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REV. DR. BRYCE RONALD GILMER, PASTOR

The congregation has voted---and the COM of the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley has approved---a call to the Rev. Dr. Bryce Ronald Gilmer to serve as the next Pastor of University Presbyterian Church. He will be examined on the floor of presbytery at its February meeting, and his service to the church in Tuscaloosa will begin immediately afterwards.

Deeply committed to the Reformed notion of "the life of the mind in service to God," Ron has been active in academics even as he has served congregations in the Carolinas for the past seven years. He is a graduate of Wofford College (B.A., Religion and History, 1993), The University of South Carolina (M.A., Religious Studies, 1995), Florida State University (Ph.D., Religion, 2001) and Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education (M.Div., 2006). He served as a Director of Christian Education at Darlington Presbyterian Church and functioned as an Associate in Ministry at Brevard-Davidson River Presbyterian before being installed as Associate Pastor following ordination by the Presbytery of Florida at First Presbyterian Church, Tallahassee.

Ron taught Religion in the United States and Introduction to Religion at Florida State University. In his dissertation, "Updike's Custom-House," he explores religious themes in John Updike's appropriation of Nathaniel Hawthorne. He has served as an adjunct professor at Brevard College and Union-PSCE at Charlotte, providing leadership in everything from Old Testament to Christian Education course. This spring, he is leading a series in spiritual autobiography at Brevard College.

To UPC, Ron will bring enthusiasm for, and experience with, ecumenical, interfaith and mission efforts. He is active in the World Council of Churches. He has led intergenerational groups in international partnerships through Presbyterian Border Ministry and has participated in Presbyterian Disaster Assistance on the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He has been involved locally and regionally in hunger relief ministries and served as an advisor to College Walk's vespers committee, which was responsible for jump-starting ecumenical worship and dialogue in Brevard's premier residential retirement community.

This spring, Ron will be traveling back and forth to Brevard, NC, where his daughter Lydia will be completing the 3rd grade. She will join her dad in Tuscaloosa this summer. Both of them enjoy the arts, especially theater. They have two dogs: a Boston terrier named Wofford and a tea cup poodle named Bubbles. The newest member of the family, Honey, is a hamster that Lydia simply "had to have."

E-mail Ron at RonGilmer@aol.com.

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