b'Alumni 7ALUMNI STORIESCo-Moderator of 226th GeneralCELEBRATIONSAssembly Is UPSem Alum Amy Busse Stoker (M.Div.95) received her Doctor of Ministry(D.Min.) from Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, Louisville, KY,Rev. Tony Larson on May 17, 2024.IN MEMORIAMWhat Rev. Tony Larson (M.Div. 08) remembers most about his time atScott A. Adams (M.Div.96)December 22, 2023Union Presbyterian Seminary is how the Seminary community valuedJohn William Bill Bolton (B.D.66)July 9, 2024and respected where he was in life, giving him not only the tools heJ. Frederick Fred Holper, former professor of liturgicsneeded to step into full-time ministry, but also the flexibility to do it in hisand homiletics at UPSemSeptember 16, 2024own time. Larson commuted to attend seminary part-time from 2003 untilRichard Dick H. Lindsey Jr. (M.Div.75)December 11, 20232008whilealsoservingasyouthministrydirectoratWilliamsburgCarlton P. CP Minnick (B.D.57, Th.M.58)May 4, 2024Presbyterian Church.Rodney Rod W. Pinder Jr. (D.Min.81, Th.M.82)August 20, 2024Larsons UPSem experiences brought anWilliam Paul White (M.Div.68, D.Min.98)April 10, 2024exciting new depth to that work at the time.RECOGNITIONI loved being hands-on with what I wasFrances Taylor Gench (M.Div.82, Ph.D.88) won an Award of Excellence in learning, he says. I had a laboratory of my own to put into practice what I wasBiblical Interpretation for her reflection on female pastoral leadership and the learning in the classroom. He also creditsbiblical interpretations. The Associated Church Press (ACP) awards recognize the UPSemwithgivinghimanexceptionalbest in faith-based media.qualityofeducation,andspecificallyON THE SHELFcalls out Dr. Carson Brisson (featured onJohn M. Cleghorn (M.Div.07) has authored Building Belonging: The Churchs p. 5 of this issue) as one of the professorsCall to Create Community and House Our Neighbors, published by Westminster who made a lasting impact on him. John Knox Press, 2024. In many neighborhoods, soaring housing costs have Larsonmajoredinpublicpolicyandcreated an alarming wave of instability, leaving congregations situated at the religiousstudiesatUniversityofNorthheart of communities grappling with issues related to housing insecurity. CarolinaatChapelHill,intentonaSimultaneously, societal divisions across ideologies, racial lines, class disparities, government job after graduation. When a hiring freeze in 2002 put thatand diverse perspectives have eroded the fabric of these communities, leaving a goal on hold, he sought inspiration for a Plan B. At the time, I was involvedvoid in shared connections. Churches, amid declining membership and dwindling with University Presbyterian Church, the campus ministry, Sunday school,engagement, have an opportunity to provide a key role in these changing and a youth group, he says, adding with a chuckle, I think I was spendinglandscapes. In Building Belonging, John Cleghorn, a pastor from Charlotte, North more time there than I was in the classroom.Carolinaa city where prosperity and poverty uncomfortably coexistshows That inspiration led him to his role at Williamsburg Presbyterian andhow numerous congregations across the United States are leading the charge, eventually to UPSem, thanks to the encouragement of co-worker Rev. Karenembracing innovative approaches to ministry that leverage their resources to Stanley, an UPSem alumnus. She is now Covenant Pastor of Brett-Reedbecome havens of both welcome and shelter. Written from the heart of a pastor Memorial Presbyterian Church in West Point, Virginia. Larson acceptedwho is deeply engaged in a churchs yearslong housing journey, the book does his calling in the fall of 2009 to lead Springs Community Presbyteriannot stop at simply showing these challenges. Cleghorn also provides a road map Church, a small congregation on Long Island, New York. After six years,for communities to initiate transformative processes, leveraging their unique he was called back to the South, to Trinity Presbyterian Church in Surfside,abilities and resources to tackle significant local issues.South Carolina, where he has been since 2015. Andrew Das (Ph.D.99) has authored Remarriage in Early Christianity, published I believe God called me to Long Island so I could learn about the culture and people of the North, he says, which is especially important consideringby Eerdmans Publishing Co. in 2024. The New Testament sends mixed messages his Trinity congregation is mostly Northern retirees. What I most love aboutabout divorce. Jesus forbids it in Marks and Lukes Gospels, but he seems to this congregation is that its relatively newwere celebrating our 40thmake an exception for victims of infidelity in Matthews Gospel. Paul permits anniversaryand its always in flux. We have so many new families that thedivorce in 1 Corinthians when an unbeliever initiates it. Yet other Pauline congregation is always changing. It gives us the freedom to embrace newpassages imply that remarriage after divorce constitutes adultery. Andrew ideas, to make space to welcome new ideas and not be afraid of change.Das confronts this dissonance regarding remarriage in early Christianity. Larson recently embraced two big changes of his own. On July 1Challenging scholarly consensus, Das argues that early Christians did not he was elected as co-moderator of the 226th General Assembly of theapprove of remarriage after divorce. His argumentcovering contemporary PC (USA) and will serve until the summer of 2026 along with Rev. CeCeJewish and Greco-Roman contexts, the Gospels, Pauls letters, and ante-Nicene Armstrong, associate pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church in Charleston,interpretationreveals greater consistency in early Christianity than is often South Carolina. And in May, he and his wife, Heather, welcomed their firstassumed. Das pays special attention to the Greek words used in contemporary grandchild, Nora. bills of divorce and in the New Testament, offering much-needed clarity on hotly contested concepts like porneia.Paul Galbreath, a recently retired UPSem faculty member, authored Word and Sacrament: Tracing the Theological Movements of Reformed Worship, published by Alumni & Friends News Westminster John Knox Press in 2024.David B. Howell (M.Div.81) has authored All Saved Great and Small: Surviving TRANSITIONS a Chesapeake Cult and an Appalachian Apocalypse, published by Wipf and Stock Publishers in 2024. The book is the story of a Presbyterian theologian and a Thom Bower (Ed.D.03) now serves as pastor of The Church of Three Crosses inconsultant to the Department of Homeland Security on religious cults whoChicago, Illinois. assist the FBI in its attempt to stop a dangerous cult led by an AI scientist who Keli Shipley Cooper (M.Div.19) now serves as Pastor of Tuckahoe Presbyterianclaims to be a descendant of Mary, mother of Jesus, and has the DNA evidence to Church in Richmond, Virginia. prove it.H. Hampton Deck (M.Div.88)honorably retired as a Minister of the Word and Merwyn Johnson (Th.M.64), a former adjunct faculty member, authoredSacrament. He was the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Vallejo, California,From Then to Now: Calvins Hermeneutical Bridge, published by In Christ for more than 29 years. Supporting Ministries (ICSM) in 2022.Leah E. Epps (M.Div.16) now serves as Pastor of Greenway Presbyterian Church in Lenoir, North Carolina. In September 2024, she was installed as vice-moderatorPaula Skreslet (D.Min.82), a retired reference librarian at UPSem, authored of the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic. three novels in a series, The Buraan Quartet, which tells the stories of four Chad McCain (M.Div.09) now serves part-time as Hospital Chaplain at VirginiaPresbyterian missionaries in 1910-1930 in four different locations in the Middle Baptist Hospital in Lynchburg, Virginia. He is also serving as supply pastor in theEast: Turkey/Syria, Persia, Armenia, and Egypt. Prior of Kazachi Post, Galloway Presbytery of the Peaks. of Buraan, and Graybill of Azianlu are historical novels interpreting American Ernest Ernie T. Thompson III (M.Div.88) has retired as Presbyterian and indigenous ministry in the Middle East during this time period. Senior Pastor and Head of Staff at Westminster Presbyterian Church Published in 2024, the fourth novel in the series will be released by Wipf and in Greensboro, North Carolina. Stock in the winter. Skreslets pen name is E.M. Clifford.UNION PRESBYTERIAN SEMINARY Sharon & Brook'