Rush Otey, Pastor

Contact Rush:
rusho@selwynpres.org
(704) 372-6836 ext. 105

Rush grew up in Gainesville, Georgia.  He was ordained in 1973 by the Mecklenburg Presbytery. His formal education includes: BA, English, cum laude from Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina; study at New College, University of Edinburgh, Scotland; Doctor of Ministry with honors from Union Theological Seminary, Virginia; and a post graduate fellowship at Duke University Divinity School.

Prior to arriving at Selwyn in 2002, he served as chaplain and assistant minister at Davidson College/Davidson College Presbyterian Church, as director of the Uniting Campus Ministry at Louisiana State University, as pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Tucker, Georgia (northeast Atlanta), and as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Pensacola, Florida.

Rush has been on the boards of numerous community groups, is a member of the editorial board of Journal for Preachers, was a participant in the Pastor-Theologian program of the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, and is on the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Charlotte.

Rush and wife, Debbie, have two children: Andrew and Emily.

Rush's interests are music, gardening and outdoor work, sports, reading and writing.

Emily Phillips, Director of Christian Education

Contact Emily:
emilyp@selwynpres.org
(704) 372-6836 ext.103

Emily has lived in Charlotte for 26 years and with husband, Randy, has raised three daughters, Denise, Catherine and Abigail.

She received her B.S. at Salem College, her Masters in Education from Georgia State, and has a CAS from Harvard. She is a Certified Christian Educator.

She works for Selwyn part-time and completes her day as Lower School Chaplain at Trinity Episcopal School in uptown Charlotte. She likes to read and travel and says she uses her spare time wisely by reading about places she wants to travel!

Lori Raible, Associate for Congregational Life and Adult Christian Education

Contact Lori:
lorir@selwynpres.org
(704) 372-6836 ext.104

Lori has been selected to be a fellow in the national interfaith New Clergy Program at the Chatauqua Institute in New York.  She will spend a week this summer with colleagues from Christian, Jewish, and Islamic congregations, and will be in seminars with nationally respected scholars and leaders. 

Lori graduated from Wake Forest University in 1995 with a degree in Communications.  She received her Masters of Divinity from Union-PSCE at Charlotte in 2005.  Lori has been on Selwyn's staff since 2007, now serving as the part-time Associate Pastor for Congregational Life and Adult Christian Education.

Lori and her husband, Rob, have lived in Charlotte since 2002. They have two children, Joe and Maeve. 

She enjoys running and photography in her spare moments.  

Erin Mills, Youth Director

Contact Erin:
erinm@selwynpres.org

Erin graduated recently with her Master of Arts degree in Christian Education from Union Presbyterian Seminary, Charlotte. She was also awarded a fellowship for further study in Christian Education. 

In 2000, she graduated from Davidson College (BS in Biology with a neuroscience concentration) where she was a member of the Southern Conference championship swimming team and the Patterson Court Council. In 2006, she completed her M.A. in clinical psychology at UNCC, and her thesis was chosen for presentation at the American Psychological Association annual convention in 2007.

Previously Erin served as a volunteer youth coordinator at First Presbyterian Church in Charlotte.

Erin and husband, Roger have two children.

Fred Spano, Director of Music

Contact Fred:
freds@selwynpres.org
(704) 372-6836 ext. 109

Fred's formal education includes a B.A. in music education (piano concentration) from William Penn College in Iowa, a Master of Music in music education from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey; and a Ph.D. in choral music education from Florida State University (2002).

Along the way he has served as Director of Music at First United Methodist Church of Martin, Tennessee, as choir director and pianist for Pisgah United Methodist Church in Tallahassee, as children's choir music teacher at Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton and at Flemington Presbyterian Church in Flemington, New Jersey. For seven years Fred was director of music at Academia Cotopaxi in Quito, Ecuador. He also spent three years as instructor of music and English at Baghdad International School, Iraq (1988-1990).

Fred's "other job" is as Associate Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He held a similar position at the University of Tennessee at Martin from 2002-2008, and spent a year as visiting professor of music education at the University of Memphis.

He has presented numerous workshops at national and international choral music and education conferences.

John Siler, Organist

Contact John:
jsiler1@carolina.rr.com

John received his Bachelor's Degree in Music (organ concentration) from the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Music Education from the University of South Carolina.

He has taught in public schools and colleges and continues private piano and organ instruction in Belmont, where he grew up in the First Presbyterian Church. For over twenty years John served as organist at the First Presbyterian Church in Gastonia, and from 2004 to January 2009 served as organist at Dilworth United Methodist Church in Charlotte.

He enjoys composing music for choir and organ, and most recently published a setting of Psalm 150.

Marsha Cooper, Church Administrator

Contact Marsha:
marshac@selwynpres.org
(704) 372-6836 ext. 101

Tonya Moore, Accountant                     

Contact Tonya:
tonyam@selwynpres.org
(704) 372-6836 ext. 107

Reba Hardaway, Administrative Assistant/Secretary

Contact:  
rebah@selwynpres.org
704-372-6836 ext. 100

 

 Cynthia Kara, Child Development Center Director

Contact Cynthia:
cynthia.spcdc@gmail.com
(704) 375-5652