ALUMNI NOTES 1967


Laura Wood Messer has volunteered more than 500 hours with NGU’s Office of Financial Aid. Messer also serves on the Board of Trustees.


1970 Donna Scott Davenport is a juvenile court judge for the Rutherford County Government in Murfreesboro, TN. She took office after being elected on September 1, 2000.


Dr. Jacob Rivers, III, will have his anthology, “In Dogs We Trust,” pre- pared in conjunction with Dr. Jeffrey Makala of Furman University and published by the University of South Carolina Press in January 2019. Tis monograph will be his third book after “Cultural Values in the South- ern Sporting Narrative” in 2002 and “Early Southern Sports and Sportsmen” in 2014.


1983 Gary Hanna is the senior pastor of Freedom Biker Church in Aiken, SC. He is also a teaching assistant at an alternative school in Barnwell School District 45.


1990 Karen Landreth has joined the administrative team of VantagePoint Marketing — a nationally recognized business-to- business marketing agency with special expertise in foodservice — as office manager. In this role, she is responsible for handling day-to-day office operations and procedures, performing receptionist duties, and assisting with human resources. Landreth has over


20 years of experience in compliance, human resources, and business management.


1991 Rob McNeely is leading the Fort Mill High School football program after 16 years of coaching in North Carolina. He looks to help get the Jackets back on the winning track.


1999 Scott Baughman has been named editor of “Te Mecklenburg Times.” Baughman joined the newspaper as a reporter in 2011 and became digi- tal media manager for Te Carolinas Group in 2012. In that position, he has handled website design and implementation for “Te Mecklenburg Times,” “North Carolina Lawyers Weekly,” and “South Carolina Lawyers Weekly.” He will continue to handle those duties while editor, where he will oversee all editorial functions of the newspaper. Before joining “Te Mecklenburg Times,” Baughman was a reporter for newspapers in the Carolinas.


David Pickens was installed as pastor of Unity Baptist Church in Starr, SC, on Jan. 28, 2018.


2000 Jason Young has published his latest book, quickly hitting the No. 1 spot on the Amazon Best Sellers list for its category. Young’s second book, “Te Come Back Effect: How Hospitality Can Compel Your


24 | NGU.EDU


Church’s Guests to Return,” was released on July 31, 2018. Even before then, it had risen to the top on the New Releases in Christian Church Leadership list on the book megastore site that is Amazon.com. Just days later, it also reached the top of the list for the Best Sellers in Christian Church Growth.


2002 Andy Rogers has been named principal of Boiling Springs Middle School in Spartanburg School District 2. Rogers began his first year as principal at the start of the 2018-19 school year, although he has served for the previous 16 years in a variety of roles that included math teacher, basketball coach, math instructional coach, athletic director, and assis- tant principal.


2003 Walter Pym (MCM ’08, DMin ’15) is pastor of Two Mile Swamp Baptist Church in Neeses, SC.


Jessica Smith has recently been promoted from director of business development to vice president of sales with Dillard-Jones Builders in Greenville, SC. She has been an integral part of the Dillard-Jones Builders team for over eight years. In her new role as vice president of sales, Smith works to establish and build relationships with clients daily, as well as guide clients though the design process of their home. She also oversees the sales teams for two sister companies of Dillard-Jones Builders: Cottage Group and Conservus Realty.


2004 Kamarie Amato Miles is an accounting manager with Stokes & Company CPAs, PC in Greenville, SC.


2006


Laura Blanton has been named senior vice president - investment officer with Wells Fargo Advisors. She has also earned the designation of premier advisor, placing her among a select group of financial advisors. Blanton has more than 15 years of experience in the financial industry.


Hans Ostrem is the executive director of Upward Sports Canada. Chris- tians partnering with Hans’ team have reached some 5,100 people with the gospel in the last year alone. Today, Hans and his wife, Brandy Clark Ostrem (’07), serve as full- time missionaries in Toronto. In addition to working with Upward Sports Canada, they have planted a church with the North American Mission Board (NAMB) for Muslim-background believers, which meets in their home.


Sarah Giles Youngblood is a supply chain coordinator with Compori- um Communications in Rock Hill, SC.


2007 Sarah Brown has recently joined Carolina One Real Estate’s Main Street office in Summerville, SC. She was an elementary school teacher in


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