Thank you and farewell to Dr. Wes Vander Lugt

June 2022 (Tidings magazine) - We thank and honor Dr. Wes Vander Lugt for serving First Church for the past year as our theologian in residence. He and his wife Stephanie, who is also an ordained minister, have added richly to our lives in 2021-22. Wes taught Monday School and Wednesday Night Downtown classes, led groups in discussions, produced the play Kings of Judaea, led a new Maundy Thursday service, and participated in preaching and worship leading. He brought us passion for theology through the arts.

In June, Wes and family are moving back to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he will be the acting director of the Leighton Ford Center for Theology, the Arts and Gospel Witness at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. As a part of this new role, Wes will be teaching, building a certificate in theology and the arts, organizing special events, and networking with individuals and institutions. His wife Stephanie will be continuing her masters in Social Work at The University of North Carolina, and together they will lead Kinship Plot, a nonprofit dedicated to imagining and embodying mutual relationships of every kind.

We wish Wes and his family the best.