Skip Noftzger’s 12-year tenure as the executive presbyter and stated clerk in the Presbytery of Redstone was celebrated at the presbytery’s meeting in November.
It was a long and windy road that took Richard “Skip” Noftzger to a call as the executive presbyter and stated clerk at the Presbytery of Redstone.
There were 12 years between when he graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts until he was ordained. During that time, he worked for a campus ministry organization headquartered in the Pittsburgh area, which brought him to Muskingum College in Ohio and Waynesburg University, the latter of which he ended up as the dean of students and senior vice president of the university.
While working on these campuses, Skip was also serving churches and leading retreats as a ruling elder. Initially, he had little interest in becoming a full-time pastor – since he already had a full-time job in higher education. But while serving some smaller congregations, they indicated to him that it would be useful if he was a minister of Word and Sacrament, so he took the ordination exams and was ordained in 1992 by Washington Presbytery.
Upon earning his ordination, Skip served both in executive leadership at Waynesburg University in validated ministry and as pastor to various churches in Washington Presbytery. Upon leaving the university in 2012, he became interim pastor at Center Presbyterian Church in McMurray, PA. During that time, he learned of the executive presbyter opening at nearby Presbytery of Redstone. Skip felt this new opportunity was one that might integrate his various passions and callings throughout his varied career.
“I discerned that maybe it would be a good match and fit between my previous history, both as a pastor but also my experience and history as an organizational and administrative leader,” he recalled.
Twelve years later, as Skip heads into retirement as both the executive presbyter and stated clerk in Redstone, he knows he made the right choice to serve the Lord in this way.
“It really was, for the first time, the opportunity to combine all of my passions and interests in one vocation,” he said. “When I worked at the university, I very much enjoyed not only the engagement with the students but making change and making a difference in the organization, structure and leadership. Yet, it was also always complimented by being able to teach classes or pastor churches. When I was serving strictly as a pastor, I would augment that by consulting in organizational leadership with non-profit organizations and adjunct instruction in various colleges.
“Serving as the EP in Redstone in many ways allowed me to integrate all of those things into one role.”
Skip eventually become the stated clerk in Redstone in 2016 when Gary Close’s term ended, allowing him to have a hand in administrative tasks, skills that also fit into his personality and passions. With a decade-plus of work into the region, Skip feels now is a good time for Redstone to head in a new direction.
“When I came to Redstone, there were a lot of different things going on,” he said. “I feel good about my contributions. The presbytery is in a good place now that is not only stabilized with a greater trust level with each other but a willingness to explore new initiatives and ways for shared ministry and mission. It’s an opportune time for a new voice and new leadership.”
An interim executive presbyter search team has been active, and the group is hopeful that the person filling Skip’s shoes will be in place by very early 2025. As for the stated clerk role, Cliff Foster will be handling those duties for the immediate future.
If Skip could offer any words of encouragement to his successor, it would be this: “The advice is such that you need to invest yourself in knowing the people, whether those are the self-selected people who are already engaged or those that are not in order to build a level of trust. When you do that and you operate with a personal integrity, it will go a long way toward really being able to lead and share in the ministry together for God’s sake and for God’s glory.”
When reflecting on his time in Redstone, Skip will have many fond memories to cherish, but at the top of the list are the relationships he has developed with those in the presbytery.
“What I’ll miss the most is the engagement with people, not only the pastors but elders and members of congregations and being able to not just get to know them but also get to know what they believe God’s calling them to do and to help them imagine and navigate that,” he said. “It’s about the relationships, but it’s about the relationships that are really focused on ministry and following God in this time and place.”
Two presbytery executives who retired in 2024 are Skip Noftzger, left, and Don Wilson, who was the general presbyter in Kiskiminetas Presbytery.
Among the outreaches that Skip has helped navigate during his tenure in Redstone are the presbytery’s Addiction Ministry Network, its partnership with Sudan and Pine Springs Camp. These are resources that Skip takes great joy in having a hand in the last 12 years.
“I take pride in the way things have begun to be shaped in ways that help us move forward, whether that’s in terms of the way we engage congregations or the multiple opportunities we’ve created to equip leadership better,” he said.
“I feel good about where things are in the presbytery. I feel good about its overall willingness to risk and to do so with a level of commitment and leadership with trust for one another. Like everywhere else, there are still issues and concerns that are ongoing, like financial. Those are normal, they’re not overwhelming and there are capable people and structures to continue to faithfully pursue the calling.”
As for what’s next for Skip, he has agreed to be the acting stated clerk for the Synod of the Trinity in 2025, taking over for Michael Wilson, who has accepted another position with the Board of Pensions. Skip also plans to do some traveling and, being an avid baseball fan, will continue to take his annual trip to Bradenton, FL, in March to see the Pittsburgh Pirates during spring training.
The time away will allow him to look back on his time in Redstone and the ways he has had a positive impact on the region. It’s a call to which he was drawn and one in which many others would say they benefited.
“Like all other ways I’ve served in God’s kingdom, whether in higher ed, campus ministry, in the church, in other non-profit ministries, I seek to be useful,” he said. “I hope that everybody within the presbytery feels like that I was of use during a particular time when it was needed.
“It’s been a fun ride. I’ve enjoyed it. I think in many ways I was able to integrate a variety of things that I love to do. In this last chapter of my full-time working life, it may have been one of the sweetest spots of my vocational career.”