Pastor of
LPPC: Reverend Elizabeth Lyman
Pastor Elizabeth joined LPPC in January of 2008 as our "transitional
pastor." She is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and a
specialist in transition ministry. Elizabeth grew up Presbyterian
in New Jersey, the youngest of six children. Her mother was the first
woman to be ordained as an elder in the state of New Jersey and the first
woman to serve as moderator of Newton Presbytery in New Jersey, Her
brother is also a Presbyterian minister. As she wrote in her letter of
introduction to LPPC:
"It would be easy to say that I fell into the Presbyterian track from the beginning, but there were many detours along the way. The truth is that my loving God never let go, despite the times I tried to turn away. I was an extremely rebellious young woman who did leave the church and her Christian upbringing behind. I needed to hit a physical, mental and spiritual bottom before God could do much with me. But, through the grace of God and the love of Jesus, I did, as it says in the prodigal son story, “come to my senses” and begin the journey home. That journey included exploring a variety of religious expressions before choosing to be Presbyterian again. When I turned 40, I started at Princeton Theological Seminary, planning to become a pastoral counselor. I was then given the life-changing experience of an internship at St. Andrew’s PCEA in Nairobi, Kenya in 1997. That internship totally changed my ministry. I knew that I wanted to be in a church as a pastor. I have never changed my mind or heart as to the nature of my calling."
Elizabeth has served in both installed and transitional pastorates, although her passion and training is in transformation and transitioning of congregations. In 2006, Elizabeth assisted Presbyterian Disaster Assistance after Hurricane Katrina, setting up the Volunteer Villages in Louisiana and Mississippi and serving as the temporary Village Coordinator for all eight Villages. She also has served as transitional co-pastor at St. Mark’s in Tucson, Arizona. Las Placitas is her fourth transitional ministry.
Pastor Elizabeth is currently working on her Doctorate of Ministry at the Louisville Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Elizabeth declares "I am a mother of a college-age son, a poet, a gardener, a lover of music and books. I am very excited about God calling me to continue in transitional ministry at Las Placitas. I see our work (and play) at Las Placitas to be about honoring your rich past, strengthening your vital present and listening to that still, small voice of God about your exciting future."
Back To The TopPast Pastors of LPPC
Please read about the many, wonderful, colorful leaders of LPPC from our founding in 1894 until present day:
Rev. Ken Cutherbertson, PhD: served as our parish associate from January 2005 to September 2007. Rev. Cuthbertson was instrumental in restoring the Upper Room to it's original chapel status. He also served as the Temporary Supply Pastor on a part-time basis until our Rev. Elizabeth Lyman, began in January 2008.Rev. Jane P. Harmes: served LPPC from September 1996 until September 2007. During her time with us, we made a Covenant with the Earth, a Peacemaking Covenant, joined The Covenant Network of Presbyterians and we built a new Sunday School wing with handicapped accessible bathrooms and spacious offices.
(all information below regarding previous Pastor's at LPPC is taken from "Century Of Faith, One Hundred Years in the Life of the Las Placitas Presbyterian Church" by Suzanne Sims Forrest.)
Rev. James R. Anderson: came to Placitas in 1980 as Interim Pastor and in 1983 he was called to the fulltime pastorate of LPPC. He retired on January 31, 1995.
Rev. Tomas Gonzalez: served the LPPC in one way or another since he was a member of the Menaul Gospel Team in the mid-1930s until 1995. Although he has never been its official Pastor, he has filled in on countless occasions as guest preacher, and during the 1970s he often came out to give special services in Spanish for the older Spanish-speaking members of the congregation.
Rev. George Adams: served churches in the Orient for 45 years until he came to LPPC in 1972 and served as Pastor for eight years.
Rev. Floyd B. Sovereign: served the LPPC as Temporary Supply Pastor for several periods (1966, 1970 - 1972) while the church was between regular Pastors.
Rev. David Hammack: served both the Placitas and Alameda Churches for three years. He left the these churches in September 1970 and remained in Albuquerque, starting an electrical contracting business. He designed and installed the electrical system for the 1984 addition to our church.
Rev. Harry Willson: came to New Mexico "sight unseen" directly from Princeton Theological Seminary in the spring of 1958. He served the Placitas and Alameda churches for eight years. In 1967 he left the ministry and worked almost full time for the Civil Rights Movement.
Rev. Rodolfo Torres: replaced Rev. Green
and served the Placitas, Bernalillo, and Alameda congregations for two
years. He served the three churches faithfully, although it was hardly the
restful
semi-retirement he had envisioned. He conducted three services every Sunday,
preaching in Alameda in the morning, in Placitas in the afternoon, and in
Bernalillo in the evening.
Rev. Kenneth J. Green: came to serve the Placitas, Bernalillo, and Alameda churches in 1951. For three years he successfully carried on the pastorate of the three small congregations. He resigned his position in 1955 because of his wife’s health.
Rev. Antonio Jiménez: a Methodist evangelist from Las Cruces, arrived in June 1950 to assist Rev. Candelaria with the Placitas, Bernalillo and Alameda churches. It was Candelaria who persuaded Jiménez to come to preach at Placitas at a time when he felt the community was badly in need of a restoration of hope and faith. After serving for a year and a half, he returned to Las Cruces.
Rev. Jose Ines Candelaria: had charge of four churches at the same time: Second Presbyterian Church, Alameda, Bernalillo, and Placitas. He served Las Placitas from 1937 to 1952.
Victor Manuel Sandoval: assisted Rev Simmonds in Placitas and after Simmonds left, Don Manuel (as he was called) took full charge of Placitas Church until 1937.
Rev. George P. Simmonds: accepted the call of the Presbyterian National Missions Board to become the Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, Las Placitas Presbyterian Church, and the Spanish Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe in 1930. He served at LPPC until 1935.
Rev. Porfirio Romero: preached at Las Placitas from 1932 to 1935.
Rev. Paul Livingstone Warnshuis: served as Pastor at Second Church and Placitas from 1927 to 1929. His energetic efforts earned him the nickname “Mr.Warnshoes.”
Rev. Acorcinio Lucero: accepted the call from the Spanish Presbyterian Church in Los Martinez of Albuquerque in 1922 and served both that church and Placitas until 1927.
Rev. Victoriano Valdez: In 1917, he was called to take charge of the Spanish Churches in Albuquerque and Placitas, and area preaching stations. He served LPPC until 1922.
Rev. Juan Quintana: served Las Placitas in 1904, 1909-1911, 1922-23. In May 1904 he began preaching in Placitas while Mrs. Quintana taught at the public school in the village. They moved away in 1905. In 1909, the Presbytery ordained him to the ministry and he returned to Placitas to take full charge of that church as well as other area Presbyterian Churches until 1923
Joseph W. Winder, John D. ”Uncle” Henry, and M.B.S. Legare: all served Placitas as Sunday School Missionaries during the second decade of the twentieth century, from 1911to 1917.
Rev. John Mordy: appointed by the Rio Grande Presbytery to minister to Placitas in 1913. During his ministry in Placitas he oversaw the renovating of the little mission schoolhouse into a proper church, and the Session agreed, for the first time, to ask members to give a monthly contribution for the minister’s salary.
Rev. Henry C. Thomson: preached at our church between 1904 and 1906, while he was Pastor of Second Church in Albuquerque and editor of the Synod paper "La Aurora".
Juan Baros: born on October 23, 1870 in Las Placitas, he became a charter member of the Las Placitas Presbyterian Church at the age of 24 and was ordained one of its first two elders by the Rev. James Menaul. He served the congregation at LPPC from 1894 until his death in 1914.
Epifanio Arreola: a Mexican-born, Presbyterian evangelist, he preached regularly in Placitas from 1890 to 1894. He officiated at the organization of Las Placitas Presbyterian Church in 1894 and, together with the Reverends Jose Ynés Perea and John Menaul, was largely responsible for its founding.
Rev. John Menaul: Placitas’s second Pastor, he preached intermittently between 1882 and the founding of the Las Placitas Presbyterian Church in 1894, then was in charge of the newly established church until 1901.
Rev. Jose Ynés Perea: our nation’s first ordained Hispanic minister, was Placitas’s first Presbyterian Pastor. He visited the village intermittently between 1882 and 1894 and officiated at its founding on February 24, 1894.
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