Biographies of the 2010 Graduating Class
of Central Baptist Theological Seminary
Melva Bishop Melva was born in Montgomery, Alabama, to Louise Dunlap and the late Roosevelt Washington. Melva (at an early age) with her parents relocated to Milwaukee, and she has resided in Madison, Wisconsin, for 47 years. Melva believes she grew up in the best of both worlds being the youngest child of her mother and the eldest child of her father. She has three brothers and two sisters. She is the mother of six children – one deceased son and five daughters, Loretta, Nkechi, Natasha, Khadijah, and Shakitta – and has been a foster parent for more than twenty children whom she remains in contact with today. She is the proud grandmother of seven children and the great grandmother of two children.
Melva graduated from Central High School in 1968. She attended University of Wisconsin-Whitewater but did not obtain a degree. She later enrolled at Edgewood College, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Religious Studies. She has earned five units of Clinical Pastoral Education credits from Meriter Health Services where she was a Resident Chaplain. Melva received her license as a Certified Chemical Abuse Counselor while employed at the Mental Health Center of Dane County. Melva heard God call early in 1990 but accepted her call in April 1997 and was licensed on July 19, 1999, by Rev.Dr. Terry Thomas at Mt. Zion Baptist Church. While pursuing her Master of Divinity degree she completed her internship at Tangible Word Ministries, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Madison.
Melva has a long history of working in the community as a community activist. She has been employed by non-profit agencies in administrative positions at United Neighborhood Centers, Urban League of Greater Madison, Over 55 Employment Service, and South Madison Neighborhood Center. For six years she volunteered with Hospice Care as a committee member, in-home volunteer, and bereavement counselor.
For the last four and a half years she has volunteered as the Minister of Congregational Development at Mt. Zion Baptist Church where she is currently a Senior Associate Minister. Melva supervises the Greeter, New Member, Prayer Partners, Sick & Shut-In, and Visitation ministries and the newsletter. She is a member of the Emergency Response Team and the Women’s Ministry. Furthermore, she oversees the leadership of Worship Services. She formerly coordinated the Bereavement, Food Pantry, Homeless Meal Ministries, and Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of HIV & AIDS, and has served as the Program Assistance for African American Council of Churches in Madison.
All praise to God - I never could have made it without you. I would like to thank my mother who has stood behind me and supported me all the way while I completed both degrees, to my daughters Natasha and Nkechi who have keep my arms up when they wanted to fall down. To my daughter Loretta, thanks for entertaining your youngest sister so I could complete this degree. To Khadijah and Shakitta, you have been so patient with me while I completed two degrees – thank you for loving me. To my sisters, thanks for encouraging me and keeping me alert when I had to drive home tired from school. To my big sis Bishop Muriel Johnson, it was your influence and encouragement that kept me fighting to the end. To Pastor Jones, without your support I don’t know if I could have done this – you even allowed me to do homework at work. To Pastor Cardenas, thanks for pushing me when I was ready to quit. To my church family, thanks for the words of encouragement – you helped me make it through.
Dori Brown Born in St. Louis after which childhood and adolescence were spent in a variety of cities in Iowa, Dori received two Bachelor of Science. degrees from Iowa State University, one in Speech and one in Psychology. Three years later she received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa in Speech and Language Pathology. Dori is married to Doug, her husband of 35 years, and is the parent of grown children, Erin, Alexandra, and Zachary, all of whom reside in the Kansas City area.
After working for several years as a Speech and Language Pathologist, Dori began exploring ministry opportunities and entered Central Seminary the fall of 2003. She is currently a Licensed Minister with the Evangelical Covenant denomination and has been on staff at Hillcrest Covenant Church for almost eleven years. Working in the development of small group ministry, community engagement, outreach, and evangelism has been her focus. Gathering people of all ages together to form conversion communities in hospitable spaces where they experience God’s transformation is her passion. She will pursue ordination with the Evangelical Covenant Church and anticipates this in 2011.
Without the encouragement, prayers, and support of my family, friends, church, and Central community, this long road of seminary education would not have been able to be completed. It is with humility and thanksgiving that I see how God has called me and enabled me to be equipped for ministry. I have learned so much more than the excellent course content at Central. The hospitality, the humanity, mutuality, the sense of justice, and pursuit of truth that I have observed and experienced in staff and students alike has formed me as much as my studies. For that I am eternally grateful. Special gratitude I send to my dear husband, Doug, who kept this calling and goal in front of me when my vision was murky. My love and thanksgiving for this is truly beyond words.
Cliff Caton, Jr.Rev. Cliff Caton serves as the Senior Minister, First Christian Church, Blue Springs, Missouri.
I would like to thank my family - home, church and seminary - for all the support I have received in this journey. I love you all and I am grateful. My prayer is that each of you experiences a journey this remarkable.
Kimberly Ann Drost Kim was born to Roger and Molly Drost in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She has a brother and a sister.
Kim’s indoctrination to spiritual things began early in life. She grew up in the Catholic Church and was baptized as a baby in Kenosha. She was re-baptized in the Southern Baptist Denomination in South Carolina where she learned the value of having a church family. Kim has always wanted to be a missionary, and she went on a short term trip to Poland in 2008. In 1984 Kim was led to the Lord by someone who is currently a missionary to India.
Kim earned a degree from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Mass Communications and is interested in writing curriculum and/or VBS and Bible study materials in the future. Her hobbies include playing music, reading, bicycling and hiking.
Kim has served her home church family in West Allis as a Sunday School Superintendent, VBS director, Mission Education chair, White Cross Coordinator, and Music Committee Chair. She was in all the choirs and played bass guitar in the Praise Team. At the state level she also has served as a camp pastor at Camp Tamarack, State Secretary for American Baptist Women of Wisconsin, and does pulpit supply at other churches.
She recognizes that she has been called by God and uses Isaiah 61 to remind her why God called her. She is currently a minister with a Christian ministry in the National Parks, serving in Death Valley National Park in California. When she arrived in Death Valley, she was asked, “Why are you here?” Her answer was, “To tell others that God cares even in the desert.”
I am eternally grateful to all who made my Central seminary experience possible. From Dr. Marshall and the Central board who had the vision to expand Central’s reach to the extension sites, to Dr. Timothy Ashley, Dr. Arlo Reichter and others who work with and through the Milwaukee Centre. I also thank First Baptist Church of West Allis for their love, encouragement, and support throughout the years. I could not have done it without you!
Clarence H. Elder Clarence H. Elder is a lifelong resident of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He and his wife, Evelyn, have two married sons, four grandchildren and a grand-dog, “Jake.”
Clarence is a graduate of the American Baptist College (ABC) of the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. From ABC, he received an Associate of Arts degree in 2005 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Theology with a minor in Christian Education in 2006. While at ABC, he received recognition in Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges for the years 2004/2005.
Clarence is an Associate Minister of the Clayborne Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, Franklin, Tennessee, where he assists his pastor in various ministerial duties, teaches the adult Sunday school class, Bible study, and Vacation Bible School. He is in charge of the church’s missionary ministry of visiting the sick and shut-in members at home, hospitals and nursing homes, and administering Communion. He has also been a public speaker for various church functions and has had the opportunity to serve as Evangelist at churches in the city of Murfreesboro and throughout the state of Tennessee.
Clarence accepted his calling into the ministry on May 28, 2006, was licensed in July 2006, and officially ordained as a Gospel minister in January 2007. Prior to his calling into the ministry, he served as a deacon, a Sunday school and Bible teacher for some thirty-plus years. He has served as spiritual advisor for various ministries within the church.
Clarence is a veteran from the US Army where he served for two years, and he is retired from the trucking industry where he worked for over thirty years.
Upon graduation from Central Baptist Theological Seminary, Clarence plans to continue his work in the church. His graduate experience at Central has greatly enhanced his ministry skills and better prepared him for service into whatever ministry opportunity that the Lord should lead and guide his footsteps.
Clarence’s favorite motto is, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:5-6, KJV).
Tammy Jackson Gill Tammy is the oldest of five children born to Charles and Sandra Draper of Sims, Illinois. She grew up in the Southern Baptist tradition and is now affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Tammy has served as Pastor to Children and Families at Holmeswood Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, for over two years. She was ordained by this congregation in November 2008. She is also a psychologist in private practice and owner of Healing Grace Counseling Center in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Tammy has recently also assisted in the formation and development of Wellspring Ministries, a non-profit counseling practice, providing services for individuals and families who are uninsured or under-insured. She provides clinical supervision to counselors-in-training through Wellspring as well.
Tammy is married to Jody Gill and is the mother of Caroline (age 12) and Curtis (age 9). She lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
After graduation Tammy plans to continue her ministry as a psychologist and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. at some point in the future. She has dreams of starting a church (or something like it) which will provide healing for those who have been wounded by unhealthy Christian teaching and offer a fresh new way to pick up the journey with Christ. Tammy enjoys preaching, teaching, and encouraging all persons to have healthy relationships and fulfill their greatest potential.
I cannot begin to fully express the gratitude I have toward those who have supported me in this seminary journey. I have felt the transformation as it happened. Many thanks especially to my professors who have challenged me, tested me, supported me, and loved me through this time. I knew Central was “home” for me from the moment I set foot in the old building in Kansas City, Kansas.
I would also like to thank those friends who led me to Central: Chuck Arney, Bob Hambrecht, Marty Krigbaum, and Elaine Peckham. And to those who helped me persevere: Kathy Pickett, Keith Herron, and all of those I hold dear at Holmeswood Baptist Church. Also to Teresa Wright and my beloved Jody Gill who both have probably seen me at my worst when it all seemed so overwhelming.
Especially to Caroline and Curtis (who were 6 and 3 when I started classes at Central: thanks for understanding why Mom always had a book in her hands.
Daryl Gray Jr. Daryl Gray is married to Johnna Gray and is the father of Forrest and Skyler. He is a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church (OCA) and presently employed as a chaplain with Saint Francis Hospital (Topeka) and Hospice Care of Kansas (Topeka). He will begin a year-long Clinical Pastoral Education Residency at Research Medical Center, Kansas City, Missouri, in September. He was born and raised in and around Seattle, Washington, but claims Los Angeles, California, as his home away from home. Goals over next three years: OCA Endorsement and Board Certification as a chaplain – possibly CPE Supervision training. His past occupations have included Film Production and Screenwriting as well as the Coast Guard – which brought him to Topeka Kansas!!
Timothy E. Lister Born in Topeka, Kansas, to his parents, Leroy and Betty, Timothy lives on rural land inherited from his grandfather Isaac. He is married to Rebecca; they have two daughters, Elizabeth and Noelle. This Monday, Timothy and Rebecca will be celebrating their eighth wedding anniversary.
Timothy enrolled in the Diploma of Theological Studies program in 2006, then applied and was accepted to the Master of Divinity program. He received two Eastern Star Awards for Religious Leadership.
Breakthrough House, an organization that supports people recovering from mental illness, addictions, and homeless military veterans who are reentering society, is Timothy’s current employer. After graduation he will be searching for a congregation that appreciates his talents and skills. Timothy is in the process of being ordained by the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ.
Timothy has served in the United States Army and Kansas Army National Guard.
The hardest trails that I have labored to walk have also yielded the most spectacular, even pristine, views of the world within which we reside. The path through seminary has at times been tough. At other times it has been a wondrous delight that deepened the roots of my faith, and cleared the fog looming between myself and the inextinguishable light. Here in the midst of my journey towards professional ministry, I press forward in anticipation, hoping to catch fleeting glimpses of the in-breaking reign of God.
Joseph C. McLin, Sr.Rev. Joseph C. McLin, Sr. is the youngest son of the late Rev. W.J.G. and Vivian L. McLin of St. Louis, Missouri. He comes from a family of ministers. His father served as a pastor in St. Louis, Missouri, and later in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at St. Matthew C.M.E. church for over twenty years. He is also blessed to have two brothers who answered God’s call to the Ministry. His mother, a missionary in the church, was well known for her ministry to those in need.
Rev. McLin served as the Co-Chairman of the Deacon Council at Community Baptist Church of Milwaukee for three years before entering the ministry. After many years in the sales and finance field, he worked for several years at the Housing Ministries of the American Baptist churches of Wisconsin as a staff person until his retirement.
Rev. McLin now serves as an associate minister at Community Baptist Church of Greater Milwaukee, under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Demetrius K. Williams, and this spring will complete his four years of theological studies at Central Baptist Theological Seminary.
Rev. McLin currently serves as Secretary/ Treasurer of the Wisconsin Ministers Council, the Nominating Committee for State Offices, and also the Secretary of the Commission on Congregational Ministries for the American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin.
Rev. McLin is married to Rhonda Gail McLin, who is also a member of Community Baptist church. Together they are the parents of five adult children, all of whom are college graduates. They are also proud grandparents of four wonderful grandchildren.
Sister McLin travels with her husband and supports him 100% in all he does on his road to Christian maturity.
To God is the glory for the great things He has done.
Lindsey Deann Osborne Lindsey was born and raised in Arvada, Colorado, daughter of April and Mark Sustad and older sister of three amazing siblings. God’s call through the words of the prophet Jeremiah moved her to Missouri and the campus of William Jewell College in 1998. Lindsey received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in History from William Jewell in 2002. She married her college love interest and favorite friend Drew Osborne in July 2004.
Lindsey served full-time on the Young Life staff in Savannah, Missouri, for two years and then moved to Kansas City and has worked part-time on the Young Life staff for the past six years as a Regional trainer of new staff associates. In her 8th year, Lindsey enjoys volunteering as a Young Life leader and spending time with her high school friends. Since January 2010, Lindsey has served in a variety of teaching, writing, and speaking roles as a Minister-in-Training at Restore Community Church in Kansas City, MO.
During her 4 ½ years of seminary, Lindsey and Drew were blessed to create two amazing children. Elijah is 3 ½ and Andi just turned 2. Theology and toilet training, caring ministries and mothering, Christian ethics and the stewardship of personal time, have proven to be formative challenges and compatible conversation partners. Lindsey looks forward to experiencing what it is to be a mother without also being a student, but does not intend to stop learning.
I am at my best in community and was so blessed to have support on this seminary journey. Thank you, Drew, for letting me live fully into this call, for carrying heavy loads of family and work, and for listening and talking to me all the way through. Thank you, Gayle, for the gift of GG Day. Knowing my children were being loved and cared for with such excellence allowed me the freedom to focus and study in classes.I also thank my children for being creative, expressive, spiritual, personal, and hospitable. Elijah and Andi, you are great teachers and bring much joy. I thank the Gateway Region of YL for offering financial assistance and my whole family for stepping in to listen, babysit, and traveling to be here today. I leave with satisfaction and regret. For all who taught me and those next to me in each class, I admire your thoughtful and practical faith and learned so much from you. Blessings on the continuing Adventure.
LuAnne Nickell Prevost LuAnne Nickell Prevost is a resident of Knoxville, Tennessee. She has three children: Lydia, 18; Phillip 16; Gabriella 13
Ms. Prevost completed one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
She is a member of Metro Baptist Church, New York, New York.
Joyce Nichols Sa’vage A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Joyce is the daughter of Ollie (absent from the body) & Lillie Mae Nichols of Forest, Mississippi. She is a graduate of the Milwaukee Theological Institute, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she received a Bachelor of Ministry degree (1995) and Lakeland College, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree (1996).
Joyce was licensed and ordained in 1995 and 1996, respectively, in the gospel ministry by Community Baptist Church of Greater Milwaukee, where she is employed full-time as the church office coordinator /administrator. She serves as minister of Christian education, teaches the Sunday school lesson review some Wednesday nights, oversees the new members’ ministry, and serves as a teacher in the new members’ orientation classes. She is also active in pastoral ministry to those who are incarcerated. She has participated in many retreats both as facilitator and presenter. She was an active member of the church choir for twelve years and served as an ordained deacon for seven years. For years she has served as a speaker at the Ethan Allen Home for Boys, and led a Mission Musical (twice a year for 10 years) to Taycheedah Correctional Institution for Women, where she preached the word of God.
She was married to Roosevelt K. Savage, Jr. (absent from the body). He prayed for her many nights, and he would have been happy to see this day finally come. She is the mother of two daughters, Letecia and Tameko; the grandmother of eight, and the great-grandmother of two.
Joyce enjoys desktop publishing, gardening, and photography and incorporates all of them in her ministry.
She gives all glory to God for the great things He has done in her life. She give special thanks for these who were instrumental in helping her to develop into the Christian woman she is today: her parents, her husband, Roosevelt K. Savage, Jr., (present with the Lord), her former pastor, Dr. Roy B. Nabors, her church family, her current pastor, Rev. Dr. Demetrius K. Williams, her classmates and professors at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Milwaukee Centre).
Joyce’s desire is to be a full-time pastor. She has spent the last 19 years of her life preparing for God’s call on her life.
To God be the glory, great things He has done!
Barry Settle Barry Settle was born in San Diego, California. A few years later his parents moved to Los Angeles and raised their three children there. He is the youngest and is blessed to have been raised by two loving parents with roots in Memphis, Tennessee.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the California State University in Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, he began his seminary studies at Fuller Theological Seminary and attended Ward African Methodist Episcopal Church. While serving at Ward, he led the Single’s Ministry along with Rochelle Short and under their leadership; this ministry grew both spiritually and in numbers under the direction of the Holy Spirit. It was through this ministry that led to their marriage in 1997, and Barry and Rochelle are the blessed parents of two sons, Jeremiah and Zachary, and one daughter, Madison. Pastor Settle also led the Youth Ministry at Ward with his wife. He has led ministries for young African American men, which helped them to focus on the call on their lives as young men of God.
In November 2006 Pastor Settle was appointed to Willis Chapel AME Church in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Lord has blessed the Willis Family tremendously. Pastor Settle loves the LORD, and his mission in ministry is to preach and teach the uncompromising word of God and to serve God’s people.
Ruth Ann Visser-Young As a wife, mother, and grandmother I have been challenged during these last four years of seminary education, and I have grown. While I have learned much during my professional nursing career in many different roles, I have also truly been stretched in theological education. Now, my life seems to have come full circle as I prepare to begin my chaplaincy residency program at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina at the end of August. I believe that God has accompanied and guided me throughout my circuitous life journey toward answering a call that I received long ago.
I want to thank my dear husband, Rev. Dr. Sam Young, for helping me to discern where God was directing me, and for encouraging me along the way. His constant support put the wind in my sails to keep me going. I also appreciate the support and understanding of our children and family as we missed various events because we were such a distance away. We both look forward to spending more time with them and our grandchildren. While we were here we have made many dear friends in the faith communities that we have been part of. Our church home of Prairie Baptist and our friends at Hillcrest Christian have supported us and touched our hearts and lives. I am also grateful to all of my Central professors for sharing their wealth of understanding with me. Learning about the issues of church history, the socio-cultural context of New Testament times, and the breadth of theological thought has helped to redefine my perspective. God has blessed me so much in all of you, and I am so thankful that God sustains and never fails.
Amanda Catherine Wiedeman Amanda Catherine Wiedeman is the daughter of Suzie and Larry Snow of Novinger, Missouri, and Tim and Susan Ledbetter of Hannibal, Missouri. Mandy and her husband Ryan have two children; Clara Colleen is 7 and Kai Ryan is 5.
Mandy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, in Religion and Philosophy, from Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri. She began her Seminary Education at Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and participated in Clinical Pastoral Education through Carondelet Health, assigned to Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
She is the founding pastor of The Journey Church in Sedalia, Missouri, a new church plant that began worshiping in November of 2009. Mandy has enjoyed this new calling in which she has been able to empower people to use their gifts to Love God, Love Others and Serve the World! She also shares through a worship ministry called Take Flight Worship started in 2005. Mandy enjoys traveling to lead worship through speaking and music for conferences, retreats, or evening events.
Mandy has served as pastor within Disciples of Christ and United Methodist congregations from the age of 18, when she was called to her first church in Emerson, Missouri. She has also served churches in Brookfield, Hannibal, Paris, Camdenton, Sedalia, and Windsor, Missouri, as well as McPherson, Kansas.
Pastor Mandy’s plans upon graduation will be to devote more attention to The Journey Church as it continues to grow and change lives. She plans to spend more time with her family and looks forward to opportunities to serve her local community in new ways.
On this very special day I give great thanks for my amazing husband and beautiful children. Thank you for being supportive and encouraging while I have been away, as well as putting up with my stress throughout this process. My dear family, friends, and amazing church family . . . you have held me up when I was down and pushed me towards the finish line when I began to doubt. This is just as much your special day as it is mine! I dedicate this day to the two special mentors in my life, which both left this earth too soon. It was their hope that I would experience quality theological education, and I give thanks that they opened my eyes to the importance of these life-changing years.
I am grateful for my time at Central and relationships formed with professors, staff, and fellow colleagues in ministry. I carry with me your patience, wisdom, and encouragement to live a life of example. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Lori Bennett Williamson Lori is a native of Tullahoma, Tennessee. She has been married to her husband, Thomas Williamson, for 8 years and they currently reside in Smyrna, Tennessee. Lori attended courses at the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, site beginning with the first classes offered there. She has been a recipient of a leadership scholarship for her studies there from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Lori is an active member of First Baptist Church of Murfreesboro where she is a member of the Worship Planning Team for the Connections service.
Lori graduated with an Associate’s degree from Motlow State Community College in 1999 and a Bachelor of Social Work from Middle Tennessee State University in 2002. She has worked in the area of vocational rehabilitation for the past 7 years with adults who have Traumatic Brain Injury. During Seminary, Lori completed an internship as a children’s minister at Believer’s Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Upon graduation, Lori plans to look for a ministry position that will provide an opportunity to serve others from a social work and ministry approach.
I am so grateful to my husband, my seminary family, and my church family for their love and support throughout this seminary journey. A special thank you to Ircel Harrison for many, many things he has done to make my seminary experience possible and rewarding.