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​Staff and Leadership

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​In July of 2022, First and Central welcomed the Reverend Laura Viau as Pastor.

Session

A Presbyterian church is governed by its Session, a body of elders, with the Pastor serving as moderator. (The word "presbyter" means "elder of the church.") These members of the church are elected for three-year terms, renewable for up to six years' continuous service.

First & Central's current Session are:

Ruth Arias, Margaret Ann Butterfield, Terry Dykstra, Patty Irwin, Ellen Oiler, Ellen Roberts (Treasurer), Jesse Rodgers, Sarah Ryan, and Karl Zipf. Jeanette Zipf is the current Clerk of Session.

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The Book of Order, the governing document of the PC-USA, provides this definition of elders:

As there were in Old Testament times elders for the government of the people, so the New Testament church provided persons with particular gifts to share in discernment of God’s Spirit and governance of God’s people. Accordingly, congregations should elect persons of wisdom and maturity of faith, having demonstrated skills in leadership and being compassionate in spirit. Ruling elders are so named not because they “lord it over” the congregation (Matt. 20:25), but because they are chosen by the congregation to discern and measure its fidelity to the Word of God, and to strengthen and nurture its faith and life. Ruling elders, together with ministers of the Word and Sacrament, exercise leadership, government, spiritual discernment, and discipline and have responsibilities for the life of a congregation as well as the whole church, including ecumenical relationships. When elected by the congregation, they shall serve faithfully as members of the session. When elected as commissioners to higher councils, ruling elders participate and vote with the same authority as ministers of the Word and Sacrament, and they are eligible for any office.

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Session Meeting on Zoom
November, 2022

Staff

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Laura Viau, Pastor and Head of Staff -- 0n leave until April 27

​The Reverend Laura Schmidt Viau brought her southern charm to Delaware in July, 2022. She most recently served as a transitional pastor in coastal North Carolina, where she regularly got to preach on the beach! Laura recently celebrated the seventh anniversary of her ordination as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament, but she has been doing God's work for much of her life.

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She will be living in Wilmington's Haynes Park neighborhood.

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Laura’s bio

Dr. Clair Rozier, Interim Minister of Music

Clair Rozier is an organist, conductor, teacher and performer. She recently retired as Director of Music and Organist at St. David’s Episcopal Church, a large suburban parish in Wayne, PA, where she served for 25 years. At St. David’s, she oversaw the acquisition of the Dobson, Opus 84, pipe organ in 2007, and developed a thriving music ministry with choirs for all ages. She conducted the adult choir in annual concerts of choral masterworks including works of Fauré, Duruflé, Mozart, Handel, Lauridsen, Britten, Vaughan Williams. She led choral residencies at the Cathedrals of Wells, Ely, Lichfield and St. David’s-Wales in the UK, and at St. Patrick’s in Dublin. She moved to the Philadelphia area in 1991 to serve as director of music at Ardmore Presbyterian Church.

She pursued her organ study as an undergraduate at Goucher College, MD, and earned her master’s and doctorate in organ performance from Cincinnati Conservatory and Eastern School of Music, respectively. Her teachers include Richard Roeckelein, Barbara Thomson, David Mulbury, David Craighead. She also studied with Marie-Claire Alain at the Conservatory at Rueil-Malmaison, France, where she was awarded the Prix-d’Excellence.

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Andrew Coleman
Building manager
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Mary Wilcosky,
Program Administrator
Stephen Fugate
Financial Secretary
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George Russell,
Building care assistant, videographer
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John Dehart,
Building care assistant

Deacons

Deacons serve the church by ministering to its members. Often, this involves food! These members of the Board of Deacons are also elected for three-year terms, renewable for up to six years' continuous service.

First & Central's current Board of Deacons includes:

Connie Beattie, Brenda Ferris, Nancy Rosario, Jean Wakefield and Rob Wieman (Chair).

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The Book of Order provides this definition of deacons:

The ministry of deacon as set forth in Scripture is one of compassion, witness, and service, sharing in the redeeming love of Jesus Christ for the poor, the hungry, the sick, the lost, the friendless, the oppressed, those burdened by unjust policies or structures, or anyone in distress. Persons of spiritual character, honest repute, exemplary lives, brotherly and sisterly love, sincere compassion, and sound judgment should be chosen for this ministry.

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