i n i m campus ent, commun em manag ent pm develo t in n e m l l nro e x n i t La Double s r nal o i t a n r if ve yea inte 25% e y s b a t e n r Inc llme o r n e t studen

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AWARE MAGAZINE | STRATEGIC PLAN 9

II: Expanding Audience & Reach 1

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One of the central failures of the “Church in crisis” narrative is that it exclusively focuses on a U.S. context, while the Church’s most dynamic growth is international. But Jesus did not call us to minister to the United States. Jesus called us to make disciples of all the nations, to nurture faith wherever it takes root. The vibrancy of churches in Latin America, Asia, and Africa—and relative lack of formal theological resources—is an incredible opportunity for Garrett-Evangelical to support churches around the world. By engaging this work in deep mutuality, we can both begin to mend colonialism’s destructive legacy and nurture new growth.

To those ends, we are preparing to launch innovation hubs for multiple continents over the next five years. These hubs will help reimagine the future of the Church, address global challenges, create opportunities for shared learning and dialogue, and advance wisdom for the healing of the world. These hubs will arise out of faculty research but work with communities to help them sustain themselves.

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We’ll also launch The Garrett Collective—a virtual platform for lifelong learning that will provide theological resources for laity, clergy, churches, and other organizations to deepen their faith and strengthen their work. This will enrich the quality of education here on campus, and significantly broaden the population who has access to life-changing learning opportunities.

This outward focus won’t just have an impact across the ocean, though. It will be a model for how we can revitalize the Church in the United States as well. We will also launch regional innovation hubs in the United States with the same focus on mutual learning. Our Chicago hub will partner with the Children’s Defense Fund to develop theologies of children and youth well-being. Another hub will focus on ecological justice and regeneration of local communities. And throughout this work, we’ll partner with local congregations to help them better serve their neighborhoods.

From Colombia to Chicago, Thailand to Texas, Garrett-Evangelical will be at the center of the movement to prepare the Church to expand its reach and meet our most pressing challenges.

III: Securing Garrett-Evangelical's Future These bold objectives require an equally bold commitment to sustaining Garrett-Evangelical financially. To broaden our global reach, we need to invest significant resources and ensure that we have something valuable to offer our new partners. To attract and retain a more diverse pool of students, we need to expand financial aid and improve the cultural and technical assistance we provide. And we need money to nurture relationships here in Chicago and beyond, so we can be full partners in the work of healing our communities.

The good news is that all of these endeavors will, in time, broaden our donor pool and offer new prospects for foundation grants and general philanthropy. It is our intention that this work will become self-sustaining or even a significant source of revenue for the seminary. But right now, it is our responsibility to give generously and provide the runway these programs will need. The generosity of our alums and friends has always been essential in providing for Garrett-Evangelical’s future, and we hope that you will deepen your support to help us move into this exciting new direction for the seminary.

Truly, these three pillars for Garrett-Evangelical’s future intertwine with one another. Widening our student pool will increase net tuition.

Building our audience and reach will draw new students. Securing our finances will let us offer more robust financial aid to make a Garrett-Evangelical education possible for new populations. Together, we will answer the gospel’s call to build a movement for the thriving of the Church and the healing of the world.

Help Sustain This Vision

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We Need Your Help!

Seize the moment and make a dedicated gift today to help make this bold plan possible! Your generosity is what makes a GarrettEvangelical education possible for the next generation.

To make a gift, contact Mary Bowmann Arents at 847.866.3889 or email mary.arents@garrett.edu.

AWARE MAGAZINE | STRATEGIC PLAN 11

“THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING” Dotson Institute Officially Launches with Successful Inaugural Event in Atlanta leaders from a myriad of denominations and cultural contexts across the United States and beyond,” said Wilson, founder and director of the JBD Institute.

Announced in February 2022, the JBD Institute is organizationally situated within Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary’s Center for the Church and the Black Experience (CBE) and was formed in partnership with Discipleship Ministries, which supported the Institute with a $500,000 grant.

La'Quentin Jenkins (G-ETS 2020)

For there is still a vision for the appointed time; the vision speaks and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not delay. (Hab. 2:3) What started as a decades-long dream of the Reverend Dr. Cynthia A. Wilson (G-ETS 2013) became a reality on August 17 through 20 as the Junius B. Dotson Institute for Music and Worship in the Black Church & Beyond (JBD Institute) celebrated its inaugural event in Atlanta, Georgia.

Nearly 100 Black pastors, musicians, and local church leaders from across the country came together for three days of training, networking, and professional development. Seminars spanning from topics such as post-pandemic worship planning to audio and video training to liturgical movement were led by 24 renowned professionals in their respective fields.

“We were honored to have twenty-first century leaders of congregational song, such as Dr. Diana Sanchez-Bushong; designers of worship, like Minister Monya Logan; liturgical dance sage, Dr. Kathleen Turner; distinguished academicians and practitioners in homiletics and biblical scholarship, such as Dr. Derek Weber and Dr. Renita Weems; and other stellar faculty 12 AWARE MAGAZINE | FALL 2022

Reverend Jeff Campbell, general secretary of Discipleship Ministries, attended the inaugural event and exclaimed: “What a blessing to attend and be a part of the inaugural event of the Junius B. Dotson Institute! Discipleship Ministries staff looks forward to supporting future events as we inspire, train, and resource current and future worship leaders globally.

It was amazing to see the dreams and visions of this Institute become reality.”

A one-of-a kind-institute, the JBD Institute honors the late Reverend Junius B. Dotson, a nationally recognized pastor, speaker, and author who served as the general secretary of Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church. Its mission is to train music and worship leaders in the area of sacred music and worship while creating an archive of music and scholarship that promotes and preserves Black Church music and its history. The inaugural event was the first of many future events and trainings that will be held around the United States.

Rev. Dr. Reginald Blount welcoming the crowd at St. Philip AME in Atlanta

President Javier A. Viera addresses the inaugural celebration “The inaugural JBD Institute was an inspirational and transformative experience. I would highly recommend worship leaders, laity, and clergy who are seeking to be empowered to attend the next event,” said Reverend Dr. Mike Bowie, national executive director of Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century and JDB Institute faculty member.

“For over five decades, I have sought to articulate this vision. In the words of my father, the Reverend Eli Wilson, ‘When God gives the vision, you can count on the provision.’ It is because of the support and collaboration of Discipleship Ministries and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary that JBD Institute will continue to provide training, mentoring, and enrichment for leaders for the 21st century in contextual worship and sacred musics born out of Africana Church traditions,” said Wilson. “And this is only the beginning.”

“The Junius B. Dotson Institute Inaugural Celebration was truly a soul stirring spiritual experience,” said Reverend Dr. Reginald Blount (G-ETS 2006), director of CBE and Murray H. Leiffer Associate Professor of Formation, Leadership, and Culture at GarrettEvangelical. “I am so excited that this one-of-a-kind global institute will be an integral part and vital partner in the ongoing work of the Center for the Church and the Black Experience.”

The inaugural event culminated in a celebration concert featuring Richard Smallwood and his group, Vision, along with Wilson with the JBD Institute’s Children’s and Choral Ensembles and Dance Ministry.

More than 800 people were in attendance at Saint Philip AME Church for a night of “Total Praise!”

Some of the songs highlighted by the JBD Institute Ensembles and Dance Ministry throughout the night included "See What the Lord Has Done," "Speak the Name," and "When Sunday Comes," while Smallwood and Vision sang selections, such as "Anthem of Praise," "Trust Me," and "Total Praise." Interspersed throughout the evening were tributes of those who have paved the way for the work of the Institute. Those honored were Reverend Junius B. Dotson, Reverend Dr. Ruth C. Duck, Dr. Melva Wilson Costen, and Reverend Dr. William B. McClain.

One can learn more about the JBD Institute at Garrett.edu/DotsonInstitute. Its next event will take place in Evanston, Illinois, in February 2023. The JBD Institute is also available to local churches for leadership training in music and worship. Please e-mail jbd.institute@garrett.edu for more information.

From left: Richard Smallwood | Rev. Cynthia Wilson | A crowd of over 800 people attended the event.

Anyone interested in financially supporting the work of the JBD Institute can make a gift online at Garrett.edu/ Giving and designate “Dotson Institute” in the appropriate designation box.

AWARE MAGAZINE | DOTSON INSTITUTE 2022 13

Meet Our New Trustees

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The legacy that this institution is leaving is valuable for our communities, country, and world.

JULIA WYATT

RE V E R E N D FA BIO LA G R A NDO N - M AYER Reverend Fabiola GrandonMayer is the Prairie North district superintendent in the Northern Illinois Conference. She is a certified public accountant and holds an MDiv from Asbury Seminary. She has held leadership positions in the church at local, regional, national, and international levels. She was the coordinator for the Volunteers in Mission Teams in Chile, promoting and bringing teams from the United States to Chile to build temples and parsonages. She also led the Council for United Methodist Churches in Latin America for 11 years. GrandonMayer has offered to help GarrettEvangelical strengthen the Hispanic/ Latinx presence in the Northern Illinois Conference.

M A RIA ALE JANDRA SA LAZAR Maria Alejandra Salazar (G-ETS 2019) is a program associate at Borealis Philanthropy, a non-profit that manages 10 donor collaborative funds focused on supporting black communities, immigration issues, the trans community, and racial equity, among other things. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and an MDiv from GarrettEvangelical Theological Seminary.

She served as a student trustee at the seminary. She has also served at several Chicago-area nonprofit organizations, including the multicultural resources program at Northside Community Resources, where she served as director.

I am so pleased to be working with such an extraordinary group of accomplished trustees and staff.

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Julia Wyatt works as chief operating officer for Tiptree, Inc., a publicly traded financial services company in New York City. She has served as the CFO or COO of several large publicly traded companies and has also worked in capital management for global firms like Deloitte and Morgan. She is a member at Christ Church (UMC) in New York City, where she has sung in the choir, chaired the Outreach Ministries Committee, and is the co-founder of the church’s microfinance ministry in Cartagena, Colombia.

This ministry provides capital funding for informal entrepreneurs, mostly single mothers, in the Flor de Campo neighborhood—an area that largely consists of people displaced by climatic events, political violence, or the international narcotics trade.

She is a University of Utah alum, with a degree in accountancy and public finance. She has extensive experience serving on public and non-profit boards.

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Alum News Raymond Dressler, Jr. (GTS 1962) has published Dancing with Mystery (Christian Faith Publishing 2022), an autobiography that includes events from childhood, seminary, and military service.

Darrell Reeck (ETS 1965) has published a book called A Compelling Bag of Bones on his website www.darrellreeck.com. The story is based on the disappearance of Sengbe, famed leader of a slave revolt in 1839.

Dwight W. Vogel (GTS 1968) is the author of In the Valley of the Shadow (OSL Publications 2022), an account of the six-week journey from diagnosis to the Great Transition with his wife Linda and reflections on that journey in the following years.

Gates Vrooman (G-ETS 1982) recently published a new book titled Like a Mountain Stream, Family Adventures, Friendships, and Spiritual Growth at the YMCA of the Rockies (Amazon Books, 2022).

Yeo Khiok-Khng (G-ETS 1990, 1992) has published The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in China (Oxford University Press 2021), for which he served as editor. This handbook, comprised of fortyeight essays, showcases the Bible’s translation, expression, interpretation, and reception in China over the last thirteen hundred years.

John ‘Jack’ E. Harnish (G-ETS 1998) has published Thirty Days with E. Stanley Jones (Read the Spirit Books 2022).

Yvonne D. Hawkins (G-ETS 2001) has joined Fortress Press as an acquisitions editor.

Jose Irizarry (G-ETS 2001) has been elected president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Lindsey Graham Guinn (G-ETS 2007, 2009) has been appointed as the northeast regional representative to the National Assessment Planning Committee, a 12-member group of assessment leaders from across the country. The National Assessment Planning Committee supports assessment administrators by providing them with resources and professional development events.

Kelli (Beard) Knight (G-ETS 2008) has been named senior outreach strategist for DIRA Partners, a healthcare campaign consultancy specializing in policy and funding.

Leah Gunning Francis (G-ETS 2009) has been appointed to serve a four-year term on the Association of Theological Schools Board of Directors. Francis is the vice president of academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Christian Theological Seminary.

Marsha Thrall (G-ETS 2016) was named the director of programming for the Franciscan Peace Center in Clinton, Iowa.

Jon Gilbert Martinez (G-ETS 2019) has been called as senior pastor of Christ Church United Church of Christ in Des Plaines, Illinois.

Alexander Dungan (G-ETS 2021) has joined Wesley United Methodist Church in Naperville, Illinois as children’s minister.

AWARE MAGAZINE | FALL 2022 15

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary 2121 Sheridan Road Evanston, Illinois 60201

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID EVANSTON, IL PERMIT NO. 326

INTRODUCING HANDSHAKE

A NEW CAREER RESOURCE FOR GARRETT-EVANGELICAL STUDENTS AND ALUMS!

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary is now partnering with Handshake. Handshake is a career management platform that can help students and alums find amazing jobs and network with other ministry professionals.

We are excited about the ways in which Handshake will support alums and current students as they discern, develop, and live into their unique callings.

Access to Handshake is provided by the Office of Lifelong Formation at Garrett-Evangelical. For more information on Handshake and how to sign up, contact Reverend Katye Chambers, director of innovation and lifelong formation, at katye.chambers@garrett.edu or 847.866.3864.