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DISCIPLES SEMINARY FOUNDATION - Supporting the formation of emerging theological leaders
DSF Staff
NAMED SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
2025-2026
BAILEY SCHOLARSHIP
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Rev. Dr. Vinnetta Golphin-Wilkerson, a native of Atlanta, GA, is an ordained pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She currently serves as regional Chair of the Commission on the Order of Ministry in the Central Rocky Mountain Region. She also serves on the boards of Disciples Seminary Foundation Board and Disciples Overseas Ministries.
She served as a congregational pastor in West Valley City, UT for 13 years. Known as “Pastor Vinnetta,” she is active in community and interfaith groups that collaborate to support and advocate for the needs of the community. The City of West Valley recognized her work in the community with the first “Essential Piece Award” in January 2024.
Pastor Vinnetta is a DSF/Iliff School of Theology graduate, where she received a Doctorate in Ministry – Prophetic Leadership in 2026. Her project title is “Examining Resource Allocation Patterns: A Response to Church Decline.” She holds an M.Div. from Candler School of Theology and a BA from Duke University. She was ordained at the Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, GA, in 2003.
She is the proud mother of two daughters and two grandchildren. Pastor Vinnetta has committed her life to showing the world that God’s love will change your life in real and relevant ways.
REV. VINNETTA GOLPHIN-WILKERSON
(Iliff/D.Min graduate)
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Cristina Flores is a DSF/PSR student (M.Div.) and serves as the Director of Christian Education at Church of the Foothills in Santa Ana, CA. She is eager to expand her church’s reach by ministering to Spanish-speaking families, with the hope of one day offering a Spanish-language service. Through these efforts, she wants to honor the diversity of her community and help create a space where families feel truly welcomed and spiritually at home.
Cristina lives in Santa Ana with her husband, Ricardo and their three children: Allison, Richard, and Makeyla.
CRISTINA FLORES
(PSR/M.Div. student)
BROWN SCHOLARSHIP
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Gloria Carr is currently under care on the ordination track at Mississippi Blvd. Christian Church in Memphis, TN, where she has been a member for over 30 years. Her vocation plans include becoming ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Currently, she is discerning with an open mind and heart to serving God’s people wherever God sends her. She would love an opportunity to lead God’s people to spiritual renewal through sacred self-care as well as self-compassion.
Gloria is in the M.Div. program at Claremont School of Theology, with plans to graduate in 2027. She looks forward to completing her studies so that she can transition into who/what God has purposed for this next phase.
GLORIA CARR
(CST/M.Div. student)
DRISKILL SCHOLARSHIP
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Rev. Jill Delaney is a DSF/PSR student (D.Min). She lives and works in White Swan, WA, a small town within the bounds of the Yakima Nation, with her family: her husband, David and children Pepper and Owen and their extended animal family that includes cats, dogs, chickens, horses, cows, and a bearded dragon.
Her faith and connection to the Divine became grounded in the land and her spirituality deeply rooted in creation. It wasn’t until about two years ago that she started considering what that might look like in terms of church. Last year, with a beautiful group of about 20 folks, they started gathering outside, spending time in prayer, listening to the land and sharing their journeys together. Shortly after that, she applied to and was accepted into the D.Min. program as PSR, with the intention of exploring what it means to re-earth our spiritual practices.
REV. JILL DELANEY
(PSR/D.Min. student)
LACEY SCHOLARSHIP
Lucia Napolez lives in San Diego, CA. They are a full-time M.Div. student at Iliff, balancing their studies with their role as a part-time Project Analyst at San Diego Miramar College. At home, they also have the meaningful responsibility of caregiving for their 79-year-old father. As someone who identifies as Millennial, Mexican-American, and Native American, their faith journey is deeply personal and evolving. Lucia grew up culturally Catholic and was baptized as a Christian in 2019.
Through their ministry, they aim to use their representation as an openly LGBTQ+ individual to empower others to show up as themselves in faith spaces. True social change happens when we build relationships that welcome diverse perspectives. By serving as a visible leader and a resourceful conversational partner, Lucia hope to help others work through the spiritual harm and hateful rhetoric that past generations have too often endured, proving that there is a sacred space for everyone exactly as they are.
LUCIA NAPOLEZ
(Iliff/M.Div. student)
MCCORMICK SCHOLARSHIP
Shannon Marckx is a DSF/PSR graduate (M.Div./2026). On the day before her graduation, she was working full-time, caring for her family, preaching in her home church, Geyserville Christian Church, and serving on the CCNC-N region’s Women’s Ministry council as Faith in Action liaison.
The day after graduation was her 60th birthday, and she still does all of these things. Now, she also holds a Certificate of Spirituality and Social Change, a Master of Arts in Social Transformation, a Master of Divinity, and the Rev. Elder Freda Smith Feminist Preaching Award. She also holds a deep well of gratitude to Pacific School of Religion and Disciples Seminary Foundation for the love, prayers, support, and wisdom with which they have held her up since she began this journey in Spring 2022.
She is a daughter, mother, grandmother, and a woman newly in her 60s, joyfully looking forward to hiking local trails, reading the books on her “once-I-graduate” list, and quality time with her granddaughter.
She started to sense the call she’s following when she was a little girl. It has led her to some beautiful places, including the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Every year that she has spent at PSR and Geyserville Christian, she’s been serving and learning from Disciples. She’s never felt a Christian community like she has here, and she thanks God for bringing her here.
Shannon followed her parents to and from PSR, and she hopes to follow their lead into a life of still deeper service. From here, Shannon is completing her time with her wonderful Training and Care team and focusing on ordination. She wants to be ordained and pray that she’ll soon be called by a church that feels she can serve them well with her heart, her mind, and her voice.
SHANNON MARCKX
(PSR/M.Div. graduate)
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Bry Brannan is a DSF/Iliff graduate (M.Div./2026). They are starting the UCC Member in Discernment process towards ordination with their two churches in the Rocky Mountain Conference. They will also continue as the Minister for Land Discernment with Juniper Formation UCC where they completed their Iliff M.Div. internship. As our mainline Christian churches and denominations undergo immense changes, they feel called to accompany congregations in faithful discernment around land and building decisions.
Currently, Bry is incubating a new regional ministry, the Root & Reckon Community of Practice. There are two churches (UCC & UU) in Colorado Springs who are reckoning with racism and colonialism through their church’s land stories project in their six-month cohort. Over time, they hope to offer this Community of Practice model to support congregations wrestling with a variety of topics as they find ways to put their faith into action, even during generational transitions, in the places where they are rooted. You can stay in touch and learn more here: www.juniperformation.org/land-discernment
BRY BRANNAN
(Iliff/M.Div. graduate)
PARSONS SCHOLARSHIP
Elizabeth Fagan (she/they) is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, teacher, performer, and seminary student in Interfaith Chaplaincy. She is currently researching collaborative songwriting as a spiritual care practice. As a songwriter, she has produced multiple full-length recording projects including her most recent album, "The Magician" under her artist moniker Lili St Anne. She is passionate about deep listening, both musically and interpersonally, and is fascinated by weaving together her calls to music and to ministry. Elizabeth is thrilled to be receiving the Parsons Scholarship for the second year in a row. It's an honor to be blessed with the legacy of Rev. Dr. Mark Parsons, and she is so grateful for the opportunities afforded by support while in seminary at CST.
ELIZABETH FAGAN
(CST/M.Div. student)