Pittsburgh Mercy Health System is seeking nurses and other health professionals interested in training to become community health care providers in their congregations.
Last year the Mercy Parish Nurse and Health Ministry Program trained 46 nurses and three health ministers of the Catholic, Protestant and Islamic faiths to become parish nurses. Most were from the greater Pittsburgh area, but some came from as far away as New York.
The training, for which nurses receive continuing education credits, takes place over two weekends, and will be offered three times during 2013. Participants receive training in becoming a health educator, counselor and advocate, and learn how to build support groups and integrate faith with healthy living. The course costs $395 and includes free parking at UPMC Mercy Hospital. Limited scholarships are available.
The first session will be Feb. 15-16 and March 8-9. Other sessions will be held in early June and October. Applications can be downloaded and must be completed at least two weeks prior to the course. Each session is limited to 20 students. For more information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 412-232-5815.

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary has chosen a professor with impressive credentials to replace the Rev. Ronald Peters as its professor of urban ministry. Dr. Peters left more than two years ago to become director of Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, a consortium of schools that specialize in training clergy for predominantly black churches. Dr. Peters headed a similar track at PTS through the Metro-Urban Institute, which became a signature program and drew students to the Presbyterian seminary.
His successor will be the Rev. R. Drew Smith, who was ordained for the National Baptist Convention USA but most recently served as director of an urban ministry program for a United Methodist seminary near Chicago. Since 2009 he has been director of the Center for Church and Black Experience at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., while continuing a longer-standing commitment as scholar-in-residence at the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
He has directed several important studies on the influence of African-American churches on public life and the impact of faith communities on urban family life. A graduate of Indiana University, he earned his master’s of divinity from Yale Divinity School and a doctorate in political science from Yale University. He has traveled, studied and taught widely in Africa and Latin America.
“In Drew Smith we believe we have found an outstaning internationally known candidate who, building on the strong foundation laid by Ron Peters, will move our work in urban ministry both locally and globally to new levels of excellence,” said the Rev. William J. Carl III, president of PTS.