Members of the
Witherspoon Board, 2006
Co-Moderator (2-year term): Trina Zelle
Trina has been attending General Assembly since 1999 in
Ft. Worth, TX where she received the Andrew Murray award from Witherspoon.
Ordained in 1980 by the Presbytery of Southern New England she has pastored
churches in Connecticut, Minnesota, Hawaii, Texas, and Arizona, as well as
being involved with community organizing and empowerment. She currently
serves as lead organizer for Interfaith Worker Justice of Arizona, a
national organization that provides technical assistance and support to
churches engaged in labor justice issues.
Co-Moderator (1 year term): Jake Young
As a TSAD at the 2000 GA in Long Beach, Jake met Jane
Hanna. He has been working with Witherspoon ever since. He served two years
on the nominating committee before joining the Executive Committee in 2003.
Jake and his family live in Anderson, South Carolina, where he serves as
pastor of the only More Light Presbyterian church in the state: North
Anderson Community Church, Presbyterian.
Treasurer (2-year term): Darcy Hawk
Darcy holds a D.Min. from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
and is a member of Pittsburgh Presbytery. He has been pastor of Gibsonia
Presbyterian Church since being ordained in 1984. He was previously employed
by The United Cerebral Palsy Association of Pittsburgh community living
program and having served on the board of Renaissance Center, a community
mental health provider. He chaired Pittsburgh Presbytery's committee on the
concerns of people with disabilities. Finding that physical barriers are
easier to remove than attitudinal ones, he welcomes the challenging
prophetic work of full inclusion of all God's people.
Secretary/Communicator (1-year term): Mitch Trigger
Mitch served as the Wareham intern at the 1995 General
Assembly in Cincinnati and has been a regular attendee at General Assembly
ever since. Mitch and his wife Sue have served as co-pastors in Indiana and
upstate New York and have been strongly committed to social justice issues
throughout their ministry. Before entering into ordained ministry, Mitch
worked in the broadcasting field (radio & TV).
Issues Analyst (1-year term): Eugene TeSelle
Gene taught Church History and Theology at Vanderbilt
Divinity School for thirty years, and in Nashville he has been involved in
issues of school and residential integration, housing, and neighborhood
organizing. He has attended most General Assemblies since 1988, sometimes as
WS Issues Analyst and sometimes as WS President (1996-2000).
Membership Coordinator (2 year term): John E. Harris
John first learned about the Witherspoon Society when he
served as a YAD to the 1980 UPCUSA GA in Detroit. He has attended many GAs
since in order to advocate for peace, justice, the integrity of God’s
creation, and the full inclusion of all God’s people in church and society.
He currently pastors a wee-kirk, serves on Presbytery Staff as a "Special
Presbyter" and Stated Clerk Pro-Tem, and teaches Religion and Philosophy at
the college level in West Virginia.
Member At Large (2-year term): Peter Barnes-Davies
Peter is a rising fourth-year M.Div. student at San
Francisco Theological Seminary/Graduate Theological Union. He recently
completed nine months of service as pastoral intern at Knox Presbyterian
Church (Santa Rosa, CA), a small congregation that welcomes all in the name
of Jesus Christ. He believes the justice-seeking power of God’s love may
transform the world and the church’s witness to it, and that in a time of
globalization and empire, such radical love is more than necessary to
counteract the effects of fear-mongering, preemptive war-making, and
distortions of social and theological truth.
Member At Large (2-year term): Bill Dummer
Bill is a 1966 MDiv graduate of San Francisco Theological
Seminary. He served on the staffs of churches in Long Beach and Monterey,
California, where he was involved in both Christian Education and community
ministry. For 15 years he took a detour in rural mid-america, serving
churches in Nebraska and Kansas. In 1987 he returned to his home town of
Milwaukee as pastor of Calvary Church, which hosted the Witherspoon Society
Dinner at the 1992 General Assembly. Since 1993 he has been an interim
ministry specialist and is currently involved in community ministry and
congregational transformation.
Member At Large (1-year term): Michelle Freeman
Michelle is an Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian
Church Birmingham, Recipient of the 2006 Whole Gospel Congregation Award.
She was ordained by Peace River Presbytery a year ago. She has coordinated
many of the activities involving First Church at this year’s Assembly.
Member At Large (1 year term): Lucy Harris
A graduate of Union-PSCE in Richmond, VA, Lucy served as a
TSAD at the 2002 GA in Cincinnati and as the WS Wareham intern at the 2003
General Assembly in Denver. She has been active with the Witherspoon Society
since 2002 and is working this year as a Covenant Network committee liaison
in the Church Orders committee. She has been serving as the Associate Pastor
of First Presbyterian Church of Stillwater, OK since 2004. Before ordination
she served as a youth director and worked as a professional musician for
eight years.
Member At Large (1-year term): Ken Smith
Ken is the last President of the Witherspoon Society (due
to a reorganized structure.) He helped negotiate the merger between
Witherspoon and Semper Reformanda in 2001 and has served on the Witherspoon
Board ever since. Since his early retirement in 1991, he has been an
activist in the PCUSA, focusing on health care reform, anti-racism and full
inclusion of LGBT persons in the life of the church.
Member At Large (1-year term): Kent Holmes
Kent has served churches in California and
Michigan and now serves the Presbyterian Church of Punxsutawney, PA. He
chairs the CPM of Kiskiminetas Presbytery and served as Presbytery Moderator
in 2001. He was a Commissioner to the 212th GA in Long Beach and has also
served on the board of APCE. A Certified Christian Educator and Certified
Associate Church Musician, he is a Life-long "progressive/liberal"
Presbyterian and proud of it! He is currently reading Doug Ottati's new
book, Theology For Liberal Presbyterians and other Endangered Species
and recommends it as a great read.
2006-2008 Nominating Committee
The 2006-2008 Nominating Committee was also elected by the
membership. It included:
Fred Sanner
Judith Michaels
Edie Gause
Bruce Tischler
