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[PCUSANEWS] NOTES ABOUT PEOPLE


From PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>
Date Wed, 24 Mar 2004 13:14:42 -0600

Note #8173 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Notes about people
04145
March 24, 2004

NOTES ABOUT PEOPLE

by Jerry L. Van Marter

On April 16, Wrangell First Presbyterian Church in Alaska will celebrate its
125th anniversary during the spring meeting of Alaska Presbytery.

Wrangell, founded by legendary Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson and
Amanda McFarland, the widow of another Presbyterian missionary, was the first
Protestant and Presbyterian Church in the Alaska Territory. It was chartered
on Aug. 3, 1879, with the Rev. S. Hall Young as pastor.

The celebration will include a dramatic presentation depicting the founding
pioneers and Klah, a native Alaskan who worked in the community before the
church was founded, and John Muir, the West Coast explorer, a friend of
Young's. The keynote speaker will be the Rev. Walter Soboleff, a Presbyterian
minister and Tlingit (native Alaskan) leader.

Send greetings to First Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 439, Wrangell, AK
99929.

# # #

The Rev. Bill Teng, a native of Hong Kong and a fourth-generation
Presbyterian minister, has become the moderator of National Capital
Presbytery.

Teng has been the pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, VA,
since 2001. He is a former pastor of Union Church in Hong Kong and of Chinese
Community Church in Washington, DC.

# # #

Barbara P. McNew , a former teacher, computer graphic designer and printing
company owner, has joined the staff of PresbyTel, the Presbyterian Church
(USA)'s toll-free telephone information service, as a telephone consultant.

McNew is a member of Central Presbyterian Church in Louisville.

# # #

The Church at the Center, an innovative congregation for young adults that
worships in a refurbished movie theater in downtown Seattle, has called the
Rev. James Kearny as its second pastor. He began his ministry there in
November and was installed on Feb. 22.

Randy Rowland , the founding pastor, has renounced the jurisdiction of the
PC(USA).

Rowland pleaded guilty last September on charges of (non-sexual) abuse of
pastoral power and breaching the confidentiality of congregants and staff. He
chose to leave the denomination rather than pursue Seattle Presbytery's
prescribed course of rehabilitation.

# # #

Seminole and Creek Presbyterians will hold a dinner program on April 3 to
celebrate the legacy of Dorsey Fife, a founder of historic Wewoka
Presbyterian Church in Indian Nations Presbytery. The event will take place
at Achena (OK) Presbyterian Church, with participants coming from as far away
as Florida.

Fife, who was born in 1838 and died in 1930, lived for his entire life in the
Indian Territory of Oklahoma. He was educated in Presbyterian mission schools
and ordained in 1868. He served several churches in the Indian Territory,
including Wewoka, which he helped found in 1898. He is buried on the grounds
of the Achena church.

# # #

Congregational Ministries Publishing, part of the Congregational Ministries
Division in Louisville, has announced that Candace C. Hill has been appointed
associate for Presbyterians Organized in Nurture and Teaching (POINT).

Hill, a former schoolteacher, has devoted the past 25 years to Christian
education. She was previously the POINT representative for Blackhawk
Presbytery in Illinois. She also served as a Christian educator in Pittsburgh
and Murrysville, PA. She begins her new work March 29.

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