08367
May 9, 2008
Notes about people
The Presbyterian Writers Guild has announced that Marj Carpenter — former director of the Presbyterian News Service and moderator of the 207th General Assembly (1995) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — is the winner of its 2007-2008 David Steele Distinguished Writer Award.
Carpenter — a Pulitzer Prize-nominated reporter whose career as a journalist, author and mission interpreter has spanned more than six decades — will be honored at the guild’s biennial General Assembly luncheon during the upcoming 218th General Assembly, June 21-28 in San Jose, CA.
Carpenter’s career as a newspaper reporter began in her native Texas when she was 15. In 1978 she moved to Atlanta to become director of the news service of the former Presbyterian Church in the United States, and in 1983 she was named director of the Presbyterian News Service of the reunited PC(USA). In 1993 she was appointed mission interpreter in the then Worldwide Ministries Division, where she served until her “retirement” early in 1995. The following summer she was elected moderator.
Carpenter has won more than 150 writing awards during her career and her two books on Presbyterian global mission — To the Ends of the Earth and And a Little Bit Farther — have been top sellers for the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation.
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Glenn Birch, director of communications for Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education since December 1997, has resigned to become director of public and media relations at the Virginia Credit Union.
Brian Blount, president of Union-PSCE, said, "Glenn has shaped the message we share with others and has helped us interpret the messages others have shared with us. He has done so with exemplary skill. He is a man of great faith, whose counsel we shall all miss."
Virginia Credit Union is a not-for-profit financial cooperative serving more than 180,000 members. Founded in 1928, the credit union helps its members get ahead financially through affordable banking services and education.
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The Rev. Mark L. Andrews, a minister member of National Capital Presbytery and father of former PC(USA) General Assembly Moderator Susan Andrews, died May 1. He was 92.
During his career, Lewis served five called pastorates, 10 interim pastorates, and three executive staff positions.
A memorial service will be held May 12 at Lewinsville Presbyterian Church in McLean, VA, where Andrews served as parish associate until age 87.
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Global humanitarian agency Church World Service has announced the hiring of Christoph Schneider-Yattara as associate director in the agency’s Mission Relationships and Witness program.
Schneider-Yattara has served for more than eight years in various positions for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, including associate director for Companionship, Education and Advocacy in the ELCA’s Global Mission unit in Chicago. He will be based in Chicago.
Schneider-Yattara is a graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and Humboldt University in Berlin. Before coming to the U.S., he studied theology and world religions at universities in Jena, Leipzig, and Berlin, Germany. He also studied Dutch literature and language in Berlin and Amsterdam.
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