Rev. Henrion is Visiting Pastor for Week of Oct. 7

The Rev. Kathleen Henrion, pastor of Glendale Presbyterian Church (GPC) in the St. Louis, Mo. area, will visit campus on the week of Oct. 7 as part of the University of the Ozarks' Struthers Visiting Pastoral Study Leave Program. She will speak at the University's weekly Chapel Service at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

While on the campus, Henrion will be working on her forthcoming book, "A Soft Place to Land," an invitation into Christian community that "embraces Jesus' radical inclusion and lifts up the values of intergenerational community." She is writing for Tehom Center Publishing as part of the Ministry from the Margins Co-hort.

Henrion grew up in Maumee, Ohio, the daughter of an engineer and an art educator. She first felt God calling her to ministry in the eighth grade. This call led her to study film production at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., and to receive a master's of divinity degree from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Va., with a focus on pastoral care.

She has pastored churches in Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri, as well as short-term work for churches in Ohio, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Virginia.

Henrion said she is inspired by the way our creator God, created each and everyone one of us in God's own image.

"By coming to know ourselves as well as those who seem 'other,' we are better able to see God in all God's fullness," she said. "We are able to respond to this amazing gift of creation through our creativity."

She enjoys adventures with her three young kids, trivia nights with her husband, and creating through embroidery, watercolors, and graphic design.

The Pastoral Study Leave Program was established in 2005 by the late Rev. Dr. James R. Struthers of Stillwater, Okla., a long-time member of the University's Board of Trustees. Struthers established the program to bring Presbyterian pastors to the U of O campus for personal and professional development.

Topics: Chapel