Introducing…                                   

Rev. Cushman is currently serving in ministry as the Interim Endorsing Executive of Chaplaincy and Pastoral Counseling Services for National Ministries, the Home Mission Society of the American Baptist Churches USA. Prior to this assignment she was the Chaplain and Coordinator of Spiritual Care at Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, New Jersey.

A graduate of the University of Redlands and the American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley, California, Rev. Cushman was ordained in 1978 to the Gospel Ministry by the First Baptist Church of Grand Junction, Colorado. She has served local churches with multiple staff, in team ministry, as interim pastor and as pastor. She has served established, young and historic congregations of urban, rural and small city communities in Colorado, New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania.

Rev. Cushman is also a military chaplain. When she was commissioned in 1990 to serve as a chaplain for the Rhode Island Air National Guard she was the only female Air National Guard chaplain in the nation. She is currently the Wing Chaplain for the 111thFighter Wing, Pennsylvania Air National Guard, Willow Grove Air Reserve Station, PA.

Rev. Cushman is a published writer and editor; a Bible teacher; and consultant to congregations and their leaders. In recent years, she has stepped in frequently to provide interim executive leadership for programs of National Ministries and International Ministries; from 2001-2004 she steered Interim Ministries-ABC through three years of tumultuous change as the Interim Executive Director of this American Baptist related organization. In November 2007 Rev. Cushman answered the call to serve for the second time as an interim Executive for Chaplaincy and Pastoral Counseling Services at National Ministries.

Rhonda enjoys music, reading, gardening, cooking, camping, and the beach. She is married to the Rev. David Cushman, with whom she served in pastoral ministry for 18 years prior to David’s 1995 appointment to National Ministries in Valley Forge, PA. The Cushmans, who recently celebrated their 35^th wedding anniversary, are parents of two young adult children: April, who resides in Rhode Island, and Michael. The Cushman family resides in Norristown.