Lakewood Presbyterian Church is home to a talented and dedicated group of professionals who make our ministry possible. Use the phone number/extensions below to contact any of our staff directly if you have questions about our church.
Ministry Staff
The Rev. Dr. James C. Butler
Pastor
(216) 226-0514, ext. 18
James Butler was ordained in 1990 as a Presbyterian Minister of Word and Sacrament. For over 13 years, he enjoyed serving as an Interim Ministry specialist with congregations in Pennsylvania and Ohio. In 2001, he was installed as the eighth pastor of Lakewood Presbyterian Church. A native of Richmond, Indiana, he is a graduate of Taylor University (1984) and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (1989). He received the Doctor of Ministry degree from Princeton Theological Seminary (2009) for his qualitative research project on suicide bereavement and pastoral care. In addition to his duties at LPC, Dr. Butler serves as a Trustee of the Barton Foundation and Center and on the Board of Directors of the LSC Corporation (a management service overseeing several non-profit low income senior housing complexes in Northeast Ohio). He has a special passion for the church to rediscover and continue Christ’s ministry of healing and wholeness.
Dr. Kaori Hongo
Minister of Music
(216) 226-0514
A native of Japan and the daughter of medical missionaries who continue to work for the church in Tokyo, Kaori Hongo traveled the world, even during her childhood. As a California high school graduate, she pursued a Bachelor of Music degree in church music at Westminster Choir College, with organ (Dr. Donald McDonald) and piano (Edna Bronstein Barton) as her primary instruments. She received the Alexander McCurdy Award in her first year. After graduating, she returned to Japan to work in the Tokyo church and teach music at the church’s elementary school. Kaori later studied for her Master of Music degree with Donald Sutherland at the Peabody Conservatory and was awarded a full scholarship to study in France with Susan Landale. She earned second place in the final examination there, making her eligible to receive Reuil Malmaison Conservatoire’s certificate. Kaori went back to Japan to serve as choir director and professor of piano/organ at Sanniku College in Chiba and organist/handbell director for Tokyo’s Seventh Day Adventist Church. Again, at Peabody, she pursued her doctorate with Professor Sutherland and received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Kaori directs her private piano studio, 88 Keys to Success, in Shaker Heights, where she lives with her husband, Jonathan Moyer, and two sons, Christopher Sho and Samuel Kazu.
Aliyah Kennedy
Director of Faith Formation and Youth Ministry
(216) 226-0514, ext. 19
Aliyah Kennedy came to ministry through the work of her family. As the daughter of both a Presbyterian Minister and Teaching Elder, she began creating and leading faith formative programs at a young age. She has a Bachelor of Arts with a minor in Religion from Baldwin-Wallace College. She specializes in combining art, theater, and music with theological studies in order to interpret God’s word to children and young adults. Aliyah served as a Presbyterian camp program director for five years, where she created theologically based programming for teens. In her ministry, she focuses on a personal relationship with Christ; a basic knowledge of His word; and the belief that we are called to be fishers of men, whether that be through service, ministry, or as living examples. Aliyah brings a desire to foster growth in faith, knowledge, and leadership for all ages within the congregation.
Rev. Dr. Steve Gorman and Rev. Dr. Cinda Gorman
Parish Associates
Steve and Cinda met at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. Following graduation Steve joined the Air Force and Cinda entered Fuller Theological Seminary where she received the Master of Divinity degree, which is required for ordination. The Gormans married in 1974 and then moved to Ohio so that Steve could begin graduate studies in theatre at Bowling Green State University. Cinda’s first call was a few miles north in Blissfield, Michigan. She was Fuller’s first female graduate to serve as a solo pastor; most women became associate pastors during that time. While at BGSU, Steve began to sense his own call to ministry and eventually began his Master of Divinity degree at Methodist Theological School in Delaware graduating in 1978. Their first call together was as Associate Pastors in the Presbytery of San Diego. After completing Doctor of Ministry degrees at San Francisco Theological Seminary, Steve and Cinda moved back to Ohio in 1991 and became co-pastors at Westwood First Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati. After almost two decades at Westwood First, they spent three years in Cairo, Egypt at the Synod of the Nile and the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Seminary.