Rev. Danny Carpenter
Lake Fellow in Parish Ministry

Danny grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan and is a graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary. In high school Danny discerned a call into ministry with the guidance and support of significant and trusted mentors, professors, and teachers. This call eventually led him to Hope College where he studied Religion and International Relations.

During his time at Hope, Danny was engaged with Campus Ministries and Student Life, where he discovered his passions of disability ministry and homeless ministry. He also studied Christian-Muslim relations while studying abroad in Muscat, Oman. 

Upon graduation Danny worked as a Fellow at Reality Ministries in Durham, NC which seeks to create communities of belonging for people of all abilities. He then moved back to the Midwest and worked as a Middle School director at a Christian summer camp where he oversaw staff and students. Around that time Danny sensed that God was calling him to attend seminary.

During his time in seminary, Danny worked at Pillar Church where he grew in various learning and leading opportunities that continued to refine his calling into parish ministry. He has come to love walking with others, hearing their longings and hopes, and locating their stories in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His pastoral imagination has been shaped by these experiences and encounters grounded in Resurrection hope. Danny is very grateful and excited to be joining the Second Presbyterian Church community and he is honored and eager to embark on the adventure of following Jesus with all of you!

Rev. Audrey Thorne
Lake Fellow in Parish Ministry

A Midwesterner at heart, Audrey is excited to return to the Midwest for the Lake Fellows Residency. After spending some formative years in the suburbs of Chicago, her family moved to Michigan where she lived until her high school graduation. She returned to Chicago to pursue a BA in Bible and Theology at Moody Bible Institute, graduating in 2015. After a few years of working in the church, she knew she wanted to pursue more theological education, but a clear call to ministry hadn’t formed quite yet. She began attending Princeton Theological Seminary, where she earned her MATS (Master of Arts in Theological Studies) with a focus on women in the history of Christianity. She wrote her Master’s thesis on the life and work of Charlotte von Kirschbaum. 

During the summer of 2018, Audrey completed a field education placement at Tokyo Union Church in Japan. This short, three-month internship began to shift her sense of call. As a pastor’s kid, she had always felt called to serve the church but did not think God would call her to pastoral ministry. As she began to step into what felt like the huge shoes of a pastor, she was shocked by how much she loved it. After graduating with her MATS in 2019, she returned to Japan to work full-time as the Youth and Children’s Ministry Director at Tokyo Union Church. The pandemic changed everything, and Audrey’s role at TUC broadened to include pastoral care, preaching, and worship leadership. God’s greatest surprise was that in a time of so much change, hardship, and personal and communal grief, God clarified Audrey’s sense of call to pastoral ministry. 

After three hard and wonderful years in Japan, Audrey returned to Princeton Theological Seminary in 2022 to complete her MDiv and pursue ordination in the PCUSA. She is so thankful for all the people who have loved her into being, and she looks forward to coming to know and love the congregation of Second Presbyterian Church.