St. John's Lutheran Church 2016 Church Council Nominees Thea Peterson Thea Peterson has been a member of St. John’s since 1978, and prior to, that had been a member at St. Mark’s Lutheran in San Francisco. She is married to Owen, and they have two daughters. Mary Elizabeth and her husband, Daniel, live in Fountain City, and Heather and her husband, Jamie, live in Atlanta. Thea began working for the Lutheran Church of America as a Lay Associate in Lamont, California, working with Spanish speaking migrant workers. After three years and a move to San Francisco, she worked for Old First Presbyterian Church as the Church Administrator. After taking a few years off to raise her daughters, she became Executive Director of the Knoxville Inner City Churches United for People, a group of twelve downtown churches that collaborated on ministry projects. During those years, she was involved with the refugee settlement of the Bravo family where she served as their main translator. She taught Sunday School for many years with Konnie Anderson and Anita Barker. From 1998 to 2012, she served on St. John’s staff with primary responsibilities in the areas of outreach ministry and visitor and new member involvement and care. In 2008, Thea became the director of Kids Hope USA for Saint John’s. Thea would like to see St. John’s continue its many outreach ministries and is especially proud of the fact that everyone is welcome at St. John’s. She is passionate about outreach ministries and care of our members. While in San Francisco, Thea served on the church council and was president of the congregation. She feels her past experience in ministry will be most helpful in serving on the St. John’s Church Council.
Deaver Shattuck Deaver Shattuck and his family are new members of St. John’s Lutheran Church. Before joining this congregation, he was a member at Calvary Baptist Church and had been a long time visitor at Bearden Central Baptist of Bearden and Church of the Savior. He has been married to Dr. Christie Peace for 24 years, and they have 5 children: Alan, 21, who attends The University of the South in preparation to go on to MHA/MBA school; Raney, 21, who is finishing course work at Barnard College at Columbia University in New York and hopes to go on to law school; Reed, 19, who is still deciding his future plans; Kylie, 14, who is a freshman at West High; and Grace, 9, who is at Sequoyah Elementary. He is a physician at Blount Memorial Hospital where he owns and manages the Hospitalist group. He also co-owns one of the largest private geriatric groups in the South, Blount Senior Care Partners, as well as a billing and consulting firm, Synergy Consulting Services. Blount Memorial has largely captured his volunteer time; he has served as chief of the medical staff and chair of many committees, and among several current assignments, is medical director of the stroke program and the clinical documentation project. He has spoken at scores of roundtables, conferences, symposia, and community functions, as well as coached over a dozen youth soccer, basketball, and football teams. The many medical, business and service leadership roles that God has placed him in have built upon one another, and he believes each experience has prepared him in ways he had not really intended for his service on church council. He is humbled at the opportunity to serve at St. John’s and excited for what God has in store next. He sees the pivotal role the church has played in the mission district and the unique opportunity we have to minister to and be an example to our larger community in service to those less fortunate than we are. He hopes he can help St. John’s grow its membership, especially with new families, continue and grow its amazing outreach, and seek new venues for reflecting Christ’s light in our community.
St. John's Lutheran Church 2016 Church Council Nominees John Rice John Rice has attended St. John’s for two years and joined the church in February 2015. He was raised in the Presbyterian Church and has made his home in the Lutheran tradition as a beloved child of God. John is a South Carolina native and a graduate of Clemson University. His parents, two brothers, and sister remain in Upstate South Carolina. John moved to Knoxville in 2009 to attend law school, and he is now an attorney with Elmore, Stone & Caffey, PLLC, where he primarily practices in the areas of business and commercial litigation. He holds leadership positions in local, state, and national bar associations and has been actively engaged in the Knoxville community. He is excited about opportunities to help St. John’s continue in its mission to be a Christ-centered and engaged congregation, dedicated to showing God’s peace and love to its members, neighbors, and community.
Ashton Roberts, Ashton Roberts along with his wife, Jennifer, and son, Zion, have been members at St. John's since 2007. They come from Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Johnson City, whose pastor, Jim Nipper, married Ashton and Jennifer at St. John's and where Zion was baptized. Ashton is a certified pharmacy technician at Parkwest Medical Center where he works in the ER, helping patients to accurately relay their at-home medications to the attending physicians; he is able to faithfully use his Stephen Ministry training, providing a compassionate presence to patients and families in a time of anxiety and distress. Ashton has led the Fellowship Class on a number of occasions, responding to the call for more theological education by writing the “Why I'm a Lutheran” curriculum. Additionally, Ashton served on the Vision 2020 team. Ashton recently completed his degree at Carson Newman University in Organizational Leadership. Both he and Jennifer are discerning calls to ordained ministry in the ELCA and will be interviewing with the Candidacy committee in February. They are excited about the ministry plans God has for them. He looks forward to this opportunity to serve both God and the congregation on the Church Council.