Windows | Spring 2023

Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

President

José R. Irizarry

Board of Trustees

Keatan King, Chair

James C. Allison

Lee Ardell

Janice L. Bryant (MDiv’01, DMin’11)

Kelley Cooper Cameron

Gregory Lee Cuéllar

Thomas Christian Currie

James A. DeMent (MDiv’17)

Jill Duffield (DMin’13)

Britta Martin Dukes (MDiv’05)

Peg Falls-Corbitt (CIM’20)

Jackson Farrow Jr.

Beth Blanton Flowers, M.D.

G. Archer Frierson II

Jesús Juan González (MDiv’92)

Cyril Hollingsworth (CIM’16)

Ora Houston

Shawn Kang

John A. Kenney (CIM’20)

Steve LeBlanc

Sue B. McCoy

Matthew Miller (MDiv’03)

W. David Pardue

Lisa Juica Perkins (MDiv’11)

Denise Nance Pierce (MATS’11)

Mark B. Ramsey

Stephen J. Rhoades

Sharon Risher (MDiv’07)

Conrad M. Rocha

John L. Van Osdall

Michael Waschevski (DMin’03)

Sallie Sampsell Watson (MDiv’87)

Elizabeth C. Williams

Michael G. Wright

Trustees Emeriti

Cassandra C. Carr

Bruce G. Herlin

Lyndon Olson Jr.

B. W. Payne

Max Sherman

Anne Vickery Stevenson

ASA Board

Josh Kerr (MDiv’14), President

Paul Sink (MDiv’00), Vice-President

Sarah Hegar (MDiv’09) Secretary

Melinda Hunt (CIM’16) Past President

Candy Cubbage (MDiv’89)

Matt Edison (MDiv’18)

Kristin Galle (MDiv’01)

David Gambrell (MDiv’98)

John Guthrie (MDiv’06)

Amy Litzinger (MATS’15)

Joe MacDonald (DMin’19)

Carl McCormack (MDiv’95)

Jean Reardon (MDiv’05)

Devon Reynolds (MDiv’19)

Amy Sergent (MDiv’92)

Tony Spears (MDiv’15)

Marta Ukropina (MDiv’06)

By José R. Irizarry

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Editor

Randal Whittington

Contributors

Selina Aguirre

Aidan Diaz

Sylvia Greenway

Erica Knisely (MDiv’14)

Usama Malik (MDiv’20)

Gary Mathews

Mikala McFerren

Alison Riemersma

Sharon Sandberg

Mona Santandrea

David Schmersal

Donna Scott

Kristy Sorensen

Cover: President Irizarry takes the inaugural vows, administered by Board Chair, The Reverend Keatan King; Inset: his wife and two of his children share in the moment. Photos by Ruben Morales.

President’s Schedule

June 4 – Preach and Teach, First Presbyterian Church, Kerrville, Texas

June 6 – Host, UMC Central Texas Conference Lunch, Waco, Texas

June 9 – Host, UMC Rio Texas Conference Dinner, Corpus Christi, Texas

Aug. 6 – Preach, New Covenant Fellowship, Austin, Texas

Sept. 17 – Preach, St. Charles Ave. Presbyterian Church, New Orleans, Louisiana

Sept. 23 – Grace Presbytery Meeting, Dallas, Texas

from the president |

Misty clouds and a cool light drizzle created the ambiance of reception for those who arrived days before the inauguration to celebrate my investiture as the tenth president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. In typical Austin fashion, where even the weather seems to stand by the city’s “weird” moniker, the temperature rose several degrees as a radiant sun made its appearance to brighten and warm up the morning of the inaugural ceremony.

As faculty, trustees, and delegates from various theological schools and universities started processing across the church courtyard, the colorful robes became vivid, but the scent emanating from moist soil was a present reminder of preceding days, as if the ground were getting ready to receive and nourish a new seed. It was precisely the image I wanted to explore as the theme of this inauguration; the opportunity allowed us to see our greyish days as a church, and as a society, as moments preparing the ground for some wondrous emergence.

I am deeply grateful I was called to join Austin Seminary at this time when seeds are being gathered and the ground prepared for the next harvest of theological education. I am glad God has equipped this place of theological learning, research, and formation with appropriate tools for this labor and with fertile minds and spirits ready for growth. In using this edition of Windows to share my inaugural address, as well as the charges offered by the Reverend Dr. Chris Currie and the Reverend Paul Roberts, we invite you to join us in imagining possibilities for new beginnings and to do that work in the spirit of humility, as instructed by the author of the Epistle to the Colossians, “rooted and built up in God and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Faithfully yours,

José R. Irizarry President

Our spring storytelling event transpired on March 21. Rick Carlson, Austin Seminary graduate and a member of the staff, told a riveting tale of the time he sold suitcases for the underworld!

The Prime Timers group from St. Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, visited campus on April 18 to attend worship, tour the Wright Center, hear from Professor Ángel Gallardo, and eat lunch with students. If your church group would like to make a campus visit, contact Jeannie Corbitt (jcorbittcardona@austinseminary.edu).

This January our Doctor of Ministry students made their first trip back to campus since the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Reverend Dr. Pam Rivera, the presiding elder of Austin Capital District – AME Church, was our Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Preacher on February 7.

Members of Tres Rios Presbytery hosted a luncheon for students on April 11 to extol the beauty of ministry in their part of the world.

HESED X celebrates ten years of student leadership

Itall started in 2013 over an all-too-familiar table conversation, where leaders from the (then) African American Student Group and Hispanic Student Association came up with the idea of collaborating on something unique and substantive which could give voice and representation to people and issues from their respective communities. Shepherded by faculty members Drs. Gregory Cuéllar and Asante Todd and staff from across campus, this collaboration culminated in the HESED Lectures. Named after the Hebrew word חֶסֶד, meaning justice, love in action, loving-kindness, and steadfast love, this grassroots initiative would soon grow to become a staple of community life at Austin Seminary. Centering the intersection of social justice and the work of the church, HESED intentionally brought scholars and faith leaders from historically marginalized communities to speak and preach on timely issues facing persons of color as well as the wider community. Worship, lectures, workshops, and panels fostered connections with local organizations which shared expertise on topics relevant to each year’s theme.

Since its inception, HESED has become a transformational experience for students and the institution—challenging perspectives, creating community, and forming dynamic student leaders who have helped to serve and improve Austin Seminary. Three of the past four student body presidents served as chairs for the HESED organizing committee and nearly thirty Black, Latinx, and Asian students have won graduate fellowships and awards since 2014. After graduation, they have continued to serve their communities by leading congregations, advocacy organizations, and working as chaplains and in many other settings, promoting the mission of HESED out in the world.

The 2023 HESED Lectures, “HESED X,” marked the tenth event in the series, the first to be held in person

since the COVID-19 pandemic. HESED X commemorated ten years of student leadership, celebrating the historic impact it continues to have within the campus and wider community. This year’s HESED theme, “Cages,” called to mind the dehumanization all oppressed people feel when placed in cages of racism and injustice. Though not easily broken, HESED X emphasized that cages can be stretched and weakened when the people within create community and work toward incremental change—change that we have experienced and celebrated as a Seminary community.

The Reverend Dr. Stephen Ray, president of the Society for the Study of Black Religion, was the keynote speaker and preacher, alongside workshops and exhibits from organizations and community experts on human trafficking, legislative advocacy, migrant justice, and mass incarceration, among others. The event kicked off with a dynamic opening worship service, featuring alumni from past HESED events, spoken-word and musical performances, praise dances, and a gospel choir. This year HESED honored the stories from its founders, featuring a “HESED in Action” panel of alumni (many shown above with Professor Cuéllar) from the first HESED, sharing their insights and reflections on HESED both as an event and as a guiding principle.

With a record attendance of more than 200 people—over half of whom were first-time attendees—HESED X was the culmination of countless hours of work by student organizers and volunteers, sustained through a beautiful collaboration of students, staff, faculty, and alumni, reflecting nothing short of the Beloved Community it aspires to.

Save the date for next year’s HESED Lectures, scheduled for March 1 and 2, 2024! We hope to see you there!

–Usama Malik (MDiv’20), program coordinator in the Office of Student Affairs

Many times, difficult issues sit on our shoulders. We must be careful to address these issues at the right time and place for healing—and not hurt—to happen. HESED is an opportunity to give space, education, and action to what can bring about loving-kindness and justice.”

– Marta Pumroy, HESED X Co-Chair

HESED to me means sharing the love of God by putting my hands to the plow and doing the things that are in my power to do to expand the Kingdom of God; to make it ‘on Earth as it is in Heaven.’ To me that means to help seek justice and love mercy for all those within my reach, wherever God has placed me.”

– Tashara Angelle, HESED X co-chair

The Reverend Dr. José R. Irizarry The Tenth President of Austin Seminary

On March 30-31, Austin Seminary held festivities to honor the calling of The Reverend Dr. José R. Irizarry as its tenth president. Beginning with a choral performance by The University of Texas at Austin Concert Chorale on Thursday evening, the event continued on Friday morning with the Inauguration Service followed by a luncheon. President Irizarry hosted a panel discussion among higher education and seminary presidents new to their respective roles, and the evening concluded with a performance of the play Vincent at a local theater. After all the guests went home, Seminary students, staff, and faculty celebrated with tacos and salsa dance lessons on Sunday evening.

The Inauguration “A Widening Place”

Inaugural Address by President José R. Irizarry

Standing in this privileged site of vision, as I assemble the image of multiple faces, each one filling up this space with meaning and memory, I am humbled by the realization that although I stand before you as the person inaugurated into a significant leadership role in this centenary institution, this is indeed a celebration of community. A celebration of long-standing traditions of teaching and learning, but also of history about to be reexamined. This is a celebration of stories of people who have dreamed a church that is faithful to its call, but also stories of those who, despite institutional limitations, have dared to follow imaginative paths of ministry and service. Today our hearts are full of joy for the possibilities ahead of us and for the ability to lament, without feeling defeated or abandoned, that which has perished.

By this gathering, I am awakened to memories of childhood and family members who are part of my emergence as the person who stands before you today. Memories of school and church friends whose stories are intertwined with the most adventurous chapters of my biography; co-workers at many places of labor who have enriched my life with their wisdom, care, and support; and new colleagues and friends who make me enthusiastic about the company I will keep in the years ahead. I can only affirm that I am deeply fortunate. This empty space that hours ago was occupied by air, light, and quietness, has become today, by this ceremony, a living place, a place made wider by the meaning and memories you have all brought in.

Since the moment I was called to serve as the tenth president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, I have often mused about the answers to a modest question: What is this place of learning and faith formation we call Austin Seminary? While basic in its formulation, the answer to this question cannot be readily assumed. And in fact, most ideas we can construct as possibilities for theological education are determined by our ability

to name the purpose of our institutional existence in today’s world. To reference Martin Heidegger, we ought to be keenly aware of the Dasein, or “being-there,” of our place: our place in the community where our beautiful campus rests as an oasis in a middle of a hectic and vibrant university town; our place in the church, in affiliation with a denomination that we are proud to belong to for its enduring commitments to educated, imaginative, energetic, and compassionate leaders, alongside many other Christian traditions that join our search for truth and authenticity; and ultimately our place in society as a prophetic voice in the midst of unjust systems of exclusion and oppression. With what I call an immigrant imagination, we should constantly ponder, what does it mean to find a place of belonging in our world, especially a world that at times seems indifferent, self-preoccupied, and inhospitable.

More than once in the few months I have served in this role, people have introduced me, in an unfortunate slip of the tongue, as the president of Austin’s Cemetery. This gaffe produces some embarrassment in the speaker as listeners respond with quiet laughter. But I have learned from great teachers that you should never let a good metaphor go to waste. Therefore, I cannot resist allowing the image of such a place of final rest to inform my reflection on this dilemma of finding our place in the world as a theological institution: What is dying here that needs the services of interment? Is it the end of the church within which we are trying to find our place? Is it the vanishing of humanity’s ability to relate to each other in ways that respect the dignity of every person regardless of who they are and where they come from?

Or perhaps, it is our loss of community and belonging, trumped by our technologically fed self-centeredness. Are we officiating the last rites for God’s creation as the future of our ecosystem slips from our hands? And what are we, as institutions of theological education, asked to do with the remains? Are we here, in this place, to say our

farewell to hope with good thoughts and prayers or to infuse life, grounded in an ever-present promise of resurrection?

Yet, there may be other possibilities for this metaphor. We can claim to be the place where outmoded ideas and ways of thinking—that have for decades, if not centuries, hindered our self-realization as beloved Children of God—come to die. Or alternatively, we can create a special burial plot for those certainties that come with some forms of faith that refuse to acknowledge that what God intends to do with us and through us is still to be encountered. For as poet Maya Angelou reminds us, we are never to call ourselves Christians in absolute and determinative ways; a Christian is someone we are always becoming. And this place, as any community that claims to exercise the charge of educating individuals, should always provide learners with possibilities for becoming what God is calling them to be.

All these may be generative questions for our work ahead, but I prefer to correct the gaffe and return to the factual record, that we have been intentional in naming this place a seminary—a place of cultivation. Stone and mortar are particularly powerful symbols of places, but places are much more than that. Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is more than walls and pathways, rooms and coordinates on the city map. It is a stage for relationships where affective bonds can be cultivated, a field of care and knowledge that extends beyond campus and touches communities, congregations, and families.

As a place that fosters a sense of belonging and develops capacities to serve (both intellectual and practical), Austin Seminary exists within and outside our campus. It is a widening place. Because that is how education for cultivation works. Seeds go into the ground, but what emerges, through nurture and care, cannot be determined as it scatters organically. The scale of the shade provided by a tree, the amount of fruit or flowers that blossom, the depth of the roots, even the ability to continue to reproduce in grounds we did not intend to plant defy both our good intentions and expectations.

Aware of this place, and its widening nature, I look forward to engaging this community of theological teaching and learning as we exercise our leadership for seeding. The times to try to straighten bent trunks from old

trees, or cutting branches here and there to stimulate growth, or trying new technologies for watering already infertile soils, (what in educational theory we call reforms) may be over. It may be a time for reconsidering the model of theological teaching and learning as a whole and move from the secular paradigm of growth and development as the main conceptual guide for our efforts. Instead we might listen to the wisdom of the apostle in Ephesians who invites us to be rooted and established in love, so that we may be empowered to grasp another model of dimensionality, not measured in numbers, but on how wide and long and high and deep is the love of the one we seek to emulate in all forms of service. What can a seminary of the twenty-first century located in Austin, Texas, cultivate so that its place—its landscape of mission and purpose—can be widened?

At Austin Seminary, we may want to plant seeds today for fruits that other generations may enjoy. This means that attention to whatever we consider to be urgent needs to be cautiously scaled within a long-term view. Remember that in a constantly changing world, what is urgent today turns into obsolescence tomorrow. In times like this we are cautioned to avoid the temptation to see continuous adaptation as the most valuable asset of education. At times, sacrificing good sense and vision for the sake of acceleration will give the appearance of momentary achievement but will ultimately reduce opportunities for those who will need these resources in the future.

Theological institutions should be teaching today with a new generation of Christians in mind. Taking care that in our intention to be innovative we don’t become so transient that we become a non-place for the next generation, a fleeting and ephemeral institution. The faith of Millennials, Gen Zs, Gen Alphas, and those who will follow, in whatever form that faith is emerging, should start to inform our curriculum now. And this should be done with a clear recognition that the world our young have encountered is significantly different from the one that gave origin to our current models of ministry and faith expression. Places are widened by the bodies and movements that shape their environment, and our campus environment, day in and day out, is asking us to pay attention to the young. For those concerned with the ecclesial

aging, the “youngering” of the church might be indeed good news.

At Austin Seminary, we want to plant seeds that would allow us to sustain people in the continuum of theological learning that starts before seminary education and continues after people leave our classrooms. If theology is religious discourse, as theologian and professor Cynthia Rigby establishes, determined to share something about everything in a world brimming with beauty, pain, and perennial desire to know more, then faith requires theological wisdom as an ongoing process. As a place of cultivation, we can widen this place by seeking out those who show special gifts for service within the church and who do not know that such passion may signal a vocation for ministry. Alternatively, we may need to institute programs to provide ongoing support to those who graduate as they face the realities of ministry during their first years of service.

At Austin Seminary, we may want to cultivate relationships and partnerships that are missionally driven

without concealing our strong institutional identity, educational places like this one should strive to be spaces for difficult and deep conversations that can restore a sense of conviviality among those who think differently. A seminary so close to the borderlands should be able to explore how to educate in the “in-between” where more than one vision of the world collides as we seek to live together without cultural and social erasures. A widening place is a healing place; any other model of theological formation would be simply reductive and limiting.

This is a place of cultivation. And there will be no offense if once again the words “seminary” and “cemetery” collide in real-time speech. The words in the epitaph engraved on the headstone of Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal come to mind: you can go ahead and bury us, for we are seeds.

The widening of this place will require good and faithful laborers for the work of cultivation. It will require people whose scholarship is evolving with the world, fostering alternative ways of thinking and incentivizing diverse

to support common social projects and to bring the outside world into the register of theological education. This may require inviting and welcoming other higher educational institutions, non-profit organizations, art collectives, and inter-faith groups in exploring ways mission is strengthened and disseminated to larger publics. Forging theological literacy among Christian professionals in any field of work cannot be considered any longer outside the scope of theological education. Our social and political order may necessitate people of faith who are as theologically sophisticated as they are technologically literate and who, in embodying Christ, love the world sufficiently to be accountable for it.

At Austin Seminary we will commit to cultivate and nurture, among all members of the community, a culture of empathy and tolerance amid our current, normalized divisiveness. Without compromising people’s ability to ground themselves theologically and ideologically, and

models of practice. I count my blessings, for we have such laborers. I will ask the faculty to stand up and be recognized.

This cultivation will require individuals with enough commitment so that this place can remain hospitable, welcoming, and supportive. Here, too, I count my blessings, for we have such laborers. I will ask Austin Seminary’s staff to stand up and be recognized.

And, for sure, this labor will require people with ample vision, who invest talent, treasure, and time to guide the direction of this place. And, yet again, I feel deeply blessed for we have those laborers. I will ask the members of our board of trustees to please stand and be recognized.

Last, but not least. Our widened place necessitates networks and partners who understand that our educa-

Continued on page 16

Charge to the President

By Chris Currie, Pastor of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church, New Orleans, and Chair of the Presidential Search Committee

When the search began for the next president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the Presidential Search Committee sought to listen to the whole of this seminary community from students to staff to faculty to trustees to alumni to the larger constituency and friends of this institution. After that work, we distilled what we heard into a narrative and set of values about the next leader of this institution. At the top of our list was a person with a pastor’s heart who loved the life in the local congregation and the Seminary’s orientation toward the church.

We sought a strategic visionary, not afraid to experiment and try new things, someone who cares about the distinctive—and dare I say winsome—ways this particular seminary delivers theological education. We also sought someone who understands context and the peo-

ples who make up this region and culture, someone who possesses wonder and humility in all that they do, you know somebody who might schedule a choral concert, an academic forum, a play, and some salsa dancing all tied together at their Presidential Inauguration. We also sought a person committed to the beloved community and the diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging that is abundant in Christ’s body. Though a collective effort, our listing of institutional values ended with this statement, composed by search committee member Jill Duffield (DMin’13). It read: “God will accomplish abundantly more than we can ever hope or imagine. Hence, we look to the future not in fear, but with hope, knowing that whoever is called to be our next president will be equipped through the Holy Spirit and upheld by a beloved community ready to expand its hospitality, increase its impact,

and rejoice in being lost in wonder, love, and praise.”

Such values and statements can come across as institutional word salads or aspirational works of fiction, but such values led us to someone not only qualified, but called. We found someone not only who could do the job, but who could inspire us to walk side by side in our Godgiven calling with radical hope. In his own words to the committee, candidate Irizarry had this to say: ‘The assessment on the current state of theological education is at this point vox populi among those who care for the formation of skilled church leaders. (Basically: there are big challenges and strong headwinds up ahead)” … but, our candidate continued, while clear eyed about all the challenges, “I consider the opportunities may outweigh the challenges.”

Wait, what? Who is this person who sees the world still shot through with the glory of God, who is this person who believes he might in fact be called for such a time as this, who is this person who seems to be practicing unsinkable hope? And rather than José then telling us how he was going to single-handedly fix theological education, turn around the numerical decline in church and enrollment, tell us how to fix political polarization and the institutional challenges of our country in year two of his presidency, the only reason candidate Irizarry gave us for his radical belief that the opportunities may outweigh all the challenges was this: he said, “This statement can only be made with a sense of hopefulness stemming from faith, in the confidence that God is making new things, and our call is to full participation in this co-creative process.”

I am confident that José so fulfills those institutional values and embodies that optimism and confidence about theological education that he doesn’t need to be charged to carry them out. It is already evident in his leadership of this institution. But I do have a charge, and it is a bit more peripheral, if you will. The first point of my charge is called “Austin City Limits.” And that is to look and see well beyond them. Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary has a diverse geographic constituency, and I think sometimes the job of the president is to encourage students, graduates, and members of the community to consider places or positions in the world that they had no intention of ever living or serving, places and congregations outside the demographic of a Whole Foods or Central Market that may be in need of pastors willing to love them enough to live among them and preach the gospel to them. I believe there are approximately 750 pastor positions of some kind or another in our national church

looking for strong pastoral leadership. My guess is that many of them are in places, our world—and maybe we— would not deem strategically significant. Yet strangely God seems to do some of God’s best work in such places, places like Nazareth and Bethany and Corinth and Galatia, places beyond our preferences for where God’s grace extends. So be community facing, not only in the Austin community, but beyond the Austin city limits.

Second, keep Austin Seminary weird. What I mean by this is not so much trying to preserve that winsome vibe, but resisting the culture’s notion of value. To quote the recent New Yorker article, “The End of the English Major” by Nathan Heller, “In a quantitative society for which optimization—getting the most output from your input—has become a self-evident good, universities [and maybe theological institutions] prize actions that shift numbers” and create “value” for what we do.

But the most un-quantitative investment we will ever make in this world is to baptize a baby and then ask parents to live the Christian life and be responsible for that child’s as well. We don’t stop there, but we also ask children and youth and relative strangers to make promises to that baby, we ask them to volunteer their time teaching Sunday school or helping that child make a joyful noise in the children’s choir or at a Sunday night youth group, not to mention sending them to Montreat or MoRanch or maybe even saying to them at one point in their life, out of the blue, Have you ever considered going to seminary and serving in the church? An unquantifiable investment. An extravagant use of our resources. Maybe akin to Mary taking that pound of expensive perfume and anointing Jesus’s feet with it and filling up the whole house and gathering of people with her wasteful extravagance, even as they pondered all the value that could have gotten for it in the marketplace or if they could have applied better analytics.

I think seminaries, and seminary presidents, not to mention pastors and seminary faculty and seminary graduates, have the prophetic mantle and obligation to encourage us to live like that. We are hardwired for the quantitative world. We would rather prove and measure our value. José, don’t ever stop being that person who said, I know what the demographics are saying, I know what the vox populi is saying, but the only way for the Christian community and the Seminary to face the future is to live with a “hopefulness in the confidence that God is making new things and our call is to full participation in this co-creative process.”

Continued on page 16

Charge to Communitythe

By Paul Roberts Sr., President of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14

President Irizarry, congratulations to you and your family! As one of the longest serving PC(USA) seminary presidents now and as the vice chair of the denomination’s Committee on Theological Education, I excitedly welcome you to this ministry. Like most everyone in this room, I believe in the relevance and importance of this work. Now, fourteen years into my own service to Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, I find the work as meaningful as ever.

Often during occasions like these, the Charge to the Community is an encouragement to students, staff, and faculty to support the new president. Well, this is not that! (Of course, I trust and pray that you all will grow together as a mutually supportive community.)

Instead, this is an encouragement to mediate more. Repeat those words with me please: Mediate More.

Here’s what I’m getting at.

Years ago José, your predecessor, the Reverend Dr. Theodore Jackson Wardlaw and former Association of Theological Schools (ATS) President Daniel Aleshire encouraged sitting seminary presidents to read the work of Hugh Heclo titled On Thinking Institutionally. It was during those conversations that I began to understand the Presbyterian seminaries, often considered the gold standard in theological education, as mediating institutions. I expect this community is well versed in these themes, so I have chosen to draw on them as I offer the charge to you, the Austin Seminary community.

In short, a mediating institution is an organization— any organization: congregation, union, non-profit—that undergirds the basic building block of society, the family.

No matter how a particular family is configured, and no matter how well that family functions, it will from time to time need the support of a trustworthy institution as it navigates the complexities of the larger society. Churches, and their affiliates like seminaries, have done this work well for centuries. They have been not only the central gathering places where families and individuals encounter the divine but also where they have found

protections from societal hostilities; where they have acquired emotional support like pastoral counseling; where they have accessed basic education; and where they have been provided social services and childcare.

Now, I have read the data about Austin Seminary on the ATS website. This is a strong institution!! Praise be to God!! You have the chops to do—and are doing—the very thing I’m describing.

As you think about what it means to be a widening place, I’m charging you to mediate more!

U.S. institutions of all flavors have garnered significant distrust in recent decades, sometimes due to circumstances of our own making. Consequently, they may be weakened in their ability to connect with and mediate on behalf of those who are most vulnerable and most in need of what they have to offer.

All the more reason it is incumbent upon strong institutions of favorable repute like Austin Seminary to mediate more—to bridge more gaps, to do more with what you’ve been given; to bear the dual responsibilities of maintaining health inside the Seminary’s four walls while contributing to the health of sectors that may or may not be your core audience.

I’m charging you to mediate more—to be more connectional, more collaborative and non competitive, recognizing we’re more effective when united in mission than when we’re not.

I’m charging you to mediate more by expanding your identity, by offering the most relevant, most accessible, high-quality theological education you can while simultaneously engaging with those who today have left the pews, who may never again sit in a pew, who may not even know what a pew is but who nonetheless hunger for a safe place to explore and live their faith.

There’s a passage from the book of Jeremiah that encapsulates what I’m getting at: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.

Continued on page 16

`An Interview with President Irizarry

You’ve held a variety of academic and administrative positions in higher ed and in denominational structures. You are an ordained Presbyterian minister, and your career and ministry have taken you from Puerto Rico to Perugia and from California to Chicago. And now you’re in Texas, of all places, as the president of Austin Seminary. Where have you seen God at work in your vocation?

Justo Gonzales once said that our best theology is done at the sunset. Which means once you have lived life, observed the interactions, the meaning of events, you can ask, How has God been present?

You begin by looking at the ways you have been nurtured by others to grow into certain roles. I think I’m a better president because of my work as an academic administrator at various educational institutions and at the Board of Pensions. This experience is different from the single institutional type other seminary presidents come from. At the end of the experience, you look back and say, Oh that’s why I learned this new skill, this is why God brought me to this place.

How has the reality of being a seminary president differed from your expectations?

Part of my work has been with seminaries in the accreditation processes, so I have been in a lot of conversations with presidents and seen plenty of documentation on processes, policies, and procedures. The only thing that has surprised me is what people think the role of the president is. They do that by asking a question. Do you like to raise money? Do you like to be in every single meeting?

Just to clarify, these are tasks you do, but it’s not at the center of the president’s role. The president is a storyteller. So the challenge is to immediately get to know what the institution is and to learn how to tell the story in ways that resonate with people and their questions and even concerns about the future of the church, the future of theological education, sometimes the future of the world and humanity.

What have you

come to value about Austin Seminary?

We are an authentic community here and community is constituted by networks of belonging. One of the things that I like about Austin is that every person feels accountable for this place. That facilitates the work of the presi-

dent because you have people who are committed, people who take initiative, people who really like what they do, and sometimes they work harder because they want to see the place flourish. That’s a gift.

The other thing that attracted me is the context of the city where the Seminary can really enact its theological and ethical commitments. We are in the midst of an academic environment and a very diverse community. There are places around us where you see concrete needs. You are Austin Seminary’s first Latinx president. What might that mean for this community and the church?

It’s an important question, because people of color in these positions have increased exponentially in the last years. So one of the questions is, What is the institutional expectation for making this unprecedented appoint-

ment? For me it means that I will bring a new set of values that are culturally centered. You have to bring values that are part of your own person and test those against the values of the community, because you cannot force your values.

One for me, for example, is the value of family. What does it mean to be with family, disagree with family, and then come together and try to find solutions? Another is that service is very important for Latino communities. We like to support each other. Even if you don’t have resources, you will share whatever you have of your resources.

Individualism is a value that has always permeated

institutions of higher education. Even when we highlight the importance of community, I don’t think seminaries are exempt from gravitating toward individualism. Latino culture, as well as African American cultures, tend to emphasize the communitarian and relational aspects of social life. Therefore, the challenge of people of color in leadership is how to bring the gifts of one’s culture to bear on the reflective practices of institutional visioning and management.

You talk about deepening the stakes and stretching wide the tent. Who else needs to be here and why?

The first group that should be brought into the life of the Seminary is our neighbors. The other day I saw this young woman sitting under a tree with a book in hand and I thought it was a reflection of how welcoming our campus is. What happens if we start interacting with UT students, and in so doing make this a more dynamic community? It might mean our taking the initiative, being more transparent about who we are and who belongs.

Like the signs you had put around the perimeter of campus, “Come dine with us!”

Exactly. It will require some invitation, but that will be the first step to widening this place. We have to open this place to people who do not know yet the uniqueness of this institution, showing what we offer academically, in both our explicit and implicit curriculum, that’s not replicable in any other seminary.

And from my perspective it’s to create space where our students become Christian leaders who know how to live in the “in between.” In between a world that is beautiful and enchanting but that is slowly deteriorating. In the in-between of people who are progressive—as we identify ourselves—and people who do not speak about God or worship God the way we do. People who are able to work in the in-between of congregational ministry and society and those who can live in the in-between of large- or small- or rural-churches models of ministry.

I don’t think there’s an institution that has managed to create leaders flexible enough to be conversant in the in-between. And that’s without giving up who you are and what you believe. It’s about knowing how to work well in a world that is fluid.

There are many people who are not church professionals but who want to really use their faith as a source for developing a better professional persona. All the

non-clergy members of our board of trustees are very interested in theological matters. Theology is a resource for every Christian who wants to serve in whatever capacity. And isn’t that what the world needs—professionals who are more ethical, who are engaged with the whole intellectual work of discovering what faith is supposed to do? It’s about having faith-based values that you use to interact with people, to respect people, to use your profession for the sake of serving and to be more human as you do this work. And as a consequence, I think people are more passionate about their profession because they don’t see it as just self-fulfillment but as something they’re doing while also connecting to the God they say they believe in. How would you describe your leadership style and how do you build trust among the faculty and staff and with alumni and donors?

My leadership style is contextual and dynamic. It’s responsive and adaptive in many ways. I look at the context, always attentive to what’s next. I like to listen. I like to observe. A lot.

And collegial. I think the best decisions are made when people have open conversations with each other, when people feel free to share their opinions. (Where there are five people, there are always six opinions!) Ultimately I’m accountable for whatever decision is made; the president needs to be able to connect the dots to everything else that is happening.

One of the reasons I wanted to have a meeting with the staff at the end of the first semester was to say, this is where we are institutionally. This is where we are financially. Here is where we want your opinion. With alumni and those who support the mission, you have to be transparent and communicative. You know, I’m not a snakeoil seller, I’m a storyteller—which means they will hear hopefulness in positive things that are happening, but they will also hear about our greatest challenges. Alumni are wonderful resources for the institution, so the more open you are with them about the challenges, the more open they will be about the challenges they’re also confronting.

What are the most significant challenges to theological education today? Where do you see God’s movement in these challenges and in the Seminary’s response?

The challenge for seminaries is that the church is facing—in some ways for the

first time—an experience that many people have labeled as “dying,” when it is more accurately an experience of “dislocation.” By that, I mean that the church for centuries was accustomed to being functional to the society, to being an integral part of the social realm and acknowledged as such. And suddenly the church doesn’t have that social status anymore.

And the impact of that is that people now see their social loyalties attached to many things, with church being one, and for some people, not the top priority. This affects membership which affects the ability to promote faith in new generations which affects the ability to do mission because of lack of resources.

So that’s the first challenge, because according to our mission, we are here to support and serve that church that is having its issues of dislocation. Again, this is where a gift can come from communities whose daily life is experienced as dislocation. They have already developed resources of resilience because they have never been in a place where they can say they fully belong.

We are like the people of Israel in the wilderness trying to see where God is taking us and suffering the same things they suffered in the wilderness, which is lack of trust in the providence of God. We are here. We are thirsty. Where’s the water? Where’s the food? We don’t see it. And there’s a prophetic role I think seminaries should fulfill as they train people for ministry in saying, We don’t know, but what we are certain of is that God is leading us to wherever that next stage is. Hopefully seminaries are challenged to provide the intellectual impetus and the frameworks for reasoning to discern what is next for the church of Christ.

A challenge for seminaries is the lack of support for vocational discernment within the context of the church. How are people invited or how do we become that small voice that in some way channels God’s intent for certain people with gifts for ministry?

Another challenge is that the authenticity of what it means to be Christian is interrogated in the public sphere, and it’s not really about practices of compassion, about practices of care, about practices of justice. And as

that authenticity is affected, the literacy of people about religious and theological matters is reduced. Religious discourse is naïve, and for a world where even young people know how to manage very complex technology, this devalues theology. So our challenge is to prepare people in our classrooms who are theologically informed and who can talk about religious matters in new ways to incentivize meaningful conversations about faith in public discourse.

Where do you find inspiration?

I get inspiration from generative dialogue with others that is not forced, not based on something we have to achieve, but just people trying to imagine how things can be better. For me, that’s important. It is a great source of motivation.

I’m moved by creativity. There’s a risk in creative people, of course. They are always looking to change everything! But I’ve learned to tame that creative urge so that not every creative thought moves into immediate, unreflective action.

The other inspiration for me is books. Probably because books are just ideas from people who have a proposition intended to teach you something.

What person, place, or event in your life has had the greatest impact on who you are today?

My maternal grandmother. I have a memory of her with my mom braiding her beautiful long hair. She was very majestic and she would sit in her rocking chair—which was her throne from my childhood perspective—to deliver her instructions.

I felt so protected when I was with her. I actually remember during one hurricane I decided to stay with her because she didn’t want to move to my house. She was very religious—she was a devout Roman Catholic. I accompanied her to church. She would put a beautiful mantilla on her head and we would go to this little church in a French-style monastery. And they have this chapel made of stone, and it was only the nuns with my grandmother in the back. Wow, now that I say that, I wonder if that’s why I love small churches so much! I would sit there quietly, amazed by the beautiful images of saints

and the scents of the place. I think it impacted me more, even when I was very conscious I was an “other” to that religion. I knew we were Presbyterian, but I think that experience really deepened my spirituality.

Introduce us to your family.

My wife, Mildred, is a speech pathologist. My inspiration about the value of faith in professional life comes from seeing my wife as a servant in the work she does. Not because she’s my loving partner; she is the best at her profession and it’s because she’s grounded in faith. She is always getting letters and notes, and it is common for her to hear “you are a blessing to me.” We can be training people like her theologically!

I have three wonderful children, a daughter and two sons. My daughter, Yuyza, finished her master’s in clinical research in the field of neuroscience and she is seeking to pursue a PhD. My son Darien Farel does art restoration and conservation, and he’s a senior at Marist College and the Instituto Lorenzo de Medici in Florence; he’s going to pursue a master’s in arts management in London. The youngest, Abayomi, is in his first year at Westchester University.

Describe a perfect day.

In my imagined perfect day, it’s going to be raining (I love rain!), and I will be sitting on the balcony looking at the mountains in Puerto Rico with my coffee on one side and a good book on the other. That’s a perfect day. And then my wife, Mildred, will step onto the balcony and say, Are we doing something today? and I’ll say, I’m doing something, I’m having my day!

When you retire, what will have defined success in your career?

I will say what will define success is that I have left a mark in the lives of people. And that mark does not have to be big, it has to be just a sense of appreciation for the relationship. A student I taught twenty years ago sent me a note recently saying, “Today I was teaching a class and I remembered what you said.” I don’t need more than that. Those are the personal inscriptions that remain, and hopefully somebody who hears that will repeat it, even if they haven’t had a relationship with me. So it’s not really about legacies, it’s about whatever you have communicated that has been of value. What stays is not me or memories of me but what people have received through a meaningful relationship.v

A Widening Place

continued from page 9

tional project for another possible world cannot be carried out in isolation. In gratitude, for the gifts and efforts you bring to this task, I would like to ask delegates from our theological schools and institutions of higher learning to please stand to be recognized.

Above all, we recognize that the fruit of our labor, that which will be widened, that which will reach depth, will be nurtured by God, in the fullness of Christ, through the work of the Spirit. So that we can proclaim in one undisputable voice that truth of our Reformed confession: Soli Deo Gloria. To God alone be the Glory. AMEN v

Charge to the President

continued from page 11

I wish you and Milly many, many fulfilling years in this work—twenty is a nice round number, and we have a recent precedent. There is a lot that will unfold that we cannot foresee, but embrace this work, engage the life of the mind, the fullness of heart, and the richness of soul that is so ingrained in this community, and “God will accomplish abundantly more than we can ever hope or imagine.” Hence, we look to the future not in fear, but with hope, knowing that whoever is called to be our next president, strike that, that José Irizarry will be equipped through the Holy Spirit and upheld by a beloved community ready to expand its hospitality, increase its impact, and rejoice in being lost in wonder, love, and praise.” Thanks be to God. v

Charge to the Community

continued from page 12

Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Our core mission as seminaries may be leadership formation, but our end goal is to seek the peace and prosperity of the city where all can flourish. Mediate more. Please. Our societal health depends on it and, more importantly, our salvation! v

Curated resources on clergy care

Whetheryou are clergy or love and support clergy, you may be wondering: how are clergy doing right now? Likely you have seen articles in both mainstream and Christian news outlets on clergy mental health and burnout, describing crisis conditions. Studies show that, in general, clergy report very high rates of job satisfaction; they do meaningful, complex, fulfilling work. Yet, the work is often stressful and comprised of long hours. That constellation of factors, among others, can negatively impact physical and mental health. The Duke Clergy Health Initiative found significantly higher rates of depression and chronic disease among clergy compared to the rest of the population. The burnout rate for clergy is comparable to that of social workers and teachers, with new ministers being particularly vulnerable. Female clergy and clergy of color face extra stressors. Additionally, concerns are now being voiced about the long-term effects of the pandemic and about the impacts of rising conflict/polarization on clergy well-being.

The good news is that there is a lot that we can do to support clergy. Drawing upon a recent upswelling of research, we want to equip our community to advance the care of clergy. That work has begun with two grants from the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Columbia University. With one grant, we are convening, with the Rev. Dr. Philip Helsel, denominational leaders, counseling professionals, foundation representatives, and educators in San Antonio, Texas. We share best practices and opportunities and challenges in supporting the clergy under our care. With the other grant, Education Beyond the Walls partners with “She Speaks Wellness,” a network of Black women in ministry, to provide in-person retreats at Austin Seminary followed by an eight-week online community focused on practices of gratitude and forgiveness that make way for hope.

Below we share some of the best new resources we’ve identified:

Clergy Care 2.0

Three Things That Went Well & Why

Flourishing in Ministry: How to Cultivate Clergy Wellbeing by Matt Bloom |

This is a rich and nuanced book which details four dimensions of well-being that Bloom’s research has identified as being critical to the flourishing of clergy. Bloom suggests the need to foster ecosystems of well-being which attend to the greater context of ministry. In particular, he suggests that we need to shift from a model of self-care, where the responsibility for wellbeing is placed solely on clergy, to a more collaborative, systemic approach.

Faithful & Fractured: Responding to the Clergy Health Crisis by Rae Jean

Proeschold-Bell and Jason Byassee | This book gives a snapshot of the work of the Duke Clergy Health Initiative. In it, Proeschold-Bell describes outcomes of interventions the Initiative employed with Methodist clergy in North Carolina. In sum, they found physical health easier to improve than mental well-being. One of the strengths of this book is that it does a nice job explaining why congregational ministry can feel like an impossible job.

Caring for Clergy: Understanding a Disconnected Network of Providers

by Thad S. Austin and Katie Comeau | This book maps the current landscape of clergy care, describing a network of providers that is characterized by silos and very little coordination. It calls upon those in the field, ranging from denominational bodies to foundations to counseling professionals to continuing education providers, to operate in more communal fashion, sharing best practices and innovating together. v

One simple exercise to boost mental wellbeing is to end each day writing down three things that went well and why they happened. Don’t forget to answer the “why” part of the exercise, because it is the most important part of the activity. When you make this a simple habit for a month or three months or six months, it can make a measurable impact on depression and other mental difficulties (please note this doesn’t take the place of medical care if that is what’s needed). For other mental wellbeing tools, check out Martin Seligman’s new book Flourish.

–

Phil

Helsel,

Associate Professor in the Nancy Taylor Williamson Distinguished Chair of

Pastoral Care

Two professors produce new books this spring

Two members of the faculty collaborated with others on new books that were published this spring. Edited by Gregory Cuéllar, associate professor of Old Testament, and Jin Young, Activist Hermeneutics of Liberation and the Bible (Routledge Press, 2023) is a collection of ten chapters written by global scholars. The book is divided into three sections: The Bible and Activist Movements, Empowering Activists with the Bible, and Activist Teachers of the Bible. The editors examined the worldwide activity of protests through the lens of scripture and sought to address themes such as gender politics, racial injustices, and political resistance. One reviewer, Tat-siong Benny Liew, The Class of 1956 Professor in New Testament Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, said, “At a moment when different kinds of activism are being hotly debated, Choi and Cuéllar’s edited volume pushes me to reflect not only on what counts as activism but also on how my pedagogical goals and practices relate to the cultivation of justice and liberation.”

Mission and evangelism assistant professor João Chaves’s fifth book and first collaboration with another writer (Mikeal C. Parsons) is Remembering Antônia Teixeira: A Story of Missions, Violence, and Institutional Hypocrisy (Wm.B. Eerdmans, 2023). The book recounts a crime on the Baylor University campus in the 1800s that was covered up at the time. According to the publisher, the authors “painstakingly peel back the layers of concealment that have accumulated over a century of enforced silence about the case.” Former Austin Seminary professor (1990-2003) Steve Reid offered this review: “When Toni Morrison told a story, she opened up a universe. This book does much the same thing: the specific story of Antônia Teixeira describes transnational structures of racial and gendered inequity. This story from the nineteenth century reminds today’s careful readers of the continued persistence of inequity and possibly gives light to a way forward. As the church saying goes, ‘Tell the truth and shame the devil!’” v

The 2023 Frierson Conference (April 13-15), was hosted by David Jensen, Professor in The Clarence N. and Betty B. Frierson Distinguished Chair of Reformed Theology. Eleven participants representing nine institutions, including ones in Canada and The Netherlands, addressed the theme, “Christian Theology in a Pluralistic Age.”

On April 17, Eric Wall, The Gene Alice Sherman Associate Professor of Sacred Music and Dean of the Chapel, invited students to work with the 2023 Hopson Symposium Scholar Mary Louise Bringle. He performed the Easter organ work of Olivier Messiaen, “Les Corps Glorieux/The Glorified Bodies,” alongside scripture and selected readings from C.S. Lewis. Bringle also composed a hymn for worship and gave a presentation to the community on the creative process she undertook in penning the hymn.

faculty notes |

Margaret Aymer (academic dean / New Testament) was the Bible study leader at the Direct Action Research and Training (DART) Clergy Conference in Orlando, Florida, February 8-10; she will serve as the Bible study leader for them in 2024 and 2025. In her role as academic dean, she attended the virtual gathering of the Chief Academic Officers’ Meeting and the African American Deans and Presidents of the Association of Theological Schools. She will participate in Through Hispanic Eyes, a training program led by Hispanic Summer Program intended to better equip faculty and administrators in their work with students of Latina/Latino origins. In August, she will be the Bible study leader for the Women’s Connection Conference at the Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina.

João Chaves (mission and evangelism) preached for the “Transforming Missions Day” at University Baptist Church, Austin. He edited two journals, the Winter 2022 issue of Christianity, Race, and Ethnicity: Latinx Critical Conversations on Identity Construction and Religious Participation, Perspectives in Religious Studies, (49/4) and the Spring 2023 issue of Baptists and Higher Education: Papers from the Baptist Scholars International Roundtable, Perspectives in Religious Studies, 50/1. Dr. Chaves will deliver a plenary address at the annual meeting of the Baptist History and Heritage Society in May.

A paper by Gregory Cuéllar (Old Testament), “The Ethnonational Interpretive Schema of Western CitizenReaders of Ruth,” will appear in proceedings of the 2023 European Association of Biblical Studies Annual Conference held in Syracuse, Italy, in July.

Phil Helsel (pastoral care) preached for the ordination of Savannah Shivers (MDiv’22) at First Presbyterian Church, Austin, on February 25. He co-led a clergy mental-health collaborative sponsored by Education Beyond the Walls on December 6 and February 23 at The Ecumenical Center for Religion & Health in San Antonio.

José Irizarry (practical theology) delivered the keynote lecture, “The Present and Future of Hispanic/ Latino Ministries,” for the Synod of the Southwest in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 25. His chapter “Ecumenism in Latinx Theologizing” appears in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Latinoax Theology (Orlando Espin, editor). His essay “The Pedagogics of Liminality: Ivan Illich and the Critique of Institutional Ritualization” is in Betwixt and Between Liminality and Marginality: Mind the Gap (Lexington Books, April 2023).

Melissa Wiginton (Methodist studies) co-led two retreats for an ongoing group of United Methodist pastors doing ministry at the edges of traditionally structured congregations— campus ministries, neighboring movements, church planting, churches in bars, and artmaking. v

good reads |

Susan E. Hylen, Finding Phoebe: What New Testament Women Were Really Like (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2023)

While Phoebe, a deacon and benefactor from Cenchreae (Rom. 16:1–2), serves as an entry point for each chapter, Dr. Susan E. Hylen’s new book, Finding Phoebe: What New Testament Women Were Really Like, is not a biography. Rather, Phoebe is a representative of similar women in the New Testament period. This fascinating book, academically solid yet accessible to any interested readers, is an invitation to explore new understandings of the social realities of women, both named and unnamed, during this time. Additionally, it helps one reflect on what this means for interpreting the New Testament.

When reading the New Testament, we make a lot of assumptions. This is inevitable and necessary when reading regardless of what one reads; it is not unique to the Bible. The question is not does the reader bring assumptions to the text, but rather, what assumptions are made and why. Examining our presuppositions about women in the ancient Mediterranean world at the turn of the era is critical. It is commonly believed that women neither owned nor controlled property. Furthermore, they were excluded from civic life and/or leadership roles in churches, and they were not allowed to speak in public at all. While interpreting the New Testament, many people have brought these ideas to the text. Yet, are they accurately based on ancient evidence? Do they correspond to the cultural perspectives of ancient readers?

By carefully examining various types of evidence, Hylen provides a helpful social/ cultural context that allows readers to view women in the New Testament as its earliest readers would have. The following sentence epitomizes her nuanced approach: “Gendered inequalities affected women’s

lives, but they were not the whole story” (130). On every page of this book, readers will be surprised by the other part of the story—that women during the New Testament period received education, owned and utilized property, enjoyed substantial independence guaranteed by both law and custom, became patrons for individuals and society-at-large, and used their voices.

Additionally, some virtues that one might think exclusively feminine (e.g., modesty) were in fact civic virtues for both women and men. Yes, there were gendered inequalities, but many women negotiated social norms and exercised their agency in multiple ways. More importantly, this was not only true of a few exceptional women. This book is reader friendly. In each chapter, the author supplies vivid examples of social life through a lively story of a hypothetical Roman couple (Paula and Marcus) as well as through diverse literary works, papyri, and inscriptions from the ancient world. Study questions are also provided at the end of each chapter to help individuals and groups formulate further discussions. As Hylen notes, a single book does not lead to “widespread agreement about how to interpret New Testament texts that mention women—let alone about the roles women should play in churches today” (4). Rather, this book offers wonderful opportunities to renew our imagination (“History requires an act of imagination” [5]) in ways attentive to both ancient evidence and the role of readers. I invite all of you on this eye-opening journey to find Phoebe(s). v

Written by Dr. Donghyun Jeong, Assistant Professor of New Testament

class notes |

1960s

A new book by Warner Bailey (MDiv’64), Groaning: Sounds in Search of a Witness, has been published by Cascade Books. The publisher notes, “This book seeks a better understanding of this visceral reaction [to the murder of George Floyd], and its pastoral importance. In Lamentations 1, groaning plays a pivotal role, and a witness to groaning is indispensable to relief. Groans are sounds in search of such a witness.”

1980s

Karl-Heinz Schell (ecumenical student in 1979-80) retired from ministry in April with a celebration at St. Bartholomew Church where he has been serving in Hachenburg, Germany. One of his seminary friends, Robin S. Heckathorne (MDiv’83), flew in just for the occasion from his home in North Carolina. Karl says “the next step on my journey will provide me with more time and open range.”

James H. Hopper Jr. (MDiv’84) was honorably retired on October 1, 2022. At the time of retirement he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Clearfield, Pennsylvania. Prior to that he co-pastored churches with spouse, Kathleen Hopper (MDiv’84), in Texas (Haskell and Denison), Pinetop, Arizona; Rogers, Arkansas; and Danville, Illinois. Katie continues to serve as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. Jimmy also earned a DMin from McCormick Theological Seminary. In retirement, he plans to do parttime preaching/teaching, serving

presbytery, a little more golf and fly fishing, and visiting their two adult children.

1990s

Dan Fultz (MDiv’91) was honorably retired by Mission Presbytery on December 31, 2022.

Fran Shelton (MDiv’93, DMin’07) announces the publication of her new book, The Spirituality of Grief: Ten Practices for Those Who Remain (Broadleaf Publishing). A certified spiritual director, Fran says, “My book addresses the nature and dynamics of grief and provides a spiritual practice at the end of each chapter.” A book signing will be held in Austin at the Arboretum Barnes and Noble on June 3 at 11:00 a.m.

Since retirement, Linda Norris (MDiv’97) has served as parttime pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Texas.

2000s

Chris Johnson (MDiv’06) lives in Covington, Washington, and is working in the aerospace industry as a procurement manager in the Boeing supply chain.

Marta (Marty) Peña (MDiv’06) retired as an army chaplain. She was ordained in 2019 to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church Diocese of the Rio Grande under the Bishop of the Armed Forces. Marty notes, “I am currently on a journey with God to see where the next road will lead me.”

Aquanetta Hicks (MDiv’08) has accepted a position as a workforce chaplain at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas.

2010s

Sherry Kenney (CIM’19) serves as a certified financial planner, providing financial coaching to pastors and churches through the Presbyterian Foundation and New Covenant Trust Company.

Ordinations

Julia Burkley (MDiv’22) was ordained into the PC(USA) by Shenandoah Presbytery, August 14, 2022. She serves as associate pastor for Opequon Presbyterian Church in Winchester, Virginia.

Savannah Shivers (MDiv’22) was ordained into the PC(USA) by Mission Presbytery on February 25, 2023. She serves as a Dickson Pastoral Resident at Northridge Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas.

Milestones

Ordained fifty years Woody Anderson (MDiv’72, DMin’97)

John Strange (MDiv’73)

In memoriam

Otis Moore (MDiv’53), November 23, 2022, Kerrville, Texas

Robert A. Pitmas (MDiv’53), June 14, 2022, San Mateo, California

Robert R. Shepperson (MDiv’54, ThM’61, DMin’81), January 30, 2023, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Jerry R. Tompkins (Diploma’55), December 19, 2022, Austin, Texas

Wayne A. Meeks (MDiv’56), January 20, 2023, Hamden, Connecticut

Robert H. Leslie Jr. (MDiv’59), March 13, 2022, Cedar Park, Texas

Henry O. Freund (MDiv’59), May 29, 2022, Dyersburg, Tennessee

David Sebesta (MDiv’59, ThM’66, DMin’84), January 20, 2023, Seguin, Texas

Thomas Kenneth McElhinney (MDiv’60), August 23, 2022, Silver Spring, Maryland

William Van Loan (MDiv’65), July 21, 2021, Pasadena, California

Don G. Sheperd (Cert’66), May 15, 2021, Albuquerque, New Mexico

John T. Camp (MDiv’69), February 13, 2023, Alamogordo, New Mexico

Ray A. King (ThM’71), December 2022, Highlands, North Carolina

Susan Z. Trei-Conrad (MDiv’92), January 31, 2023, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Marti Stratton (MDiv’01), Nov. 1, 2022, San Antonio, Texas

Chris B. Harper (MDiv’05), December 28, 2022, Castle Rock, Colorado

Kerry K. Westerwick (MDiv’06) January 25, 2023, Wewahitchka, Florida

Adam T. Carrington (MATS’08), January 26, 2023, Corpus Christi, Texas

F. Daniel Cross (MATS’08), February 12, 2021, Huntsville, Texas

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Professor Asante

Todd is featured on Episode 7 of “Insights: the Podcast.” Scan the code above to access.

Austin Seminary Association 2023 Award for Service

Nancy McCranie honored by the ASA

The 2023 Alumni Service Award was presented to The Reverend Nancy Chester McCranie (MDiv’87) during the Alumni Luncheon following MidWinter Lectures on January 25.

After graduation from Austin Seminary in 1987, McCranie was ordained in the PC(USA) and served a congregation in Louisiana before joining Hospice Austin in 1996. Seminary classmate Sallie Watson says, “Nancy’s work there has been stunning. She has worked with countless individuals and their families in the last weeks of their loved ones’ lives … The jewel in her crown has been her ministry with Camp Braveheart for twenty-five years. She founded the camp for bereaved children to give them a chance to experience not only the healing beauty of nature and the presence of God, but also the companionship of other children who have experiences similar to their own.”

From 2003 to 2008 Nancy served as the director of professional development at Austin Seminary. Through that work she helped shape our College of Pastoral Leaders. She is grateful for that work and says, “I was on the road all over the country and I met so many great friends as I worked

with cohort groups.”

She has served as the director of Volunteer and Bereavement Services at Hospice Austin since 2009, coordinating staff and two hundred volunteers in direct patient care and bereavement, administrative support, and special events. She is also a frequent speaker for area groups, leading discussions about end-of-life issues and the process of grieving a loss.

In her spare time, McCranie serves as chair of the Clinical Pastoral Education Committee at The Seton Family of Hospitals and alongside Rev. Amy Meyer (MDiv’06). produces a podcast and serves as parish associate for First Presbyterian Church in Elgin. She serves as Mission Presbytery’s moderator and 2023 chair of General Council. Nancy’s father, Ray Chester (DMin’77), was one of Austin Seminary’s first doctor of ministry students, and her mother, Fern Chester, served at the Seminary for many years as an assistant to the continuing education and DMin programs. Nancy is married to Bill, an organic/bio-dynamic farmer and rancher who raises blueberries and beef. They have two sons, three dogs, two cats, and a donkey named Jennifer.

– Gary Mathews, director of alumni relations

Above: Bill and Nancy McCranie; below: friend and classmate Candy Cubbage (MDiv’89) presented the award to Nancy at the Alumni Luncheon following MidWinters.

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Much of the content from our 2023 MidWinters—lecture and sermon videos—can be enjoyed in our digital archives (search “2023 MidWinters”) or scan the code to the left.

2023 MidWinter Lectures