Reformed Presbyterian Minutes of Synod 1993

REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 121commitment to the Seminary and its mission. Mrs. Wayne Spear continuesto serve efficiently in the many demands of the office. Mrs. Donald Wilsondivides her talents between the office and the library. Mrs. John P. Edgarand John Kisder work part-time in the Library. Mrs. Sophie Sekowski andMrs. Jean Knebes are responsiblefor cooking and housekeeping. VinceScavo has one more year as caretaker of the Seminary building and AlStuart has recently become superintendent of the apartment building.STUDENTSDuring the 1992-93 academic year, the Seminary has had a ministry to85 students: 43 are M.Div. candidates, 35 are Special Students, 7 areAuditors. (Last year we had a total of 95 students, of whom 17 wereAuditors, so we have the same number of for-credit students.) 21 studentsare black, 9 are women, and 6 are Reformed Presbyterian. Of the threestudents who graduated on May 21, one is an RP: Mark England.Considering the needs and opportunities for ministry in the denomination,we need to pray that God will raise up men to do His work.We refer potential students who lack the baccalaureate degree to theCenter for Urban Biblical Ministries (CUBM), which uses our facilities forclasses and administration. At present, CUBM is not meeting its potentialfor ministry to minority students, but seems to be making some progress.LIBRARYDuring the year, as the result of a grant from the Pitcairn-CrabbeFoundation, the Library installed a computerized catalog with two workstations.This system greatly facilitates use of the collection by patrons,and makes the cataloging of new acquisitions substantially more efficientand less costly. Thanks to a grant from the Pittsburgh National BankCharitable Trust, our computer equipment has been upgraded and expandedto support the instructional program. We have also acquired adatabase on CD-ROM which is indispensable for literature searches intheology. Library holdings now include 36,136 books and bound periodicals,in addition to substantial non-book materials. Tom Reid has continuedhis invaluable service as Library Consultant this year.FINANCESThanks to God's bountiful provision of gift income in 1992 ($114,036compared with $57,251 in 1991), we had to sell much less of ourunrestricted endowment funds than we had anticipated ($33,159 instead of$100,000). This has bought us some additional timeas the Board and theSynod consider alternative ways to accomplish the goals of the Seminary.Steps have been taken to increase our income and control our costs. No