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[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8724 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05234
May 3, 2005

Notes about people

by the Presbyterian News Service

	The Rev. Jerry Van Marter, coordinator of the Presbyterian News
Service, was elected president of Associated Church Press (ACP) on April 26
during the organization's annual convention in Nashville, TN. Van Marter, who
has been with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s official news agency since
1988, will serve a two-year term.

	Associated Church Press, founded in 1916, is the oldest religious
press association in North America. It has nearly 200 member publications,
print and electronic. Van Marter has served on its board of directors for six
years.

# # #

	Kristin Johnson, a third-year M.Div. student at Gordon Conwell
Seminary and recipient of a Lydia Scholarship from the Network of
Presbyterian Women in Leadership (NPWL), has been named executive director of
OnebyOne.
  
	Johnson, a graduate of Anderson University (B.A.) and Columbia
University (M.A.), has served with the Peace Corps in Albania, Uzbekistan and
Kazakstan. She also has taught English in the Bronx, and has been on the
faculties of the Savannah College of Art and Design and Boston University.
  
	OnebyOne is a renewal group within the PC(USA) whose mission is "to
equip and educate the church to minister the transforming grace and power of
the Lord Jesus Christ to those who are in conflict with their sexuality."

# # #

	John Bell, a member of Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington,
DE, an inquirer in New Castle Presbytery, has received the first Spirit of
Service Award presented by the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA.

	Bell, a sophomore, was honored for his volunteer work, primarily for
hunger alleviation and awareness. He volunteers weekly at the Helping Hands
Food Pantry, and is a co-president of the Hunger Awareness Task Force, for
which he has organized Hunger Awareness Week, Night in a Box Concert and
Sleepout, and Foods of all Nations. He also participated in the Service
Leaders Corps and coordinated a campus-wide recycling day. And he plans
worship services at local senior centers. 

# # #

	G. Thomas Mann, president of Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, WV,
was elected chair of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and
Universities (APCU) for 2005-2006 during the association's recent annual
meeting. Saundra J. Tracy, president of Alma College in Alma, MI, was elected
vice chair/chair-elect. 

	APCU is an independent not-for-profit organization of 61 colleges and
universities affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The association
exists to promote these institutions and to advocate the mission of higher
education in the Reformed tradition, to strengthen the relationship of member
colleges with the PC(USA) and to be a resource to member college presidents
and their staff. Its executive director is Gary Luhr.

# # #

	The Rev. Deborah Fortel has been named associate for ministry support
in the Ministries of Leadership and Vocation department of the National
Ministries Division in Louisville. 

	In her new work, Fortel will provide resources and training for
committees on ministry (COMs), and resources and support for clergy and
commissioned lay pastors. The Ministry Support office also provides
resources, consultation and training related to ministry development.
 
	Fortel has served pastorates in Missouri, Minnesota and Kentucky,
most recently as interim pastor of Buechel Presbyterian Church in Louisville.

# # #

	The Rev. Paul McClanahan, who was raised in Egypt by Presbyterian
missionary parents, then served as a PC(USA) missionary in Egypt for almost
30 years, died on April 27 at a hospice in Lakeland, FL.

	After growing up in Luxor, Egypt, McClanahan graduated from the
College of Wooster in Ohio and Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Returning to Egypt, he was president of Assyut College from the mid-1940s
until 1968. He then served as a professor at Monmouth (NJ) College until his
retirement in the late 1970s.

	He is survived by his wife, Ruth, and four children. A memorial
service was held in Lakeland on April 30.

# # #

	Two Presbyterians won awards recently in a media competition
sponsored by the Religion Communicators Council.
 
	Anitra Kitts Rasmussen of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians won
an award of excellence (first place) for the video, Turning Points: Stories
of Change and Transformation in the Church.
 
	Eva G. Stimson, editor of Presbyterians Today magazine, won an award
of merit (second place) for her August 2004 story, "Generous Givers."

# # #

	The Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC) recently announced that
acclaimed Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann has been named editor of a new
commentary series, The Old Testament...for Everyone. The series will follow
the style and format of PPC's best-selling The New Testament...for Everyone,
published by Westminster John Knox.

	Eighteen volumes are planned, the first to be published in 2008. In
addition to editing the series, Brueggemann ? a retired professor at Columbia
Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA ? will write the two-volume commentary on
Genesis. The commentaries will be aimed primarily at lay people and students.

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