Detailed Info for PIF #: 100027372.2 Professional ID: 100027372 Name: Owen James Gray Phone: (913) 626-2048 Alternate Phone: Fax: : Address: Actively Seeking?: Ecclesiastical Status: Membership Presbytery: ojgray13@hotmail.com 881 Rosalind Place Carmel, IN 46032 Yes, Actively Seeking Teaching Elder Ordination Date: 7/30/2017 Candidacy Date: 11/14/2015 WHITEWATER VALLEY PRESBYTERY Formal Education: Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA. Master of Divinity. Graduated May, 2017. Medical College of Virginia- Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. Post-Baccalaureate Graduate Certificate in Patient Counseling. Graduated: August 2015 University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE. Bachelor of Arts: Political Science; Classics and Religious Studies Graduated: May 2013. University Honors Program; High Distinction; Phi Beta Kappa Continuing Education: Transitions into Ministry Program, Forum for Theological Exploration, 2018 Prepare and Enrich relationship counseling training, 2018 NEXT Church national gatherings, 2014-2018 NEXT Church regional gathering, Charlottesville, VA 2015 Employment Type: Minimum Effective Salary: Position Types and Experience Level Geographic Choices: Full-time $45,000 / Year Solo Pastor Head of Staff (who supervised one teaching elder and other staff) Associate Pastor (Christian Education) Associate Pastor (Other) Pastor (church planter, new church development, new worshipping community) Pastor (Transformation/Redevelopment) Co- Pastor Unlimited 2 to 5 Years 2 to 5 Years
Languages: Other Languages: English Leadership Competencies: Training / Certification: Other Training: Clergy Couple? Housing Type: Work Experience: Compassionate Preaching and Worship Leadership Spiritual Maturity Communicator Change Agent Organizational Agility Strategy and Vision Collaboration Bridge Builder Motivator Clinical Pastoral Education Training Stephen Ministry False Housing Allowance
Lake Fellow in Parish Ministry, Second Presbyterian Church (suburban congregation, 3,310 members) Indianapolis, IN, September 2017-June 2019 Preaching and Worship Resident, Saint Andrew Presbyterian Church (suburban congregation, 169 members) Indianapolis, IN, September 2017-June 2019 Pastoral Intern, Three Chopt Presbyterian Church (suburban congregation, 498 members) Richmond, VA, September 2015- May 2017 Seminary Intern, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (Non-profit interfaith policy advocacy organization) Richmond, VA. September 2014- May 2015; Summer 2016 Pastoral Intern, Village Presbyterian Church (suburban congregation, 4,790 members) Prairie Village, KS, June 2013- June 2014 Student Staff, Lincoln YoungLife (non-congregational youth ministry) Lincoln, NE, August 2009- May 2013 Program Assistant; High Ropes Leader; Counselor: Heartland Presbyterian Center (PC(USA) Camp and Conference ministry) Parkville, MO, Summers 2010-2012 Other Services: Workshop Leader, 2018 NEXT Church national gathering, Baltimore, MD Workshop Director, Massanetta Springs Middle School Conference, July 2016 Theological Student Advisory Delegate, 222nd PC(USA) General Assembly, June 2016 Moderator, Union Presbyterian Seminary student government, Fall 2015- Summer 2016 Keynote speaker, Camp Hanover High School Conference, November 2015 Steering Committee Treasurer: Heartland Center Giving Circle, Fall 2012-Present Keynote speaker, Calvin Crest Presbyterian Center Middle School Conference, Spring 2013 Interim Youth Leadership Team leader, Eastridge Presbyterian Church, Lincoln NE, Fall 2010-May 2013 Keynote speaker, Heartland Presbyterian Center 4th-6th Grade Conference, Fall 2012 Keynote speaker, Heartland Presbyterian Center Middle School Conference, Spring 2012 Board Member, Friends of the Forgotten Ministries, Omaha, NE, 2011-2013 Describe a moment in your recent ministry that you recognize as one of success and fulfillment.
In addition to general pastoral responsibilities, the first year of the Lake Fellow residency includes six-month rotations in mission and pastoral care. The pastoral care rotation always includes multiple visits a week to members in the hospital or assisted living, shadowing pastors as they perform funerals, leading weekly prayer services, and staffing the monthly Stephen Ministry and Deacon team meetings. One week before my pastoral care rotation was to begin, the church s coordinator for pastoral care passed away unexpectedly. Her death was not only a tragic loss to the congregation, but also left open a staff position which was unable to be filled for seven months. I was tasked with serving as the pastoral care coordinator in the interim. This included handling countless daily calls and emails to the department, coordinating all funerals, organizing three largescale congregational projects and worship services, and managing pastoral care visits for 9 other clergy. With the Associate Pastor for Pastoral Care as my supervisor, I functionally managed the entire scope of Second s care-giving ministry for over seven months. The additional workload of interim coordinator was often complicated and occasionally overwhelming. However, it was fulfilling to hear from members that the quality of our staff s pastoral care remained strong throughout the transition, and that my hard work made a meaingful difference to so many. Describe the ministry setting to which you believe God is calling you. Ever since I first felt called to ordained ministry in high school, I have known parish ministry is the context in which God intends for me to serve. Though I have served in other faith-based contexts like chaplaincy and public policy advocacy, the vast variety of relationships and ministry areas found in a congregation ignite in me a passion to serve. Three traits in particular are important to me in discerning a call. First, I feel called to a position that incorporates community engagement and outreach: ministry of the people of the church directed outside its walls. Second is an opportunity to lead worship-- traditional, contemporary, or blended in form that is meaningful and authentic to the community. Third is the chance to engage in denominational service and continuing education such as presbytery committee work, colleague cohorts, national conferences, and more. I hope to be part of a community whose faith in Christ, love of scripture, and desire for genuine worship guides them in whatever direction the Spirit leads. I feel God is calling me to a ministry setting that has a warm hospitality, willingness to be creative, and genuine desire to do faithful, excellent ministry. I also hope the congregation embodies the inclusive nature of the Gospel by engaging across the boundaries of race and ethnicity, sexuality, and economic status. What areas of growth have you identified in yourself? Early in my Lake Fellow residency, I received feedback that some of my sermons and Christian Education classes were too academic in language and tone. Since then, I have intentionally worked to transition my writing and speaking which was formed in the context of seminary into the context of the specific congregation in which I lead. I have sought constructive input from colleagues, kept an expansive catalogue of illustrations from popular culture, paid closer attention to my word choice, and memorized large portions of manuscript to improve delivery. Through these efforts, I feel I have improved the relatability and accessibility of my public speakingto to where it has become a pastoral strength. Describe a time when you have led change.
For over 20 years, worship at Second Presbyterian Church has included a 6:00 p.m. service, Second@Six. For the past ten years, Second has also offered Families@Five, a service led by the minister of Children and Families which focuses on child-accessible liturgy and preaching. In recent years, attendance at both services has declined dramatically. In Fall 2018, the senior pastor decided it was time to reimagine Sunday evening worship at Second, and I was tasked with leading the planning of a new combined service: Together@5. Some of the planning has been technical: discerning which elements of worship should be kept and what would be reimagined; choosing a location for the new service; researching recent trends in worship; reaching out to colleagues at different churches to learn from their experiences. However, most of the work has been relational consensus building. I collaborated with other clergy to collectively establish the goals and framework of the service. Together with those other clergy, we provided pastoral care for those grieving the loss of the original services. I assembled a team of volunteers to help support the service, and with that team created a communication campaign to promote the service and educate the congregation about its purpose. All told, Together@5 will focus on participatory liturgy and sending people outside the church walls. It has been a gift to be able to live into my passion of planning worship by leading the creation of the service. Optional Links: Please find additional biographical information and videos of sermons and liturgy at owenjgray.com Statement of Faith: I begin with this premise, so well articulated by Karl Barth: To say that God is, is to say that God loves. This is the lens through which I view the world and God s presence in it. Beyond that, I believe these things: The creator God is driven by the insatiable desire for union with Creation. God pursued Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Moses and his people, and Israel through the ages. God s people, too, sought communion with their maker. Sin separation from God that manifests itself in every relationship kept that communion from happening. The prophets and ancient writings offer fleeting witness to the full gospel of God, though humanity could not yet understand it. God s heart broke over being separated from creation and did not tolerate it. The whole of God s Word is found in Jesus. Through the incarnation God transcended the chasm of our brokenness to achieve full unity with us. We can know God because God chose to know us in the flesh. In his ministry, death, and resurrection, Jesus was and is the Gospel, giving us eternal life and demonstrating and demanding intentional, exhausting, self-giving love. The Spirit is Christ s eternal presence of Earth. It calls us to shine the light of Christ into the murky corners of human existence. Such ministry is rarely glorious and rarely easy. The church takes courage, energy, and guidance from the Spirit to do so. Its mandate is the knowledge that the church is Christ s presence on Earth. God, Christ, and Spirit triunited offer us a faith and life to the full. People of faith have always found meaning in the mystery of God s being and continue to today. In response to God s graceful presence in our lives, it is right to worship and give of ourselves. Baptism and Eucharist are uniquely universal means of connecting with the Triune God that connect people through time and place. The purpose of the universal church is to build faith in every person, by the Spirit s guidance, to the point that they then sense their call to serve the world. The church ought to focus itself on all people, though Christ s calling is clear to give special energy and care to people experiencing powerlessness, poverty, hunger, homelessness, orphanhood, widowhood, imprisonment, displacement, and persecution. I understand scripture to be the inspired word of God that is meant to feed our faith and give guidance and instruction in all parts of life. I believe that scripture and the church are an entirely and widely inclusive force; that God draws all people to Godself by a love that cannot be resisted. Finally, I have faith in life everlasting, and that Jesus Christ and the church are relevant today and for forever onward in the joy, comfort, hope, life, and love that comprise them. References: # 1 Name Rev. Christopher Henry Residency Supervisor
Phone (678) 427-3343 Address 7700 N. Meridian St, Indianapolis IN 46260 chenry@secondchurch.org # 2 Name Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway Previous Residency Supervisor Phone (317) 460-3613 Address 5 Timber Park Dr, Black Mountain, NC 28711 LewisGalloway1951@gmail.com # 3 Name Rev. Gretchen Schneider Partner Church Supervisor Phone (317) 408-7907 Address 3535 W Kessler Blvd N Dr, Indianapolis, IN 46222 boilrmker@gmail.com # 4 Name Rev. Dr. Brian Blount President, Union Presbyterian Phone (804) 278-4200 Address 3401 Brook Rd, Richmond, VA 23227 bblount@upsem.edu # 5 Name Beth Bedwell Elder, Second Presbyterian Chu Phone (317) 374-4776 Address 8092 River Bay Dr E, Indianapolis, IN 46240 esbedwell@gmail.com # 6 Name Rev. Laura Kelly Friend and seminary colleague Phone (804) 787-0311 Address 1120 Saxe Ave, Cuyahoga Falls, OH, 44221 Sexual Misconduct Self- Certicication Statement: laura.kelly022@gmail.com I certify below that no civil, criminal, ecclesiastical complaint has ever been sustained or is pending against me for sexual misconduct; and I have never resigned or been terminated from a position for reasons related to sexual misconduct. I have read this certification and release form and fully understand that the information obtained may be used to deny my employment or any other type of position from the employing entity. I also agree that I will hold harmless the employing or judicial authority or any other entity from any and all claims, liabilities, and causes of action for the legitimate release of any information related to sexual misconduct. This PIF was last updated at 11/28/2018 11:06:23 PM. Owen James Gray is a member of the Presbytery of WHITEWATER VALLEY PRESBYTERY. As of this date, no allegation or charges are pending against the member, nor is the member currently under judicial censure limiting the ministry or under supervised rehabilitation. The receiving body should always call the presbytery to ask for further information about any applicant, including their ministry and activities within the presbytery of membership. This PIF is in the database