"The Episcopal Church inherited an historic connection with ministries to colleges and universities from the founding of the College of William and Mary in 1693.
Campus ministry has a significant role to play in the development of leaders in the church and in the world.
The broad impact of chaplains on the development of students through campus ministry is illustrated by this small sample of faces, names and schools on the enclosed playing cards.
These communities of faith require your support--prayerful and financial--so that they might sustain a strong witness to young people on campus." |
At their fall 2008 meeting, the procinvincial coordinators for ministry in higher education discussed how to best drawn attention to campus ministry at General Convention. They wanted something a little out of the ordinary that they could circulate among the delegates, something that would show just how many Episcopalians have been positively affected by campus ministry.
What was ultimately decided was to create a deck of playing cards, with each card bearing the photo of someone who benefited from being a part of campus ministry. This project was based on a model used by campus chaplains in Finland.
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Each coordinator was asked to solicit names from around their province and to submit a dozen or so for consideration. These submissions were then broken down into suites (see above right).
The people featured on the cards represent a cross section in terms of race, gender, background, and location. While the list does include a large number of clergy, including the Presiding Bishop, it contains Episcopalians from a wide array of professions--a Texas Ranger, a novelist, a specialist in fetal medicine, a public relations officer, and more.
These are the individuals featured from Province 7:
• The Rt. Rev. Larry Benfield, Texas A&M (chaplaincy staff), Bishop of Arkansas
• The Rev. James Derkits, Texas State, Asst. Rector, St. Mark's, Houston
• Dr. Gene Dowdy, Texas State, Professor of Music, University of Texas-San Antonio
• Lt. Glen Garrett, Del Mar College (Corpus Christi), Texas Rangers
• Channing Homer, Oberlin & University of Kansas, Professor of French & Spanish, Northwest Missouri State
• Dr. Louise Homer, Oberlin & University of Kansas, Professor of French & Spanish, Northwest Missouri State
• The Rt. Rev. Gary Lillibridge, Texas State, Bishop of West Texas |
• Dr. Ryan Loftin, Texas State, Specialist in Fetal Medicine, Cincinnati
• John Peterek, Texas Lutheran, Peace Corps
• The Rev. Kevin Schubert, Texas State, Asst, Rector, St. Matthew's, Austin
• Rob Sterk, Southwestern University, Field Appraiser, Texas General Land Office
• Greg Quisenberry, Del Mar College (Corpus Christi), General Mgr., Boggus Ford, McAllen, TX
• The Rt. Rev. Dean Wolfe, Miami University, Bishop of Kansas
• Mike Young, Texas A&M, Young Adult Service Corps
Thanks goes to all of the above, as well as to those who agreed to participate but were not selected due to over-submissions in some categories:
• Dick Francis, Norwich University (Vt.), Operations Mgr., Exxon (Houston)
• The Rev. Laura Minnich Lockey, Texas State, Chaplain, James Madison University
• Mary Sterk, Southwestern University, Director of Research and Development, Remington Medical Resorts (social worker)
** These cards will soon be available for $9 per deck, which includes postage. For information on ordering a deck, contact Sarah at mlcid1@episcopalchurch.org.
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