Cumberland Road

Andy Kettle is a lifelong member of the Clarksville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where he is an ordained elder, Sunday school teacher, and a youth leader. He serves on several church ministry teams, and is in the regular rotation to lead liturgy and men’s breakfast devotionals.  Andy is a graduate of Austin Peay State University with a Business Administration degree, and is employed at 84 Lumber Company as an Outside Sales Coordinator. Andy is an avid woodworker and furniture maker. Several years ago he started a family-friendly YouTube channel called The Tennessee Tinkerer where he showcases his projects, usually with a bit of humor. You can watch his videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLNJiDlKtKwU6LJu9leDJ3Q/videos. He and his wife Ashley have been married for twenty-one years, and have a five year old Yorkshire Terrier named Mattie.

Music is provided by Punk Rock Opera, I Wanna to be a Machine.  
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Reverend Dr. Cory D. Williams is the senior minister at the Dyersburg Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Dyersburg, Tennessee. He is originally from Middleton, Tennessee and graduated from Bethel University and Memphis Theological Seminary.  He spent ten years in the corporate world in marketing and sales.  He served the Brunswick Cumberland Presbyterian Church for eleven years while also working at Memphis Theological Seminary as the chief information officer.  Cory loves Jesus and enjoys Fly fishing, hunting, guitar, banjo, magic (think illusions not sacrifices), woodworking, reading, and taking on new hobbies. He and his wife Peggy have two children: Luke and Ben, two dogs: Minnie and Joy, two goats: Wanda and Lacey, and eleven unnamed chickens. They live on Tater Hill where they are blessed beyond measure by the grace of God. You can contact Cory anytime at [email protected].

Music is provided by Punk Rock Opera, I Wanna to be a Machine.  
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Reverend Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick states:

I was born in Bryan, Texas, during one of my father’s final exam weeks at Texas A&M University.  One professor allowed him to miss his exam in order to be at the hospital while my mother delivered me.  That professor said, “If the baby is a boy, you’ll get an A.  If it’s a girl, I’ll give you a B.”  I supposed my father was fortunate to get a B!  That’s an example of the world that I was born into.

We moved about seven times before I was two years old.  I attended public schools in four states – Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Indiana.  Moving frequently helped me learn to make new friends easily.  I have two younger siblings – a sister and a brother.

I chose to attend Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.  My Bachelor of Science degree was in General Management.  A sorority sister set me up on a blind date with her brother during my sophomore year.  Scott and I were married the summer after our junior year.  Forty-one years later, we’re still married!

We were unable to have children.  Instead, we have had several dogs.  Right now, our “child” is a Standard Poodle named Zephyr.  We pretty much dote on him.  He’s a great dog!

My career with Merrill Lynch began in 1985 when we moved to Dallas, Texas.  I worked for Merrill Lynch for twenty years, serving mostly as an Administrative Manager and a Financial Advisor.  In 2005, I changed firms.  

In 2004, while attending Triennium at Purdue, I clearly heard God call me.  In 2006, I began working in ministry.  In 2008, at the age of 50, I began seminary at MTS, graduating in May 2011.  I am a project away from the Doctor of Ministry degree!  Please pray for me.

My ordination as a Minister of Word and Sacrament was on June 26, 2011.  My first call was as Associate Pastor for Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Marshall, Texas.  I served there for eight years.  I’ve been the solo Pastor at Jefferson Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Jefferson, Texas for a little over a year.  The tenth anniversary of my ordination will be this June.

Music is provided by Punk Rock Opera, I Wanna to be a Machine.  
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Reverend Jen Newell is serving as senior minister at the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Cleveland, Tennessee.  She has been serving there for over 14 years: first as a part time children/family director, then as the associate minister following ordination and as senior minister since 2013.  Jen graduated from UT-Chattanooga with a degree in economics and minors in political science and music.  Jen is a Program of Alternate Studies (PAS) graduate and an occasional PAS instructor.  She worked for 21 years at McKay's Used Books.  Prior to ordination to the Word and Sacraments, she was ordained as a deacon and then elder at the Chattanooga First Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  She has served on the Board of Trustees for Memphis Theological Seminary as both vice moderator and moderator.  She is a contributing writer to the Encounter curriculum.  Jen is married to Chuck, is mother to three adult children and the reluctant owner of 2 cats: Daniel Striped Tiger and King Friday the 13th.  

Music is provided by Punk Rock Opera, I Wanna to be a Machine.  
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B. J. Mathis states: My full name is Bobby Lynn Mathis Jr but most know me as B.J. I was born in New London, Connecticut but have spent the rest of my time in Tennessee. My favorite place on earth is Crystal Springs Camp in Kelso, Tennessee. I love animals and I currently have three fur babies, Lady, Sheldon and Snickers. I am a fourth generation Cumberland Presbyterian on my mother's side, growing up and professing faith in the Bates Hill congregation in McMinnville, Tennessee. I earned a Bachelor in Arts in Psychology/Religion from Bethel College (University). I am a seminary drop out. As an adult, I have been serving in youth and young adult ministry circles since 2002. I have been serving full time at the Winchester Cumberland Presbyterian Church for 16 years primarily as their youth pastor. I have been to 5 of the 7 continents and 44 of the U.S. states with many of those travels were service/mission trips. I love Jesus, youth ministry, chicken tenders, trampolines, concerts, traveling, the lion king, puppies, basketball, hiking and talking about things that matter!

Music is provided by Punk Rock Opera, I Wanna to be a Machine.  
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Reverend Garrett Burns is the Associate Chaplain of Bethel University, serves as the Director of Community Engagement & the Whosoever Will Ministry Bridge, at Fulton Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and is a Chaplain in the U.S. Navy Reserve.  He graduated from Bethel in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Christian Ministry and earned a Master of Divinity degree from Memphis Theological Seminary. Rev. Burns is married to Jessica Olten Burns who directs a home school community in Paris, Tennessee.  They are blessed with four children: Caleb, Katheryn, Carolyn-Jene, and Kolten. 

Music is provided by Punk Rock Opera, I Wanna to be a Machine.  
https://files.freemusicarchive.org/storage-freemusicarchive-org/music/ccCommunity/Punk_Rock_Opera/Punk_Rock_Opera_Vol_II/Punk_Rock_Opera_-_13_-_I_Wanna_be_a_Machine.mp3 (2)
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Reverend Terra Sisco shares:  I was born and raised in Pope County, Illinois in the southern part along the Ohio River.  It is a county that is large in geography with a large population of deer, fish and wildlife but small population of people. It is a beautiful place to live however it doesn’t have much for people.
After graduating Pope County High School in Spring, 1997, I attended Bethel University which was then known as Bethel College in the fall of 1997.  I graduated from Bethel in the Spring 2001 earning a Bachelor of Arts.  I then attended Memphis Theological Seminary (MTS) in the fall of 2001 and graduated from MTS in the Fall of 2004 earning a Master of Divinity. 
I am a first-generation Cumberland Presbyterian who has a unique story to tell in how I became a "C.P.".  I served five years in youth ministry and I am now in my 16th year of ministry. I have served 7 years in Illinois, 5 years in Tennessee, 4 years in Kentucky, and now 5 years in Oklahoma.   
Music has always been therapeutic for me.  It has helped me get through some hard times in my life as well as enhanced my prayer life.  I decided to learn how to play the guitar when I was 19 and I do not regret that decision! It has blessed me tremendously! I have two cats named Albert after the former first baseman of the St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols and Kallie, because she is a calico. 
I really like to go to the beach, and dream of having a small beach house one day. I love God’s creation, and I really enjoy all the things about the ocean. I really like to cook and bake, when I have time, and play games with my church members like Mexican Train Dominoes. I really enjoy visiting people on porches and patios. And I absolutely love the gifts of joy and laughter!  If you hang out with me at all you are going to see those two gifts of God in me!

Music is provided by Punk Rock Opera, I Wanna to be a Machine.  
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Reverend Jeff McMicheal was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky on July 29, 1961 into a wonderful family as the youngest of three kids. He is a life-long Cumberland Presbyterian and his father was an elder in the Harrodsburg Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  His mother, a Sunday School teacher and part-time pianist.  Jeff attended his first Vacation Bible School when I was two-weeks old.  Any time the church doors were open, he was in attendance with his family.  Jeff accepted Jesus Christ in 1970 when he was 9 years old and was baptized by Rev. Roy Moore.  Some of Jeff's fondest memories were of church camps and presbyterial 5th Sunday Youth Rallies.   
After graduation from high school, Jeff attended the University of Kentucky.  While in college, Jeff said that he wandered away from my faith.  It was not until I met his wife and began to have children did he return to the church.   He has been married to his wife Tammie, a pediatric registered nurse, for almost 38 years and they have 3 grown children.  

The oldest son, Jonathan, lives in Dallas, Texas. He works and teaches at SMU. His wife is neo-natal physician at Dallas Children’s Hospital.  
Ashley is the second eldest and lives in her grandparent's old home in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.  She is in social work for an insurance company.  Her husband is a firefighter.  They have two children, Charli Grace (13) and Quin (8 months). 
The youngest of the three children is Brandon who lives in Owensboro, Kentucky.  He is a civil engineer for a pipeline company.  His wife works in a real-estate title office.  They have three children, Sophia (4),  Blake (3), and Stella (1).  

Jeff is presently the full-time pastor of Freedom Cumberland Presbyterian in Breckinridge County, Kentucky and has been serving this congregation for 9 years. Prior to this full-time pastorate, He was a bi-vocational minister serving at Ephesus, Short Creek and Mt. Pleasant Cumberland Presbyterian churches.  His other vocation was being a pharmacy district manager for pharmacy chain for over 20 years. 
Jeff also serves as a Regional Representative for Our United Outreach (OUO) for the Synod of the Midwest.  This area includes Covenant, Cumberland, and North-Central Presbyteries.  Jeff also serves as a part-time staff as the Mission's Coordinator for Cumberland Presbytery.  
Jeff is also the Co-Chair for Cumberland presbytery’s General Assembly Planning Committee which will host the next General Assembly scheduled at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky. His hobbies include reading and playing with his dogs.

Music is provided by Punk Rock Opera, I Wanna to be a Machine.  
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The Rev. Dr. Perryn Rice is the Senior Pastor of the Lake Highlands Presbyterian Church in Dallas, TX where he, his wife, Terri, their son, Jonathan Perryn, and their daughter, Lauren Endia, reside.  Perryn has served as the Moderator of the Brazos River Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America (C.P.C.A.), and as the Stated Clerk (Executive Secretary) of the General Assembly of the C.P.C.A.  He has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for Bethel University in McKenzie, TN.  He is currently the Moderator of the Red River Presbytery (C.P.C).  He is also a member of the Unification Task Force of the Cumberland Presbyterian Churches whose purpose is to create a plan to bring these two denominations together as one.  He teaches the Principles of Preaching course with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church’s Program of Alternate Studies (P.A.S.) for ministers seeking ordination.  The PAS program is connected to Memphis Theological Seminary.  Perryn holds dual membership in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America, and is a member of the Grace Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A (PCUSA).

Perryn has served as an Associate Minister of the Lake Highlands Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas; the Pastor of the East Waco Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America in Waco, Texas; the Pastor of the Faith Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America in Dallas, Texas; and the Associate Pastor of Plans and Programs of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Cookeville, TN.  

A product of the public school system, he received a B.A in English (writing) from Bethel College of McKenzie, TN.  He received his Master of Divinity from Brite Divinity School of the Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, TX and his Doctor of Ministry degree from the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas.  Homiletics (preaching) was his basic concentration for both of these degrees and he has future hopes of teaching Homiletics later in life.  
Earlier in his life, Perryn spent some years as a stand-up comedian and R&B singer.  He dropped those aspirations to follow God’s call for his life.  Although at times you may still catch him singing and telling jokes.  He believes in keeping gifts fresh and usable.  

Perryn considers his wife “his second reason for living.”  He believes that God has shown him love by giving Jesus Christ to die sacrificially in his place.  But Perryn also believes that God has shown him love by blessing him with such a wonderful woman in his wife, Terri.  “I become a better preacher, pastor, and person each second I’m with her.”  For nearly ten years, they shared an email weekly devotional called, “The Weekly Word!”  It began as an email to twenty people that has swelled to over 150 recipients.    

Perryn knows that his son and daughter are gifts from God.  "No matter how rough my life can be, Jonathan's smile and love makes everything worthwhile."  His daughter is the spark that keeps them motivated.  “Whenever I see her and then the world she will grow up in, I know I have more sermons to preach!”  Perryn loves being a “family man.”

Perryn Rice is the son of the Rev. Joel and Mrs. Ann Rice (natives of Providence, KY and Detroit, MI respectively) of Dallas, TX and has a younger brother, Xavier, who is also a preacher and lives in Waxahachie, TX with his wife, Vickey.  

 He has authored one book, Sixty-six Devotions from Sixty-six Great Books, and is currently working on other book projects.  As of November 2020, he holds a black belt in Taekwondo. He is the recipient of many awards and tributes, but he treasures preaching. He loves to preach and does so with a power and passion that comes from God.  Early in his ministerial life, the Rev. Henry Ewing, Jr. of Alabama told him, "If you don't believe it, don't preach it!"  This is his foundational basis for what he does.  "I believe in preaching the life of Jesus Christ - crucified, dead, and buried; but definitely resurrected and living."

Music is provided by Punk Rock Opera, I Wanna to be a Machine.  
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Nathan Wheeler in an ordained minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and serves as their Coordinator of Youth and Young Adult Ministries for the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. Nathan grew up in Gallatin, Tennessee and felt called into ministry as a teenager attending St. Luke Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Madison, Tennessee. He attended Bethel University (College at the time) where he earned a degree Bachelor in Science in Psychology. He went on to Memphis Theological Seminary earning his Master of Divinity. 
Nathan has served as youth minister/director and young adult minister in Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist, and Cumberland Presbyterian congregations. He has served in his current role with the denomination since 2015. Beyond his work in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Nathan also is writing and releasing music available at nathanwheelermemphis.bandcamp.com and is currently writing a book on theology and youth ministry to be released by The Youth Cartel sometime in 2022. Nathan currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee with his wife Marissa and their dog Lucky.

Music is provided and used by permission from Nathan Wheeler, Better Day Now.
https://nathanwheelermemphis.bandcamp.com/releases