Gay Mothershed
2000 Educator of the Year

"I do not remember where I got the simple card containing the words: 'One Day I would like to teach just a few people many and beautiful things that will help them when they will one day teach a few people!' It...lives in my heart as a constant reminder of what it means to be an educator. The joy of educational ministry centers in sharing and enabling others to experience the same joy."

Gay Mothershed’s letterhead now identifies her as the Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of West Virginia. However, in both theory and in practice, she continues to be a Christian Educator, bringing to her West Virginia calling her gifts and commitment to educational ministry as well as her passionate advocacy for the profession of the church educator.

In her first position after receiving her Master’s degree from the Presbyterian School of Christian Education, the head of staff at First Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro, Virginia simply expected that Gay attend presbytery meetings along with the clergy and elder commissioners. Thus the seeds for sharing as an educator in the ministryof governing bodies beyond the local congregation were planted. During that same era, Gay was elected to the Committee on Certification of Lay Workers and helped fashion the current certification process for Christian Educators.

Gay has also served as educator at Westminister in Richmond, Virginia, at First in Houston, Texas, and at St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana. As she served in congregations, she also was a member of the General Assembly Mission Board of the PCUS and was elected to the General Assembly Council at the time of reunion in 1983. At both the Mission Board and the General Assembly Council, Gay had responsibility for providing leadership in the area of church vocations and continued to raise visibility to the concerns of church educators and educational ministry. Gay was a member of the PCUS Committee for Ordination of Church Educators which, prior to reunion, successfully created a fourth ordained office for educators. At present, Gay is serving on the Work Group on the Role and Status of Church Educators, which will report to the 212th General Assembly (2000).

In 1986, Gay became Associate Executive Presbyter for Grace Presbytery and had among her assignments the responsibility to relate to the Committee on Ministry in their exercise of pastoral care, oversight and advocacy of non-ordained church professionals within the presbytery. As an elder commissioner to the 208th General Assembly, Gay was appointed to serve as vice-moderator — in her words "an awesome privilege and unforgettable experience." Elected by the 209th General Assembly to the Special Committee to Review the General Assembly, she served as chair and presented the report to the 211th General Assembly.

Gay is a trustee of the federated Union Theological Seminary/Presbyterian School of Christian Education and contributes to an emerging vision that weaves together distinctive approaches to theological education for pastoral and educational ministries.