Asbury President writes of Tory Baucum's call to Truro

From: Communications Office
To: ATS Info, Staff News, Faculty News
Subject: Congratulations to Dr. Tory Baucum

May 14, 2007

To our community:

Customarily any notices regarding faculty matters come, appropriately, from our provost. In this instance, however, I have asked Dr. Arnold's permission to break with customary practice because of my long ties with the subject of this communication, Dr. Tory Baucum.

I first met Tory and Elizabeth a decade ago when Dale Galloway and I flew to Kansas City to interview them for possible admission to the Beeson program. They came a year later, and almost immediately found a special place in the Asbury Community. Several years later I chanced to be chair of the faculty committee that interviewed Tory for a position with our faculty.

So it is with a sense of loss for Asbury Seminary and for me personally that I congratulate Tory and Elizabeth as they take a unique step in their journey of service. Tory has included me as a confidante as he has sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit regarding a call from the Truro Church (Fairfax, VA). His love for Asbury and his loyalty to our work has made difficult for him a decision which otherwise would be quite simple, because the historic Truro church is one of the most significant congregations in the Anglican tradition in America.

I believe in the decision Tory has made in accepting this call, in spite of my sense of personal and institutional loss. Our loss is diminished somewhat however in that Tory has asked if Asbury will include him as an adjunct member of our faculty, so that he can maintain a continuing relationship with the place that he now looks upon as a spiritual home. Believe me, Asbury will see a lot of Tory in the years ahead. In that knowledge, I join you in wishing him and Elizabeth and their girls godspeed.

J. Ellsworth Kalas
President