Rev. Kelley Becker Receives 2026 Marshall Award for Ministerial Excellence

Rev. Kelley Becker holds an AA from Heartland Community College, Normal, Illinois, and an MDiv. from Phillips Theological Seminary (2014). Kelley served First Presbyterian Church in Normal, Illinois, as the Director of Children and Youth Ministries and First Christian Church in Bloomington, Illinois, as the associate minister before her call to Disciples Christian Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in January 2017.

While in Bartlesville, Kelley has served on numerous non-profit boards, including Family Promise, Oklahomans for Equality-Bartlesville, Ray of Hope Advocacy Center, and the PTS Alum Association Board. In 2018, she led Disciples Christian Church through the discernment process of becoming an Open and Affirming congregation. Disciples Christian Church remains the only Christian congregation in Bartlesville that fully welcomes everyone.

Kelley has served the Oklahoma Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) by serving on the Commission on Clergy, the Regional Board and Executive Committee, and counseling and directing church camp. She currently serves as the Northeast Area Moderator.

For 19 years, Kelley has been married to John who is an exercise physiologist at Oklahoma Heart Institute in Tulsa. They have two sons (Christopher and Andrew), two grandsons (Kane and Bair), and another grandchild on the way. Kelley and John have two labrador retrievers, Porter and Scout. The Beckers enjoy long distance road biking, traveling, and anything dog related.

Rev. Kim Clements Hames Receives Dr. Mary Ruth Bedford Award for Individual Giving

The Phillips Theological Seminary Advancement Office established the Dr. Mary Ruth Bedford Award for Individual Giving as a way to recognize longtime giving to the seminary.

The individual award was presented to Kim Clements Hames. Her heavy involvement in CCC revealed to her a love for teaching about the faith and at her Pastors’ encouragement, she attended Phillips Graduate Seminary (MDiv, 1979). During seminary, she also developed an interest in chaplaincy and went on to receive an STM at Yale Divinity 1980, with a later Chaplain Residency in Boston.

Her 40 years of ministry included positions re: Youth, Singles, Associate, Senior, and Chaplaincy. She has served in Oklahoma (Tulsa, Cushing, Lawton, Bartlesville); New Haven; Boston; and Kentucky.

Over the years Kim was a “first” for people, e.g., “You don’t look like a minister;” first female minister at several churches; first pregnancy leave for two churches. Kim now enjoys her involvement at Harvard Avenue Christian Church as she has transitioned into retirement.