1969 Graduates Begin Their Ministries

as suburban pastor

Myron C. Moore finished seminary in
June and began work immediately as
pastor of the Bethel Presbyterian Church
at Kingsport, Tenn.

A native of Dothan, Ala., Myron grew
up in Atlanta and
had been working
five years for Gen-
eral Telephone
Company when he
received his call to
the gospel ministry.
Bethel Church is
one of twelve Pres-
byterian churches
in Kingsport, and
Myron looks forward to the challenge
of working with men caught up in the
pressures of corporation work. He re-
members well himself such pressures and
believes they must play second fiddle
to a man's Lord Jesus Christ.

"When you put your life on the line
for a company ahead of even your
God life can't have much meaning
or purpose." Myron says. "I know.
I've been there!"

Myron believes the church has a
message of relevance for business peo-
(Continiied on page 4)

in small congregation

R. Thomas Cheeley, a June gradu-
ate of Columbia Seminary, has great
expectations for the work to which he
and his wife, Katherine, have been
called. Tom is the new pastor of the
First Presbyterian Church of Soddy,
Tenn., near Chattanooga.

When Tom was a Middler, he preached
one Sunday in Soddy. He was soon
preaching at Soddy every other Sunday,
and this led to his call by the church
in January this year.

There's much to attract a young
minister to such a call, for the church
was established in 1828, and is the
oldest Presbyterian church in Hamil-
ton County, Tenn.

Already paid for is a new educa-
tion building and fellowship hall,
and construction is under way on a
{Continued on page 4)

in college to^vn

Until three years ago, Henry A.
Roberts, Jr., was a young, up-and-com-
ing executive with the Coca Cola Com-
pany in Augusta, Ga., by way of Pitts-
burg, Kan., Kansas City, Mo., Denver,
Colo., and Charleston, S. C.

As general sales manager with Au-
gusta Coca Cola in 1965-66, Henry
discovered he was spending more time
with people problems than with the im-
portant job of marketing and sales.

"I had an identity crisis right then
and there," Henry remembers, "and my
call to the ministry was part of the
crisis."

At the time Henry was teaching Sun-
day School at Au-
gusta's First Pres-
byterian Church.
His next stop was
Columbia S e m i -
nary and three
years of work and
study which
brought him the
Master of Divinity
degree in June.
Henry, his wife Kerstin, and their
three children - Alvin 6, Jennifer 4, and
Keith 2 left their seminary campus
apartment after graduation for an asso-
ciate pastorate at the First Presbyterian
Church of Bryan, Tex. The Rev. Harold
Wells is pastor.

The Roberts' new church home is in
a suburb of Bryan and only about two
miles from Texas A & M University.
The church has a new (two years old)
sanctuary and some 900 members. It was
established in 1879, and is still the only
Presbyterian church in that city.

Henry's work at the church will be
developed in four main areas:

Working with both high school and
university students in the church's youth
program.

Helping develop a telephone crisis cen-
ter for people threatening to take their
own lives. Henry has worked evenings
for the Suicide Prevention Center of At-
lanta for the past two years. In the new
situation, the church in Bryan might be-
come the base for development of a
{Continued on page 4)

with unchurched youth

The slums and streets of Atlanta will
be the scene of Les Comee's ministry.
Lcs, who will be ordained as an Evange-
list by Atlanta Presbytery, will be en-
gaged in a ministry to young people who
never set foot inside a church.

It all started two years ago when Les
spent a summer living in the inner-city
and participating in a summer program
of ministry to inner-city young people.
They had a coffee house and a weekly
dance and the number of young people
with whom they worked grew from 15
to 150.

Les says that it "gets into your blood."
And it really has because Les is quite
caught up in the needs of young people
{Continued on page 4)

a summary

Again this year 75% of Columbia's
graduating students have accepted calls
to local churches. The other fourth of the
class will be working in a, variety of
ministries.

The eight Master of Theology Degrees
awarded went to four pastors, two pro-
fessors, a missionary and a hospital
chaplain.

Of the forty graduates receiving their
first degree twenty nine have accepted
calls as pastors, assistant and associate
pastors. Three members of the class are
being ordained as evangelists. Graduate
studies will be pursued by two. One mem-
ber of the class will be a hospital chap-
lain, one a minister to students and an-
other a state director for Young Life.
Three members of the class have not
completed their plans as yet.

In addition to the one Th.M. graduate
who is beginning missionary service, one
other member of the class has been
encouraged by the Board of World Mis-
sions to expect appointment after a brief
pastorate in this country.

Twenty-three members of the class
have accepted calls to ministries in 'Co-
lumbia's five supporting synods. The
other seventeen will be serving in seven
states stretching from Virginia to Cali-
fornia.

Charles F. Scott

William Serjak

JEFFERSON K. AIKEN, JR., pastor
First Presbyterian Church, Dallas,
North Carolina

DON G. BUCHANAN, JR., pastor
Seagle Memorial Presbyterian Church,
Pulaski, Virginia

R. THOMAS CHEELY, pastor
First Presbyterian Church, Soddy,
Tennessee

LESTER H. COMEE, evangelist
Atlanta Presbytery

RICHARD A. CURNOW, JR., pastor
Ingleside Presbyterian Church,
Scottdale, Georgia

RICHARD E. DAVIS, pastor
Talmo Baptist Church, Talmo,
Georgia

WILLIAM E. DUDLEY, assistant pastor
Memorial Presbyterian Church,
Montgomery, Alabama

M. THOMAS DUNLAP, pastor
not definite

H. ALAN ELMORE, assistant pastor
Westminster Presbyterian Church,
Greenville, South Carolina

William C. Smith

RALPH M. EVANS

undecided

DONALD M. GREEN, pastor
McKinnon Memorial Presbyterian
Church, Charleston, West Virginia

WILLIAM B. HART, graduate study
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

CHARLES H. HORNE, assistant pastor
First Presbyterian Church, Orlando,
Florida

MARJORIE FRANKS JACOBS,

Atlanta, Georgia

REX H. KING, minister to students
Grandview Presbyterian Church
Glendale, California

CECILIO LAJARA, evangelist
Atlanta Presbytery

PHILIP W. LEFTWICH, assistant pastor
Government Street Presbytery Church,
Mobile, Alabama

MYRON C. MOORE, pastor
Bethel Presbyterian Church,
Kingsport, Tennessee

CLASS OF

JOSEPH C. MORECRAFT, III, pastor
Vansant and Oakwood Presbyterian
Churches. Vansant, Virginia

JOHN N. PAYNE, intern chaplain
Georgia Baptist Hospital, Atlanta,
Georgia

HENRY A. ROBERTS, associate pastor
First Presbyterian Church, Byran,
Texas

PAUL M. ROSE, assistant pastor
Kendall Presbyterian Church,
Miami, Florida

JOHN P. SARTELLE, pastor
Cedar Bluff Presbyterian Church,
Cedar Bluff, Virginia

CARL L. SCHLICH, pastor
South Glen Presbyterian Church,
Houston, Texas

CHARLES F. SCOTT, Young Life State
Director, Florida

WILLIAM SERJAK

undecided

1969

John F. Tolson

Morse D. Up De Graff

Harold L. Vaughn, Jr.

Michael E. Williams

WILLIAM C. SMITH, pastor
Summerton Presbyterian Church,
Summerton, South Carolina

JOHN F. TOLSON, assistant pastor
First Presbyterian Church,
Shreveport. Louisiana

MORSE D. UP DE GRAFF, pastor
Chestnut Mountain Presbyterian Church,
Chestnut Mountain. Georgia

HAROLD L. VAUGHN, JR.,

assistant pastor
J. J. White Memorial Presbyterian
Church, McComb, Mississippi

MICHAEL E. WILLIAMS, evangelist
Virginia

(NOT PICTURED)

ROBERT M. BAY, pastor

Sullivans Island Presbyterian Church,

Sullivans Island, South Carolina

RICHARD W. CALDWELL, pastor
John Knox Presbyterian Church,
Shelby, North Carolina

ROE M. CALLAWAY, JR., pastor
Gretna and Woodland Presbyterian
Churches, Gretna, Florida

W. EDWARD CHILDERS, pastor
Butler and Cuba Presbyterian Churches,
Cuba, Alabama

LEON M. JEFFORDS, pastor
First Presbyterian Church,
Douglasville, Georgia

HENRY J. MUELLER, pastor
First Presbyterian Church,
Highlands, North Carolina

P. DAVID REYNOLDS, pastor
Homer Presbyterian Church,
Homer, Georgia

GRADY E. SIMPSON, assistant pastor
Westminster Presbyterian Church,
Atlanta, Georgia

HARVEY H. WALTERS, graduate study
Candler School of Theology,
Atlanta, Georgia

MASTER OF THEOLOGY DEGREES

FRENCH L. ARRINGTON, professor
Lee Bible College,
Cleveland, Tennessee

J. KNOX CHAMBLIN, professor
Belhaven College, Jackson,
Mississippi

WILLIAM H. ESTELL, JR., missionary
Taiwan, Republic of China

MARTIN L. HARKEY, JR., pastor
Central Presbyterian Church,
Anderson, South Carolina

STEPHEN MC Q. HUNTLEY, JR.,

pastor
Williamsburg Presbyterian Church,
Kingstree, South Carolina

lAMES M. KENNEDY, hospital

chaplain
Milledgeville State Hospital,
Milledgeville, Georgia

WALTER E. POND, JR., pastor
Peachtree Road Lutheran Church,
Atlanta, Georgia

ALEX W. WILLIAMS, assistant pastor
First Presbyterian Church, Atlanta,
Georgia

with unchurched youth

and what the Christian faith has to say
to them.

ft has taken these two years for Les
to learn the language of these young
people from the slums and the hippie
cominiinit\ . Now during the weekly Sun-
day evening meet-
ing that is attended
by about 60 of
them he delivers a
short sermon on
the basics of Chris-
tianity in their lan-
guage.

"Friendship
evangelism" is pay-
ing off and signifi-
cant numbers of young people are com-
ing to Les, and to the others who are
working with him in this special ministry,
for help in solving the problems of their
lives. Some of them take drugs. Others
are in various kinds of trouble. Les has
come to know many of Atlanta's proba-
tion officers by working with these
young people.

Our work is "the missionary church
going to where people are and relating
the Christian faith in terms they can un-
derstand," Les explains.

The Inman Park Presbyterian Church,
where this ministry was begun has been
torn down for an expressway and now
an old neighborhood theatre is being
cleaned up to provide a teen center. At
the center, in addition to recreation a
program of tutoring and employment
counseling will be undertaken.

Miss Mattie Hart, a rising senior at
Columbia, is working under a Board of
National Ministers grant with girls in this
program. Charles Helms who was Inman
Park's pastor and is now on the staff at
the Druid Hills Church, is also a member
of the leadership team.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida and
a graduate of Wake Forest, Les Comee

in small congregation

new manse for the young minister and
his family. The church has eleven
and one half acres on which to ex-
pand, and its members seem to be ex-
pansion-minded.

It is the latter feature which at-
tracted Tom and his wife, for they
realized that a church and its mem-
bers must want to be reaching out.
There was a time, perhaps, when this
was not the main emphasis, says Tom,
but today the members themselves arc
saying they must have an emphasis on
evangelism. There are many mountain
families within
easy driving dis-
tance of the
church, and some
of these are begin-
ning to attend.
What is more im-
portant, the mem-
bers are inviting
them, and trying
to help them feel
welcome.

Soddy itself is growing now as the
site of a new federal nuclear plant on
Lake Chickamauga (TVA project) on
the Tennessee River.

Although the church has only 52
members at present, twelve of these
have joined since Tom accepted his
call in January.

To lead as many people to Christ
as we can with the Lord's help is our
goal," Tom said. "To this end, we
plan to have both visitation evange-
lism, and special services at intervals
led by professional evangelists."

was brought up in the church. He began
working with young people through the
program of Young Life and his inner-
city ministry is being conducted through
their auspices.

in college town

similar program for both students and
the community-at-large.

Helping with the church's pastoral
counseling program, with some emphasis
on development of small therapy groups.

Preaching once each month and par-
ticipating in other ways during the wor-
ship periods.

Because he is a native of In-
dependence, Kan., Henry believes that
the Roberts family will like living and
working in Texas.

as suburban pastor

pie, just as it does for others, and he
hopes his years of experience in the
business world will enhance and in-
crease the opportunities for service in
Kingsport.

Kingsport is a growing city with
perhaps 70,000 people in the greater
metropolitan area. Bethel Church was
extremely evangelistic in the late 40's,
according to Myron, and helped colon-
ize four new churches, three of which
are now self-sustaining, and one of
which is now larger than Bethel, which
has about 600 members.

Looking forward to the new work
with him are Dannie, his wife, and
the two Moore children. Lisa 8, and
David 6.

COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

BULLETIN
P.O. Box 520 Decatur, Ga. 30031

Return Requested

Second Class

POSTAGE

Paid at

Decatur, Georgia

Vol. 62, No. 3 / July, 1969
Published five times a year