Roger Shoemaker Invites

Rev. Peter de Vries As His Vice-Moderator Candidate

Rev. Peter de Vries                        

104 Cashdollar Road

Mars PA 16046

devries@zoominternet.net

Peter de Vries grew up in Boswell, a coal mining community in western Pennsylvania, and in Covenant Presbyterian Church, a congregation of about 60 members.  He earned a bachelor's degree in history at Penn State before attending Princeton Theological Seminary, where he received his M.Div. in 1988.  Peter served as the pastor for a yoked parish of two rural congregations in Kiskiminetas Presbytery for five years before moving to his present call.  For the past fourteen years he has been the pastor of Old Union Presbyterian Church in Mars, a 200 member congregation of Beaver-Butler Presbytery, located just beyond the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh.

Peter is a Ph.D. student in religious studies at the University of Pittsburgh.  He is currently completing his dissertation and expects to earn his degree next spring.  His studies have focused upon interpretive theory, philosophy of language, and how these fields can be used in New Testament studies.  His dissertation uses the hermeneutic theory of Paul Ricoeur to advance an understanding of Jesus' apocalyptic discourse of Mark 13.  Peter has made presentations at regional, national, and international academic conferences.

Peter's relationship with Presbyterian partners in Ghana began in 1989, and in 1997 he and his family traveled to Ghana for the first time.  His continuing visits to Ghana focus primarily on leadership training.  Peter has been the convener of the Ghana Mission Network since its inception in 2002, and he led a recent partnership meeting for US and Ghanaian Presbyterians.

Peter has been involved in youth ministry locally and at the presbytery, synod, and national levels.  He has served at presbytery and synod camps and conferences, and in evangelism at the presbytery and synod level.  He has recently served as chair of his presbytery's nominating committee.  Peter has taught at Chautauqua Institution, served as a Bible Hour speaker at New Wilmington Missionary Conference, and spoke at an interfaith town hall meeting sponsored by Pittsburgh's Muslim community.

Peter is the son of Dutch immigrants and is the youngest of four children.  Peter has been married for fourteen years to his best friend Becky, a counselor and school psychologist.  He has three stepchildren: Shari, who has just graduated from Boston University, Devin, who is a student at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, and Trevor, who will begin studies at Duquesne in the fall.  Peter enjoys bicycling, motorcycling, downhill and cross-country skiing, kayaking, playing guitar, and throwing boomerangs.

ON THE BIBLE: As Reformed Christians, we rely primarily upon Scripture as we seek to serve and glorify God.  Unfortunately, however, we often use the Bible as a tool to justify our preconceived agendas, instead of humbly listening for God's guidance.  At times we are so intent on declaring the authority of Scripture that we neglect prayerful reflection and study of it.  We settle for platitudes and simplistic concepts instead of opening ourselves to the ways that God uses the Bible to transform us.  My doctoral work comes from my desire to explore the Bible more deeply, and to develop a greater understanding of how God's message comes to us through it.  I am constantly amazed at the ways in which Scripture fails to match our expectations for it.  I eagerly open myself to the challenges which God continues to provide through his written word.

ON MISSION: God touches a broken and needy world primarily through his body, the church.  Because of his love for us, God calls us to participate in his care for the world.  We are a church only when we reach to our community, nation, and world.  We are faithful disciples only when we engage in acts of compassion, justice, and proclamation in Christ's name.  As we act for God, we discover that our mission transforms not only the world, but us.  My relationship with our partners in Ghana has enriched my life and the life of my congregation as much as I hope that I have enriched theirs.  As our denomination's mission practices move away from a hierarchical, centralized model to diverse and interactive patterns, I am honored to be the convener of an association of congregations, presbyteries, and organizations with a common mission emphasis.

ON CONFLICT: The PC(USA) is not in a crisis.  Christianity has experienced discord and conflict from its very inception.  While the intensity of our disagreements and the things we disagree about may distress us, God calls us to persevere in our struggle together to discern his way forward.  His call for each of us in such situations is:

• to express our understanding of God's will to one another,
• to listen with an open heart and an attitude of respect,
• to assume that we are all acting with integrity and a desire to honor God,
• to realize that disagreements over issues, even those very dear to us, do not destroy our common bond through Christ, and
• to submit to our common understanding of God's will for us, even when it differs from our individual convictions.

In the personal, pastoral, and academic aspects of my life, I have been amazed at how God reconciled seemingly intractable situations.  The Holy Spirit is at work in our church and will guide us through our struggles as we open ourselves to him.

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