The Rev. Emily Miller has been hired as associate for recruitment and relationships for the Young Adult Volunteer program of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Her hiring is part of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s goal to greatly expand the program, which provides young adults the opportunity to serve for one year in communities around the world and to discern their Christian vocation.

Miller, who served as a YAV  from 2005-2006 in Miami as youth director in a congregation, comes to the YAV office in Louisville from Radford, Va., where she served as associate pastor for family and campus ministry, serving students at Radford University.

“The YAV program aligns my passion for mission involvement with my passion for young adult ministry, and I find energy in being a part of the effort to spread the good news about what God is doing through this program to others,” Miller said. “The YAV program is an amazing opportunity for faith development, and through the program we build leadership within the PC(USA) that is grounded in social justice, volunteerism, and doing the ministry of Jesus on the ground.”

Miller, a native of Harrisonburg, Va., is a graduate of Bridgewater College and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She was ordained as a teaching elder in 2010 and previously served as pastor Jonesville (Mich.) First Presbyterian Church. She is married to the Rev. Jake Hofmeister.

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The Rev. John Scotland, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in Brigantine, N.J., and president of the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association, has been named “Moral Leader of the Year” by Building One New Jersey, a nonprofit coalition of institutions and grassroots and community leaders from throughout New Jersey “that believe organized people, acting in thoughtful and powerful ways, can influence policymakers and others to build a more equitable and healthy state.”

Scotland was honored Nov. 14 at a banquet in his honor for his efforts to help the homeless, advance systemic policy change on behalf of the poor, and provide relief to victims of Superstorm Sandy.

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Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary has won the 2013 Sister Mary Bennet Cecil Award for its efforts in working to affect change in the attitudes of religious communities toward persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families.

The award singled out the work of the seminary’s Women’s Center and Marriage and Family Therapy Program, and Professors Amy Plantinga Pauw, Carol J. Cook and Johanna W.H. van Wijk-Bos.

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Artwork by the Rev. John Stuart, pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tenn., is featured on the covers of three church magazines this Advent season. 

Stuart’s drawings grace the covers of Ministry & Liturgy, a national magazine of the Roman Catholic Church; Roots, an ecumenical magazine for adults and children in the UK; and the Presbyterian Record, the denominational magazine of the Presbyterian Church of Canada. 

“Not bad for a Tennessee Scot,” Stuart says.