Presbytery of Arkansas - Our Staff

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Presbytery Staff

		Rev. Dr. William F. Galbraith General Presbyter bill@presbyteryofarkansas.org
		Bill was born near the East Texas oil community of Gladewater. His father was a Presbyterian minister and his mother a high school English teacher. Bill's grandfather was also a Presbyterian minister and his great-grandparents missionaries in Mexico. Moving to San Antonio, Bill was active in church, school and athletic activities. For five years, he was on the permanent summer staff of John Knox Ranch, his presbytery's camp. Accepting a scholarship from Rice University, he began his formal education. Upon completion of his undergraduate degree, Bill studied at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary from which he was awarded a Master of Divinity degree. At Louisville, he was recognized for promise in ministry as a recipient of an Anderson Fellowship. In 1984, Bill completed a Doctor of Ministry at McCormick Theological Seminary. Bill was ordained by Missouri Union Presbytery in 1975 and has served congregations in Missouri, Texas, Virginia and Oklahoma. For the past seven years, he has been the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Commitment beyond the local congregation has led Bill to serve the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. in multiple capacities including moderating Indian Nations Presbytery as well as various committees and commissions. For several years, he joined the adjunct faculty of Austin Presbyterian Seminary as a supervising pastor in the Supervised Practice of Ministry program. He has extensive experience with Committees on Ministry and Presbyterian mission. He has served as the Regional Resource Person for the Theological Education Fund and also on the Boards of Trustees of Mo-Ranch Camp and Conference Center, Lyon College and the Good Samaritan Clinic of Fort Smith. Lifelong learning is important to Bill, a regular participant in continuing education events including a colleague group entering its twenty-eighth year. Bill is married to Sibyl Kingston Galbraith, a CPA in public practice, who specializes in clergy tax and compensation issues. She is a Presbyterian deacon and elder. Bill and Sibyl have two daughters, Beth Sarey, Director of Discipleship, for St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Frisco, Texas, and Kate Cook, a pediatric hospitalist in Oklahoma City, two great sons-in law, Rich Sarey and C.W. Cook and four grandsons. For fun, Bill enjoys reading, hiking, fishing and exploring new places. He looks forward to each football season and takes in several games each year. The Galbraiths most enjoy spending time with their children and their families.

		Cathy Ulrich Stated Clerk cathy@presbyteryofarkansas.org
		Stated Clerk Rev. Cathy Ulrich appreciates the way the Presbyterian Church combines faith and knowledge in service to Almighty God. Her home church, First Presbyterian, Duncan, Oklahoma, has raised five generations of Cathy’s family. Faith and knowledge were combined in a unique way when Cathy attended Oklahoma State University, and was employed by First Presbyterian, Stillwater as a Fellow in Christian Education. This exploration led to enrollment in Union Seminary (Union/PSCE) upon graduation. Cathy sensed her call to ministry was in Christian Education, but upon receiving her M.Div. God called her to a small church in the panhandle of Texas as a solo pastor. Ordained at First Presbyterian, Quanah, Texas in 1983, Cathy spent six years in this rural community learning the arts of ministry from wise saints of the church. Her next call was to First Presbyterian, Arkadelphia where she was the solo pastor of a trusting and progressive congregation. It was there that she met and married Tom Ulrich, and has been greatly blessed with an inspired partner in ministry and in life. Before accepting the call to Central Presbyterian, Fort Smith as co-pastor, Cathy was the solo pastor at First Presbyterian, Clarksville, where Tom was the Dean of the Chapel at the University of the Ozarks. She served as Stated Clerk of the Presbytery from Jan., 1999 until June, 2006. Preaching, teaching, and pastoral care are the center of Cathy’s ministry. Because ministry for Jesus Christ is not limited to church-related activities, Cathy serves on the Board of the Good Samaritan Clinic, as President of the Pastoral Care Committee of Sparks Hospital where she is also a member of the Ethics Committee. She enjoys baseball (Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves), swimming, reading, walking, and dark chocolate. She continues to practice grace, forgiveness, commitment, and stewardship hoping that some day she will get it right. Until then, she relies upon the large providence of Almighty God and the love of Jesus Christ to guide her ministry.

		NiAnn A. Thompson Resourcing Director and Assistant Stated Clerk niann@presbyteryofarkansas.org
		NiAnn joined the Presbytery staff in January, 1999 as Resource Center Director and has since become Assistant Stated Clerk. She is also Part-time Director of Christian Education at First Presbyterian, Malvern, and is former Director of Christian Education at First Presbyterian, Arkadelphia, Westminster Presbyterian, Hot Springs, and First Presbyterian, Jonesboro. She serves the Presbytery as Adviser to Christian Educators seeking certification and has served on the Ferncliff Camp Board, as Cluster III Representative to Presbytery, and on Committees on Preparation for Ministry and Christian Education. NiAnn is an ordained Elder and Deacon. She is a 1995 graduate of Memphis Theological Seminary with a M.A. in Religion and a 1991 graduate of Henderson State University with a B.A. in Secondary Education. NiAnn is a Certified Christian Educator. She and her spouse, J.D. now retired, live in Malvern with their dogs. Together they have six adult children, 10 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

		Pauline Rhodes Presbytery and Financial Administrator pauline@presbyteryofarkansas.org
		Pauline joined the Presbytery staff in February, 1999 and works with the Committee on Administration and the Committee on Nominations. Her primary areas are accounting, finance and nominations. Pauline is a member of the Administrative Personnel Association where she has achieved certification at Level II. A native of New Orleans, Pauline graduated from Alcee Fortier High School and has completed training in Microsoft Excel, Word, Publisher, Access and Peachtree Accounting. During her career she has worked in financing, administration, insurance, inventory and personnel. Pauline has lived in North Little Rock since 1975 and is the proud mother of Jason. He and daughter-in-law LeAnne made her the proud grandmother of Emma and Garrett.

		Brian M. Perry Communications Director brian@presbyteryofarkansas.org
		Brian joined the Presbytery staff in February, 2007. He is responsible for communications (including the role of Editor of The Banner), information systems and data collection. He is a member of the Presbyterian Communicators Network and the Society for Technical Communication. Brian is a graduate of Tulane University (M.A.) and Louisiana State University at Shreveport (B.S.). He and his spouse, Deborah Tootle, a sociologist and Associate Professor with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, live in Little Rock with their two dogs and horse.

		Jesus Juan (Jesse) Gonzalez Presbytery Evangelist
		A native of the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo, Jesse is the organizing pastor of Comunidad Presbiteriana Hispana Northwest Arkansas Hispanic New Church Development based at First Presbyterian, Springdale. He is a graduate of Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico where he received a Bachelors in Business Administration and a graduate of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, Texas where he earned a Master of Divinity. Jesse was ordained in November, 1992 at Presbiterio del Noreste, National Presbyterian Church of Mexico. Jesse has served the Iglesia Nacional Presbiteriana de Mexico in a number of positions and has served the PC(USA) in Mission Presbytery and the Pesbytery of Coastal Carolina. Jesse and wife Bertha are the proud parents of three sons Isaí (wife Heather), Abner and Obed, and the pround grandparents of Noah Jacob.

		Whitney Bordelon Staff Resource for Youth Council
		Whitney Bordelon is a preacher’s kid who grew up in North Little Rock, Arkansas. After college she served as the Executive Director of the Interfaith Disaster Recovery Team in central Arkansas, organizing the faith groups’ response to the tornadoes of 1997 and 1999. She then took a position on the Arkansas Area staff of the United Methodist Church in the area of mission & outreach, working one-on-one with churches across the state. For the past five years, Whitney has been the Director of Christian Education & Youth at Park Hill Presbyterian Church. She has also served on the Presbytery’s Youth Council for five years, directed several Junior High YouthQuakes, led the trip to Mo-Ranch for Junior High Jubilee, and was the adult co-moderator for the 2009-2010 term. Whitney loves spending time with the youth and children at her church, and always tries to incorporate mission into everyday learning, fellowship, and worship.

		Rev. Michael Vinson Staff Resource for Congregational Care & Development
		Michael Vinson is Parish Associate for Worship and Spirituality at First Presbyterian Church in Conway. He has a Master of Divinity from Memphis Theological Seminary, a Master of Public Health from the University of Tennessee in Community Health Education and Organization, and a Certificate in Spiritual Formation from Columbia Seminary where he has also been trained in New Church Development. Michael has served as chair of the New Church Development Committee of this Presbytery and currently serves on the Committee on Ministry. He has worked with a variety of congregations, administrative commissions and middle governing bodies in discerning new directions and transformation strategies. This Spring Michael facilitated the Individual Health and Balance workshop and co-facilitated the Organizational Health and Balance Workshop as part of the Spring Academy for the Genuine Contact program. He frequently works as facilitator, consultant and mentor with Dalar International, a company devoted to holistic approaches to organizational transformation around the world. Michael is married to Karen Young Vinson who serves on the Committee on Preparation for Ministry for the Presbytery. Michael and Karen have a blended family including four sons, two daughter-in-laws and two granddaughters. Michael is a potter and enjoys the lessons he learns from the clay about transformation.

		Debra Carl Freeman Moderator of Presbytery
		Debra (Debbie) Carl Freeman is pastor of Westover Hills Presbyterian Church in Little Rock. She is married to Jim Freeman, interim pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Pine Bluff, and is the mother of Lindsay, a sophomore at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, and William, a sophomore at Central High School. She has been a member of Arkansas Presbytery since 1990 and has served on Committees on Ministry, Church Development, and Mission, and numerous task forces. She is liaison with the Presbytery of Lacandon in Chiapas, Mexico. She loves reading, walking, photography, spending time with friends and family, Celtic spirituality, listening to music, going to movies, traveling, dancing, laughing, and experiencing God’s blessings in worship and service.

		Sam Highsmith Vice Moderator of Presbytery
		Sam Highsmith is a native of Batesville, Arkansas, a life-long Presbyterian, and, with his wife, Beth, is now a resident of Little Rock and a member of Second Presbyterian Church. Sam is a graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis and of Emory University School of Law in Atlanta. Sam is retired, having spent his last 16 years of professional life as a charitable gift-planning officer. Sam is an ordained deacon and elder. He has served on the sessions of First, Batesville; First, Fort Smith; and Second, Little Rock. He is in his seventh year as clerk of session at Second. Sam has served Presbytery as a member and moderator of the Committee on Ministry, as Assistant Treasurer, and as moderator of an investigating committee. December 31, 2009, marked the end of Sam’s six-year term as member and moderator of the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Sun. Sam is presently enrolled in the Presbytery's Lay Academy.

		Claire Rhodes Moderator of General Council
		Elder Claire Rhodes of Hot Springs is a native of Guyana, South America (formerly British Guiana), where she was baptized and raised Presbyterian. Her parents, Hilda and the late Charles Soodoo, migrated to New Jersey in 1970 in order to afford their family a college education. She graduated cum laude from Rutgers University, NJ with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and has credits towards a Masters degree in Business Administration. Rhodes worked for almost 20 years in the Comptroller’s Office at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), New York. Church has always been an important part in her life, and she remembers always being active in youth groups and all kinds of church activities. She was an elder member of the Roseville Presbyterian Church in Newark, NJ, where she sang in the choir, served on the Worship, Nominating and other committees as well as the Committee on Preparation for Ministry in the Newark Presbytery. Moving to AR in 1995, Rhodes joined Kirk in the Pines, Hot Springs Village, where she sang in the choir, served on the Worship and Banner Committees, as Vice-Moderator then Moderator of the Presbyterian Women and on the Committee on Preparation for Ministry and General Council in the Presbytery of Arkansas. With husband Kenneth, the Rhodes’ served initially as Pulpit Supplies (2003-2004), then as Commissioned Lay Pastors of West End Presbyterian in Arkadelphia since 2004. They have three children and one granddaughter.