08196
March 12, 2008

Notes about people

by Jerry Van Marter
Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. John L. Williams

OVERLAND PARK, KS — The Rev. John L. Williams — a Leap Year baby — retired as executive of the Synod of Mid-America on his 17th birthday, Feb. 29.

Williams, 69, has guided the synod, which covers Kansas, Missouri and a small portion of Illinois, for 22 years. He came to the Midwest after serving presbyteries in Alabama and Louisiana. In that time he has been active at local, regional and national levels of the Presbyterian Church. He is currently a member of the national steering committee for the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands campaign.

A Houston native, Williams graduated from Davidson (NC) College and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Upon ordination in 1965, he spent a year studying in Germany, then returned to Texas for two pastorates in Silsbee and Beaumont. He then earned a D.Min. from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, and embarked on a career as a middle governing body executive.

Williams has already announced his intention to flunk retirement. “I have never believed that the call to be synod executive would be my last call in the PCUSA,” he said. “I continue to be interested in a ‘big picture’ look at the Church, in visioning toward the future of the Church, in how one leads the Church in chaotic times, and a host of questions that relate to these interests.”

MERIDIAN, MS — R.L. “Rich” Richardson, a Presbyterian leader of Gulf Coast relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina, died March 7 at his home here.

Richardson, an elder at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Meridian, was chair of the Disaster Recovery Administrative Commission for Mississippi Presbytery, working tirelessly with congregations affected by the disaster and with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. 

LOUISVILLE — The Rev. Joyce Lieberman, a pastor with more than 25 years experience serving congregations in Oregon and New Mexico, has been named associate for call system support for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Her new job, which she begins at the end of March, is part of the Office of Vocation, a shared ministry of the General Assembly Council and the Office of the General Assembly.

In her new position, Lieberman will help provide oversight of Church Leadership Connection (CLC), the PC(USA) Web-based matching and referral system. She will focus on the portion of CLC that relates to the polity and process of the call system. 
Lieberman will provide resources, consultation, and training to presbyteries, synods, theological institutions, and other organizations in their search for leaders. She joins Jewel McRae as co-leader of the CLC staff team.

A graduate of the University of Portland (OR) and San Francisco Theological Seminary, Lieberman has served churches in Portland and Albuquerque. She is also stated clerk of Santa Fe Presbytery.

ROCHESTER, NY — Ted Pollock, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) missionary who during a nearly 70-year career in the mission field richly earned the moniker “Christ’s Globetrotter,” died March 9 while shoveling snow at his home here. He was 95.

A native of Canonsburg, PA, Pollock from a very early age longed to be an overseas missionary but initially believed God only called doctors, preachers, teachers, and those with college degrees. Bored with school, he dropped out of seventh grade during the Depression and soon discovered that he had the skills and heart needed to be a missionary:
For almost seven decades, Pollock traveled the world building hospitals and schools, designing windmills to provide irrigation, and engineering innovative housing that is economic and useful in remote locations. He and his late wife, Dolly, raised seven children in the mission field: Edward, Penny, Bill, Ron, Leah, Tom, and Ginny.

Later, he teamed with fellow Presbyterian Beverly Reeve to document his missionary adventures, using the more than 85 volumes of journals he’d filled as the basis for the autobiography.

A memorial service for Christ’s Globetrotter Ted Pollock will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsford, NY on March 15.

The Rev. James O. Chatham

LOUISVILLE — Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson recently awarded the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Award to the Rev. James O. Chatham, retired pastor of Highland Presbyterian Church and former chair of the Louisville Human Relations Commission. Chatham received the award during the Jan. 20 Louisville Orchestra annual concert honoring King.

“Dr. King had a dream, and Rev. Chatham was a voice in Dr. King’s vision to build bridges in race relations and human relations of all kinds,” Abramson said.  “Over his decades of ministry, countless lives have been improved through Rev. Chatham’s tireless efforts to fight racism, poverty and inequality.”