Alumni Updates
Winter 2011
Chris Callaway (M.Div. 1996), since graduating from Beeson, has earned a Ph.D. in philosophy at Saint Louis University and currently serves as an assistant professor of philosophy at St. Joseph’s College of Maine. He is also an adjunct instructor at Bangor Theological Seminary. Chris is married to Beth, and they have one son, Benjamin.
Douglas Ngatunyi (M.Div. 1996) is working in a hospital in Kenya and preparing to launch a new ministry. He is married to Beatrice, and they have four children: Rosemary, Evelyn, Miller, and Abigail.
Rev. Dr. Connie L. Hedges (M.Div. 1997) has been a chaplain at Logansport Juvenile Correctional Facility in Logansport, Indiana for ten years. Using her doctoral dissertation, A Juvenile Facility Chaplain and Religious Services Coordinator Training and Resource Manual, she has been training a new juvenile facility chaplain and is on the committee to rewrite the Religious Services Administrative Policy and Procedures for the Indiana Department of Corrections. She also teaches Introduction to Philosophy and Philosophy of Religion for Ivy Tech Community College near Logansport.
Dennis Aggrey (M.Div. 1999) is living and working in Liberia, West Africa as the mission director of the Christian Revival Church Association, a group of cooperating Christian Revival churches in rural Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. They have a great website at www.crcaliberia.org.
Daniel Thomas (M.Div 1999) has a new book from Borderstone Press entitled, The Beatitudes: The Way of the Kingdom taken from an Early Church Fathers and evangelical perspective.
Greg Tucker (M.Div. 1999) is the founder and president of Brave Heart Outpost a “ministry of rescue and redemption, founded in Christ and rooted in community,” located in Alabaster, Alabama. For more information, visit www.bhoprc.com. Greg is married to Rhonda.
Randy Hemphill (M.Div. 2000) and his wife welcomed their daughter, Addilyn Blair, into the world on August 3, 2011. Mom, Dad and three older brothers are all very excited.
Matt Hampton (M.Div. 2001) is the pastor of McFarland United Methodist Church in Rossville, Georgia. He and his wife, Jamie, have two children, Henry (5) and Alice (3). He received a Doctor of Ministry degree from the University of the South this year.
Melody Maxwell (M.Div. 2003) completed a Ph.D. in church history from the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic.
Brian Peterson (MTS 2003) joined the faculty of Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee as assistant professor of Old Testament.
Jim Wallace (D.Min. 2006) works as a fellow and senior research associate with Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs. He is co-author of a forthcoming book with Oxford University Press (2013), Smarter Than You Think: The Surprising Emergence of an Evangelical Intelligentsia in America, based on a three-year foundation-funded research project with Dr. Peter L. Berger and Dr. Timothy S. Shah. Jim and his wife, Barton, are active members of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts. They have three adult daughters and two sons-in-law.
Caralisa Wilson Farinde (M.Div. 2006) and her husband celebrated the birth of their daughter Kerith-Brook Ayomide Farinde on April 25, 2011.
Kerry Robinson (D.Min 2006) recently celebrated 15 years of ministry as senior pastor of East Side Church of God in Anderson, Indiana. He is married to Becky and they have two children, Kyle and Kameron.
Skip Alexander (D. Min. 2007) was appointed senior pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He began on June 5, 2011. Skip is married to Leigh Anne, and they have two daughters, Meredith and Caroline.
Brad Barnett (MTS 2007) serves as the director of Servant Life in Birmingham, Alabama. Servant Life is an initiative of Student Life that sends students and church groups on short-term, international, and domestic mission trips. Brad is married to Laurabeth.
Rebecca George (MTS 2007) was named residence director of Taylor Residence Center and West University Apartments at Oklahoma Baptist University. She is married to Christian George (M.Div. 2007)
Sylvester Smith (D.Min. 2007) is as the senior pastor of Praise and Worship Center in Anniston, Alabama, where he has served since 2005. He and his wife, Bobbie, have two adult children, April and Jonathan.
On August 24th, Meredith and Jared Smith (M.Div. 2008) celebrated the birth of their second daughter, Mary Pryor Smith. Everyone is thankful God has expanded the family, even older sister Aubrey. Jared serves Redstone Church in Birmingham, as the Service Programming Director.
Brian Argo (M.Div. 2009) has been called to be the pastor at Saranac Lake Baptist Church in upstate New York. Brian and his wife, Sarah, have three children, Lindley, Isaac, and Emma.
Brian “Spike” Burt (M.Div. 2009) serves at the Jimmie Hale Mission in Birmingham, Alabama in the learning center teaching basic math, English, and reading skills. He also serves as a chaplain.
Jon Gilliland (M.Div. 2009) is the youth minister at Antioch East Baptist Church in Greenville, Alabama. Jon is married to Amanda.
Mike Motta (M.Div. 2010) serves as the Minister of Youth and Children at First Baptist Shawmut in Valley, Alabama. He is engaged to Katherine, and they will be married in December.
Andrew Bolger (M.Div. 2011) and Connie Heiskell Bolger (MATS 2011) were married on June 18th, 2011. Andrew is the Campus Minister at the College of the Ozarks in Lookout, Missouri.
Matt Brugh (M.Div. 2011) is the Student Ministry Coordinator at Redstone Community Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He is married to Carolyn.
Brian Hinton (current student) and wife, Heather, welcomed Hannah Ruth Hinton into the world on October 2nd. Siblings Laney and Daniel were excited to meet their sister.
