“ALL THE THINGS I DID AT PC – through the church and through SVS, in particular – those helped me realize what I was going to do with the rest of my life. When I came in, I thought it was one thing. But doing all these things helped push me to expand my horizons and try new things and venture across the street to see what else was in the community outside of what I thought was in the community.”

History surrounds and penetrates Presbyterian College with a remarkable relationship between the institution and the church. Churches send their treasure – pledges, prayer, leadership, their children – to a grateful college. A grateful college, in turn, sends its greatest treasure back into the church – servant leaders eager to apply faith and reason hand-in-hand with the people of God.

In recent years, several churches and church leaders have written a variety of chapters in the history of PC and its relationship with the Presbyterian Church USA. First Presbyterian Church in Spartanburg, S.C., for example, pledged $45,000 annually to create and support the college’s Celtic Cross program, which is designed to foster and nurture future leaders in the PCUSA.

First Spartanburg’s former minister, the Rev. Dr. Todd Jones, recalled working with the college’s former director of church relations, Dr. Bob Smith, on a model that would further strengthen those historic ties.

"It was a gracious, surprising, and exciting period,” he said.

Also a former member of the college’s board of trustees, Jones said he shared both Smith’s and former president Dr. Kenneth Orr’s desire for PC to be a place that "nurtured leaders for the church.”
"It fueled a real passion of mine,” he said.

And, apparently, fueled a passion in what has been described as a "college-related church.”

The results, added Jones, are impressive.

"There have always been a number of gifted young people at PC interested in the life of the church,” he said. "There is a steady stream going into seminaries who have gone through the Celtic Cross program – and many others who are knowledgeable lay leaders in their congregations. It’s been fun to be a part of that.”

With more than 125 years of history between PC and First Presbyterian Church in Clinton, it might be easy to take for granted that longtime partnership. But the "college’s home church” has not.

The Rev. Dr. Dennis Tedder, the church’s former pastor, said the Campus Ministry program grew from the covenant relationship between the congregation and the college – and the hope that the relationship could be strengthened in visible ways. It also grew, more importantly, from the mutual concern and shared responsibility for the faith development of students.

"Our focus on students and young people is an outreach of this church and the PCUSA – and to actually do something with that is exciting,” Tedder said. "Providing a pastoral presence – having a campus ministry associate working through the chaplain’s office – connected us more closely with PC and, hopefully, connected students more closely to the church.
… Our historic connections as neighbors with mutual interests meant we were truly partners. But the campus ministry program offered more than just an historic connection it was a working relationship.”

The relationship extended to other churches, as well – to First Presbyterian churches in Spartanburg, Greenville, Laurens, and Aiken; Eastminster Presbyterian in Columbia, and a group of small churches led by the Rev. Herb Codington, a graduate of PC.
Rev. Dr. Alan McSween, pastor of Greenville’s Fourth Presbyterian Church and the chair of a college committee on church relatedness, said all churches should know that PC not only remains committed to its history as a church-related college, but also has its eye on the church’s future.

"PC is doing so much in the way of church relations,” he said, adding that the committee, which redrafted the covenant between the college and the Synod of South Atlantic, "discovered just how deep and wide the relationship between church and college was.”
During the process, the committee also learned what a resource PC is to the church – sharing its faculty as preachers and teachers about Christianity and providing a strong pool of candidates for a variety of ministries. McSween, who is also a college trustee, said "churches should know that PC does provide what the church expects – students who have a deep appreciation of the Christian faith.”

Students like Lucy Strong ‘04 – graduates who explored the deepest reserves of their faith to discover their true divine callings.

"All the things I did at PC – through the church and through SVS, in particular – those helped me realize what I was going to do with the rest of my life,” she said. "When I came in, I thought it was one thing. But doing all these things helped push me to expand my horizons and try new things and venture across the street to see what else was in the community outside of what I thought was in the community.”

Strong, the Student Volunteer Services coordinator at her alma mater, said she sees current students going through the same process – a journey of faith and knowledge.
"They’re constantly changing – ‘Oh, I thought this is what I wanted to do growing up but that’s not where I’m being called,’” she said. "God is calling us to different things and we all have to work together to decipher our calls. We can’t do it on our own. So, people who have helped PC in any way have helped me find my call.”