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Connelly Receives Distinguished Alumni Award
May 21, 2009
The Alumni Association of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary awarded the John Benjamin Bedenbaugh Award for Distinguished Pastoral Leadership the Rev. Rachel L. Connelly on May 14, 2009 at its annual Alumni Day Luncheon.
Connelly, a 1990 graduate of the seminary, is pastor at Water of Life Lutheran Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, a mission congregation that she helped develop. 
In addition to her contributions at Water of Life, she has served on the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Church Council since 2007, and is currently the Dean of the South Coastal Conference of the North Carolina Synod of the ELCA.
The Bedenbaugh Award is given annually to a distinguished graduate of the seminary who has encouraged bold congregational witness and has offered exemplary service to the church at large. The award bears the name of the late Rev. Dr. John Benjamin Bedenbaugh, who was a professor and alumnus of the seminary.
In recognition of this award, Connelly was presented with the Bedenbaugh honorary stole, given each to year the award's recipient, and a certificate commemorating the award. In attendance were Bedenbaugh's surviving siblings, Connelly's family, as well as two hundred seminary alumni spanning over 60 years of service as public ministers.
