Presbytery of Carlisle
Education Committee
Rev. Jessica Tate
Byron Borger
Byron Borger, along with his wife, Beth, own and operate Hearts & Minds, an independent Christian bookstore in Dallastown, PA (near York, PA) which they have run for 34 years. Before opening their bookstore, they worked in campus ministry for the CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach) in McKeesport and Pittsburgh, PA and served as an associate director of the Thomas Merton Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Byron graduated from IUP with an MA in speech pathology in 1976 and later earned a Masters in Higher Education at Geneva College. He was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from Geneva College.
Their ecumenical bookstore serves a wide variety of church groups, and others, and emphasizes resources which illustrate the integration of faith and learning, serving a robust vision of vocation, calling and serving God in the workaday world. He speaks widely about the transforming consequences of the gospel for all of life and has lead workshops on reading, applied theology, cultural engagement, and social justice at events such as New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church's Center for Faith & Work, Mako Fujimura's IAM arts gatherings, the Q conference, Parish Nursing conferences, and CCO's Jubilee. They offer off site book displays at denominational gatherings, clergy retreats, and church revitalization conferences such as the annual Wee Kirk conference and the New Wilmington Missions Conference. Byron has written for various publications, including Sojourners, Q Ideas, Comment, and the Center for Public Justice's Capitol Commentary and the Eastern APCE newsletter. He enjoys using social media and blogs regularly about books and the value of reading at:www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes
Byron and Beth have three grown children, and are active at First Presbyterian Church, York, PA.
Jim Burgess
Jim earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education/Environmental Education from Shippensburg University and a Master of Science in School Administration from Western Maryland College now known as McDaniel College. Early in his career, Brenda taught fourth, fifth, and grades in public schools in Cumberland and York Counties in Pennsylvania (Red Lion Area School District, West Shore School District, and Carlisle Area School District. Jim also worked as an elementary school building principal in the Carlisle Area School District. Since retiring from public education in 2013, Jim became an energy educator for the National Energy Foundation teaching elementary, middle, and high school students how to stay safe around natural gas and how to be energy efficient with electricity.
As a public school educator, Jim has provided many professional development workshops at a school district level. Training topics include teaching the whole child, peer mediation in schools, and response to instruction and intervention. To date (summer, 2017), Jim has co-taught over 200 energy presentations in Pennsylvania sponsored by UGI, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, and PPL Electric Utilities.
Jim is a certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor. Jim was certified as an Adult MHFA Instructor in 2013 and is presently certified to teach the basic adult mental health first aid course, as well as Mental Health First Aid for Public Safety, Mental Health First Aid for Military Members, Veterans, and their Families, Mental Health First Aid for Higher Education, and Mental Health First Aid for Older Adults. Jim was also certified as a Youth Mental Health First Aid instructor in 2017. He has co-taught 11 Mental Health First Aid classes for youth serving organizations, schools, public safety organizations, faith based volunteers who work with college age students, veterans organizations, corporations, and church congregations.
Dr David True
Dr. David True serves as Associate Professor of Religion at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He was ordained for this position and is a member minister of the Presbytery of Carlisle, having also served congregations in McLean and Richmond, Virginia. His Ph.D. in theology and ethics is from Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, where he wrote a dissertation called “Faithful Politics.” Since coming to Wilson, however, he has taught a wide variety of subjects. He has twice been named teacher of the year and in 2017 he won the Drusilla Stevens Mazur Award for a research project on the formative power of prophetic discourse, both religious and secular.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he directs the Orr Forum on Religion and the Common Hour, a forum designed to foster conversation across the campus community about pressing problems and complex questions.
Dr. True also co-edits the international journal Political Theology. In 2017 the journal was awarded a $200,000 grant to launch the Political Theology Network, which he helps oversee with his co-editor, Dr. Vincent Lloyd.
He has published articles and book chapters on fundamentalism, just war theory, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and he has written for popular venues such as Religion Dispatches, the Christian Science Monitor, and Politico. He is currently working on two projects. In addition to the prophetic project, he is co-editing a collection of essays on Reinhold Niebuhr and virtue.
Rev Mark Allio
In west Pennsylvania, born and raised, on the playground is where I spent most of my days: chillin' out, maxin' relaxin' all cool and playing some football outside of the school. But, then reality set in and after college, I moved up to Anchorage, Alaska with my wife, Carrie. We lived there for three years as I served as Director of Youth Ministries. We then moved closer to home and I attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. In 2011, I graduated and took the call at Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church to serve as Associate Pastor of Youth and Young Adult Ministries.
You'll often find me with my wife, Carrie, wrangling our three boys: Asher, Gage, and Hank, training our new Newfoundland, Kenai, brewing a batch of homebrew, or growing a beard.
I don't like long walks in the sand, getting caught in the rain or Pina Coladas.