Volume 2, Number 4
June, 1999

index of issues
table of contents

Ministerial News and Milestones

Clearwater Welcomes The Reverend Abhi Janamanchi to Pulpit

 

The congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Clearwater voted Sunday, April 18, to name The Reverend Abhi Janamanchi as its new minister.

He will begin his duties in September. He replaces Reverend Jan Vickery Knost who has been serving as Interim Minister the past year and a half.

The Reverend Janamanchi was recommended by a 9-member Search Committee that studied 16 applicants for the position.

Rev. Janamanchi was born in India and brought up in a liberal Hindu tradition that is similar to Unitarian Universalism. In this country he studied for the ministry at the Meadville/ Lombard Seminary in Illinois. He has had pastoral assignments at the Unitarian congregation at Evanston, Illinois; the Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center in Illinois, and the UU Community Church in Park Forest, Illinois. His latest assignment was as Interim Associate Minister at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, Wisconsin.

— BUD WYLIE, UUCC

The Reverend John Rex Accepts Call from Buckman Bridge UU Society

The congregation of Buckman Bridge Unitarian Universalist Society welcomes their new minister, The Reverend John Rex, who began serving the con-gregation June 1st. BBUUS voted unanimously to call Rev. Rex following the recommendation of their Search Committee, which had been actively considering candidates for nearly a year.

After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1962, John was part of the first contingent of Peace Corps Volun-teers to go to Ethiopia, where he served until 1964. He then embarked on a twenty-seven year career as a high school English teacher in Western New York.

John became a Unitarian Universalist in the mid-seventies, and was an active layperson in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst, NY, where he served as Religious Education Director for five years. He graduated from Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California, and was ordained in 1995.

He then served a three year Extension Ministry at the Unitarian Universalist of Fredericksburg, Virginia. From September, 1998, through February, 1999, he engaged in study and ministry with the Khasi Unitarians of Meghalaya, India. This was his second extended visit to India, reinforcing his commitment to advocate for better un-derstanding and connections among peoples of the world.

In addition to his enthusiasm for the ministry, John is an avid reader, writer, and a watercolor artist. He enjoys community involvement, actively pursuing social justice and advocacy areas such as mental health, family systems, gay and lesbian relations, non-violence issues, and inter-faith dialogue.

Rev. Rex is a single parent, whose son, Christopher, died in 1995 at the age of 25. His daughter, Anne, is beginning her third year at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. John will reside in Orange Park.

— LINDA MOWERS, BBUUS

Editor's Note: Our Interconnectedness Exemplified

The Revs. Abhi Janamanchi and John Rex first met in August, 1993, at the IARF Congress in Bangalore, India, when neither were "Revs." In October of that year, when John arrived in Hyderabad, it was Abhi who greeted him at the railway station, loaded him and his luggage on the back of a motorcycle, and negotiated the crowded streets of that great city. For two weeks, Abhi served as John's advisor and guide, introducing him to the worship of the Brahmo Samaj, where the two shared leadership of services two Sundays in a row. Abhi's extraordinary skill with languages and sensitivity to intercultural issues became an important part of John's learning in India. John was welcomed into Abhi's home by his warm and wonderful family, most especially Abhi's wife, Lalitha, who was then expecting their first child. When their son, Abhimanyu, was born on John's birthday, he joined the family in waiting and celebrating at the hospital, and was honored to be asked to be godfather to the new arrival. John revisited Hyderabad later the next year to see his "family" there, has stayed in touch with Abhi through his move to America, his theological studies, and his ministerial activities, and is eager to reunite and to meet the newest Janamanchi, Yashafi, born just a year ago. It is a wonderful coincidence that their intros appear together on this page! Grace happens.