This episode of Second Serving is unique!  Listen to the Rev. Kate Fiedler interview the Rev. Kelley Connelly as she departs for her new call in Highlands, North Carolina!

Today I’m sitting down with two very familiar people, and some of the greatest ministry colleagues the world has to offer, The. Rev. Dr. Alex Evans and the newly retired Ginger Evans!  For the last fourteen years, Alex Evans has served Second Presbyterian Church as Pastor and Head of Staff.  Alex came to Second following previous pastorates in Blacksburg, Virginia and Pickens, South Carolina. His priorities in ministry include preaching and teaching, building community, and engaging the congregation more deeply in mission in the neighborhood and across the globe. Alex is a graduate of Davidson College, Union Presbyterian Seminary, Yale University, and received his doctorate from Columbia Theological Seminary. His experience and energy in ministry include his devotion to interfaith conversations, racial reconciliation, and care for traumatized police officers.

Ginger Evans most recently retired as Director of Christian Education at Second Pres.  Prior to her retirement in February, she enjoyed working with youth and children within our church, leading and facilitating adult bible study, coordinating Christian Education offerings, and encouraging and empowering all people within the congregation in their respective faith journeys.  Ginger is a graduate of Davidson College and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education.  She so happens to be married to Alex, and together they have 3 adult children and 8 grandsons.   We hope you enjoy this episode!

Meet Karen Stanley – CARITAS, President & CEO!

Karen began the role of Executive Director for CARITAS in 2000 and took the organization from a 22-week winter-only emergency shelter to a year-round program including case management, a state-of-the-art daytime facility and aftercare services which include central Virginia’s only furniture bank, and a workforce development and life skills program called CARITAS Works that rolled out in 2011. Works was developed to help men and women who have significant barriers to employment – now, 90% are hired in less than 30 days after completion. In 2007, Karen took on the dual role as Executive Director for The Healing Place, a 180-bed recovery program for men struggling with substance use disorders and guided the efforts to combine the organization with CARITAS in 2012, making CARITAS one of the largest human services organization in the metro Richmond area. After a successful $15M capital campaign, CARITAS moved into the new CARITAS Center in December 2020, which includes a 140-bed recovery program for women and 47 sober-living apartments. She is a 2007 graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond, a recipient of the Stettinius Award for Non-Profit Leadership, a YWCA Outstanding Woman Award winner, the 2010 Better Housing Coalition’s “Creative Collaborator,” and was inducted in the Virginia First Lady’s FLITE Hall of Fame for Women in Business in 2012. In 2020, Karen was a Richmond Times Dispatch “Person of the Year” honoree and in 2022, she was the Ukrop Community Vision Award winner.

She has served on the boards of Homeward, Leadership Metro Richmond, the Governor’s Advisory Board for Volunteerism and National Service, and the Vestry of St. James’s Episcopal Church.

Welcome back to another episode of 2nd Serving!  Today we welcome one of my colleagues and friends, the Rev. Dr. Roger Gench.  Prior to relocating to Richmond, Roger served as the Senior Pastor of The New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC from 2002–2019. He is currently Theologian in Residence here at Second Presbyterian Church and an adjunct faculty member at Union Presbyterian Seminary.  Additionally, he recently served as the Interim Editor and Editorial Consultant for the Presbyterian Outlook, and is the author of Theology from the Trenches: Reflections on Urban Ministry.  Enjoy this conversation about scholarship, community organizing, and more!

Today we welcome Fran Bolin, the Executive Director of Assisting Families of Inmates.  Assisting Families of Inmates is one our urban mission partners here at Second Pres AND one of neighbors on the 5th floor of our building.  The mission of AFOI is to support underserved families of the incarcerated by providing meaningful visitation, family assistance and children’s programs that achieve positive, evidence-based outcomes. To learn more about how you can support AFOI's mission be sure to visit their website here.

To learn more about AFOI's Milk and Cookies (MAC) program be sure to watch this video!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl_MbDD47tk

Today we welcome a friend of Second Pres, Dr. Brian K. Blount.  Brian is President and Professor of New Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary, for both Richmond, VA and Charlotte, NC campuses.   He was called to this position in 2007, after serving for 15 years as Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Princeton Theological Seminary.  He is a graduate of Princeton Seminary and obtained his B.A. from the College of William and Mary. After graduating from Princeton Seminary, he went on to become the pastor of the Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newport News, Virginia.  Additionally, he was William and Mary’s first African-American to receive membership in the Alpha Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and went on to receive his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from Emory University in 1992.  Blount served as the president of the Society of Biblical Literature from 2017-2018 and served as the president of the Association of Theological Schools from 2018-2020.  Professor Blount’s primary work has been in the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Revelation and in the area of cultural studies and hermeneutics. He is also the sole author of six books.  Blount is a frequent and  OUTSTANDING lecturer and preacher, author of numerous articles, and directs adult education classes in congregations in the Richmond area. He is married to the phenomenal Sharon Blount (a member of our mission council at Second Pres), and together they have two children, Joshua and Kaylin. Enjoy our conversation! 

Today we welcome one of our community partners of several years now, Phillip Crosby, Executive Director of the Richmond Triangle Players.  Philip is in his second decade leading Richmond Triangle Players. He has over thirty-five years of experience leading nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, including as a professional marketer, publicist, fundraiser and strategist for Cleveland’s Great Lakes Theater Festival, Boston Shakespeare Festival, TheatreVirginia, and Richmond Ballet. During his career, he has had the great good fortune to work with some of the most celebrated names in theatre, film and dance, including Tom Hanks, Hal Holbrook, Alfred Drake, George Abbott, Ruby Dee, Graciela Daniele, Gerald Freedman, and Bart Cook.  He became the company’s first full-time Managing Director in 2009.  In concert with RTP’s Board, artists, staff, patrons and volunteers, he has helped transform this company from a small fringe theater into one of Richmond’s most vital arts institutions and the cultural anchor of the revitalized Scott’s Addition neighborhood.  He was appointed by former Governor Terry McAuliffe to serve on the Commonwealth’s first LGBT Tourism Task Force, has served on several advisory panels for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and has been a member of Richmond Region Tourism’s OutRVA Campaign since its inception.  He is also the current president of the RVA Theatre Alliance and serves on the board of the Scott’s Addition Business Association.  Phillip is a longtime friend of Second Presbyterian and we so enjoyed this conversation!  Enjoy!

Please note that this episode was recorded on July 21st, 2021.  For updates on the Richmond Triangle Player's season and COVID-19 protocols visit their website at https://rtriangle.org. 

Today we are changing things up a bit!  Second Serving is not only a platform to interview mission partners, but also a chance to connect with some community friends.  Which is why I am so excited to welcome my friend, Dr. Kyle Adams today.  Kyle is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, Board-Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist who started Adams Performance in 2014 to provide a higher level of sports performance and fitness coaching in the greater Richmond area.  He received his Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition, Food and Exercise from Virginia Tech in 2008 and his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2011.  Kyle believes the continuum between fitness and injury rehab is only as good as the professional’s knowledge of both realms. He specializes in training baseball players and golfers and has experience working with high school, college, and professional athletes.  I am excited to talk with him today about all things health, fitness, self-care, and how we might learn to better serve our own bodies while serving others.  Enjoy this fun episode! 

Today we welcome one of our community friends here at Second Pres, Kim Bobo. Kim is an American religious and workers' rights activist, and current executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), a non-partisan advocacy coalition of members of all faiths based in Richmond, Virginia. Bobo is a nationally known promoter of social justice who leads VICPP’s advocacy, outreach, and development work. She literally wrote the book on faith-based organizing (Lives Matter: A Handbook for Christian Organizing).

Bobo moved to Virginia from Chicago, where she founded and served as executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, the nation’s largest network of people of faith engaging in local and national actions to improve wages, benefits, and conditions for workers. Prior to that, Bobo was national organizing director for Bread for the World and an instructor at the Midwest Academy. In 1991 she founded the Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues. Leading efforts for a living wage, she is widely quoted in national newspapers and broadcast media as an expert on worker justice issues. She has also written books and articles on wage issues and community organizing.  I had a great conversation with Kim about all things advocacy, interfaith work, and community organizing.  Give this a listen to learn how YOU can get involved! 

Today we welcome William ‘Billy’ Poarch from Richmond’s very own ACTS.  ACTS is a nonprofit organization in Richmond, Virginia that provides hope and assistance to people facing just that situation. ACTS serves people with limited financial resources who have hit a financial bump in the road, perhaps caused by an illness or the loss of a job, that threatens their ability to live sustainable, self-sufficient, and dignified lives. As a channel for the compassion and generosity of congregations, individuals, businesses, and foundations in the Greater Richmond area ACTS offers compassionate, thoughtful, thorough, and professional support to help keep people—our neighbors—in their own homes and to keep families intact.  ACTS primary goal is to ultimately close the doors on homelessness.  Listen to hear how you might play a role in ACTS mission.