Alumni News
Rev. Vernon K. Walker, Jr. (STH ’16) Featured in Wbur Local Coverage
The following is an excerpt from “Cambridge nonprofit gives away ACs to help residents beat the heat,” published on Amanda Beland in Wbur Local Coverage. The original article can be found here.
Cambridge nonprofit gives away ACs to help residents beat the heat
As summer arrived early in New England over the weekend, a nonprofit in Boston handed out air conditioners and cooling kits packed with water, thermometers and adhesives meant to cool the skin.
Reverend Vernon K. Walker, senior project manager with the group, says the purpose of Sunday's event was two-fold: Cooling down residents in the short-term, and educating them on the impacts of extreme heat and climate change in the long-term.
"It's not just about giving those resources out, but we also want to empower people with knowledge so that they will not underestimate the gravity of heat waves in extreme heat," Vernon said.
Vernon said the group is concerned that communities of color are likely to be disproportionately affected by the impact of climate change. For instance, he noted many urban residents live in "heat islands," which regularly experience hotter temperatures than those with less asphalt and more trees.
"For us, climate justice is racial justice," Vernon said. "We can't separate the two because we know that racial injustice, the people that are disproportionately affected by racial injustice are the same folks that are disproportionately affected by climate injustice."
Read the full article here.
Prof. Shively T. J. Smith to Speak at White House Historical Association Event
Assistant Professor of New Testament Shively T. J. Smith will be the featured speaker for the White House Historical Association Event “Conversations Between a First Lady and a University Dean: An Untold Story.” The event will take place on Thursday, June 9 at 5:30pm ET, and interested viewers can participate by signing up through the Association’s Zoom link. The conversation will follow the decades-long correspondence between first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Howard Thurman, dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University from 1953-1962.
Mr. Nathan Turowsky (STH ’17) Publishes Commentary on Thomas and the Super-Thomists
The following is an excerpt from Mr. Nathan Turowsky's commentary “Thomas and the Super-Thomists,” published on May 24, 2022 in Where Peter Is. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Boston University School of Theology, its employees, faculty, or students.
. . . .
Not only does Aquinas come in for feting as a uniquely correct or authoritative theologian, he is something of a Catholic cultural icon even in contexts that have nothing to do with academic theology, Eucharistic piety, or anything else for which he is widely known. I’ve heard people suggest him as an intercessor for needs ranging from minor health complaints to family members in danger of losing their faith, as if he were a medieval-Marian-piety-esque jack-of-all-trades. Even in the heyday of pre-Vatican II Neo-Scholasticism he did not have a cultus of this kind; those were the days in which church after church, at least in the United States, saw a statue of St. Anthony and a statue of St. Thérèse installed on either side of the sanctuary. A popular cultus of Aquinas is in itself welcome because it indicates a more erudite Catholic laity, but looked at in combination with the trend towards attempting to rehabilitate the “Aquinas knows best” current in Catholic philosophy, it begins to look like an awful lot is being placed on the Dumb Ox’s admittedly broad and sturdy shoulders.
Why is this? A simple answer, as I alluded to above, is that there was a time when St. Thomas’s positions and reasoning style were seen as not only examples but exemplars of sound theology, and sound theology is a major issue in the Church, especially in the corners of the Church that think that the current magisterial authorities lack it. There is a disproportionate overlap between Catholics whose experience of the faith emphasizes formal theology, those who take conservative or traditionalist views on what that theology ought to express and how it ought to express it, and those whose formation in the faith was heavily influenced by practices developed in Neo-Scholasticism’s period of dominance. All three categories also overlap disproportionately, perhaps especially among laypeople, with Catholics who are interested in serving the Church as educators or in various media apostolates.
All of this, combined with the fact that Leo XIII and Pius X really did speak extremely highly of Aquinas in terms of his quality of thought and reliability as a theological and philosophical authority, produce an intellectual environment in which St. Thomas has a stature almost like that of Karl Marx in pre-1950s leftist political thought: if he speaks directly to something, he’s right about it unless proven beyond all reasonable doubt otherwise, and if he doesn’t speak directly to something, figuring out what he might have or would have thought about it is a surefire way to arrive at a sound position. Of course, eventually even diehard communists mostly came to acknowledge that Marxism was not actually a complete worldview in and of itself that could be applied to every imaginable scholarly question, and I expect that eventually even diehard Catholic traditionalists will acknowledge this about Thomism. Certainly the fact that there is at least one dogmatically defined subject (discussed below) on which Aquinas was wrong means that it’s already impossible to elevate him quite as much as Marx used to be elevated on the far left.
So what’s the problem? Simply put, the problem is that even if Thomas Aquinas is generally a reliable key to Catholic theology and attendant areas of philosophy, and even if the sense that he’s more than that, some sort of para-magisterial authority in his own right, is probably a passing phase in Catholic thought, he still should not be overemphasized at the expense of other thinkers who might illuminate certain issues better. St. Bonaventure’s contemplations on the “book of Scripture and the book of Nature” and the relationship between Time and Eternity might, for instance, better situate environmental theology than anything in Aquinas. I have also seen those particular concepts applied to the rationales underlying the sacrament of marriage. Non-Scholastic anonymous mystical texts like The Cloud of Unknowing and Revelations of Divine Love, many of which are written in late medieval vernacular English, might provide keys to ecumenical contact with Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and even Judaism and Islam, as might much of St. Teresa of Ávila’s body of work.
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Read The Full Article
Nathan Turowsky is a native New Englander and now lives in Upstate New York. A lifelong fascination with religious ritual led him into first the Episcopal Church and then the Catholic Church. An alumnus of Boston University School of Theology and one of the relatively few Catholic alumni of that primarily Wesleyan institution, he is unmarried and works in the nonprofit sector. He writes at Silicate Siesta.
Rev. Ellsworth D. Comins, Jr. (STH’67)
This obituary was originally published by The Daily News on June 2, 2022, and can be found here.
Hampton - Rev. Ellsworth D. Comins, Jr., 90, called home to his Heavenly Father Tuesday, May 24, 2022 – beloved husband, father, uncle, cousin, grandfather, great-grandfather, and minister to many in his lifetime, at age 90 after a valiant battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Ellsworth was born in Springfield, MA, the son of Ellsworth Davidson Comins, Sr., and Elizabeth Y. (Sherman) Comins. He was a graduate of Yale University, Yale Divinity School and the Boston University School of Theology. Ordained in the church in which he grew up, Old First Church, Springfield, he went on to serve congregational churches of the United Church of Christ in Boxford, Framingham, and Merrimac, MA. Ellsworth married his high school sweetheart Norma Wilson of Longmeadow, MA in 1954, and together they raised a daughter Jane Elizabeth Comins McCord (Thomas) of Reading, MA, and a son, James Davidson Comins (Marissa Peck) of Lafayette, CA. We share so many cherished memories of those years of camping trips and hikes, skiing, school days, Holly the Collie, Pleasure Beach, love and laughter.
Ellsworth married Denyse Lemire in 1997, and they shared over 25 wonderful years together, celebrating family gatherings and weddings, supporting Cecile Lemire (Memé) as she grew older, welcoming grandchildren and being faithful supporters at their sporting events, and even venturing to Paris.
In addition to Denyse, Jane, Jim, and their spouses, and former wife Norma, Ellsworth leaves behind Denyse's family: Stephanie Bartlett and David Scala of Rye, Geoff and Judi Youngclaus of Kingston, Jennifer and Ronan O'Doherty of Dover, and Sarah and Jeff Smith, also of Kingston. He was the proud grandfather of Kendall and Kelsey Comins, Colin Brown, Ali and Drew Peterson, Kylie and Keegan Youngclaus, Cameron Youngclaus, Sean and Meaghan O'Doherty, and Lexi and Carli Smith, and newly a great-grandfather to Jax.
Ellsworth was predeceased by his sister, Mary Louise Comins Crozier, his nephew Scott Crozier, and his great-nephew, John Povey. Also mourning his passing are Mary Lou's spouse Donna St. Germain and niece Martha Crozier Povey, great- nieces Kaity Povey and Maya, and many nieces and nephews from the Wilson family. He leaves behind also his cousins, Joni Reed of West Springfield, MA and Ruth Fields of Enfield, CT, and their families, and many cherished friends.
A talented pianist, classically trained, he loved music and delighted in sitting down at the piano, able to play almost anything he heard by ear. A scholar and teacher of theology and the Bible, history and current events, his sermons were rich indeed, even if sometimes prepared late on a Saturday night. Most beloved of all were Ellsworth's smile, sparkling blue eyes, warm heart and welcoming hugs and handshakes, and he will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him.
Ellsworth loved all his family dearly, felt blessed to have been called to serve in ministry, and continued to serve in volunteer roles after his retirement. He enjoyed the outdoors and was a life-long swimmer.
Calling hours will be held Tuesday June 7, 2022 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Remick & Gendron Funeral Home-Crematory, 811 Lafayette Road, Hampton. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at the First Congregational Church of Hampton, 127 Winnacunnet Road, Hampton. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the First Congregational Church of Hampton, or to Partners in Health in Haiti [https://www.pih.org]. Please visit www.RemickGendron.com to view Rev. Comins memorial website, sign his tribute wall or for directions.
Rev. Leah R. Pogemiller (STH’85)
This obituary was originally published by Tribute Archive and can be found here.
Rev. Leah R. Pogemiller (STH'85)passed after a brief illness at Carle Foundation Hospital on May 31, 2022 in Urbana, IL. Eldest daughter born April 10, 1960 to Gerald E. Pogemiller and Rita R. Redfern in Iowa City, Iowa.
Leah graduated from Joliet West Township High School 1978; received a Bachelors of Science and Religious Studies at University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign 1982; and received a Masters of Divinity in Old Testament and Pastoral Counseling at Boston University School of Theology in 1985. Leah was an Ordained Deacon in Central Illinois Conference of United Methodist Church in 1984 and Ordained as an Elder in Central Illinois Conference of United Methodist Church in 1987.
She served as Pastor in the Central Illinois Conference of United Methodist Church and Illinois Great River Conference of United Methodist Church from 1985-2019. She was the Second Clergywoman in the IGR Conference appointed as a Senior Pastor of a local church.
She served as a Student Pastor at Community United Methodist Church in Brighton, MA from 1984-1985, Senior Pastor in Illinois at Verona United Methodist Church-Mazon United Methodist Church from 1985-1989. Associate Pastor at Monticello UMC from 1989-1997, Senior Pastor at Asbury UMC from 1997-2004, Clinton UMC from 2004-2011 and Champaign First UMC from 2018-2019. Leah was appointed as District Superintendent in the Vermillion District of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference of the United Methodist Church from 2011-2018.
She was involved in the following:
Trustee of the Wesley Foundation at the University of Illinois.
Pastoral Care Instructor of The School for Licensed Local Pastors for IGR Conference UMC
Director of the Board of the United Methodist Ministries Credit Union
Numerous Conference Boards and Committees of the IGR Conference of UMC
Member of The Alumni Assoc. of the University of Illinois
She was an avid fan of the Chicago Cubs and University of Illinois Sports.
Her parents and stepmom, Judy Gandy-Pogemiller, preceded her in death.
She is survived by sister, Gail (Bob) Stewart; brothers, Jay (Leann) Pogemiller and Steven (Colleen) Pogemiller; step-brother, Michael (Jessica) Gandy of Henderson, NV; nieces and nephews, Ryan (Kelly) Pogemiller, Kyle (Jeremy) Pogemiller-Kermani, Megan (Shane) Crabtree, Emily (Fiance’ John) Pogemiller, Kristina Stewart, CJ Stewart, Hannah Pogemiller and step-niece, Tori Church-Gandy; great nieces and great nephew, Abigail Pogemiller, Logan Pogemiller and Daphne Pogemiller-Kermani; and godsons, Deven and Zachary Long. She also is survived by many cherished friends.
Memorial Services will be held at Wesley Church and Foundation 1203 W. Green St., Urbana, IL 61801 on June 15, 2022 at 3:00 pm with Revs. Dan and Gay King Crede presiding. Cremation Rites were afforded and inurnment will be at Wesley Foundation Urbana with a private family service.
Memorials may be directed to The Wesley Foundation – Urbana, IL or the Preacher's Aid Society.
BUSTH PhD Student Opinion Article Published in BU Today
The following is an excerpt from PhD student Joshua Lawrence Lazard’s opinion article “The White Progressive Christian Church Needs to Adopt a Theology of Anger,” published on June 3, 2022 in BU Today. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Boston University School of Theology, its employees, faculty, or students.
Doing so would provide a public rebuttal to the silencing noise instigated by white evangelicals who are intransigent when America’s youth are killed by guns
In the wake of the recent shootings in Tulsa, Okla., Uvalde, Tex., and Buffalo, N.Y., these tragic events have, predictably, reignited political debates over gun control, specifically the banning of assault weapons. However, for white progressives, this political debate is one of many that are shaping the 2022 midterm election year. In addition to debates over gun control, voting rights, the need for a social safety net, and women’s reproductive rights have also loomed large. But without a filibuster-proof majority in the US Senate, most of the hopes of progressives nationwide are dead on arrival. For progressive Christians in this country, this is dreadful news.
News out of right-wing Christian circles often dominates the mainstream media, which leaves progressive Christian causes to be lumped under the broad banner of the left. As a result, American Christianity is branded by the loudest voices in the room, which is often those associated with white evangelicalism.
BUSTH Publishes Annual FOCUS Magazine for 2022
June 2022 – The Boston University School of Theology (STH) is pleased to announce the publication of its annual scholarly magazine, focus. The magazine’s theme this year is transformational leadership, and it features close-ups on distinguished alums, interviews with retiring faculty members, and thought-provoking articles written by alums and faculty. The featured sermon was preached by Associate Dean for Students and Community Life Cristian De La Rosa for STH Matriculation Day in September 2021.
Read the full magazine here.
Senior Pastor, Full-Time, American Baptist: Madison, NH
Position is for fulltime, senior pastor. Interim to finish end-June.
While the church is associated with the American Baptist denomination, it has long viewed itself as a community church, welcoming to all who come to worship.
Madison is located in the beautiful White Mountains of N.H. and the northern portion of New Hampshire's Lakes Region.
For further information, please contact Rev. Jim Smith at either
(603) 819-9124 or pastorjim@twc.com.
Our website is:
https://www.themadisonchurch.org
phone #: (603)367-4705
Director of Admissions, Full-Time, Higher Ed:South Hamilton, MA
Director of Admissions in South Hamilton, MA
Salary Range: $64,000.00 To 78,000.00 Annually
Overview
Gordon-Conwell is a multidenominational Protestant graduate school, unique with its broad array of over 2,100 students and 200 faculty and staff from 98 denominations and 64 countries. We offer a residential model of education at South Hamilton, MA (our main campus); an urban context offering classes in five languages in Boston, MA; adult educational models in both our Charlotte, NC campus and our offerings in Jacksonville, FL; in addition to online and cohort models involving students from around the world.
Our mission is to prepare men and women for ministry at home and abroad. Rooted in the gospel and God’s Word, the seminary seeks to develop Christian leaders who are thoughtful, globally aware, spiritually mature, and ready for a broad array of ministries. While being historically orthodox and evangelical, we seek to address the issues of our times with both relevance to the culture and faithfulness to Christ and God’s truthful Word.
Position Summary
Under the broad supervision of the Vice President of Graduate Programs, this position supports the mission of the Seminary and the Admissions team by providing direct oversight, vision, and leadership to the seminary’s admission team in the accomplishment of the seminary’s recruiting goals. This individual will also lead the general operations of the Admissions Office as they apply to recruiting, admitting, and enrolling prospective students into seminary courses. Qualified candidates will be able to affirm and support the mission and vision of the seminary.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic Recruiting Leadership
a) Develop annual program recruitment goals in conjunction with seminary leadership.
b) Create the strategic plan to achieve annual student recruitment goals.
c) Coordinate with MARCOM to integrate marketing, inter-personal communications and regional/online recruiting events that increase the number of prospective students entering the admissions funnel.
d) Build on existing partnerships and develop additional, mutually beneficial partnerships with groups whose members would be well served with a GCTS education.
e) Adjust and align partnership and recruiting efforts in step with the seminary’s culture and curriculum growth to recruit an increasingly diverse student body.
f) Evaluate the qualifications of applicants for admission, working with a team of people to accept or deny applicants within the Seminary’s guidelines.
g) Develop and employ strategy to ensure maximum yield of accepted to enrolled students.
2. Admissions Team Leadership
a) Leadership Agility: Being responsive to shifts in the church in terms of needs and attitudes towards ministry training, oversee the end-to-end execution of strategic recruitment plans, integrating the admissions team efforts along with the data systems that support them.
b) Team Development: Train and cohere the “One GCTS” multi-office Admissions team connections and workflows; develop team members in their strengths, align team members in their roles, and provide an example of how to walk alongside prospective students in a manner that is honoring to God and prospective students.
c) Appointment and retention of admissions staff: design a team to ensure key performance indicators are met, develop a plan for competitive wages for admissions team members in keeping with local costs of living, proving ongoing coaching, training, personal skill development along with regular evaluations to ensure individual and team recruiting outcomes and goals are met.
3. Shaping Recruitment, Recruitment, Record and Financial Systems
a) Metrics: Oversee metrics of the admissions team; report consolidated metrics to the VP of Graduate Programs and institutional leadership as needed, adjust strategies, and reallocate resources to ensure overall recruiting goals are met.
b) SIS & CRM transition and stability: Center the team around unified systems and processes that generate leverageable reports. Monitor prospective student and matriculation data. Analyze, interpret and evaluate data, flagging and responding to anomalies and reporting to seminary leadership as necessary.
c) Scholarship development: Develop policy and procedure strategies for clarifying and streamlining the scholarship application and decision process, ensure annual scholarships are understood by seminary leadership as well as admissions and student financial services staff; ensure adequate timelines are understood and met, develop consensus with seminary leadership on what scholarship programs are fully funded, partially funded or un-funded.
d) Budget: Plan annual budget in collaboration with the Vice President of Graduate Programs, oversee expenses throughout the year to come within target for annual budget goals.
4. Perform other duties as necessary.
Key Competencies
• Relationship Building and Leadership: Possess administrative, supervisory, and organizational abilities that build collaborative, healthy relationships both within a multi-site GCTS office and between GCTS and its external partnerships. A warm, welcoming, hospitable spirit that puts guests at ease and sets an example for the team. Proven ability to collaborate and foster a team environment.
• Cultural intelligence: ability to work sensitively across cultures and make multi-cultural connections. Able to develop a flexible and adaptive admissions culture that considers context in both student recruiting and matriculation while understanding the seminary’s multi-denominational and multi-cultural ethos.
• Communication and Interpersonal Effectiveness: Must have strong written and verbal communication skills and be able to communicate in a manner that allows information to flow freely and smoothly in order to perform job responsibilities in a timely fashion.
• Strategic and Creative Thinking: A talent for creative thinking and problem solving that will open doors to new groups of students. Has familiarity with graduate theological education and its changing cultural landscape, with confidence that there is a recruiting path forward. Demonstrated ability to create long-term and short-term strategies to accomplish department and institutional goals. A talent for creative thinking and problem solving that will open new sources of quality leads.
• Analytical Skills: Ability to analyze, interpret and evaluate data in order to make data-driven decisions and report to leadership. Strong proficiency with student information systems (preferably CAMS) as well as Microsoft Excel and Word. Experience with Crystal Reports and/or SQL Server Reporting Services as well as some basic knowledge SQL reporting are preferred but not required.
• Knowledge and Discernment: Can interpret situations accurately, makes good decisions and communicate them effectively in a transparent and efficient way. Understands the academic, personal and spiritual capabilities required for theological training. An ability to teach and lead a team in discerning an applicant’s readiness for, fit and acceptance within the seminary.
• Willingness to abide by the Community Life Statement of GCTS.
Education and Experience
• Minimum of five years of previous experience in higher education recruitment and enrollment management (preferably in admissions), or relevant recruiting experience in another field. Successful leadership experience managing teams and the recruitment process is required.
• Facility with digital tools and spaces that prospective students, existing and potential partners, as well as a multi-office staff inhabit.
• Experience in goal setting and achievement.
• Master’s degree required, preferably in higher education administration or a field related to one that the seminary teaches.
Application Process
Please apply through Gordon-Conwell’s Career Center available here: https://www.gordonconwell.edu/employment/
Please include these documents in either Microsoft Word or PDF formats:
• A cover letter addressed to Dr. Brad Howell, Vice President of Graduate Programs, explaining your interest in the position.
• A formal CV that includes the names of at least three references.
No hard copy materials, please. Opportunities to interview will be made available at the search committee’s initiative. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled
Faculty Position in Church and Ministry (Open rank): South Hamilton, MA
Gordon-Conwell announces a tenure track, open-rank position in the area of Church and Ministry with the primary location at the South Hamilton campus. While the program is residential, teaching will also include online teaching and may include occasional teaching at one or more of the other campuses and programs. Responsibilities include teaching six courses a year (three credits each), research and publication, service on committees, participation in the life of the seminary with activities like advising, mentoring/discipling, and attendance at all required meetings.
The candidate should demonstrate capacity for exemplary teaching and commitment to research and writing. They must also be invested in intentional evangelism and discipleship, show a deep commitment to the local church, and display genuine personal faith.
Academic Experience
The applicant should hold a post-graduate degree in a theological field (biblical studies, theology, church history, homiletics, practical theology). While a PhD is preferred, a DMin will also be considered in tandem with a strong publication record and extensive ministry experience. It is vital that the candidate’s background includes at least 10 years of pastoral experience, along with graduate theological training (MDiv preferred).
Significant Pastoral Ministry Experience
The applicant should have proven pastoral experience as well as the ability to teach a pastoral ministry course. In addition, the seminary is interested in someone who has expertise in at least one of the following areas: discipleship and evangelism, church planting, revitalization, and congregational development. The candidate is also expected to demonstrate strong communication skills, especially preaching, as well as willingness to represent the seminary by preaching in local churches and connect with pastors in various denominational settings.
Personal Profile
The applicant should be a person of Christian character and be at home in the thoughtful evangelical ethos of Gordon-Conwell. The person,
• should be manifestly collegial in their relationships, demonstrating an ability to work well with colleagues who represent various ecclesial traditions.
• should be able to model pastoral care to an ethnically diverse student body.
• should be committed to academic excellence, to the spiritual nurturing of students, and to the life of the church.
Persons of color, international scholars, and individuals with bilingual abilities are encouraged to apply.
Classroom Teaching
The applicant must demonstrate competence in both online and in-person teaching modalities. Training in specific digital tools is provided. The expectation is that the professor will teach six courses per year with the primary focus being pastoral ministry, and evangelism and discipleship but the precise teaching responsibilities will be chosen to reflect the particular research and experiential strengths of the professor.
Theological Commitments
Faculty members must concur with the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Mission Statement and Commentary, Community Life Statement, and must indicate agreement annually with the school’s Statement of Faith.
Beginning Date: July 1, 2022
Application Deadline: Open until filled
Application Process
Please apply through Gordon-Conwell’s Career Center.
Please include these documents in either Microsoft Word or PDF formats:
• A cover letter addressed to Dr. Mateus de Campos, Dean of the Hamilton campus, explaining your interest in the position, as well as your particular area of expertise within the field of practical theology.
• A formal CV that includes the names of at least three references.
No hard copy materials, please. Opportunities to interview will be made available at the search committee’s initiative. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.