Michael Karunas (1995) has been named the new senior minister of Central Christian Church in Decatur, Illinois. He will conclude service as the senior minister of First Christian Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on January 31, 2012. Michael is the current president of DDH's Alumni/ae Council.

As of January 1, 2012, Ken Brooker-Langston (1985) became the volunteer Director of Disciples Justice Action (DJAN) at his request and as the organization's finances required his move from being a paid director. He continues his ministry with DJAN and also as the (paid!) Executive Director of the Disciples Center for Public Witness, based in Washington, DC.

Teresa Hord Owens (1999) was installed as Senior Minister of First Christian Church of Downers Grove, Illinois, on Sunday, November 13. She became the senior minister in late September. She continues also as Dean of Students of the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Congratulations to Gaylord Yu (trustee) and Jihye (Jenny) Choi, who were married November 11, 2011, in the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago.

Michael Kinnamon (1973), General Secretary of the National Council of Churches (NCC), will leave his position due to health reasons. The announcement was made November 9. "Members of the governing board received the news with reverence and respect for Kinnamon's leadership of the council during the last four years. Many expressed a sense of loss and offered tributes of appreciation for his ministry," a press release explained. Kinnamon's cardiologist insisted that the stresses of his current position, particularly the extensive travel required, must be reduced immediately and significantly.

Jeff Lehn (former resident) and Arianne Lehn, a recent graduate of McCormick Theological Seminary, are now pastors of First Presbyterian Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was ordained there and installed as Senior Minister on November 27, 2011; she was ordained and installed as Associate Minister on March 10, 2012.

Northwestern University Press has published a new book by Larry Bouchard (1974), Theater and Integrity: Emptying Selves in Drama, Ethics, and Religion. Bouchard argues that theater’s ways of being realized in ensembles, texts, and performances allow us to reenvision integrity's emergence and ephemeral presence. The book locates ambiguities in our discourse about integrity, and it delves into conceptions of identity, morality, selfhood, and otherness. Its explorations ask if integrity is less a quality we might possess than a contingent gift that may appear, disappear, and perhaps reappear.

Former Resident Ben Varnum was ordained a deacon by the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago on November 1 at St. Chrysostom Episcopal Church in Chicago. In October be became the assistant rector of St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Overland Park, Kansas.

In their November letter from London, Tod and Ana Gobledale (1975) reflect on different congregations in which they have ministered and worshiped. They ask, "What makes church?" They answer, in part, "Church, whether on the arid plains of Matabelaland in Zimbabwe, on the Salisbury plain or on the twisted streets of London brings together the faithful of all ages and all places." Read their reflections.

On Friday, October 28, Matthew Myer Boulton was installed as the sixth President of Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, and Professor of Theology. He began serving in July. He was previously Associate Professor of Ministry Studies at Harvard Divinity School, and he taught at Andover Newton Theological Seminary. He earned his PhD in Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He and Liz Myer Boulton (1989) were married in the Chapel of the Holy Grail; they were both ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Also, his new book, Life in God: John Calvin, Practical Formation, and the Future of Protestant Theology, was published in October by William B. Eerdmans.