Two new co-chairs have agreed to serve and were duly elected at the April 2006 Steering Committee meeting in Naples, Florida: Joanna Adams from Atlanta, Georgia, and David Peterson from Houston, Texas.

Joanna Adams

Joanna Adams is a preacher, pastor, teacher and is known for building bridges of understanding in both the community and in the church. She has served as pastor of five Presbyterian congregations, including Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, which was, during her eleven years there, the country’s largest Presbyterian Church to have a woman as senior pastor. She also served two other Atlanta congregations — Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta, where she was instrumental in beginning a ministry to the homeless, and North Decatur Presbyterian Church. She was for two years co-pastor of Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church and is currently pastor of Morningside Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

A graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary, the Rev. Adams holds an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Davidson College and was awarded an Alumni Association Medal of Honor from Emory University. She received the Rox Penso Cohen Community Action Award from the National Council of Jewish Women and the Woman of Achievement Award from Atlanta’s YWCA.

She currently serves as a trustee of the Presbyterian Church Foundation and as Major Gifts chair of the Joining Hearts and Hands Mission Initiative of the PC(USA). Formerly, she was a trustee of Agnes Scott College, chair of the Board of Trustees for Columbia Theological Seminary, an editor-at-large for Presbyterian Outlook and co-moderator of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians. She is nationally recognized for her preaching and writing skills, with more than thirty chapters, articles and sermons published in various religious publications and books that collect great and noteworthy sermons or advice to young preachers. In 2005, she preached at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., in celebration of Georgia Day.

The Rev. Adams has served on numerous boards in Atlanta, as president of the YWCA, as founding president of The Georgia Committee for Religious Liberty as founding president of Our House Day Shelter for Homeless Children and as president of the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta. She was founding chair of the Atlanta Area Task Force on Homelessness, served on the board of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and chaired the Atlanta board of the Corporation for Supportive Housing.

She and her husband of forty years, attorney Alfred B. Adams, have a daughter, a son and two grandchildren.

David Peterson

David Arthur Peterson was born in Pendleton, Oregon, June 26, 1947, to the Reverend Donald Peterson and his wife, Eleanor.  Shortly thereafter, the family moved to the Portland area where he attended Lake Oswego Public High School and Lewis and Clark College.

After receiving his M.Div. from San Francisco Theological Seminary, Peterson was ordained in the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in 1972.  He has been active both in the denomination and in the local communities in which he has lived and served.  He has served or is presently serving on boards of these organizations:

• Whitworth College
• San Francisco Theological Seminary
• Houston Christian High School
• The Institute of Religion and Health
• The Presbyterian Coalition

The Rev. Peterson, who holds a D.Min. from Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Mich., has authored magazine articles; been featured on “Preaching today” and “Water and Wine,” radio devotional messages which target top-rated secular radio and television stations for 45-second reflections on the Christian life; and has been a preacher to the NFL Houston Texans.

During high school, the Rev. Peterson met his future wife, Terri Rock, and they married soon after they graduated from college.  Terri is an experienced teacher with a master’s degree in educational administration.  While living in Spokane, Terri was facilitator in the Learning Assistance Program of the Spokane Public School District, and in Houston she is a teacher trainer in the Spring Branch Independent School District.

The list of members of the Mission Initiative Steering Committee reads like a Who's Who in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We are thankful to God that the following people feel called to this service:

• Joanna Adams, Committee Co-Chair, Atlanta, Ga. (See bio above.)
• Carol Adcock, Fort Worth, Texas
• Youngil Cho, Raleigh, N.C.
• Melva Costen, Atlanta, Ga.
• Erin Cox-Holmes, Yatesboro, Pa.
• Fred Denson, Webster, N.Y.
• Janet DeVries, Tucson, Ariz.
• Chuck Ford, Huntington Beach, Calif.
• Thomas Gillespie, Honorary Campaign Chair, Princeton, N.J.
• Tim Hart-Andersen, Minneapolis, Minn.
• John Huffman, Jr., Newport Beach, Calif.
• Robert Leech, Jeffersonville, Ind.
• Manley Olson, St. Paul, Minn.
• David Peterson, Committee Co-Chair, Houston, Texas (See bio above.)
• Al Puryear, Elder, Williamsburg, Va.
• Allison Seed, Lee's Summit, Mo.
• Tom Taylor, Louisville, Ky.
• Linda Bryant Valentine, Louisville, Ky.
• Edmundo Vasquez, Albuquerque, N.M.
  
• John Williams, Overland Park, Kan.

Two outstanding co-chairs served the Steering Committee since the Mission Initiative's inception in 2002. They resigned their posts in April 2006 to allow for new leadership in the campaign's final phase: Lucimarian Roberts from Biloxi, Mississippi, and Bill Saul from Long Beach, California.

Lucimarian Tolliver Roberts

Biloxi, Mississippi

Lucimarian Roberts attended high school in Akron, Ohio, and received a B.S. degree in psychology from Howard University. She has also studied at Trenton State College, Tuskegee Institute and the University of Southern Mississippi. Mrs. Roberts is married to retired Air Force Colonel Lawrence Roberts, and they have four children. [Read more]

Bill Saul

Long Beach, California

Bill Saul was born and raised in Oklahoma. He attended high school in Kansas and college at Pratt Junior College and McPherson College in Kansas, Wayne State University in Michigan and Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania. He and his wife Marilyn have two sons. He has been in the automobile industry most of his adult life. He was in partnership with his sons in five dealerships and is currently a consultant to dealers. Mr. Saul served on the board of directors of the California Motor Car Dealers Association and as president of the Southern California Chevrolet Dealers Association. [Read more]

Resolution of Thanks for Lucimarian's and Bill's leadership

At its meeting on April 19, 2006, the Steering Committee of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands passed the following resolution:

We give thanks to God for the leadership of Lucimarian Roberts and Bill Saul as Co-Moderators of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands.  Through their efforts the mission of Jesus Christ has been greatly advanced. [Read more]