Candidates are Malene Minor, a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) candidate at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago; Sarah Yeates, an M.Div. candidate at Duke Divinity School; and Judy Howard Peterson, who currently serves as interim chaplain.
The campus pastor is part of the Department of University Ministries staff and provides leadership for the spiritual formation of members of the campus community through preaching, the chapel program, counseling and other pastoral ministry, says Rich Johnson, University Ministries director.
The national search to fill the position opened February 1 and closed March 30. Twenty-nine applications were submitted.
The search committee includes students, faculty, staff, and members of the Evangelical Covenant Church leadership. The committee hopes to make a recommendation to North Park President David Parkyn by May 11.
Each of the three candidates has or will preach during a morning chapel service and answer students’ questions. Minor preached during the chapel service Monday. Yeates will preach this coming Monday, and Peterson will speak on Tuesday.
Minor graduated with a Master of Business Administration in Human Resources degree from the Keller Graduate School of Management in 2002. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business and finance from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1995.
Minor has received academic honors that include third place in the seminarian preaching competition, with the sermon being published in The African American Pulpit Journal.
Her ministry experience includes serving as associate pastor at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Evanston, Illinois, and having served as Lilly Pastoral Resident at Hyde Park Union Church in Chicago.
She worked as senior marketing analyst and as a consultant to the Heritage Community Development Corporation when it launched an enrichment program for K-12 students in Chicago.
Yeates earned a Bachelor of Communications degree in 2003 from Spring Arbor (Michigan) University, graduating magna cum laude. She also graduated from the Focus on the Family Institute in 2001.
She has served as the discipleship and discernment pastor for Duke Chapel Pathways; assistant pastor at two United Methodist Church congregations, and as a staff development counselor at a Christian camp. She also helped guide activities and Bible studies for inner-city children at the Lighthouse Inner City Mission in St. Louis, Missouri, and participated in many other church and campus ministry activities.
Brio magazine published her article on abstinence, and the Monroe (Wisconsin) Times published her op-ed piece addressing issues of pornography and social responsibility.
Peterson is the current interim campus pastor at North Park. She graduated from the university in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She earned her M.Div. from North Park Theological Seminary.
She gained national recognition when she took a year-long break from her seminary studies to walk across the United States to learn more about God.
She is a national conference speaker for Soul to Sole Ministries. In 2004, Peterson was one of two primary speakers at Triennial XI, “Meet Me at the River,” a Women Ministries-sponsored event in Portland, Oregon.
She also has served as associate pastor at Covenant churches in Elgin, Illinois, and Madison, Wisconsin.
