CLC-MDP #12541 Portville

Susan Blanchard called as first director of Baptist House of Studies at Union Seminary

RICHMOND, VA (May 19, 2021) – Rev. Susan Pierson Blanchard (M.Div. / M.A.C.E. ’97) has accepted a call to lead a new initiative for Cooperative Baptists beginning this fall at Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Richmond campus. As director of the Baptist House of Studies (BHS) program, Blanchard, an ordained Baptist minister, will help students navigate the institution and their ordination process….

Congregational Corner: God’s Good Time

…immediately made a phone call and started scheduling meetings in hopes that this would lead to a very different phone call than I had been receiving most recently. Fast forward two years and I am taking a Sabbath day from that position which I called about while wiping tears from eyes. We never know how God is working and I…

Black Alumni Association Newsletter: September 2021

…delivered from having their bodies sexually abused while at the same time having been looked at with disgust and dread. However, the more they were oppressed, the more their numbers increased. A ruling went out from Pharaoh that all male children were to be killed. These are the acts that are recorded in the Bible. However, because people have a…

Living COVID While Black and George Floyd

…own computer to attend college right? Little did I know that some students were relying on the computers in the library which was now closed. My students would email me to let me know they would not be able to complete their homework assignments because their cell phone data plan had run out of minutes and they would not be…

Opposition from Outside Campus

…Bannerman recalls, “It was a glorious celebration of God’s people in support of all God’s people having equal rights.”46 Again, reactions to the demonstration and student involvement were immediate and strident. “The phones rang off the hook in Watts Hall, and the secretaries were targets of considerable verbal abuse.” Union Seminary President James Archibald Jones, by all accounts, was “gracious…

Dinner on the Nile

On Wednesday, we were in the lobby at 3:30 a.m., lucky to maybe have 4 to 5 hours of sleep. We packed our carry-ons and got a bagged breakfast before hopping on the bus to head to the airport for our flight to Luxor. After a coffee pit stop, we visited the temple of Karnak. We beat the crowd and…

Scholarships and Awards

…award is given each year to a student dedicated to preparing for the parish ministry. George Williams, Richmond, Virginia The Percy and Virginia Keffer Scholarship Fund for Ministerial Students Jeremy Ray, Richmond, Virginia The Samuel W. Newell, Sr. and Margaret Norris Newell Scholarship Stacy Deyerle, Richmond, Virginia Sallie W. Peake Scholarship Award Jabriel Hasan, Sandston, Virginia The W. Taliaferro Thompson…

Black Alumni Association Newsletter: February 2022

…but need to know. Few know the fact that many religious denominations punished pastors that preached against slavery and that several religious denominations split on a regional basis fifteen years before the nation did. The theologies these denominations taught that negated our personhood in many instances has never been untaught. Sadly, many leaders of these denominations today are proud of…

Congregational Corner: The hidden life of the transitional pastor

…go to? What seminary will I go to? Where will I work after graduation? Where will I work when this contract runs out? Where will I go when they find an installed pastor? Every day marking one more drop of sand in the hour glass. So, I worked until I had nothing left to give at the church and then…

Will Change Ever Come?

…on her dog. Those two videos awoke the collective conscious of many in the nation. We saw rallies and protests in record numbers. Rallies and protests where, in many instances, equal numbers of black and white citizens took part. Statues of heroes to Confederates came down. Numerous groups held discussions on both law enforcement and racism. However, because of the…

Reaffirming – Black Lives Matter!

BY WILLIAM R. FREEMAN (M.Div.‘01) On the morning of May 21, 2018, I took out my smartphone and swiped across the face to wake it up; what I saw on the screen was a church sign, on a church lawn, that read, “Black Folks Need To Stay Out Of White Churches.” I was shocked! I did not know what to…

BLACK ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER: MAY 2022

…how God will knit these gifts together in service to God’s church and out in the world, but I’m eager and ready to give God my, “Yes”!” A garden statue of a squirrel holding an acorn sealed my decision to attend Union Presbyterian Seminary BY JABRIEL M. HASAN Final Level Student UPSEM May 2022 Jabriel M. Hasan The summer of…

Congregational Corner: Lessons learned about congregational ministry

…getting volunteers is hard. I don’t know of any pastor who knows exactly how to get all of the volunteers for everything they need. Even when I think that I am set for success, something will inevitably happen and I begin making those phone calls and sending those emails to everyone I know, “Will you PLEASE chaperone/ drive/ cook/ teach?”…

Student Complaints

…Ministry. Questions about the accreditation status can be directed to the Commission at: The Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, 10 Summit Park Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15275, USA. Telephone: 412-788-6505. Fax: 412-788-6510. The Commission can be contacted if there is a concern about an institution’s compliance with accreditation requirements or standards….

Student Complaints

…Ministry. Questions about the accreditation status can be directed to the Commission at: The Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, 10 Summit Park Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15275, USA. Telephone: 412-788-6505. Fax: 412-788-6510. The Commission can be contacted if there is a concern about an institution’s compliance with accreditation requirements or standards….

The Syngman Rhee Global Mission Center

…led me to have clarity and confidence in my research work. The collegiality and fellowship with UPSem community made my stay comfortable and enjoyable. It has been an enriching research experience that I ever had in my life. Sincere thanks to the staff and community for their support.”         Contact Information Email: jtaneti@upsem.edu Phone: 804-278-4350 Admissions information…

Leadership Change and Theological Shifts: John Holt Rice and the Spirituality of the Church

…of J. H. Rice’s successor, George Baxter. Under Baxter’s leadership, Union became a bastion of regionalism. Baxter reoriented Rice’s vision of gradual emancipation and colonization (deportation) as Union cooperated in extending the institution of human enslavement. In the spring of 1818, before the Presbytery of Lexington, Baxter led the committee that argued against the Presbyterian General Assembly’s pronouncement condemning human…

Strange Bedfellows: South Africa and U.S.A.

…chosen locales in South Africa were beautiful Cape Town and busy Johannesburg. The Cape Town metropolis is much like the Hampton Roads Virginia area where we live in that it has beautiful beaches that attract many tourists. It has an inviting waterfront much like Baltimore’s Harbor Front and the San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf entertainment area of shops, museums, restaurants, and…

BLACK ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER: November 2022

…that the members of the Sanhedrin were actually co-conspirators with the Romans. They were the Supreme Council in charge of Jewish affairs in Roman Palestine. The Sanhedrin was composed of priests and religious teachers who met to decide on legal matters with religious, political, and social ramifications. They did not have the power to crucify Jesus, however, they had enough…