Congratulations to Mallory and Julian DeShazier (trustee) and big sister Dania, on the birth of baby Genevieve in October.

From October 1-7, Kris Culp (1982) was in Manila and Tagaytay, the Philippines, for a meeting of a subgroup of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and for a consultation on globalization and catholicity. The subgroup was preparing a document on theological and ecclesiological foundations of "Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace."

On October 1, friends and members of Cairn Christian Church in Lafayette, Colorado, where Thandiwe Dale-Ferguson (2009) is Associate Minister, gathered to dedicate a new sanctuary in their renovated former Greek Orthodox church, culminating a process begun in 2010.

After five years serving a church in southeast London, Tod and Ana Gobledale (1975), are in a new ministry serving three churches in and near Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom. They had served two United Reformed Church congregations in London since 2010.

Vaughn Gabriel Alexander (1962) died on September 5, 2016 in Austin, Texas. He was 88. He and his three brothers grew up on the family farm near Elwood, Indiana. He married Betty L. Wiley in 1954. He received a BA from Texas Christian University in 1956 and his BD from Brite Divinity School, and he was ordained in 1959. In 1962, he entered the Divinity School as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar. He would serve several congregations in the Chicago area. While at the University of Chicago, he learned computer programming. After setting up a hospital information system at the UC Hospitals and Clinics, he became Director of Computer Systems in Medicine at the AMA in Chicago. In 1975, he became the first Director of the Texas Medical Foundation in Austin, Texas. Later he started a company, Health Carecard, to provide computer-based services for doctors’ offices. He sang in the Austin Choral Union for many years, and was a lifelong learner and a volunteer. He was an elder emeritus at University Christian Church in Austin.  He is survived by two daughters, Angela Sprott (Rick) and Celeste Alexander (Rick Nauert), by his brother Warren, and by grandchildren and step-grandchildren. A memorial service was held at University Christian Church in Austin. More here.

Sandhya Jha (2001) and Yvonne Gilmore (2001; associate dean) will keynote the “Justice” and “Transformative Leadership” learning tracks at the 2017 General Assembly.

Ritch Savin-Williams (1971) is the author of Becoming Who I Am, an exploration of identity and sexuality as told by today’s generation of gay young men. Through a series of in-depth interviews with teenagers and men in their early 20s, Savin-Williams reflects on how the life stories recorded here fulfill the promise of an affirmative, thriving gay identity outlined in his earlier book, The New Gay Teenager. He offers a contemporary perspective on gay lives viewed across key milestones: from dawning awareness of same-sex attraction to first sexual encounters; from the uncertainty and exhilaration of coming out to family and friends to the forming of adult romantic relationships; from insights into what it means to be gay today to musings on what the future may hold. The voices hail from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, but as gay men they share basic experiences in common, conveyed here with honesty, humor, and joy.

Danielle Cox (2012) is now the Transitional Minister at First Christian Church in Texas City, Texas. She was ordained June 25, 2016, at First Christian Church, Houston.

Allison Lundblad (2012) has been called to the Christian Church of Arlington Heights, Illinois (CCAH), as its minister beginning September 1. She is currently completing a year as a resident chaplain at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Best wishes to Allie and to the good people of CCAH.

Garry Sparks (2001) has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Scholarly Transitions Grant for 2016-2018. Working with the American Philosophical Society, he and three other scholars in Guatemala, Germany, and the U.S. will produce the first full and critical translation of volume one of the 1554 Theologia Indorum ("Theology of the Indians").