San Francisco Theological Seminary President Rev. Dr. Jim McDonald referenced the gospel anthem We Have Come This Far By Faith several times during his address at the 2012 Service of Installation for the Board of Trustees in Stewart Memorial Chapel on Monday, Oct. 1.

McDonald took a few minutes to reflect on the faith-tested history of the seminary in order to call attention to the many ways Board of Trustee members have stepped up to help the seminary survive and prosper over the past 141 years. The service also included the dramatic reading of names of all 374 men and women who have served or are serving as SFTS trustees.

The five new trustees who were installed on Oct. 1 were Rev. Dr. Robert E. Conover, Dr. Will Deming, Russell Faucett, Rev. Aimee Moiso and Alice Morris. They began serving immediately, attending meetings on Oct. 1-2.

As part of the installation service, the new members were introduced to the SFTS community and signed the historic book of record.

“In accepting the call to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of San Francisco Theological Seminary, you serve with a great cloud of witnesses – faithful followers of Christ who have served as trustees in this place over the years, since the founding of this seminary in 1871,” read Peter van Bever, chair of the SFTS Board of Trustees.

SFTS is pleased to welcome the new trustees:

Rev. Dr. Robert E. Conover is Mission Presbyter and Stated Clerk for the Presbytery of the Redwoods in which SFTS resides. Prior to this position, he served as pastor to congregations in California and New York. He earned his Master of Divinity from SFTS in 1985 and holds a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He has served as adjunct faculty for SFTS and Pacific School of Religion, and has taught pastors in Guatemala for the Centro Evangelico de Estudios Pastorales en Centro America. 

Dr. Will Deming is professor of theology, department chair and program director for minors in the School of Theology at University of Portland (Order of Holy Cross). Deming has a BA in Religion from the College of William and Mary, and an MA and a PhD from the University of Chicago. His primary academic interests are in New Testament, early Christian literature, Second Temple Judaism, and Greco-Roman culture.  His major publications include Rethinking Religion (Oxford, 2005) and Paul on Marriage and Celibacy, 2nd edition (Eerdmans, 2004). He is an elder of First Presbyterian Church of Portland, Oregon.

Russell Faucett is the managing partner of Barrington Partners, LP, a private investment company that specializes in trading the equity and debt securities of public companies in financial difficulty. He has served with several nonprofit organizations working internationally, as a member of their board of directors, assisting in strategic planning and financial management. Faucett is a member of Brentwood Presbyterian Church in the Los Angeles area and was on the PC(USA) Board of Pensions for six years and is still active on its investment committee. He was a founder of one of the nation's largest microfinance organizations providing loans for small businesses in India, Africa and Central America.

Rev. Aimee Moiso, who earned her Master of Divinity from SFTS in 2007, is director of Ecumenical and Interfaith Ministries at Santa Clara University (Jesuit). The graduate of Whitworth College worked for several years with Bread for the World prior to attending SFTS. During the 2006-07 academic year, she lived in Switzerland and finished a master’s degree at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches and University of Geneva. Moiso had a major leadership role in the presidential inauguration planning and inauguration service for SFTS president, Rev. Dr. James McDonald.

Alice Morris, a resident of El Cerrito, Calif., has spent nearly 30 years as an executive with ABC News in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. She received many awards of excellence for her management skills and won an Emmy Award for best 30-minute documentary. She is an active member of Downs Memorial United Methodist Church, where she has attended since childhood. She holds professional affiliations with the National Association of Black Journalists, Bay Area Black Journalist Association, International Women's Media Foundation, and NAACP - Lifetime member.