Rick Ufford-Chase

Rick Ufford-Chase, born in York, Pennsylvania, is a peace activist and long-time member of the Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona. He was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on June 26, 2004. Ufford-Chase was 40 years old at the time, the youngest PC (USA) moderator in recent history. Ufford-Chase was the first Presbyterian Church (USA) moderator to serve for two years. Previous moderators served one-year terms.

Ufford-Chase founded BorderLinks, a bi-national organization that tries to connect and educate people of faith on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. He had served BorderLinks for 17 years prior to being elected as the Presbyterian Church's moderator.

Ufford-Chase is a graduate of Dallastown Area High School, he has a bachelor's degree from Colorado College and entered Princeton Theological Seminary, but says he soon discovered that his call was not to be an ordained minister, but to serve in ministry as an elder. He has received honorary degrees from Hastings College and Bloomfield College (2006), Austin College (2007), and Eden Theological Seminary (2008). He also received the [http://www.csbsju.edu/sjuarchives/awards/dignhuma.htm Dignitas Humana Award] for Human Rights work from St. John's School of Theology and Seminary in Collegeville, MN (2007).

Ufford-Chase also worked with the Evangelical Center for Pastoral Studies in Central America in Guatemala, and has been a co-moderator of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. With his wife, Kitty, he has been trained to serve as a reservist with Christian Peacemaker Teams, an organization that has sent teams of “accompaniers” to Colombia, Iraq, Palestine and the U.S./Mexico border region.

In June 2006, after the end of his term as PC (USA) moderator, Ufford-Chase accepted a call as the Executive Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. While there, and acting as the first full-time appointed Executive Director, Ufford-Chase was a founding member of both the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq and the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership.

In March 2008, Ufford-Chase with his wife Kitty were named transitional co-directors of Stony Point Center, a conference center of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Stony Point, New York. While assuming this position with his wife in August 2008, Ufford-Chase intends to continue half-time as Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.

External references and links

* [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/06/28/peace_activist_to_lead_church Boston Globe Article on Rick Ufford-Chase]
* [http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/231018 Toronto Star Article on Rick Ufford-Chase's Migrant Walk]
* [http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/uffordchaser.htm Bio on PCUSA Website]
* [http://www.what-i-see.blogspot.com U-C: What I See] Rick's blog
* [http://www.borderlinks.org Borderlinks Website]
* [http://www.presbypeacefellowship.org Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Website]
* [http://www.christianpeacewitness.org Christian Peace Witness for Iraq Website]
* [http://www.olivebranchinterfaith.org Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership Website]
* [http://www.stonypointcenter.org Stony Point Center Website]