Below are resources and opportunities for VTS alumni, along with information on alumni leadership and ways to stay connected to the Seminary and with other alumni.
Staying ConnectedKeep up with the news from the Seminary through the monthly Alumni eNews,
daily Dean’s Commentary, the VTS Magazine (3 times/year), iTunes, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Resources
October 12, 2021
Alumni Convocation
with keynoter Donyelle C. McCray Th.D. ’06
Yale Divinity School
Dr. McCray serves as associate professor of homiletics at Yale Divinity School. She is the author of The Censored Pulpit: Julian of Norwich as Preacher and a forthcoming publication on the Rev. Pauli Murray.
Dr. McCray previously served as assistant professor of homiletics, director of multicultural ministries, and associate director of the Deep Calls to Deep preaching initiative at Virginia Seminary.
The class reunions will be held in person on the Seminary campus.
Regional Chapters provide VTS alumni with opportunities to…
For further information, contact alumni@vts.edu.
Central Gulf Coast, FL
Christie Hord, Mary Alice Mathison
Mid-Georgia area
Jim Said
Atlanta, GA
Kim Jackson
Memphis, TN
Laura Gettys
Winston-Salem, NC
Leon Spencer
Upper South Carolina
Dorian Del Priore
Williamsburg, VA area
Jennifer Andrews-Weckerly
Hampton Roads/Tidewater, VA
Harold Cobb
Richmond, VA
Doug Wigner
Lynchburg, VA
Todd and Diane Vie
Fredericksburg, VA
Catherine Hicks
Washington, DC
David Wacaster
Baltimore, MD
Stewart Lucas and Flo Ledyard
Southern New Jersey/Philadelphia
Matt Tucker
New York, NY area
Lauren Kuratko
Connecticut
George Roberts
Boston, MA
Christine Whittaker
Maine
Kitty Babson
East Lansing, MI
Kit Carlson
Chicago
Brad Linboom, Andrew Rutledge
Milwaukee, WI
Andy Jones
St. Louis area
Mike Angell
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
Victoria Hatch
Houston, TX
Jimmy Abbott, Patrick Hall
Phoenix, AZ
Troy Mendez
Los Angeles, CA
Serena Beeks, Rachel Nyback
Northern California
(includes portions of the Dioceses of California, Northern California, and El Camino Real)
Todd Bruce
Portland, OR
Bingham Powell
For further information about VTS chapters, please contact Shelagh Casey Brown at scbrown@vts.edu
Consider a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with the Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold III, XXV Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and the Rev. J. Barney Hawkins IV, Ph.D., co-director of the Bicentennial Campaign and the Arthur Carl Lichtenberger Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Theology and Continuing Education at Virginia Theological Seminary.
For further information about the 2022 pilgrimage, please email Victoria Elie at velie@vts.edu.
As part of the Seminary’s Bicentennial, you are invited to join us on a pilgrimage through Gothic France – Paris, Chartres, Cluny, Reims, Bec Abbey, Mt. St. Michel and Normandy – with the Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D., dean & president, and the Rev. J. Barney Hawkins IV, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Bicentennial Campaign and the Arthur Carl Lichtenberger Professor of Pastoral Theology and Continuing Education.
This tour will take place May 13-23, 2022,
For further information, please email Victoria Elie at velie@vts.edu
Visit the Lifelong Learning at VTS offerings (on-campus and online).
Check back frequently as new programs are added often, including those
that address time-sensitive topics that arise in the Church or in our world.
Lifelong access to the Bishop Payne Library including full access to the significant electronic resources, borrowing privileges, and the personalized service of the library mailing books upon request. Visit for full details.
Alumni are eligible for two nights of accommodations in the VTS guest houses annually, subject to availability. During this time of COVID, the guest houses are closed. We look forward to the time when we are able to resume guest house operations and welcome alumni back to campus for overnight stays.
Every year Virginia Theological Seminary honors Theological Education Sunday. Held the first Sunday of February, TES is the day set aside to offer prayers and support for theological education for all the baptized of our Church. VTS celebrates Theological Education Sunday by sending faculty, staff, and students to preach and teach in parishes around the country. Take advantage of the opportunity to have a VTS representative at your parish, who will lift up and celebrate seminary and lifelong education in the church. If your parish is interested in having a Seminary representative on Theological Education Sunday, please contact alumni@vts.edu.
Named in honor of the former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, John Hines (VTS ’33), the award celebrates the ministry of preaching and its importance in our Church by recognizing outstanding sermons that are deeply grounded in scripture and focused on the seen and unseen needs of the worshipping community, the nation and the world.
All Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and Laity of the Episcopal Church in America. Sermons preached outside the United States by clergy who are canonically resident in a diocese of the Episcopal Church USA and by laypeople who are parishioners in an Episcopal Church USA congregation will be accepted as entries for the award.
Entries should be sermons delivered to a congregation sometime over the course of a full liturgical year — between the first Sunday and the last Sunday of Pentecost. Entries must be received by the Committee by January 30 of the succeeding year. The award recipient is announced in the Spring.
The prophetic voice must be central within the sermon. Only one sermon per preacher can be submitted. For the 2021 process, entries can be sent as text documents (Word), and/or audio recording. Beginning in 2022, entries will be solely by audio recording. Entries can be sent to scbrown@vts.edu or by mail to the Seminary.
The John Hines Preaching Award Committee evaluates the finalists following a faculty committee review of all entries. each entry without knowledge of the identity of the entrant.
The Award winners are presented with a certificate (hopefully in their parish setting by a VTS representative) and a cash prize of $2,000. Additionally, they are invited to campus to guest preach and to spend time with students, faculty, and alumni.
Virginia Theological Seminary invites interested alumni to participate in the third annual environmental sermon contest made possible through the Kreitler Environmental Fund. Clergy are invited to prepare and preach an environmentally and/or creation-centered sermon for consideration in a contest. Monetary prizes will be awarded to the top two finalists.
Since 1970, many around the globe have observed Earth Day on April 22 as a time to demonstrate support for protecting and preserving our environment. This year marks the 50th Earth Day and the focus is on Climate Action.
The deadline for submitting a sermon to VTS for the 2021 Environmental Sermon Contest has been extended to August 1. Participants are encouraged to focus on Earth Day and its theme of Climate Action. The enormous challenge — but also the vast opportunities — of action on climate change have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary. Participants are encouraged to focus on Earth Day and its theme of Climate Action or on Rogation Days, traditionally the three days before Ascension Day, that are associated with the stewardship of creation. Earth Day and Rogation Days offer a unique space of time for reflection, writing, and preaching on our collective care and concern for our world.
To learn more about this opportunity or to submit a sermon, please contact Linda L. Dienno.
VTS is pleased to share information about available positions for lay or ordained candidates. If you would like to have a ministry job opening posted, please send a job description (Word or PDF) to ministryopenings@vts.edu. Job descriptions will remain on the website for three months from the date of receipt, and then will be removed unless you advise us otherwise.
If you have an opportunity that is tailored for senior seminarians post-graduation, please contact ministryopenings@vts.edu or contact Shelagh Casey Brown in the Alumni Office by email or by phone, (703) 461-1711.
Job PostingsSeminaries of the Episcopal Church receive no financial support from the national church. The Episcopal Church, however, by Resolution at its General Convention in 1982 has asked all congregations to give “at least one percent of its net disposable budgeted income to one or more of the accredited seminaries” in support of theological education.
Now, more than ever, parishes and missions have a critical stake in the quality of women and men who are serving as lay and ordained leaders of the Church.
VTS continues to rely on parish giving, which amounts to close to 30% of our annual unrestricted support. This support is vital to allow VTS to meet its continued commitment to forming future church leaders, and to the educational needs of clergy and laity in congregations throughout the church.
We are grateful for the parish support that comes to Virginia Theological Seminary and urge congregations to consider supporting the Seminary through a parish gift.
Parish Resources from VTS
