Philip Mullins

I am married to Susan Mullins and we have two sons in their 20s, Quinn and Charlie. I have been a Christian since the 1970s. Susan and I moved to Durham in 1993 and joined Blacknall in 1993. I served as a Deacon at Blacknall beginning in 1994. I am a lawyer and Susan is a physical therapist. We moved away in the late 90s for work, but returned to Durham in the early 2000s. Upon our return, we resumed our membership at Blacknall. We love Blacknall!

I have been a Christian for over 50 years, clinging to Jesus’s promise of salvation and God’s amazing grace to allow me to an unearned eternity in heaven. I strive to be a Christian in all my walks of life as a husband, father, neighbor, and lawyer. I fail daily at this goal in nearly every fact of my life. But, I’m drawn to the New Testament’s call to be transformed by the Word and a daily walk trying to follow Christ. I know I need Jesus in my life and a Christ-centered, Bible believing church. I believe I’ve found this at Blacknall. It’s a journey of trust, failures, effort, and constant renewal for all of us, including our own church, who seek Him.

A sponge rots if the water isn’t wrung out periodically. I want to be of use to the Lord, and I want help Blacknall and our community wherever I can. Making coffee, helping where and when asked, and encouraging people to be wholly engaged here, and now. We live in the present: not in the past nor in the future. So, I hope to help now as a Deacon as I did at Blacknall in the mid-1990s.

Ruth Owens

I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, spent seven years in Nashville, Tennessee, and moved to Durham in 2023.

In terms of belonging, I’ll rely on the words of Parker Palmer. He said, “The ancient human question "Who am l?" leads inevitably to the equally important question "Whose am l?" — for there is no selfhood outside of relationship.” Indeed, I am not my own but belong wholly to God, whose love I’ve known as far as my memory serves.

I am married to Micah; we met in 2021 and married nine months later. We walked into Blacknall about a month after we moved to Durham and recognized it to be a place of sincere worship of the Lord and love for neighbors. Now, we’re delighted to host a small group at our home every week, and I have loved teaching in young adult Sunday school and hanging out with our youth on Sunday nights, too. 

Currently, I am a student at Duke Divinity and have a background in nursing. I love to road cycle, read, and make tasty food in my spare time. I love the Catholic church and desire to serve it, so it is an honor to stand as a Deacon for a year term and to answer God’s kindness to me in this small way.

Maureen Petersen

I moved to Durham in 2005 for my current job in Duke Clinical Laboratories. Several years later, I was invited to Blacknall by neighbors and quickly felt welcomed by the congregation. In March 2020, just before COVID lockdown, I officially joined the church.

I feel drawn to service opportunities, being glad to serve Christ through serving others. In the time I have attended I have served by ushering, assisting in the library, being a member of the PowerPoint team, and being a member of the Women’s Retreat committee.

My desire is to actively serve the congregation through participating in activities that help Blacknall in its mission.

I have always liked Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Attending Blacknall helps me with my developing relationship with God. 

Chris Reeves

My family and I moved to Durham in 2008 and have been attending Blacknall for about three years. My wife is Stephanie, and we have five children: Renee, Celeste, Josiah, Eliana and Camille.

I am a chemical engineer and have worked in process and product development for the past 25 years. I love playing tennis, watching college football, and building things.

Joining Blacknall has been a great blessing to me and my family as we have seen people serving and caring for each other. Over the past several years, I have felt a deep thankfulness to God for helping me and my family through difficult things, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve Him and the church as a Deacon.

Candy Richardson

I came to Blacknall with my husband, Mark, about eight years ago. We came looking for a welcoming church to bring our older grandson, Kade. We found an abundantly gracious body of Christ for all of our family. 

As a member of Blacknall, I have participated in worship services, Sunday school classes, Women's Ministry activities, book studies, and I have served in the nursery. These experiences have nurtured my spiritual growth. Working as a registered dietitian at Duke Hospital, where I provide nutrition care to children with epilepsy, gives me an opportunity to practice loving kindness to some of the “least of these” and their families.

My spiritual journey has lead me through a variety of church experiences, always leading me to a deeper understanding of how I fall short of the example of Jesus and how merciful He is.

I feel blessed that I have been asked to stand as Deacon for a second term. I look forward to opportunities to continue serve as a deacon in extending the love and grace our Lord gives through his body.

Jessica Steinbrenner

I am originally from Madison, WI, but have lived in Durham for almost 18 years and have been attending Blacknall since the fall of 2019. I am married to Trig Steinbrenner, and we have two children, Liesl (10) and Mason (8). During the week, I stay busy working in the UNC Department of Health Sciences, where I teach and mentor students in the speech-language pathology and speech and hearing science programs, and engage in community-based autism research.

I love many things about the Blacknall community, but some aspects that especially stand out are the posture of humility, the commitment to supporting local and global missions, the intentional inclusion of children and youth in worship and community life, and the strong intergenerational relationships across the church, which have helped me to feel challenged, encouraged, rooted and known.

I (very imperfectly) love Jesus and deeply need the words I often pray with my kids: “please help us to love others like you love us.” I see that prayer shaping how I try to show up with patience and presence – an area that I admittedly have a long way to grow. I am drawn closer to God as I serve alongside others and build deeper relationships both inside and outside the church. One way I currently do this is by serving on the teaching team for kindergartners and 1st graders during the Sunday school hour. I also recently served as a co-leader with the Alpha team and loved getting to know a new group of people each week as we explored big life questions together.

I am honored to be nominated to serve as a Deacon. If I am elected, I look forward to supporting ministries that help people feel included, connected, and cared for within the church, as well as ministries that reach out, particularly in the city of Durham.

Chris Zhang

My name is Bohui Zhang and I usually go by Chris. I came to Duke in 2017 for graduate school studying biostatistics and have been working as a biostatistician for clinical trials since 2019. Me and my wife, Yoyo, both come from China and actually met on the plane to the U.S. We got married in 2024 and have two cats.

I didn’t grow up in a Christian family and I learned the gospel from my grandmother. I’ve always believed in God but only attended church occasionally back in China. When I came to Duke, I joined a Chinese church and decided to get baptized there. I was introduced to Blacknall in 2019 by a friend and felt immediately welcomed.

I’ve only come to Blacknall on Sundays for the past few years, but last May I decided to fully devote to the Lord and became a member at Blacknall. Since then, I’ve been praying for more involvement at the church and I am grateful that God answered my prayer through this deacon opportunity so that I can know more about Blacknall and better serve its people.

Pete Gerend

Alexa and I have been married for 26 years. Together we are blessed to be the parents of Asa (20), Jack (18), Greta (16), and Sam (14). I spend my work days at Bain & Company, where I partner with leaders of large organizations as they navigate change. I also teach undergrads at Duke on the intersection of buinsess and theology.

We’ve been at Blacknall since 2003. I love the diversity and energy of this place — it’s full of long-serving saints and people for whom Durham is a meaningful stop along their journey. In many ways, Blacknall is our family here in Durham. It's a place where we feel truly known and loved and are called to serve.

It’s humbling to be known and loved by the Word made flesh, the Creator of all things. I am on a journey with Jesus — walking in the assurance of salvation while still living in a broken world. Jesus continually challenges my comfortable assumptions about what it means to follow Him and to be salt and light. Passages like Romans 12 have been especially shaping for me — the call to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind,” to offer my life as a living sacrifice, and to use whatever gifts I’ve been given in service to others. 

We find ourselves in a meaningful moment, in a place full of opportunity and more than enough challenge. As Blacknall continues to live into its calling, I’m excited by the ways we are being invited to embody the love of Christ more fully — in how we worship, serve, and engage our neighbors. My hope and prayer is that we would continue to discern together how to faithfully live that calling with humility, courage, and love.

Susie Meghdadpour

I work as a nurse practitioner at Duke as part of a team providing care for children with chronic lung diseases. I also have a public health degree, and an interest in studying how families and communities influence the health and behavior of vulnerable children.

I grew up in Iran, in a Christian family, and acknowledged Jesus as my Lord and Savior as a teenager. I attended a small school, originally a Presbyterian Mission school, and "chapel" was part of my elementary school experience. My faith was both challenged and grew when I was in college, and Blacknall was a part of that. Through my adult life, I've continued — sometimes daily — to learn to trust God for His good gifts, to believe in His abundance, and to see His hand and care both in good times and in hard circumstances.

I joined Blacknall as a college student at Duke and have been involved in local missions, children’s ministry, communion prep, and as an Elder with responsibility for our Mission Outreach. I’m currently on the board of Samaritan Health Center, and am also learning how to stand with, and support, our immigrant neighbors. I love how much Blacknall is a church that cares for its members but also for neighbors. I’m grateful for the ways this community has given me places to use my gifts, and hope that I can be a part of Blacknall’s ongoing deep engagement in worship and mission — as a response to God’s great love for us.

Trina Rogers

My husband, John, and I have called Blacknall home since 2020, along with our three children, Liza (21), Cate (11), and James (10).

I am deeply grateful to belong to a community that loves God’s Word and seeks to live out Christ’s love everyday. Some of my most meaningful connections have been forged through Women’s Bible Study, where I co-facilitate a small group, and through the Chapel Hill small group we co-lead.

I am grateful daily for the gift of faith – the unearned saving grace of Jesus that Paul beautifully articulates in Ephesians 2:8. God has used many churches to shape my faith. I have deep roots in the Presbyterian church, where I was baptized and developed a personal relationship with Christ. I’m married to a PC(USA) pastor, and spent nine years volunteering alongside John during his time as a campus minister. I have also been richly blessed by gospel-centered churches beyond our denomination and delight in the ways Blacknall weaves different traditions together in worship.

Professionally, I am an entrepreneur. After earning my MBA, I co-founded and spent 18 years building a business with my father. Since selling the company, I have served on the board of the Center for Christian Study at the University of Virginia, coach UNC entrepreneurship students, volunteer in our children’s schools, and mentor students through the NC Study Center.

It would be a joy to serve Blacknall as an elder, humbly seeking to embody the truth and beauty of Jesus together.

Chad Weinard

I was raised and came to faith in the Presbyterian Church in Mobile, Alabama. After attending Duke University as an undergraduate, I met my wife, Ashley, studying art history in graduate school in New York City. In 2003, we adopted an old farmhouse in Durham and joined Blacknall, where we felt the presence of Christ in a community we came to love. I now work as an independent technology consultant for art museums and research institutions.

Vibrant experiences of the Spirit working in India, Rwanda, and Uganda impressed on me the value of sharing relational ministry with partners, congregations, and communities around the world. At Blacknall, I’ve served as chair of the International Ministries Team (IMT), which supports an amazing slate of individual ministry partners — many of whom are former members, all with deep connections to our congregation. I’m currently a member of the team that guides Blacknall’s “Deep Common Journey” with Congo Initiative. Our international partnerships are deeply relational: We seek to be changed as we help our beloved partners affect change, ministering to those around them.

For more than 20 years, Blacknall has been a blessing to our family, and we’ve sought to be a blessing as well. Our three children (now 20, 18, and 14) were born, baptized, and loved at Blacknall from the nursery to Sunday School to Blacknall Youth Group and beyond. Over the years, we’ve been involved in many aspects of Blacknall life — whether hosting dear small groups and annual Easter celebrations, or leading committees — each has drawn us closer to community, and to Christ. Blacknall has shown us the Word made flesh, and out of such abundance, I’m eager to serve.

Stephanie Wheatley

I began attending Blacknall in 2008. It has been a church home for Chris and me and our two daughters, Chloë and Marika, ever since. I have been blessed through friendships, our worship as a community, small groups, time on the Session, and serving alongside of friends. 

I came to faith as a child in a Christian home and am so grateful to have friendships and experiences that nurtured a deeper faith as I grew up. At the center of my faith is my trust in God’s love for us in Jesus and the practices of prayer and worship where we draw close to him. I have grown in my faith especially through challenging seasons and can see God clearly at work through His people. The community at Blacknall has been a specific blessing in my life.

It is my prayer and hope that Blacknall continues its many decades of faithful witness to Christ in Durham in the coming years, especially as we discern how to welcome people who cross our paths in this city. 

Mark Atkinson

I first attended Blacknall as an undergrad at Duke in the mid-80’s. Growing up Southern Baptist, I tried the local Baptist churches, but noticed my friends were all attending Blacknall. It quickly became my church home. After Duke, marrying Helen, four years in the Navy, a 25-year career at Kimley-Horn, living in Cary, raising four children, and attending NCCU law school (2017-2020), Helen and I moved back to Durham in January 2020. We joined as members in early 2021.

Important parts of our re-integration into Blacknall were a backyard worship service during the worst of COVID, helping in the nursery and on the audio/PPT team (BAT), my involvement on the Durham Ministry & Engagement Team (DMET) for a two-year stint, and a small group that we host at our home. 

I thankfully grew up in a loving Christian home. I have always appreciated a good sermon, but as I've gotten older, I've learned to value the times of confession, the Lord's Supper, and being in a community that shapes me and reminds me of the good things that are in Christ Jesus.