Topeka, Kan., RPC

Former Topeka RPC pastor Bob McFarland completed 11 years in the part-time position of Regional Home Missionary for Midwest Presbytery. He resigned Dec. 31. Midwest Presbytery selected Pastor Bob Hemphill (Laramie, Wyo., RPC) to fill this position.

Colin Moriarty, a graduate of Waldorf College in Iowa, has now completed his teaching certification at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., and is now employed as a math teacher at Highland Park High School in Topeka.

Elder Bill McFarland received the Kansas Master Teacher Award in 2015. This award is presented annually to teachers who have served the profession long and well and who typify the good qualities of earnest and conscientious teachers. Bill has 39 years of teaching in the Auburn-Washburn School district in Topeka. He is seventh grade social studies teacher.

The congregation welcomes Mrs. Sandra (McElroy) Johns back to Topeka. Topeka RPC was her childhood congregation. She has five grown children and ten grandchildren—six of whom live in Topeka.

Several in the congregation continue to volunteer at The Harvester’s (community food resource), helping prepare food for distribution in the Topeka area.

Katie Stewart (member Manhattan, Kan., RPC) is finishing her degree at Topeka’s Washburn University School of Nursing in May. A wedding shower is planned for Katie, who plans to marry Jesse Mann in May and join her husband, who is employed in Laramie, Wyo.

The Christian education committee sponsors a roller skating evening each year in February. Neighbors, friends, and nearby RPC congregations are invited. This year’s attendance of 196 was the highest in several years.

—Robert H. McFarland, correspondent