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.

Rich Frothingham

I joined Blacknall in 1978 when I arrived at Duke for medical school. Margaret and I met here and were married by Ed Henegar. We have three married children and three grandchildren. I currently care for people with HIV infection at Duke and for federal prisoners at Butner.

Jesus is my Lord and Savior. I experience his unconditional love and forgiveness. Serving him means caring for those on the margins. Examples have included rural Haitians, gay men, prisoners, and persons with disabilities.

I connect to Blacknall community in worship and in service. I currently lead a small group, sing in the choir, teach 4th and 5th grade boys, and serve meals with Reality Ministries. In the past I’ve led missions, family life, and finance committees. I’m open to multiple roles as an Elder.

We experience tension as an evangelical congregation within the PC(USA), and we have internal conflicts. I hope that we will continue to reach across the various divides, listen to each other, and respect each other. When I first entered Blacknall, mill-worker Luther Raspberry greeted me and handed me a piece of hard candy. Going forward, I hope we will continue to welcome whoever comes through our doors.

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.

Ron Manila

I grew up in Philadelphia and studied in Pittsburgh before a saving encounter with Jesus while I was completing a master’s degree in environmental engineering at Duke. People at Blacknall played a significant role in my faith journey and also introduced me to Betsy Scholtes, now Manila. We married in 1996 at Blacknall and were sent out by the church to serve in Central Asia for nearly 25 years as part of a YWAM ministry.

I led various projects and teams consisting of Christians and non-Christians as we served communities with development projects while sharing the love of Christ. We raised our two oldest children, Daniel and Faith, overseas, and adopted our two youngest, Joy and Joseph, whom God connected us with through our ministry work. In 2023, we returned to Durham to join International Students Inc. at Duke University, providing practical blessings to international students from many different backgrounds and seeking to give them opportunities to encounter Jesus. 

During these efforts of inviting others to follow Jesus, I have often been humbled by Him as He calls me to change, by his grace, to think and act more like He does. Blacknall has been an important part of that walk. If I serve in the role of Elder, I would seek to help us as a community to stay true to the call of the Gospel: to look more like Jesus, by His grace, as we work with Him to invite more people from all backgrounds to join us, by His grace, in this calling.

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.

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.