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Sermons Preached
at
Beckley Presbyterian Church
Beckley, West Virginia
by
The Rev. Dr. William dePrater
Interim Senior Pastor
Rev. Janice M. Tiedeck
Associate Pastor
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt
Senior Pastor from Nov. 2004-Mar.
2009
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Sunday Sermon Radio Broadcast: WJLS 99.5 - 7:00 PM
About Dr. dePrater . . .
William
A. “Bill” dePrater is a native of Fayetteville, NC and a ninth generation Presbyterian. He is a graduate of Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC,
and of Erskine Seminary in Due West, S.C. Following ordination to the ministry by Pee Dee Presbytery in S.C., he began studies
in the Doctor of Ministry program at McCormick Seminary in Chicago
with an emphasis in congregational revitalization. Upon graduation from McCormick Seminary, he further completed a Residency
in Clinical Pastoral Education at the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute in Columbia, SC.
Since then he has served as Director of Pastoral Care
with the SC Department of Mental Retardation; Pastor of the Sunnyside Church in Fayetteville, NC; Associate Pastor of First
Church in Huntington, WV; Designated Pastor at the Overbrook Church in Richmond, VA; on Presbytery staff of Pines Presbytery
in Louisiana and Arkansas; Interim Executive Presbyter, Stated Clerk and Treasurer in Abingdon Presbytery in southwestern
VA; Interim Pastor of the New Hope Church in Chapel Hill, NC; and most recently as Executive Presbyter and Treasurer
in the Mississippi Presbytery. While serving in Mississippi
he helped congregations to recover from the economic and emotional trauma caused by Hurricane Katrina and to develop new initiatives
in congregational revitalization.
Dr. dePrater
and his wife, the Rev. Margaret R. “Mickey” dePrater, have been married for thirty-seven years and are
the proud parents of three adult daughters. Further, they are thrilled to be
back in the mountains of West Virginia, and especially for Bill
to be serving as the Interim Pastor of the Beckley Presbyterian Church.
About
Rev. Tiedeck . . .
Janice was born in 1980 in Hornell,
NY, was baptized at First Presbyterian Church in Canisteo,
NY, lived with her mom in Schenectady
where she became part of the Union Presbyterian Church, and was active in the youth program and other church activities while
growing up. In high school she served as a Youth Advisory Delegate to the Synod
of Northeast and to General Assembly.
Janice
attended Eastern University
near Philadelphia, PA where she earned a BA degree in Political
Science with minors in American History and Christian Leadership. During her
time there she became a Student Chaplain, started an off-campus worship service, and became involved in Student Government,
both as a class senator and a student body vice president.
She entered Palmer Seminary in the
fall of 2002 and did her 2 years of Field Education at Wallingford Presbyterian Church (WPC), where
she assisted in worship, taught the Adult Bible Class, and worked with the youth. It
was at WPC where she met and married her husband, Jay. After graduation she did
a year of clinical pastoral education at Christiana
Hospital in Delaware
and Thomas Jefferson
Hospital in Philadelphia,
PA. Janice came to Beckley Presbyterian Church in the spring
of 2007 as their new Associate Pastor.
About Rev. Pratt . .
.
Rev. Adrian
Pratt was born in Wallasey, England in 1957. He became the pastor of Beckley Presbyterian Church on November
28, 2004. In 1978 he married Yvonne. They have two children, Helen, a student at Shepherd University, and Matthew, a student at West Virginia University.
Along the way have come three dogs - Lucy, Ricco, and Harpo.
In 1984, following
a four year course of study at Aberystwyth Theological College, he was ordained a minister within the Presbyterian Church
of Wales and took care of his first churches of Ruthin and Denbigh in North East Wales. His second call was to
inner city Liverpool, where besides taking care of two
congregations, he served a year as a part-time chaplain at a large children's hospital. Immediately prior to moving
to the USA, Adrian spent five and a half years ministering in the rural Welsh communities of Caernarfon and Menai Bridge in North Western Wales.
Following an
exchange visit to Minnesota, the Pratts started exploring the possibility of serving a church in this country. This resulted in a call to
the Fayetteville Presbyterian Church, where for eight
years Adrian exercised a fruitful ministry within the church and community. He has been active in the life of the Presbytery
of West
Virginia, which recognized his calling and ordination in 1996. Rev. Pratt resigned
from the Beckley church in March 2009 and moved his family to New York where he is now pastor of the First
Presbyterian Church of Baldwin, Long Island, NY.
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