Join us during each service on January 12th to pray for, install and ordain our next slate of Elders at HPPC during each service. Elder installation will be at the end of the 9:15 service and the beginning of the 11:15 service.
The Elder nominating committee met throughout much of 2019 (*see nominating process at the end of this article), and presented the following slate at the Congregational Meeting on November 10 when they were duly elected. We look forward to their leadership beginning this year.
Austin Beltz (Class of 2022)
Austin is from Orlando and went to school at Wake Forest in N.C. He majored in Accounting and currently works at PwC, a Big 4 Accounting firm. He travels quite a bit for his job and gets plenty of shampoo/conditioner to donate for Manna bags!
Austin grew up in a Presbyterian family (and N.C. has a lot of Presbyterian Churches), and he has now been at HPPC for two years. Being a Christian has been important to him for as long as he can remember and has guided his decisions, but it was not until late in college when he wanted Christianity to become the cornerstone of his life.
Austin plays tennis and grew up playing baseball, basketball, lacrosse, cross country, and intramural inner tube water polo (a very weird sport). He loves concerts, from Christian contemporary to electronic dance music. He also has been skydiving, hot air ballooning, rock climbing, has been swimming with sharks, and is active on the Administrative and Missions Committees.
Nancy Corwin (Class of 2022)
Nancy was born in Paducah, KY (as Metropolis, Illinois had no hospital) and grew up in Southern Illinois. She attended Illinois State University, earning a BS in Psychology and History and a Masters in School Psychology. She met Scott at work in Joliet, and they were married on New Year’s Day 1980. Together they reared three beautiful daughters and are blessed with 7 grandchildren. In 2018 Nancy retired after 47 years as a school psychologist.
Raised in the Methodist Church, Nancy grew up with the assumption that faith, church, and serving your community was the norm. Her personal relationship with God has evolved and been enriched by both blessings and hardships. Nancy and Scott moved to Florida and joined St. Marks Presbyterian Church, where their daughters were baptized, and Nancy served as Lay Leader and a member of Session. After attending many churches in the area, they joined Hyde Park Presbyterian in 2016 and feel they finally have a church home again. Nancy serves on the usher team and works with the Mission Ministry, assisting with many projects and also is a member of an End 68 Hours of Hunger packing team.
Rich Easterlin (Class of 2021)
Rich grew up in a Presbyterian family where he attended First Presbyterian Church in Pensacola. He attended college at Florida State University in Tallahassee and moved back to Pensacola, where he started working at Navy Federal Credit Union. Shortly after moving back to Pensacola, he met his wife-to-be Kelsey, and they married in May of 2018.
An opportunity with Navy Federal brought them to the Tampa area, and after visiting a few churches, they fell in love with Hyde Park Presbyterian Church and became members in October 2018. Rich and Kelsey enjoy CONNECT and serve on the coffee hospitality team.
In his free time, Rich enjoys spending time with Kelsey and their two dogs, Rosie and Rugby. He is also a huge sports fan and loves supporting the Seminoles or any of the local Tampa teams.
Matt Vanture (Class of 2022)
Matt was born in Orlando and raised in the Episcopal church, where he accepted Jesus as his Savior in 3rd grade. He discovered his passion for construction at Valencia Community College and obtained his BS in Building Construction at the University of Florida. In 2011 he accepted a job in Tampa with the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company.
He explored local churches until he found HPPC in 2012, where he attended the young adult’s small group and found his new place of worship. Work kept him on the road regularly, which is how he met Lauren. While preparing for marriage, Matt and Lauren decided they wanted their officiant to be someone who would be a regular presence in their lives. This led them to reflect on their relationship with the Lord and faith community more earnestly, and in 2018 he officially became a member. Service has included worship leader in the Contemporary service, End 68 Hours of Hunger, and serving the homeless on Saturday mornings.
Matt enjoys sailing in regattas, pleasure cruises at Davis Island Yacht Club, traveling with Lauren, training their dog Bear, working on their townhome, and spending time with friends and family.
*The Elder nominating committee was approved at the Spring 2019 Congregational Meeting and consisted of Robin Lester, Jonathan Colbert (both ruling elders serving on the session), Brenda Kinley and Steve Morrison. (The pastor may serve ex officio, but has no vote.) Announcements were made from the pulpit and noted in the eChimes calling for nominations. Nominations received from members were given to the committee, who worked very hard to find the right members called to lead Hyde Park Presbyterian Church as ruling elders, serving on the session. The nominating committee submitted the slate of the above four elders to the session, who approved the congregational meeting date and presentation of the slate. The slate was then presented to the congregation at the publicized Congregational Meeting on November 10th; there were no nominations from the floor; these four members were elected as elders to serve on the session beginning in 2020.
