Co-Lead Teacher

Paul serves as the unofficial dean of Transitional Ministry Education. With thirty-five years of experience interim and transitional ministry and over 45 years of ordained ministry in the Presbyterian Church USA. Paul has served 13 different churches and has been a part of the evolution of thinking about leading change in congregations. Filled with a knowledge of history, Paul approaches teaching transitional ministry with a learner's heart and a questioning soul. Paul is well versed in Systems and change theory. Paul is a conflict expert, experienced as a trained mediator, a Healthy Congregations Facilitator and a continuous learner in understanding of working with complex systems in the midst of conflict. Paul holds degrees from Lafayette College and Andover-Newton Theological Seminary.

Co-Lead Teacher

Jan approaches Transitional Ministry with a nuanced understanding of systems, training in Healthy Congregations and Mediation, and a curiosity about the intersection between context and living theology. Ordained for nearly 28 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, for the last 18 years, Jan has served 8 different congregations in a transitional capacity--large and small, rural and urban, thriving and questioning sustainability. She sees, teaches and coaches through the lens of a woman in leadership and attentive to the particular experiences of women. Informed by her early work bringing ethnography to the classroom, Jan has worked with Paul and a team to curate a learning experience that is sensitive to adult learners and our yearning to grow in community. Jan holds degrees from Duke University (AB), the University of Pennsylvania (MSEd), McCormick Theological Seminary (Mdiv) and Columbia Theological Seminary (DMin)

Faculty

Rev. Robin Miller Currás is originally from Islip, New York, but at this point, she has lived the majority of my life in New Jersey. She went to SUNY Binghamton, where she studied Spanish Language and Literature and Princeton Theological Seminary, where she received an M.Div. and a Th.M. She is a first-career pastor. Her first church was in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, as an Associate Pastor. Then she became a solo pastor in Wharton, New Jersey, where she stayed for seventeen years. She took a break for three years while her children were in high school. During that time, she was trained as a coach to pastors and worked as a church consultant; she returned to parish ministry as an interim pastor in December 2018.

Faculty

Bart's gifts to transitional ministry are connected to his 20 years of experience in the corporate world through manufacturing management and total quality assurance training in both large and small corporations. As a second-career pastor, he has been an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA for 18 years and has served three churches in the mid-Atlantic states. Bart's keen interest is in applying systems theory to the areas of work and church and looking at how the relationships within the two areas co-exist. For Bart, it is within our work life and church life that we can find purpose and fulfillment. As a facilitator and leader, Bart has guided several churches through the Healthy Congregations program. After completing the Transitional Ministry program, Bart was asked to join the Transitional Ministry teaching team. Bart holds degrees from the University of Arkansas (BA-History) and Columbia Theological Seminary (MDiv). He has served as an Adjunct Professor at Mount Olive College (New Testament) and is a certified Healthy Congregations Facilitator.

Faculty

Erin Jones is the resident Lutheran voice on the Transitional Ministry Team. Ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 2016, she has served congregations in intentional and unintentional transition across mainline denominations in Southern California and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her heart for ministry includes helping communities become more intentionally inclusive and active in working for God's justice in the world. Erin is a mother of two, and wife of a Media Arts university professor with whom she hosts a podcast, "Spirited Animation," examining the deeper lessons about community, life, and parenting offered by animated movies (available on Spotify).
 

Erin holds degrees from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS) in Berkeley, CA. She has a certificate from Princeton Theological Seminary through the Iron Sharpening Iron Women's Leadership Program.