05234
May 3, 2005   

Notes about people 

by the Presbyterian News Service

     Associated Church Press, founded in 1916, is North America's oldest religious press association. It has nearly 200 member publications. Van Marter has been a member of its board of directors for six years.

Van Marter

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     Kristin Johnson, a third-year M.Div. student at Gordon Conwell Seminary and a 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 has taught English in the Bronx, and has been on the faculties of the Savannah College of Art and Design and Boston University.  

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     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.
 

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     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

     APCU is an independent not-for-profit organization of 61colleges and universities affiliated with the PC(USA). The

               Mann

Tracy

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     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.

                                                                 
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     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.

     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.

Stimson

     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.