|
|







|
|





|



|





CUA Leaders from Founding to Present
The Christian Universalist Association was unofficially founded in January 2007 by Rev. Eric Stetson. Rev. Stetson and Rev. Kalen Fristad selected the founding Board members and invited them to a leadership conference in Washington D.C., May 16-17, 2007, at which the CUA approved its Bylaws, Policies, and Statement of Faith and decided to pursue legal incorporation. On November 8, 2007, the Christian Universalist Association became a legal non-profit corporation in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and it is recognized as a tax-exempt church association by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States.
The following is a list of all people who have ever served on the Board of Directors of the CUA, listed in chronological order of when they officially joined the Board, along with positions they have held in the organization and when they held them. The names of current Board members are highlighted in red.
Rev. Eric Stetson (Board member and Executive Director from May 2007 to present; Conference Committee Chair from July 2008 to November 2009). He is the author of a 2008 book called Christian Universalism: God's Good News for All People, and owns and operates a ministry website at Christian-Universalism.com. He is one of three ministers leading Agapeosis Fellowship, a new Christian Universalist church in Nashville, Tennessee. Rev. Stetson's spiritual journey has taken him through the Baha'i Faith, the Assemblies of God, the Unity Church, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Rev. Kalen Fristad (Board member and Chair from May 2007 to present; Outreach & Relations Committee Chair from January 2008 to present). He has been a United Methodist minister for over 30 years and currently leads three churches in Iowa. He is also the author of a 2003 book, Destined for Salvation: God's Promise to Save Everyone. Rev. Fristad spent three years traveling across America speaking at numerous churches to share the message of God's plan of salvation for all people.

Rev. Dr. John Morgan (Board member, Vice Chair, and Church Planting & Evangelism Committee Chair from May 2007 to June 2008). A committed Christian, he is a retired minister who served the Unitarian Universalist movement for over 25 years as local church pastor, new congregation organizer, and extension minister charged with helping to renew older churches or begin new ones. One of his many books is A Testament of Devotion, the story of the earliest Universalist churches in America, many out of the Pietist heritage. His two new books include Daybreak and Eventide, a collection of prayers and worship services for individuals and small groups; and In the Shadow of Grace, the story of his grandfather, Evangelical preacher G. Campbell Morgan, with excerpts from his letters and sermons. Rev. Dr. Morgan now teaches philosophy and ethics at a community college and attends a Quaker Meeting.


- Brad Edwards (Board member and Treasurer from May 2007 to September 2009). He is a meteorologist in Des Moines, Iowa, who has written extensively about Christian Universalism and spiritual issues on his website, SaviorOfTheWorld.net. He comes from a Catholic background and considers himself a non-denominational Christian.

Rev. Lillie Mae Henley (Board member and Ordination Committee Chair from May 2007 to present; Secretary from May 2007 to December 2009). She is the pastor of Universalist National Memorial Church in Washington, D.C. This historic church was built in the early 1900's as the national cathedral for the Universalist Church of America, a major Christian denomination, and it remains a Christian Universalist congregation today. Rev. Henley pastored three other churches before coming to UNMC, and has a strong record of building growth in the communities she has served, including city-center urban settings.

Dr. G. A. Roach (Board member from May 2007 to July 2009). He is the pastor of an independent evangelical church in Amarillo, Texas, and serves as a full-time hospital chaplain. His background was in the Southern Baptist tradition. He holds Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Charles Slagle (Board member from May 2007 to present). He is an evangelist and former prison minister. He is the author of two devotional books: From the Father's Heart: A Glimpse of God's Nature and Ways, and Power to Soar. In his most recent book, Absolute Assurance in Jesus Christ, he shares his testimony of how the miraculous revelation of God's unconditionally committed love freed him from decades of wrestling with addictive behavior and manic depression. Charles Slagle comes from the Pentecostal tradition.

Dr. Ken R. Vincent (Board member and Historical Research Committee Chair from May 2007 to November 2008). He is a writer whose books include The Golden Thread, God's Promise of Universal Salvation; The Magi: From Zoroaster to the "Three Wise Men"; and Visions of God from the Near Death Experience. He is the webmaster for the Universalist Herald (www.universalist-herald.net). Dr. Vincent is retired from teaching Psychology including the Psychology of Religious Experience at Houston Community College. He has over 100 publications in the fields of psychology and religion. Dr. Vincent is a member of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the International Association of Near-Death studies, and the Alister Hardy Society (for the study of religious experience). A long-time Universalist, he currently attends Covenant Church, an American Baptist church that bills itself as "An Ecumenical, Liberal Baptist Congregation."

Rick Spencer (Board member from May 2007 to October 2009; Ministerial Relations Committee Chair from May 2007 to January 2008). He is an evangelist and former pastor who organizes large conferences for Christians who believe in the all-inclusive love of God. He also works to encourage the founding of new house churches based on this teaching, and to network believers from a variety of theological backgrounds and geographical locations. Rick Spencer has been involved in mission work in Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, India, Jamaica, Kenya, and Sri Lanka, and has founded seven different food pantries in the Central Texas area. He is an independent charismatic Christian.


- Dr. Cecil E. Bohanon (Board member and Fundraising Committee Chair from May 2007 to June 2008). He is a Professor of Economics at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He is past President of the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Muncie.

Rev. Felicia Urbanski (Board member and Conference Committee Chair from May 2007 to June 2008). She has been a Unitarian Universalist parish minister since 2002, serving churches in Oklahoma (U.S.) and in Ontario (Canada). She received her M.Div. from the University of Winnipeg. She has served on the Board of the UU Christian Fellowship since 1998. Felicia Urbanski's prior career was as a symphony violinist and music teacher. She emigrated to Canada in 1988, and currently serves as Interim Minister with the First Unitarian Congregation of Waterloo.

John Gavazzoni (Board member from June to August 2007). He is a non-denominational Christian theologian and evangelist from Thousand Oaks, California, whose ministry has included service as a Youth for Christ evangelist, a pastor, house church leader, and now minister-at-large, board member and featured writer for Greater Emmanuel International Apostolic Team Ministry. Since 1980 his primary focus has been on replacing corrupted theologies with correct understandings of the Biblical message, centered on two essential tenets of early Christianity: universal reconciliation and the divine sonship of all people. John's illuminating writings and inspirational speeches have made him a favorite teacher of many Christian Universalists.

- Unnamed Eastern Orthodox Priest (Board member from July 2007 to October 2009). This former priest enjoyed offering an Eastern Orthodox Christian perspective to the board for over two years. He remains fascinated by Christian Universalism, and continues to study this doctrine as taught by various of the Church Fathers.

Rev. Rhett Ellis (Board member from September 2007 to present; Vice Chair from June 2008 to present; Publications & Media Committee Chair from January 2008 to present). He is a former pastor who served Baptist churches for 14 years in the Mobile, Alabama area. He is the author of five spiritual-themed books and owns his own publishing company, Sparkling Bay Books. He has also served as a Christian youth minister, taught at a junior college, and worked as a newspaper reporter.

Woodrow Lucas (Board member from June 2008 to July 2009; Church Planting & Evangelism Committee Chair from July to November 2008). He is a non-denominational charismatic Christian who has been involved in various types of ministry for the past 10 years. His ecumenical journey of faith has led him through Episcopalian, Baptist, Pentecostal, and Disciples of Christ churches, and he currently serves as a lay leader in the United Church of Christ. He holds Master of Theological Studies and Master of Business Administration degrees from Vanderbilt University and is pursuing a Ph.D. Woodrow Lucas is also a poet and prophetic voice, and the author of two spiritual fiction books based on his own life story. He strives to reach out to people of all spiritual traditions and diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds with the Universalist Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Rev. Susan Smith (Board member from July 2008 to present; Grant Committee Chair from November 2009 to present). She is a licensed minister at Exodus Missionary Outreach Church, a progressive non-denominational multi-ethnic congregation in North Carolina that emphasizes outreach to marginalized people. She is also the assistant executive director of Exodus Homes, a private non-profit faith-based United Way agency that provides 94 beds of supportive housing for homeless recovering addicts, alcoholics, and formerly incarcerated people, and she serves on the board of directors of Catawba Prison Ministries. She was a certified sign language interpreter for over 20 years. Susan Smith's passion is to share the Good News of God's unconditional love and hope for all people, in order to transform hurting and broken people's lives today.

Marquis D. Hunt (Board member from July 2008 to present). He is the founder and Spiritual Director of the LifeXchange, Center for Truth and Inner Peace, an innovative spiritual initiative fostering disciplines of love, relationship and creativity based in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is a life coach, musician and recording artist, and former church pastor. He has traveled extensively as a conference speaker as well as doing seminars in New Thought Christianity, artistic innovations and prophetic communication. Marquis Hunt considers himself a professional listener and sacred activist, using music, poetry, and prophetically streaming conversations to ignite new and fresh perspectives on living a life of love. He embraces each conversation with unique presence and speaks of God and Humanity with compelling tenderness.

Logan Geen (Board member from November 2008 to present; Secretary from December 2009 to present). He is a master's degree student in healthcare administration at Cornell University. He writes a blog called The Christian Universalist which discusses spiritual and social issues from a classical Christian Unitarian and Universalist perspective. He has a particular interest in mysticism and attends Spiritus Christi, a schismatic Catholic community. He draws inspiration from a wide range of traditions, both within and outside of Christianity.

Rev. Rich Koster (Board member from July 2009 to present; Conference Committee Chair from November 2009 to present; Treasurer from December 2009 to present). He is the editor-in-chief of The Universalist Herald magazine. He has been a pastor or interim minister for nine churches, both Presbyterian and Disciples of Christ. He received B.D. and Th.M. degrees from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He has also worked as a chaplain, teacher, and truck driver. He currently resides in West Virginia.

About Us / FAQ
Articles




|

|
|