At the end of each service on March 13, 2022, the members of Blacknall will have an opportunity to vote on officers (Class of 2025) nominated to serve as elders and deacons
Length of service
Officers serve a three-year term with one exception this year. One deacon will be elected to serve a two-year term to fill an opening after a deacon from the Class of 2024 moved away.
number of Officer positions
We will be electing six deacon candidates for six deacon positions. Following our church policy, there are seven candidates for five elder positions.
Kathy Barger
I became a Blacknall member in 2017 when my husband, Mark, and I moved to Durham. We are both retired.
My professional career spanned 40 years as a CPA, working in healthcare finance and strategic planning until 2020. Since then, I have enjoyed spending time with our adult children, exercising, teaching ESL, Women’s Bible Study, and traveling. Mark and I have a son, Andrew, who lives with his wife in Austin and a daughter, Julia, who lives in NYC.
My relationship with Jesus Christ began as a child growing up in a small church in southern Virginia. However, my true relationship started when I was in my 30s, when I began to study the Bible and Christ became a part of my everyday life. Since then, my relationship has matured, but there is much room for growth. My work now is to become more like Him.
Mark and I were first drawn to Blacknall because we could feel God’s palpable presence here. In addition to worship, I have participated in small groups, Sunday School, ushering and bible study. I have met some of my most treasured friends here and look forward to serving more in the future.
God has blessed me with compassion and a servant’s heart. I love the teaching I do with immigrants and hope to do more work at Blacknall with the needy. I am comfortable working in teams and my background in finance may also be of use in serving others.
Cory Pikaart
Cory Pikaart is all about her husband, Christian, and their kids, Sylvia, Marinus, Colgan, and Margaret. She is a novice homeschool mom; loves to cook; hates to follow rules; and would love to one day call herself a “gardener.” You can spot her most Sundays trying to pull her husband from a thoughtful conversation before the children are overcome by hunger.
Deep in the crucible of motherhood, she clings to the church, hoping to encounter Jesus and his people in the rhythms of everyday life. Cory is eager to serve as a deacon because tangible needs just seem to lead to the spiritual ones.
Ryan Runestad
My husband, Bret, and I have called Blacknall home since 2009, and both of our children, Atticus (age 11) and Courtney (age 9), were baptized here.
Over the years, I have been involved in women’s Bible study and teaching children’s Sunday school. Some of our family’s favorite activities at Blacknall have been the worship music, Carols and Cocoa, and the stations of the cross.
Most of my time is spent with my family, teaching preschool at Triangle Grace, running/walking with friends, and coaching Girls on the Run at our local school.
I really like building relationships with people, and I am hopeful that being a deacon will connect me to others and allow me to give back to our church in a different way. I am anticipating God’s growth as I step out of my comfort zone and into this new role. Our God is so amazing, and lifting up praises and prayers to Him throughout the day keeps me grounded in Him. I love being able to share the Freedom that comes from having Jesus as my Savior, and the tangible peace and hope that He brings.
Dan Struble
I am a 40-year follower of Christ, Karen’s husband of 38 years, the father of two grown children, an avid reader, golfer, exercise enthusiast, and retired Naval Reserve officer.
I’ve worked in higher education for 35 years. Montreat College, where I was president for 9 years, afforded me the opportunity to explicitly combine my work and my faith, and I have been able to continue doing so as Associate Dean of External Relations at Duke Divinity School where I’ve served for 9 years. It is a joy and a privilege to make prayer and worship part of my everyday work life, and to help equip the next generation of leaders for the church.
I was drawn to Blacknall by the opportunity to be a part of the nursery ministry, where I’m pleased to be sometimes referred to as “the baby whisperer”, and to enjoy watching Karen as she sings with the worship team. I look forward to serving the whole Blacknall community as deacon. My hope is to help members and others get to know one another and work together as the body of Christ.
James Van Farowe
My wife Roxanne and I have been married for 24 years. We have five children-- Grace, Kate, Joel, Miriam and Asher. They range in age from 20 to 10 years old. We first came to Blacknall about three and a half years ago, drawn through friendships we had developed with families in Blacknall and by the middle school youth program which our daughter Kate was enjoying.
Visual work has always been my vocation. I have been a sonographer at Duke University Hospital for about five years, and before that I taught high school math and K-12 art. I also have tried my hand at wedding photography just before the digital revolution. I recently began painting oils and watercolors more frequently and showed my accumulated work in the hospital last year.
I experienced a dramatic conversion to Jesus after my brother died when I was 19. I was discipled early on in an intentional community at Calvin University, and I have been shaped by scripture focused small groups with my wife over the years where the love of God has been shown to me in countless ways. Now that I am in my 40s, I continue to be astounded by the overcoming power of Jesus in this world. I marvel in Jesus' singular ability to make a way in any and every situation in the lives of those who follow him. I am thankful and humbled that He counts me as one of His own.
Right now I am connected at Blacknall through a small group that began meeting this fall. We encourage each other and pray for each other, which has quickly become very important. I also participated in the Dante Sunday School group this fall and previously served on the 30s and 40s Sunday school group with my wife. I have found Blacknall to be a warm, kind-hearted, and generous community.
I look forward to serving as a deacon because I want to help bring the truth of God's salvation to people's lives around me. I want to pass on the peace of Christ to a world that needs healing.
Faith Weiskrich
I grew up in a small farm town in Michigan, moving to North Carolina 14 years ago to be closer to family. I am currently employed at Home Depot and have been for 20 years. I enjoy reading, woodworking and gardening.
Until 5 years ago my relationship with Christ has been a rocky one. I grew up in a non-denominational Church that left me with more questions than answers. I struggled with a lot of questions that I couldn’t find answers for and I had a lot of distrust of the church. Four years ago a friend of a friend recommended Blacknall as an option. Within a year I was baptized and had committed my life to Christ.
The people and community that I have found at Blacknall has had a huge impact on me. My life and walk with Christ have been greatly enriched by the people I have met at Blacknall. Their commitment and service toward myself and others at Blacknall have inspired me to give back to this community that has been so instrumental to my walk with Christ. I believe that God has given me a strong desire to serve, in any capacity that I am able. My hope is that I can give back and be of service to others as many have been to me.
Stefanie Tokiyama
My name is Stefanie Tokiyama, and I’ve been a member at Blacknall for the last seven years. I’m originally from California (born & raised) and moved to Durham when my lab transferred from UC San Francisco to Duke.
I came to know Jesus Christ as my Savior at a young age and by His grace, continue to grow in knowing and loving Him as my Lord. This passage from the Heidelberg Catechism (which I was first introduced to here at Blacknall!) helps me to describe my relationship with Jesus: “Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”
Being part of a church body has long been a vital part of my life, and I’ve been blessed by how much and how quickly I felt connected with our Blacknall community. I’ve experienced those bonds of community when gathered with others for sincere and thoughtful worship, and not just on Sundays. But being involved in different opportunities to live out the Gospel through service is how I have most come to feel a part of this special body.
As a deacon, I look forward to serving our church in ways that strengthen us as a community that lives for Christ.
Lauren Connolly
Jeff and I have been married for almost 15 years and have three preschool and elementary-aged children.
I was raised in an anabaptist church outside Philadelphia and surrounded by tough but fair women who loved Jesus and showed their faith and love through acts of service. I came to fully understand and embrace my faith through Young Life, both as a high school student and later as a volunteer leader in college, where Jeff and I met.
We started coming to Blacknall regularly after our oldest was born in 2010. It was then, as a new and tired working parent, that I received a gracious welcome on the nursery hall and felt the genuine sense of a community living the charge to support and nurture children and their families.
My marriage embodies a sort of confident pluralism with differences in our geographical, political and Tobacco Road loyalties, but I’ve found all these differences embraced by the community at Blacknall, and I’d value the opportunity to extend and grow this same spirit of compassion through Christ’s love.
Alison Eagle
I am a daughter of farmers, mother of three, wife to David, colleague to agricultural scientists and environmentalists, Auntie to nine kids who live too far away, friend to many and a child of God. I enjoy exploring the outdoors – hiking, running, paddling, cycling, gardening – playing games, making music and meeting new people.
I have been involved at Blacknall Church since 2009 and am grateful for this community of caring and thoughtful believers. My discipleship with Jesus is an ongoing journey of faith, with fits and starts along the way, and I am ever grateful for the grace of God. I am passionate about doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with our God. I feel that we are in a unique moment in 2022, where God’s church has an opportunity to act and speak into peaceful reconciliation with one another, with other people and with creation. I want to be open to where God leads us, and while it likely means we cannot always be comfortable, we will always be embraced by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Steve Hinkle
My wife, Christi, and I have been a part of Blacknall since we moved here in 1990 as I began serving InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Duke. We’ve raised our three children here and, by God’s grace, have launched them into the adult world. I continue in my work with InterVarsity as the Area Director for Graduate and Faculty Ministries for Virginia and the Carolinas. I still love Duke and serve our Christian faculty community there. When not with Christi or at work you’ll find me out and about on a bike.
We were drawn to Blacknall initially by the genuineness of the community. Worship and service flow generously from this small corner of the Body and Christ. Over the years I have served several terms on the session, taught Sunday school, been in small groups, worked in the nursery, and tried to be of help with whatever might be the needs of the moment. I feel called to help nurture Blacknall’s missional connection to the world beyond our doors and to foster genuine friendship and discipleship among our members.
I came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school and connected in college to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I’ve served with InterVarsity since 1982 including a 3 year period while pursuing an MDiv at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Early on I was encouraged to pursue God in regular prayer and scripture study. I’ve added in some good reading and long conversations with the saints as a very fruitful addition. Christ is my Savior, my Lord, and my only hope!
If elected I would bring whatever gifts the Lord has given to seek the glory of God in and through our shared life together. I am excited to see the energy of this gifted congregation turn toward the needs of our nearby Durham and campus communities and hope to learn and lead in that direction wisely. And I’d love to see us grow our evangelistic witness among those to whom Christ has called us.
Dan Kronstad
Hi Blacknall church family. My name is Dan Kronstad and I am humbled to be considered to serve as Elder. About 12 years ago my family and I made Blacknall our church home. From nearly day one, God has been intertwining our lives together. Many of you know my wife, Tanya, who serves as Director of Middle School Ministries at Blacknall. We also have 3 teenage sons (Erik, Caleb, James) who have grown up and were baptized here.
For the last 17 years I’ve served with the ministry International Students Inc. (ISI) and 18 months ago was appointed the Triangle Area Director. ISI is a Deep Common Journey partner with Blacknall. You’ve probably heard invitations over the years about ways to befriend and care for international students at Duke.
Earlier in life the Lord grabbed hold of me, a growing but young follower of Jesus. Passages, like from Ephesians 3, expressing the limitless expanse of God’s love for me AND others, profoundly stirred within a yearning to love Jesus and to love others in His name. That led to what has become a lifelong journey and vocation of being a bridge builder culturally and spiritually. If elected Elder, I believe the ways God has and continues to shape me through this cross-cultural work could be useful in helping to lead Blacknall ahead as we seek new pastoral leadership and find new ways to be beacons for Christ on our corner of Durham and to the world beyond.
Brett McCarty
I learned to love the Lord from my family and the tight-knit community of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Elko, S.C. Since 2009 the people of Blacknall have been teaching me what it means to follow Jesus faithfully amidst the difficulties of navigating university life, the struggles of sleep-deprived parenting, and the challenges of belonging to church and city while society is fracturing. In the midst of all the anxieties that mark our moment, it is such a comfort to know that I am not my own, but belong in body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ - and I am deeply grateful that the Lord is showing Dana, Micah, Lila, and me what that means through this church.
As we face significant transition at Blacknall and turbulence within the wider world, I am encouraged by the witness of those who have come before us. The Lord has been faithful throughout our history as a mission church to poor mill workers, the first white church in Durham to integrate, and a church reaching out to local students and universities. As someone teaching at Duke, researching Christian responses to the opioid crisis in the rural South, and serving on Blacknall’s Committee on Jesus, Race, and the Church, I feel connected to this story in several ways. I am grateful that the Lord has given us good work to do as we seek to follow Jesus faithfully here at the corner of Perry and Iredell.
Mark Paulson
My name is Mark Paulson and my wife Anne and I have been members at Blacknall since 1986. We have two children – Nick, who lives in San Francisco and Courtney who lives in Durham with her husband, Francisco and two children, Olivia and Eva.
I came to faith in Jesus Christ while in college. Since then, my life continues to be shaped by the reality that I am redeemed by God’s gift of His son who died for my sin. As an adopted son of God, I strive to live into the fulness of God with humble gratitude for the love and forgiveness that I have received. I see the church as the laboratory through which we learn and practice how to live out our faith in relationship with others.
I am so grateful for the humble leadership and the many saints that God has placed in my life over the past 36 years - examples of how to live and love well! In response to God’s faithfulness, I am excited to be considered to serve as an elder at Blacknall and look forward to how and where God will lead us in the coming years.
Katie Reeder Hayes
My husband Mark and I have attended Blacknall since moving to Durham in 2004. We are the parents of five boys ages 7-17, and I am a medical oncologist at UNC. Key areas of involvement for me with Blacknall over the years have included the nursery, 30s and 40s class, women’s ministry and most recently the health advisory team. We also seem to host lots of Blacknall gatherings around our fire pit! When not busy with work and school, our family enjoys hiking, any vacation spot near the water, and working on our old house. My most elusive ambition is an hour of peace and quiet with a book!
I would describe my faith as a lifelong process of learning to love others in the way I’ve received love from my Father – freely and without any conditions on the other. Needless to say, I continue to fail, repent and learn! Nearly 20 years at Blacknall has necessarily meant saying hello and goodbye many times, but I love seeing how our community welcomes people who pass through the crossroads that is Durham at formative points in their personal, professional and spiritual lives. I am excited about the opportunity to help strengthen that character of hospitality and stranger-welcoming within our body as an elder.