2026-2027 (Gamma) Cycle
Rev. Dr. Joseph Novak (Flint-First, Presbytery of Lake Huron)
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Joseph Novak is the Senior Pastor and Head of Staff at the First Presbyterian Church of Flint, Michigan (fpcf.org) where he has served since 2016. Joseph has experience in small church ministry, having previously pastored the First Presbyterian Church of Ithaca, Michigan. He is passionate about teaching and preaching having earned a Ph.D. in Liturgy and Homiletics from Fuller Theological Seminary, where he taught several courses in preaching and worship. Joseph serves the Lake Huron Presbytery as a Pastor to the Pastors, assisting and encouraging clergy and CRE leaders in his region. He enjoys baking, reading, listening to music, and is a devoted fan of Arsenal Football Club. Joseph and his wife Katie live in Flint, Michigan where they are raising their five boys and two cats.
The Rev. Brenna Overland
The Rev. Brenna Overland serves as Head of Staff and Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Bay City, where she has led the congregation with love and joy for the past five years. Now in her tenth year of ordained ministry, she has served congregations across the country, bringing a deep love for preaching, pastoral formation, and the everyday work of building healthy, hopeful communities of faith.
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She holds a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary, where she was awarded the Parish Pulpit Preaching Fellowship upon graduation, allowing her to study models of successful preaching in post-religious societies. Brenna is honored and excited to serve as a mentor for the Synod of the Covenant’s Cultivating the Gift of Preaching initiative and looks forward to supporting emerging preachers as they grow in confidence, theological depth, and joy in proclaiming the gospel.
Rev. Dr, Catherine Williams
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Rev. Dr. Catherine E. Williams is the Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, and Director of Chapel Worship at the Lancaster, PA campus of Moravian University’s School of Theology.
An ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, Dr. Williams earned her BMus. in Church Music from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, her MDiv. from Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University, and her PhD in Homiletics from Princeton Theological Seminary.
In her scholarship and teaching, Dr. Williams embraces her dual identities of musician and homiletician. Her article in the Yale Journal of Music and Religion, “Sermon and Song: A Musically Integrative Homiletic”, makes the claim for conjoined preaching and music as a homiletical method. Her chapter in The Future Shape of Christian Proclamation: What the Global South Can Teach Us About Preaching, edited by LaRue and Nascimento, is titled “Trinidad & Tobago Preaching: The Gospel According to Calypso.” This is the first sustained homiletical analysis of this Caribbean musical genre. Catherine’s most recent book, Preaching and Music: Powerful Partners in Proclamation, sustains her ongoing claim that preaching and music is a synergistic method of proclamation in worship. Dr. Williams is a member of the Editorial Board of Homiletic, the peer-reviewed journal of the Academy of Homiletics. She also holds memberships in the Hymn Society of the US and Canada, and the American Academy of Religion.