On Friday, May 16, 2025, the Board of Trustees of �鶹��Ƶ (�鶹��Ƶ) voted unanimously to grant tenure and promote Rev. Dr. Nathan Jérémie-Brink to the position of L. Russell Feakes Associate Professor of the History of Global Christianity, effective July 1, 2025. This significant milestone honors Dr. Jérémie-Brink’s exemplary contributions to the Seminary’s academic life, his influential scholarship, and his steadfast commitment to justice-oriented theological education.

Dr. Jérémie-Brink joined the �鶹��Ƶ faculty in 2018 and has consistently advanced the mission of the seminary through his scholarship, in the classroom, and in projects that engage the broader church and community. A teacher and mentor dedicated to making history public, he encourages seminary students and their church communities to “do history.” For Dr. Jérémie-Brink, this means “bringing historical critical thinking into our faith communities and public life.”

His archival scholarship on Black religious history and abolitionist print culture is the focus of his forthcoming monograph, tentatively titled Spreading Fire: Black Print Activism in the Early US. He has published other works on these topics, such as a recent essay on “Religion and Abolitionism” in the .

During the pandemic, his work secured nearly $200,000 in grant funding from the Henry Luce Foundation around the needs of unhoused neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work deepened �鶹��Ƶ’s collaborative relationships with Rutgers University, coLAB Arts New Brunswick, and the Affordable Housing Corporation of the Reformed Church of Highland Park. He shared theological and pedagogical insights gleaned from this project in published in Teaching Theology & Religion.

A distinctive thrust in much of Dr. Jérémie-Brink’s public scholarship has featured the history of enslavement in New Jersey and its relationship to Christianity and particular church communities. His ongoing work on this topic in the local context of Morris County, New Jersey, can be reviewed at the project website, . This project featured the reburial of the human remains of formerly enslaved African Americans through a community-engaged process featuring local pastors, other public historians, and ongoing community member dialogue.

Among the other scholarly contributions that have grown out of the �鶹��Ƶ classroom, Jérémies online interactive resource developed with �鶹��Ƶ Master’s Student Sue McGeown, featured in .

He also writes for the general public at

Throughout the review process, colleagues, alumni, students, and external evaluators consistently highlighted Dr. Jérémie-Brink’s academic innovation and commitment to diversity and inclusion. Many noted the historical depth, intellectual rigor, and contemporary relevance of his work. Dr. Jérémie-Brink is grateful that his scholarship and �鶹��Ƶ can provide a “spaces and methods for deep engagement–where scholarship, community advocacy, and faithful public leadership converge.”  

�鶹��Ƶ President Dr. Micah L. McCreary reflected on Dr. Jérémie-Brink’s recognition, stating:
“Dr. Jérémie-Brink exemplifies the heart and intellect of �鶹��Ƶ. His unwavering commitment to justice, academic excellence, and compassionate leadership continues to inspire our students and uplift the wider faith community. We are proud to celebrate this well-deserved honor.”

The Seminary community celebrates Dr. Jérémie-Brink’s achievements and looks forward to his continued leadership in advancing the mission of �鶹��Ƶ to think critically, act justly, and lead faithfully, locally and globally.

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Ideas and concepts that were discussed:

• Clergy should recognize the impact of secondary trauma, their own triggers and the impact the two can have on ministry.
• Clergy should appreciate how a trauma sensitive theology fuels a trauma informed ministry, providing a strength-based approach for preaching and teaching. This helps clergy and those we serve manage the emotions tied to trauma.
  
• Clergy practices of self-care are integral to effectiveness of ministry.

Click here to download a PDF of Dr. Clifton’s slides.

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NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey – �鶹��Ƶ (�鶹��Ƶ) today announced Cathy Proctor will be returning on November 1, 2018 to �鶹��Ƶ as Vice President of Seminary Advancement and Relations.

During her prior seven-year tenure at �鶹��Ƶ, Ms. Proctor bolstered the development, marketing, and public relations efforts of the Seminary.�� She launched the largest fundraising campaign in the history of the institution – the Building A New Future Comprehensive Campaign – which was successfully completed in 2017. Ms. Proctor was instrumental in securing the campaign’s largest gift of $1.6 million, out of its $8 million goal. ��

For the past two years, Ms. Proctor led the advancement efforts at Pillar College with increased donations of 90% over her tenure.

Dr. Micah L. McCreary, President of �鶹��Ƶ said of the news, “I am thrilled that Cathy Proctor is coming back to our seminary family.����She is a proven administrator and consummate professional who uniquely understands and has a deep appreciation for �鶹��Ƶ and its broad community.�� Cathy has innate instincts and abilities to identify advancement opportunities and the ability to deliver them successfully.”

Ms. Proctor stated, “I am thankful for the opportunities that Dr. David Schroeder afforded me at Pillar College and want to express my deepest appreciation to Dr. Micah McCreary for the amazing opportunity to once again serve �鶹��Ƶ, its students, alumni and donor base. The chance to be part of the next great chapter at the Seminary is an honor, and I look forward to the future, as we seek to provide the resources necessary for this vibrant and historic institution.

President McCreary has also appointed Rev. Carol Patterson, D.Min. to serve as Assistant Vice President and will be a strong colleague and direct report to Ms. Proctor. ��

###

About �鶹��Ƶ

Founded in 1784, �鶹��Ƶ is the oldest independent Protestant seminary in the United States.�� It is one of two seminaries affiliated with the Reformed Church in America (RCA), and offers an exceptional seminary education, a flexible academic schedule, and a spiritually rich community for students of many Christian denominations and backgrounds. The Seminary offers Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degrees, as well as Professional Certificates to enhance the work and training of special ministers, church officers, and other Christian leaders. The seminary is located in New Brunswick, NJ, and operates a satellite campus at St. John’s University in Queens, NY.�� To learn more about �鶹��Ƶ, please visit .

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Join us for our Founders Week Celebrations!

�鶹��Ƶ invites you to join us in celebrating 234 years of educating those whom God has called to ministry in Church and Society and strengthening communities through transformational, public ministries. This three-day commemoration is an opportunity to engage with our �鶹��Ƶ family and friends as we reflect upon our history, enduring mission, and sustaining vision. Please join us and discover with us how legacies live on and give birth to continual calls to action for the �鶹��Ƶ community – trustees, alumni, students, faculty, staff, and contributors – to participate in the institution’s strategic priorities and trajectory into the future. 

Events are scheduled for Wednesday, Oct 3, Friday, October 5, and Saturday, October 6, 2018.    Scroll down for information about each day.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

The Spirit in the Struggle Against Nazism

�鶹��Ƶ is proud to host a brilliant author who has published an outstanding book focused on Christian resistance to Hitler.  In addition to the reading, stunning black & white images of Anti-Nazi resisters from the  will be on display.

With You There Is Light:
Based on the True Story about Sophie Scholl and Fritz Hartnagel.
by Alexandra Lehmann

“Trapped in Hitler’s Army, Officer Fritz Hartnagel (1917-2001) wrote to Sophie Scholl (1921-1943) about SS atrocities. With this first-hand information, Scholl, her brother, Hans, and their friends formed the White Rose student opposition in Munich.

Today they are some of the best known figures of the German Resistance during World War II.

Told through letters translated for the first time, With You There Is Light reveals how two remarkable individuals on opposite sides of war inspired one another to act against a murderous regime.
Theirs is also a true love story.”

Praise for the book:
“Alexandra is a superb writer, imaginative, insightful in her use of language, and possessing a real constructive imagination. She knows how to set up multiple narratives and voices, and how to move fluently between them. Her concerns are always serious, but she has a way of composing seriousness so it rests in a kaleidoscopic consciousness, and moves and changes and flashes many colors. Her long term project, about Christian resistance to Hitler, embodied in the figure of the German activist Sophie Scholl, is a model of how the literary and historical visions of experience can be properly blended. She has pursued this complicated and moving story with remarkable persistence and diligence, and this book will add much to our collective understanding and wisdom.” —Vijay Seshadri, Director of Narrative Nonfiction, Sarah Lawrence College, winner of the 2014 Pultizer Prize in Poetry

“[Alexandra] Lehmann offers a historical novel based on the true story of young, Christian anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl.…Lehmann uses well-researched details and imagery and a variety of narrative voices to create vivid portraits in this novel. Readers witness the lives of both civilians and soldiers that opposed the Nazi regime….The story of a young couple in love during wartime also unfolds gracefully….A poignant story that’s full of historical insight.” —Kirkus Reviews “Alexandra has substantial knowledge of the facts about Munich’s student resistance group. More impactful, however, is how her powerful narrative brings the facts to life. The story of how Sophie Scholl learned first-hand about Nazi atrocities on both fronts from Officer Hartnagel provides not just a vital historical account, but an essential understanding of the German experience during World War II.” —Nicholas von Moltke, grandson of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke (1907–1945), founding member of the Kreislau Circle Resistance Group and executed by the Nazis for treason

“Alexandra Lehmann dealt intensively with the history of German resistance, spoke with eye witnesses, and relied on primary archival material to write a work of historical fiction. The White Rose Foundation is grateful that With You There Is Light will help keep the memory of resistance alive.” —Hildegard Kronawitter, Director, White Rose Foundation, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany

About the author: 

Alexandra Lehmann received her Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the State University of New York at Albany in Political Science and German. Her German fluency is born of heritage and studying Germanistik at universities in Wuerzburg, Braunschweig, and Munich.​​ After nearly a decade of working in New York City as a copywriter and in Munich as a translator, Alexandra continued her Masters of Fine Arts in Nonfiction Writing from Sarah Lawerence College in Bronxville, New York. She completed her graduate thesis under the guidance of . It compared the letters and diaries of Sophie Scholl and Anne Frank. Yad Vashem in Jerusalem requested a copy for their research library.

With a Fulbright Scholarship, Alexandra began archival research in Germany for “With You There Is Light.” She won a fellowship to the Wesleyan Writers’ Conference and has guest lectured on German Resistance history at Sarah Lawrence and Mt. Holyoke Colleges, Fairfield University, St. Paul’s German Church in New York City, and Western Connecticut State University.

In 2017, Alexandra began working with the White Rose Foundation at the University of Munich bringing its traveling exhibition to the United States.

She works as a and lives in Connecticut.

Friday, October 5, 2018

Program Description: Send Them, Apostles’: �鶹��Ƶ As the Birthplace of RCA Missions

Remembering New Brunswick’s Role in Making Missionaries!

Send them, apostles! Heralds of your cross,
forth may they go to tell all realms your grace;
inspired of you, may they count all but loss,
and stand at last with joy before your face.

—Denis Wortman, 1884

These words are part of �鶹��Ƶ’s “school song,” the hymn written on the occasion of its centennial in 1884. The creation of the main student governing group at the Seminary, now called SSIM, was as the Society of Inquiry into Missions in 1812. The Bussing Museum, housed in Sage Library, was begun as a collection of artifacts sent from missionaries in the field to seminarians to encourage them to join in spreading Christ’s Good News to every land.

On Friday, October 5, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, as part of the Seminary’s Founders Weekend, the Reformed Church Center will host “Send Them, Apostles: �鶹��Ƶ as the Birthplace of RCA Missions”. Three scholars will look at origins and effects of the school’s missionary fervor. Someone who has been working in the mission field will help us consider the future of missions in the RCA and beyond, so we might all reflect on how this cradle of missions can cooperate with the larger church in this work.

	John W. Coakley is L. Russell Feakes Professor of Church History emeritus at �鶹��Ƶ and one of the pre-eminent living scholars of John Henry Livingston, founder of this school ad “Father of the Reformed Church in America.” He will look at “What Does It Mean to Say the Gospel Will Triumph?: John Henry Livingston on Missions.”
	John Hubers (�鶹��Ƶ 1982) is an RCA pastor of congregations in the US and a global missionary who pastored three congregations in Bahrain and Oman and supervised RCA missions in the Middle East and South Asia. He recently accepted an invitation from Mekane Yesus Seminary in Addas Ababa, Ethiopia, to restructure and teach in their Muslim/Christian relations program. He will present “An Unexpected Harvest: Zwemer, Cantine, and What They Have Wrought.”
	Derrick Jones is the supervisor of RCA mission in Africa and Oman. He has served in this role for over ten years and is passionate about holistic mission principles, partnerships and opportunities that advance the missio Dei, and he will be sharing a Vision for Twenty-First Century RCA Missions.
	Eri Kitada is a third-year doctoral student who studies Women’s and Gender History and US History at Rutgers University. Her presentation, “Rutgers Foreign Missions and the Scarlet and Black Project”, discusses the ties of Rutgers students and alumni (many, if not most, �鶹��Ƶ graduates) to foreign missions and the Scarlet and Black Project, an effort to explore the African-American and Native American experience at Rutgers.

This program is free and open to everyone. Responses to jbrumm@nbts.edu are welcome, but not required.

Saturday, October 6, 2018

The annual Underwood Lecture & Symposium organized by the Horace G. Underwood Center for Global Christianity, �鶹��Ƶ (Mast Chapel)

9:00 a.m.: The Underwood Lecture Liberating Missions: A Model for the 21st Century Keynote Speaker – Rev. David Goatley, Ph.D

Rev. David Goatley, Ph.D Research Professor of Theology and Black Church Studies and Director of the Office of Black Church Studies at Duke University Professor Goatley is a constructive theologian whose scholarship and practice is at the intersection of ecclesiology, missiology, Black Theology and leadership strategy. A globally recognized missiologist, he emphasizes cross-cultural experiential learning with indigenous communities to deepen understanding, broaden horizons, and strengthen Christian discipleship and leadership formation through his 21 years of service as the Chief Executive officer of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society.  He also worked for the Baptist World Alliance and the World Council of Churches. Goatley is editor of Black Religion, Black Theology: Collected Essays of J. Deotis Roberts (2003) and authored Were You There?: Godforsakenness in Slave Religion (1996, 2007), A Divine Assignment: The Missiology of Wendell Clay Somerville (2010), and Missions Is Essential (2011).

10:00 a.m.: Symposium on Global Christianity

Panel Moderator:

Dr. Terry Ann Smith., Associate Dean of Institutional Assessment & Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, �鶹��Ƶ26 years experience of service to Lott Carey Missions

Panel Participants:

Dr. Angelita Clifton, associate minister at Fountain Baptist Church in Summit, N J, serves in several Trauma Informed ministerial initiatives, at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, Northern State Prison and the Morris County Jail.  As 2nd Vice President of Lott Carey Women’s Department, she empowers churches to mobilize their efforts against human trafficking, both domestically and abroad including Ghana, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Ethiopia, and South Africa.  She presented the Lott Carey Ministry Model at the United Nations in 2014.

Rev. Gregory Jerome Jackson, Pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Hackensack, NJ where he has labored for nearly 35 years presently serves as the newly-elected President of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Missions Convention. He also serves as part of the Baptist World Alliance and the Baptist-Islamic Taskforce and is the Moderator of the �鶹��Ƶ Board of Trustees. He is the President of the Hackensack Fellowship of Black Churches.

Dr. Jacqueline E. Madison-McCreary, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Piscataway, NJ and Learning Coordinator with the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention’s Thriving In Ministry Program which is designed to support women pastors and young adult pastors to strengthen their personal and contextual intelligences that can lead them to thriving in ministry.  She also completed the Pastoral Excellence Program with Lott Carey where she spent time partnering with and learning from pastors in Guyana, Jamaica, South Africa, and the U.S. through mission immersion experiences.

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Dr. Beth Tanner, The Norman and Mary Kansfield Chair of Old Testament, has been named Dean of Academic Affairs.��

Dr. Nathan Jérémie-Brink will join �鶹��Ƶ as the Assistant Professor of History of Global Christianity and L. Russell Feakes Memorial Assistant Professor of Church History. �� Dr. Janice McLean-Farrell will join �鶹��Ƶ as the Dirk Romeyn Assistant Professor of Metro-Urban Ministry.�� Dr. Andrew Wymer will serve as Assistant Dean of Doctoral Studies, in addition to his current position as Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship and Director of Mast Chapel. ��

��Dr. Beth Tanner will serve as the Dean of Academic Affairs for three years. President Dr. Micah L. McCreary stated that he has “enjoyed working with Dr. Tanner during this initial year of his presidency. She brings to the position of Dean, a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the seminary faculty, a legacy of successful academics at �鶹��Ƶ, and a deep love and involvement in the local church. We are thrilled to have Dr. Beth Tanner join our leadership team at �鶹��Ƶ.”�� Dr. Tanner will also continue in her position as The Norman and Mary Kansfield Chair of Old Testament.

��Dr. Nathan Jérémie-Brink will join �鶹��Ƶ�� as the Assistant Professor of History of Global Christianity and L. Russel Feakes Memorial Assistant Professor of Church History. �� Dean Beth Tanner said, “Nathan brings a wonderful combination of historical academic rigor and a heart for justice ministries to �鶹��Ƶ. He plans to continue his research in the history of the church’s involvement in anti-slavery movements, as well as the church’s participation in the continuation of slavery in this county. He will be a great addition to our faculty, and our students will be enriched by his innovative teaching.” �� President Dr. Micah L. McCreary said that “Dr. Jérémie-Brink personifies what we mean by an advocate for social justice. We are thrilled to have Dr. Jérémie-Brink join our �鶹��Ƶ family.”

Dr. Jérémie-Brink��received his PhD in History from Loyola University Chicago in 2018.�� Nathan’s dissertation,��“‘Gratuitous Distribution’: Distributing African American and Antislavery Texts, 1773-1850,” examined how antislavery print distribution strategies and networks developed by��African American individuals, religious communities, and social institutions shaped the nineteenth-century abolitionist movement. His work was awarded dissertation fellowships from the Schmitt Foundation and the Louisville Institute.�� Nathan’s archival research enjoyed generous fellowship support from the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Omohundro Institute, and the Newberry Library.

Nathan specializes in the cultural and religious history of the early American republic and the Atlantic world, early African American cultures of print, and slavery and abolition. His research interests include the use of GIS mapping and the digital humanities, and his teaching explores how digital pedagogies offer students new platforms for historical research and public presentation. He looks forward to teaching history courses at �鶹��Ƶ that explore Christianity as a global movement and encourage church and community leaders of the present to critically engage in the process of historical inquiry.�� Nathan also also hopes to encourage student explorations of the rich manuscript and rare book holdings of the Gardner Sage Library.

Nathan is a candidate for ordination in the PC(USA), and earned his M. Div. from McCormick Theological Seminary and B.A. in Philosophy from Calvin College. He grew up in Southeast Greater Los Angeles and lived in Chicago for the past 12 years.�� His leadership experiences include the church, the non-profit sector, student groups, and community organizations.�� His spouse, Gihane, has recently been appointed an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the William Paterson University of New Jersey, and they have two young children, Mateo and Naya.

��Dr. Janice McLean-Farrell will join �鶹��Ƶ as the Dirk Romeyn Assistant Professor of Metro-Urban Ministry.�� Dean Beth Tanner said, “Dr. McLean-Farrell brings a needed component to the faculty with her research on Caribbean Immigrant Communities. She will share these insights in her Urban Ministry courses by addressing how students must navigate the global cultures within their communities. She also focuses on womanist theology. She will make a great contribution to the voices present on the faculty and the students will benefit from her insights and ministry.”�� President Dr. Micah L. McCreary said of Dr. Janice McLean-Farrell that, “Dr. McLean-Farrell makes �鶹��Ƶ a triple threat. She embodies metro-urban ministry – having served as a youth pastor, urban pastor, and urban professor. We are elated by the addition of Dr. Janice McLean-Farrell to our �鶹��Ƶ family.”

Dr. McLean-Farrell recently served as a faculty member and the Learning Communities Coordinator at the City Seminary of New York.�� She was born and raised in Jamaica. �� Dr. McLean-Farrell has served for more than 18 years in urban congregations in New York and Edinburgh, including New Song Community Church (CRC) where she was an ordained pastor and co-chair of the board for the New Song Community Corporation.�� She is currently a member of Madison Avenue Christian Reformed Church, where she serves in a variety of ministerial capacities.��

Dr. McLean-Farrell received an Associate degree from the Community College of Philadelphia and her Bachelor in Arts in Chemistry from the University of Delaware.�� She earned a Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and continued her theological education at Princeton Theological Seminary where she completed a Master of Theology degree.�� She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Edinburgh. Dr. McLean-Farrell is the author of West Indian Pentecostals: Living their Faith in New York and London (Bloomsbury, 2016) as well as several articles on urban youth, religion, immigrant churches, global cities and the Caribbean. She is also the co-editor of Understanding World Christianity: The Vision and Work of Andrew F. Walls (Orbis, 2011) and��Engaging the World: Christian Communities in contemporary global Societies (Regnum, 2014).�� Dr. McLean-Farrell is passionate about equipping God’s people as they live out their faith in in their daily lives.�� Her work as a scholar and in church ministry is dedicated to accomplishing this task.

��Dr. Andrew Wymer has formally accepted the position of Assistant Dean of Doctoral Studies in addition to his current position as Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship and Director of Mast Chapel.�� In this role, Dr. Wymer will report to Dean Beth Tanner, who said,�� “Our Doctor of Ministry program is an important part of our vision as this new position demonstrates. Dr. Wymer will provide vision and leadership to strengthen the program and guarantee students are engaged in coursework which prepares them for the challenges of ministry.” �� As the Assistant Dean of Doctoral Ministry, Dr. Wymer will provide the academic oversight of the four Doctor of Ministry programs: Pastoral Care and Counseling, Prophetic Urban Ministry, Transformational Preaching, and Missiology and Global Christianity (our newest program). �� President McCreary said, “I wish to personally thank Dr. Wymer for his willingness to take on this critical and essential �鶹��Ƶ academic program.”

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and

Inauguration of Rev. Micah L. McCreary, Ph.D.��as the 12th President at the Seminary

Friday, May 18, 2018

Mast Chapel, �鶹��Ƶ

6:30 P.M.

The senior class has chosen Dr. Raynard Smith��as the Baccalaureate Preacher.

2018 Commencement Service

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Kirkpatrick Chapel, Rutgers University New Brunswick, New Jersey

11:00 A.M.

Commencement preacher:��Rev. John W. Kinney, Ph.D.

Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, ��Beaverdam, Virginia

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April 19, 2018 at 10:00 am at the New Brunswick campus (35 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, New Jersey)

This day-long program looked at the past, present, and future of interfaith relationships for Reformed Christians. Four Reformed Church leaders will share their thoughts and experiences in this crucial area of our common life.

Rev. Harold “Hank” Lay, the 2017-18 Albert A. Smith Fellow in Reformed Church History, presented “Lessons Learned: RCA Mission Work Among Arab Muslims.”

Rev. Vicky Eastland, pastor at The Brookville Reformed Church on Long Island, shared their unique ministry as a multi-faith campus.

Norma Coleman James, an RCA elder, shared the progress of a working group preparing “An Interfaith Mandate for the RCA.”

John Hubers (�鶹��Ƶ 1982) is a professor of religion and director of the Global Education department of Northwestern College, an RCA college in Orange City, Iowa. He received his PhD in the area of World Christianity and Global Mission from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2013. Prior to that he served with the RCA mission in Bahrain and Oman and as supervisor of the RCA global mission program in the Middle East and South Asia. His book on the first Protestant missionary to the Middle East was published by Wiph and Stock Publishers in 2016.

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Part 2

There is a growing body of empirical evidence confirming something that people of faith have known for a long time: our spiritual health has a profound effect upon our physical health. Worship, ritual, prayer, and singing can be physically as well as socially healing.

On Thursday, March 15, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the New Brunswick campus (35 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, New Jersey), the Reformed Church Center hosted a conference examining this connection and how local congregations can use it as a force for greater good, featuring four leaders who are both scholars and practitioners.

	Paul Janssen is the Alvin J. Poppen and John R. Young Fellow in Reformed Worship for the 2017-2018 academic year and pastor of United Reformed Church in Somerville, New Jersey, and holds degrees from Central College in Palla, Iowa (1981) and �鶹��Ƶ (1985). During his seminary years he met and married Annette Giles, a daughter of First Reformed Church in Astoria, Queens. They have two grown children, Samuel and Emma. An occasional writer of hymns and composer of tunes, he has always had a keen interest in the liturgical life and renewal of the church, and finds deep value in both the historic reformed tradition and��more contemporary influences like Taizé and Iona.�� Paul’s keynote address, “Reformed Worship: Not Enough ‘From the Neck Up,’” will examine information on recent studies of how worship effects the human brain—an interest that was sparked for him by an elder in one of the congregations he served—and what that might mean for our worship leadership and planning.
	Jes Kast is the Associate Pastor at West End Collegiate Church in New York City and Lead Pastor of A Taste of Heaven Soup Kitchen Church. Under her leadership she revitalized a soup kitchen and created a worshiping congregation with some of New York City’s economically poor. She is a sought after preacher and writer. ��Her public theological work includes serving with Governor Cuomo’s Interfaith Advisory Committee. ��She writes for��The 12. Reformed. Done Daily. She will share the story of “A Taste of Heaven: How worship heals wounds in the sanctuary of the City.”
	Holly Phares, a professional singer, conductor, educator, composer and private voice teacher & coach, has guided singers from all walks of life and levels of experience for over 30 years, while helping them discover or recover their authentic voices.�� Holly is presently the Director of Music at Old First Reformed UCC Church in Philadelphia, Founder & Artistic Director of The Healing Presence Singers, a local Philadelphia-based community healing choir, Music Director of ParkinSingers, a choir comprised of people living with Parkinson’s Disease, their care partners and friends, and recently has started a homeless choir at Old First, serving the community of people experiencing homelessness on the streets of Philadelphia. She will talk about the healing power of choral singing.
	Micah McCreary is President of �鶹��Ƶ. ��He will be presenting on the topic of worship as pastoral care.

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Also, while remaining in his part-time role as Director of the Reformed Church Center at �鶹��Ƶ,��Rev. James Brumm��has been hired to further develop both our Center for Theological Writing and �鶹��Ƶ Archives. Rev. Brumm will move into this increased role on March 15^th. He will begin working with the library staff to equip �鶹��Ƶ seminarians for the rigors of theological writing, analytical reading, and critical thinking for theological education. As the Director of the Seminary Archives, in consultation with the Archives of the RCA which is also housed in the Sage Library, Rev. Brumm will work to collect, preserve, and provide access to the archival materials of �鶹��Ƶ.

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First Things First Chapel Service • Wednesday January 17��2018 • Worship Leader:��Rev. Dr. Lester W. Taylor Jr.

First Things First Chapel Service •��Thursday January 18 2018 • Worship Leader: Rev. Liz Testa

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