Our officiants

We are delighted to have Rick and Nikki officiating our wedding! They are thoughtful, fun-loving people who have made it their business to know us as well as possible before our wedding. We look forward to the unique gifts they each bring to the ceremony.

Rick and Jennifer started out as teacher and student at Mercer. Rick gave Jennifer compelling reasons to read several books on theology, and he helped her navigate her early days as a Christianity major at the University. After she put a pie in his face during a fundraiser for a mission trip, Rick became Jennifer's academic advisor. During those days, Nikki and Jennifer sat next to each other in a class or two, and they established a new organization at Mercer together. Their friendship was rich even after Nikki graduated and left for seminary.

Following Jennifer's graduation from Mercer, her relationships with Rick and Nikki morphed in their own ways.

Rick and Lucy now hold the names "Paternal One" and "Maternal One," and Jennifer is affectionately called "Daughternal One." They go by PO, MO, and DO. Jennifer and Lucy walk on Mercer's campus a few times a week in the fall and spring and occasionally in the winter. They all go to baseball games in Atlanta and Columbus where Rick and Jennifer keep score (but, Lucy has to tell them whether the strikeouts are called or swinging many times!).

In his professional life, Rick is a teaching theologian. He writes articles for EthicsDaily.com, and he participates in the Ethics Commission for the Baptist World Alliance. He is committed to developing partnerships between Ricks Institute in Liberia, Africa and two American institutions: Mercer University and First Baptist Church of Christ in Macon. His professional work is second to none!

In his personal life, Rick is what Jennifer calls "a friend to orphans and widows." (See James 1 in the New Testament.) Rick, with Lucy, models true hospitality and care for the people around him. Rick and Lucy have welcomed Keith into their lives with sincerity, and they all enjoy exchanging stories about their adventures in South America. Jennifer has enjoyed watching their relationship grow in the last few months.

Rick brings to our wedding both experience and wisdom as well as a sense of humor coupled with a sense of important moments.

Nikki married Daniel, and they lived in Atlanta while Nikki was in seminary. One time, Jennifer came to visit after a particularly tough class lecture in Rick's class, and Nikki was happy to share the journey for the day. Nikki and Jennifer spent lots of hours talking on the phone, sometimes about theology that they were encountering in seminary and sometimes about "girl stuff." No matter what else is going on, Nikki always manages to have apple juice in the fridge when Jennifer is in town!

As usual, life after college got busy, and Nikki and Jennifer stayed in touch less frequently. Their love for each other never wavered, but their time together was minimal. When they were in each other's cities, there was always a friend waiting to stay up late talking and telling stories!

Now that Nikki and Daniel are back in Macon, Jennifer and Nikki have caught up and found a new depth of friendship. Natalie was born in July 2007, and Jennifer likes to babysit so that Nikki and Daniel can go have dinner, watch a movie, or paint pottery. Jennifer and Daniel enjoyed working together on youth retreats in college, and they have a friendship now that is full of laughs.

Nikki is now the Coordinator for Congregational Life for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia. She does something different everyday, always with an eye toward local churches. Her experience as a pastoral intern has made her an asset to the Baptist congregations of Georgia.

Nikki and Daniel were the first of Jennifer's friends to meet Keith. Daniel and Keith speak Spanish to Natalie while Nikki and Jennifer understand little or nothing of what they are saying. The four of us are thinking about traveling together in the future.

To our wedding, Nikki brings compassion and her nuturing style. Nikki is not short on words of grace even when she is delivering a challenge to us.

What you will get with Rick and Nikki at our wedding will be a deep understanding of our goals and themes for the day, a model of commitment in their own marriages, and their assurance to support us always. While not all of that will be explicit on April 4, we are already confident of it.

These two people will say the majority of the words for our wedding; we are delighted to have them as part of our wedding party.