Originally from Colorado, I graduated from a suburban Denver high school, then attended The Colorado College in Colorado Springs, where I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with emphasis in Theatre.  After graduation, I taught part time at the College for five years while I also designed and built productions in opera, theatre, ballet all over the Rocky Mountain West, and also worked on and appeared in several Hollywood features and TV commercials.

 

I moved my business operations to New York in 1979, and my wife Mary Lee and I moved to the Town of Goshen in 1990 and joined the First Presbyterian Church in Goshen in 1992, becoming a deacon later that year.  I continued to work with many corporate and theatre clients in New York, telecommuting from my production studio in Pine Island.  I became an Elder in Goshen in 1999, and in 2000 I was elected to the school board in Florida, NY, where I have served for over twenty years, with six as its president.  Other community involvements include Chambers of Commerce in Warwick and Pine Island, and since 2017 I have represented five counties in the Hudson Valley as a Director on the New York State School Boards Association’s Board of Directors.

 

I am often asked what prompted me to join the ministry and I usually reply that the Lord does indeed move in strange and wonderful ways!  After 40 years in the stress of my own business, I felt the call of something more, something outside myself, and I began to explore the possibilities of a lay pastorship. 

 

I entered the CLP/CRE program of Hudson River Presbytery in 2017, enrolling at the Dubuque Theological Seminary in online courses over the next three years, plus quarterly seminars from the Presbytery.  I was certified by the Presbytery Committee on Preparation for Ministry in August 2020, after serving a six-month internship at the Central Presbyterian Church in Middletown, under the mentorship of the Rev. Cliff Acklam.  When the opportunity to serve the congregation at Union Church presented itself in the depths of the pandemic, I leaped at the chance and have been grateful every day for experience and opportunity it represents.

 

My wife Mary Lee Farris, after a successful career as a Dramatic Soprano in the USA and Europe, continues to teach voice and piano privately, in addition to providing the music here at Union Church. Our son Jonathan lives in Florida, NY with his wife Morgan and our first grandchild, Magnolia Jo, who turns three this December.

 

 My mobile phone number is 914-474-0722 and my email is john.t.redman@gmail.com.  I have reasonably regular office hours at Union Church from 10 to 3 Monday through Thursday, but I am always available for pastoral care and concerns. 

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