NEWS
Nathan Adams and Barbara Sholis receive 2017 Mount Awards
Methodist Theological School in Ohio has presented Nathan Adams and Barbara Sholis with the John and Ruth Mount Alumni Awards for Distinguished Service, the school’s highest honor for graduates. The awards were presented at a service of thanksgiving Oct. 9 on the MTSO campus.
Sholis, who earned a Master of Divinity degree from MTSO in 1995, received the Mount Award for Distinguished Service in Specialized Ministry. She is executive assistant to Bishop Gregory Palmer of the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church.
As a pastor, Sholis has served several congregations, including First United Methodist Church in Newark. More recently, she spent two years as superintendent of West Ohio’s Capitol Area South District. She currently serves as the executive director of the yearly West Ohio Annual Conference Session and as a member of the Committee of Finance and Administration and the Conference Legal Team. She became a trustee of MTSO in 2011.
“In more than two decades in ministry, Barb has led with distinction in congregational settings and, in so many ways, within the broader United Methodist Church,” said MTSO President Jay Rundell. “We at MTSO are honored to call her one of our own.”
Adams, who earned a Master of Divinity degree from MTSO in 2009, received the Mount Award for Distinguished Service in Parish Ministry. He is lead pastor of Park Hill United Methodist Church in Denver, a reconciling congregation that also houses a reformed Jewish synagogue and serves as a sanctuary church.
Prior to his appointment at Park Hill in 2017, Adams served congregations in Columbus and Florida. He has dedicated much of his time to inclusion around race, age and sexuality, and has mentored new pastors. Wesley Theological Seminary’s Lewis Center for Church Leadership has selected Adams as both a Lewis Fellow and a Lewis Community Leader Fellow.
“Nathan has wasted no time in establishing himself as a pastor who leads his congregations in living out the Gospel’s message of love, justice and inclusion,” Rundell said. “We look forward to watching as he builds on the work he already has done.”
The Mount Alumni Awards were created in 1990 to recognize graduates of MTSO who have achieved distinction in ministry and in service to the school. The award program was created by the late John Mount, a founding MTSO Board of Trustees member, and his late wife, Ruth.
Methodist Theological School in Ohio provides theological education and leadership in pursuit of a just and sustainable world. In addition to the Master of Divinity degree, the school offers master’s degrees in counseling, theological studies and practical theology, along with a Doctor of Ministry degree.
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CONTACT:
Danny Russell, communications director
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322