Alumni Magazine - Class Notes

LUCAS ’05 and JENELLE (VAQUE) ’06 FERRER

ALAN ’16 and VICTORIA (BARDEGA) ’17 SHEPPARD

IN THE LIVES OF SEU ALUMNI

CHRISTINA SARA ’12

RON ROBBINS ’74

1960 ___________________________

DAWN (VOELKER) MOORE taught elementary school for 28 years before retiring. She lives in an independent living facility and is an ambassador helping other residents transition into the facility.

1971 ___________________________ PAUL HARRUP served as a pastor from 1971 until 2016 when he retired.

1972 ___________________________

CAROLYN (MORGAN) GRIFFIN is a retired church bookkeeper. She and her family now live in Ocala, Fla.

1974 ___________________________ CHARLES HILL does ministry alongside his son, co-pastoring together in Ocala, Fla.

RON ROBBINS received an academic scholarship to attend the University of South Carolina School of Law after graduating from Southeastern. He practiced law for more than 30 years. He has a law office in Landrum, S.C., and owns The Millstone Gallery, a gallery

TERRY BROOKS ’86

specializing in fine arts, fine crafts and woodwork.

1976 ___________________________

ALBERT and REBECCA (CROSS) ’78 VEALEY are retired from church ministry and now live in Quincy, Fla. They enjoy spending time with their three grandchildren.

1978 ___________________________

JEFFREY and TERESA (COOK) ULMER served as lead pastors of New Life Family Church for 20 years in Biloxi, Miss., before stepping down. Their son, Jeremy, and his wife, Kasie, assumed the lead pastor roles, and their daughter, Holly, is the ministry coordinator. They have five grandchildren.

1980 ___________________________

MARILYN (RETTIG) HANDY and her husband, Clarence, attend First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks, Fla.

1982 ___________________________ DEAN ELLIOTT has served as a missionary to southern Asia for the past 28 years. He and his wife, BRENDA, and their two children, Nathan and Lauren, live in Grand Rapids, Mich. Dean spends a lot of his time in India preaching in churches and across the U.S. speaking at missions conventions.

1984 ___________________________

EMMANUEL (ANAYO) ENUJIOKE completed marathons in all 50 states and six world marathons. After running the Antarctica Marathon in March of 2020, he earned a medal for completing a marathon in all seven continents. He currently works as an academic librarian at West Georgia Technical College.

1985 ___________________________

MADALINE (ALEXANDER) BRANUM and her husband, Gerald, serve in Europe with the Assemblies of God World Missions. 1986 ___________________________

TERRY (TEZ) BROOKS and his wife, Christine, live in Colorado Springs, Colo., with their children. Terry served as a youth pastor and then as a creative arts director at a Florida church before pursuing a career in law enforcement. In 2002, he became a missionary with Cru and lived overseas. He is now an author, screenwriter and international speaker.

ALBERT SKINNER ’86

He and his wife serve as missionaries with JesusFilm.org using film as a tool to share the gospel with unreached people.

ALBERT SKINNER and his wife, Marie, are Assemblies of God missionaries to Native American Indians. They also serve as the national directors for the Christmas Stocking Project for the Native American Indian children. The Skinners are working on building the first Native American Indian Church in Alabama.

1987 ___________________________

DR. MARISOL PELTZER wrote the book “Honoring God with Our Lips and Not Our Hearts.” She is working with the Los Angeles Educational Partnership in Los Angeles, Calif.

1989 ___________________________

JEFFREY BROOKS ’19 (MS) is a retired Army chaplain, ordained minister and the author of “Resting in God’s Shadow: Encouragement for Military Boot Camp”. He completed his undergraduate studies at Southeastern in 1989, completed his graduate degree from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in 1998, and completed Southeastern’s master of science in professional counseling degree this past

ALLEN GRIFFIN ’94, ’14

December. Jeffrey is now a registered mental health counselor intern in Winter Haven, Fla.

1990 ___________________________ ROGER MYERS currently pastors Bayou Harvest Assembly of God in Plaquemine, La. After 28 years of foreign missions service in Belgium and France, he served as the president of the Southern Arizona Business Coalition (SABC) in Arizona and upon returning to the U.S., served at the American Indian College (AIC) in Phoenix, Ariz., for two years. After retiring from missionary service, he served as one of the founders and the academic dean of the Louisiana School of Ministry for seven years.

1991 ___________________________

JOHNNY PHILLIPS, JR., works alongside two other pastors to pastor six United Methodist churches in the upper Sandusky, Ohio, area.

1992 ___________________________

KIMBERLY (SCOTT) HEGLUND has been married to Jeff for 27 years and she assists him in ministry as a youth and associate pastor. She also teaches high

JEREMY STEFFENS ’95

school English at their church. They have two daughters, Hailey and Hope, who are both married and are elementary school teachers.

1994 ___________________________

ALLEN GRIFFIN ’14 (MA) is an itinerant evangelist and motivational speaker. Allen founded Excellerate, a national foster youth development program that empowers foster teens to live in victory through education, discipleship, mentoring and the gift of a free car.

TRACY LEWIS is a world history professor at Tulsa Community College in Oklahoma. She also teaches high school English and U.S. history at the secondlargest Christian school in Oklahoma. Tracy recently finished her fourth book, “Into the Wilderness: A Journey of Faith.”

STACY TEEL is working towards a master’s degree in higher education with an emphasis in student affairs at Tarleton State University.

1995 ___________________________ JEREMY STEFFENS has been serving as the global vice president (COO) of global brand and communications at

RODHAM RUST ’97

the International Justice Mission (IJM) in Washington D.C., since 2017. Jeremy leads the marketing and corporate communications teams in IJM’s 29 offices around the world.

1997 ___________________________ RODHAM RUST teaches adaptive behavior at Tomball Memorial High School in Tomball, Texas, and is a theology graduate student at Colorado Christian University. He is engaged to Inessa.

1999 ___________________________

JAMES CENCEBAUGH pastored four different churches over the past 15 years and planted a new church in Bradenton, Fla., in September of 2019.

2001 ___________________________

ANDREA EVANS ’11 (ME) is living in Dothan, Ala., where she serves as the program coordinator for the Special Programming for Achievement Network (SPAN) of Houston County, a GED rep program for juvenile offenders and atrisk youth. Her program was recently honored as the 2019 Agency of the Year by the Houston County Association of Service Agencies.

JAMES CENCEBAUGH ’99

2005 ___________________________

LUCAS and JENELLE (VAQUE) ’06 FERRER had their daughter Eliana Joy in September of 2019.

JAY and STEPHANIE (KARALUNAS) ’06 WORTH served as youth pastors in the Pennsylvania-Delaware District of the Assemblies of God for 10 years and then became missionary associates with Assemblies of God World Missions. They will be working with young adults and university students in Padova, Italy.

2007 ___________________________

ELIZABETH LANE won “Public Citizen of the Year” from the National Association of Social Workers Florida chapter in 2019. This award recognizes an individual, who is not a social worker, who exemplifies the values and ethics of the social work profession and demonstrates leadership. She currently serves as the coordinator of student services for the School District of Osceola County, Fla.

2009 ___________________________

JEFF SAGER (MBA) married Jacqueline in June of 2018. He works as a bookkeeper at The Air Doctor in

ANDREA EVANS ’01, ’11

Greenville, N.C. They attend Goldsboro Worship Center in Goldsboro, N.C.

2011 ___________________________

ULYSSES KING, JR., is the pastor of Memorial Tabernacle Church in Oakland, Calif. He is married to Tiffany and has authored a memoir.

TIM MAUTZ serves as the deputy emergency preparedness coordinator for Wayne County, Mich., in the Public Health Division. He played a key role in the COVID-19 outbreak response efforts for Michigan’s largest county. He is also an active member of Brightmoor Christian Church in Novi, Mich.

2012 ___________________________

MATTHEW and KASSANDRA (O’CONNOR) HOAG became the Assemblies of God South Carolina District youth directors in February. Previously, they pastored Lake Wylie Christian in Lake Wylie, S.C., for the past seven years. They have a two-yearold son, Luke, and are expecting a second child in August.

CHRISTINA SARA works in the audiovisual industry as a staff instructor at the Audiovisual and Integrated

ULYSSES KING, JR. ’11

MATTHEW and KASSANDRA (O’CONNOR) HOAG ’12

BRIGIDA WALKIN ’13, ’15

PETER ’14 and KATHERINE (CHILDS) ’13 BIGELOW

Experience Association (AVIXA). AVIXA hosts several yearly trade show conferences, including InfoComm, where attendees can receive specialized training in all types of fields within the AV industry. Chrissy travels the world teaching industry types on AVIXA’s certification program, the Certified Technology Specialist. She has maintained her hobby of horseback riding and regularly finds time to enjoy the outdoor life.

CHRIS THORNHILL works for Thrivent in St. Petersburg, Fla., as a financial advisor. He helps people make wise financial decisions and live generously combining faith and finances for good.

2013 ___________________________

BRIGIDA WALKIN ’15 (MS) was accepted to continue her research on adolescent and young adult mental health as a graduate student at King’s College London.

2014 ___________________________

PETER and KATHERINE (CHILDS) ’13 BIGELOW live in the Newark, N.J., area. Peter is currently clerking for a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the third Circuit and is an adjunct professor for Southeastern’s College of Unrestricted Education teaching essentials of business law. Katherine, a CPA, is currently staying at home with their one-year-old daughter, Caroline. The Bigelows plan to move back to Florida in the fall after Peter’s clerkship is completed.

RACHAEL (NEAL) POTGIETER married Myles in December of 2019. They will be moving to New Zealand where Myles will pursue mining and Rachael will take an administrative position with Overland Missions.

HANK TAYLOR ’16 (MBA) works with Orlando City as a sports announcer for the Orlando Pride women’s professional soccer team. He is going on his third season of announcing for the Lakeland Magic basketball team. Hank also serves as the connections minister at Foundry Church in Winter Springs, Fla.

PHILIP and JANAE (MUCKLE) TULL live in Virginia Beach, Va., and work as bivocational campus pastors at Lifehouse Virginia Beach. Janae teaches math at Old Dominion University and Phil works for his family’s financial firm, Tull Financial Group. 2015 ___________________________

RYLAN CICCARELLO was accepted as a psychiatry resident at North Florida Regional Medical Center in Gainesville, Fla., and will be working for the University of Central Florida.

2016 ___________________________

ELIZABETH (EARLEY) FROST currently teaches choir, speech, theatre and English at Gateway Christian Academy in Lake Magdalene, Fla. She has been a member of the Tampa Oratorio Singers for four years and a member of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay for three years. She was also accepted into the chorus for Andrea Bocelli.

JESSICA KURBATOV ’18 (MBA) works as the administrative operations coordinator for 6AM City in Lakeland, Fla.

JOSE QUILES MARTIN graduated this past summer from Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University with his master’s in business administration with a specialization in marketing.

BRETT RUPP is a branch manager at MidFlorida Credit Union in Lakeland, Fla.

RACHAEL (NEAL) POTGIETER ’14

ELIZABETH (EARLEY) FROST ’16

JESSICA KURBATOV ’16, ’18

JOSE QUILES MARTIN ’16

MATTHEW ’17 AND STEPHANIE (SISK) ’15 CUMMISKEY

CHRISTOPHER INTOPPA ’17, ’19

SYMANTHA (DUNCAN) ANDERSON ’18

MEGHAN (REIBLING) HUFF ’18, ’20

JEREMY ’18 and ISABELLA (FRAZIER) ’19 REYES

SEND US YOUR CLASS NOTES All submissions due by November 16, 2020, for the next issue. | Email: alumni@seu.edu | Submit online at SEU.edu/alumni Mail to: University Advancement | Southeastern University | 1000 Longfellow Blvd., Lakeland, FL 33801

CHARITY BELL ’19

ALAN and VICTORIA (BARDEGA) ’17 SHEPPARD got married in December of 2019. Victoria currently works at Southeastern as the social media strategist and Alan serves as the youth and young adults pastor at Life Church in Auburndale, Fla.

2017 ___________________________

MATTHEW and STEPHANIE (SISK) ’15 CUMMISKEY got married in December of 2019. They both work at Southeastern. Matthew is an extension site enrollment counselor and Stephanie is the associate director of admission.

CHRISTOPHER INTOPPA ’19 (MBA) is the sports information director for the Montreat College Cavaliers in Montreat, N.C.

BRITTANY (BIRDSALL) LEWIS teaches sixth- and seventh-grade math at Heron Creek Middle School in North Port, Fla. In December, she graduated with her master’s degree in administration from the University of Florida and is currently pursuing a doctorate in higher education. She married Joshua in 2019.

2018 ___________________________

SYMANTHA (DUNCAN) ANDERSON married Jordan in March of 2020 and she currently teaches voluntary prekindergarten.

BENJAMIN PEACOCK ’19

MEGHAN (REIBLING) HUFF ’20 (MS) married her husband, Alex, in December of 2019. She recently graduated from Southeastern with a master’s in professional counseling with a concentration in marriage and family counseling.

JEREMY and ISABELLA (FRAZIER) ’19 REYES got married in January of 2020. Isabella is the graduate assistant for the Office of University Advancement at Southeastern and Jeremy is the founder of Brandspark Creative and Brandspark Leads, two local marketing companies.

BRITNEY WILLIAMS works for a nonprofit as a therapist for at-risk adolescent girls. She recently passed her license exam to become a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) and will be applying to Ph.D. programs in the fall.

2019 ___________________________ CHARITY BELL started a position as a multimedia journalist at WGEM in Quincy, Ill., in February of 2020. In her free time, Charity loves making YouTube videos on “Chit Chats with Charity,” where she offers encouragement and makes videos with her family.

BENOIT DUHAMEL (MS) works as a marriage and family therapist at Family Life Counseling Center in Clermont, Fla.

ELYSE (SERRANO) WITTLINGER ’19

KATHERINE GRAY is a program manager for traditional foster care at Youthnet, a non-profit care organization in Mount Vernon, Wash.

ERIN LEHR is a residential direct care worker with Teen Challenge, Lakeland Girls Academy in Lakeland, Fla. She works with teenage girls and sees them transform into young women for God.

BENJAMIN PEACOCK is a full-time associate youth pastor at Victory Church in Lakeland, Fla. He assists the senior youth pastor, leads worship, preaches, writes curriculum, facilitates the Fine Arts ministry and performs administrative duties. He has plans to pursue his Master of Divinity at Southeastern in 2021. He will also be competing on the Hulbert Homes triathlon team.

ELYSE (SERRANO) WITTLINGER works as an assurance associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. She married her high school sweetheart, Luke, in November of 2019, and they live in Buffalo, N.Y.

2020 ___________________________

KIRSTEN SUTHERLAND was accepted into Palmer Chiropractic School in Port Orange, Fla., and will begin her program in October 2020.