Bishop Ordains New Clergy

By Jackie Campbell
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6/10/2012

Bishop Bickerton introduces Kelly Smith, after she is received as a full member with elder's order during clergy session.

Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton ordained seven new elders and a deacon Sunday morning, June 10 during a service that included a baptism and Holy Communion at the close of the 2012 session of the Western PA Annual Conference.  On Saturday night, the Bishop commissioned five new provisional members.

The newly ordained elders are:  Pamela Sue Armstrong, pastor of New Hope UM Church on Pittsburgh’s Northside and manager at Light of Live mission; Wade Reitz Berkey, pastor of the Bruin Charge who will begin serving as pastor of Chicora and Karns City UM Churches on July 1; Susan Lyn Moudry from the Indiana District, who is a PhD candidate at Baylor University; Thomas John Parkinson, pastor of Faith UMC in Fox Chapel; Joseph Benton Short, pastor of Redbank Valley UM Ministry in Franklin District; Kelly Jean Smith, pastor of Christ and Trinity UM Churches in Uniontown who will begin serving at Mifflin Ave. UMC in Pittsburgh on July 1; and Beveraly Ann Sheets Spore, pastor of Blooming Valley, Townville and Troy Center UM churches.

Donna Byrd Gabler, who serves as pastor of congregational care and missions at Charter Oak UM Church, was ordained a deacon.

Provisional members commissioned on Saturday night were Timothy James Goodman, pastor of Creekside UM Church and youth pastor at Trinity UM Church in Indiana, PA; Gary Lee Hilton, Jr., pastor of Homewood and Volant UM churches; Julie Sparks Kolacz,pastoral counselor and chaplain at Meadville Medical Center; Scott Alan Shaffer, pastor of Spring Hope UM Church in North Carolina;  and Erica Beth Wellner, a student at Asbury Theological Seminary.

All the new clergy participated in the service, with Donna Gabler reading Acts 2 in English, while Kelly Smith, Thomas Parkinson, Susan Moudry, and Sandra Matoushaya of the Conference staff read in other languages as the sound of wind was heard in the room, bringing the scriptural description of speaking in many tongues to life.

 

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