Gore, who will assume his new role Aug. 1, replaces Dr. Randall T. Ruble, who retired last year after serving as Vice President and Dean since 1976. In recent months, Dr. Loyd Melton, Professor of Biblical Studies, has served as Acting Vice President and Dean while the search committee sought a permanent replacement.

Gore said Erskine Seminary exists to educate persons for ministry in the Christian Church. "It is our success at accomplishing this mission that has made Erskine Seminary such an attractive option for students from our own denomination as well as many others," he said.

Gore said his experience on the faculty at Erskine Seminary has revealed that the institution has "a wonderful faculty - dedicated, capable, and willing to invest themselves in the lives of the students. This is the secret of Erskine Seminary's continued growth.

"Our faculty does not merely impart information and facilitate learning," Gore said. "Indeed, we do those things and do them well. But more importantly, we seek to integrate theory and practice, concept and application. The mark of an Erskine Seminary graduate is not only thorough preparation in the various theological disciplines, but the ability to apply the knowledge gained in service to the Lord and to his Church."

Gore, a native of Durham, N.C., most recently served as an active duty chaplain with the United States Army. His duty assignments included: Chief, Department of Ministry and Pastoral Care at Walson Army Community Hospital, Fort Dix, N.J. (1989-1991); Installation Chaplain, Camp Essayons (Uijongbu, Republic of Korea) and Battalion Chaplain, 6-37 Field Artillery (1991-1992); Co-Pastor, Main Post Chapel, Fort Riley, Kans., and Battalion Chaplain, 2/16 Infantry (1993-1996).

He is a graduate of the Chaplain Officer Basic and Advanced Courses (Commandant's List), the Combined Arms and Services Staff School, and the Command and General Staff College.

A highly decorated officer, Gore has received numerous awards and decorations, including the Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Basic Parachutist Badge (Airborne), awarded by the U.S. Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Ga. Currently, he serves as Chaplain (Major) with the 391st Engineer Battalion (Combat Light) in the U.S. Army Reserve.

After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976, Gore began a 10-year period of graduate study. During this time, he studied at a number of institutions, including Faith Theological Seminary, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, and Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, N.J.

Gore holds four master's degrees, including the Master of Sacred Theology degree, and earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree at Westminster Theological Seminary (with honors) in Philadelphia in 1988.

Ordained to the ministry in 1982, he served as student supply and pastor of a Presbyterian church in rural New Jersey for nearly eight years. Leaving the pastorate in January of 1989, Gore entered Active Duty with the Army and continued on active duty for a period of more than seven years.

In 1996 he came to Erskine Seminary and has taught courses in Systematic Theology, Apologetics, Ethics, and Church History.

Gore said, "By the grace of God, we will continue to represent what is best in our Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. To that end, as an evangelical institution, we will honor our commitment to the Word of God, true in all that it affirms, and to our Lord Jesus Christ, the only name under heaven by which we must be saved.

"As a Reformed institution, we will magnify our Calvinistic and Presbyterian heritage, giving special attention to teaching, faithfully, the system of doctrine expressed in the Westminster Standards," he said. "We will continue to welcome students from other Christian denominations, embracing them and striving to prepare them for ministry in the churches to which God has called them."

Gore also has four years of administrative experience in post-secondary adult education and distance learning delivery systems.

He was a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America for more than 12 years, and has been a member of Second Presbytery, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, since 1996.

He currently serves on the Minister and His Work Committee of Second Presbytery and recently served as the Seminary Representative to the General Synod's Committee on Theological and Social Concerns.

Gore is also a representative of the ARP General Synod on the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel, an inter-church endorsing agency that provides services for chaplains in all branches of service from the ARP Church; the Presbyterian Church, USA; the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America.

A member of the Evangelical Theological Society, he has written numerous articles and book reviews for a wide range of periodicals, including the Presbyterian Journal, Military Chaplain's Review, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Presbyterian - the Covenant Seminary Review, Westminster Theological Journal, Faith and Practice, PCA Messenger, Covenanter Witness, and The ARP Magazine.

Gore is married to Joan Dorothy Green, a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia and a 1998 graduate of Erskine Theological Seminary (Master of Arts in Christian Education). They are the parents of three children, Matthew, Colin, and Alison. All three are students at Greenwood Christian School in Greenwood.

The Gores are all members of the Due West ARP Church, where Joan serves as the Youth Activities Coordinator. Joan also serves as a member of the General Synod's Board of Christian Education.

Also at the meeting, the Board:

·approved naming for the $7.4 million science facility under construction, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, as the Daniel-Moultrie Science Building, in honor of the late Homozel Mickel Daniel of Greenville and the parents of former Erskine trustee Robert L. Moultrie of Symrna, Ga.;

·welcomed new Board members, including Phil and Sylvia Phillips of Spartanburg, co-chairs of the Parent's Council; Rock Hill ARP Pastor Bill Robinson; Gastonia, N.C., attorney John McGill; Charlotte ophthalmologist Jim Pressley; Kings Mountain, N.C., school teacher Connie Savell; Centennial ARP Pastor (Columbia) David Setzer; Oconee ARP Pastor (Seneca) Chuck Wilson; and retired Clover attorney and Moderator of the ARP General Synod Jim Dickson;

·approved the Bolt-Squires Scholarship from the family of Cornelia Bolt Squires, the Rev. J. Allen Derrick Scholarship fund from Paul L. Agnew of Abbeville, the Julia V. and W. Wates Keller Scholarship established by July V. Keller, and a gift annuity from Mr. and Mrs. Hugh E. Henry;

·approved Dr. Milton Eng, a Columbia University graduate who got his Ph.D. from Drew University and is a specialist in Old Testament studies, as the new Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies; and

·heard a report that the Erskine endowment fund was at $25.7 million.

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