Alyce Keener, Vicar of Education
From an early age, Alyce Keener (she/her) has felt a twofold calling toward teaching and toward God. Born in Columbus, Ohio, she moved with her family an average of every other year and continued moving around as she sought an education, a job she loved, and inner peace. From a very young age she realized how important God and Jesus were in her life, and she began a lifelong habit of daily prayer.
A founding member of Gentle Spirit Christian Church, Alyce serves as the Vicar of Education and treasurer, teaching and preaching from the pulpit and during weekly meditations, and is the leader of the church’s Bible study curriculum. She has served as chair of the congregation and completed the church’s deacon training as part of her discernment that the diaconate was not her calling.
Alyce’s religious education started in earnest at the first vacation Bible school she attended as a child. She didn’t start growing and actually studying the Bible until she started college and became involved with the Navigators, with whom she stayed involved through her undergraduate education and for three years afterward. While living in the Chicago area, she took several classes from Moody Bible Institute.
Alyce holds a bachelor of science degree in education from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, and a master of arts in management information systems from the University of Illinois in Springfield. She has also worked toward a doctorate in management information systems at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. After finding that a doctorate wasn’t practical enough for her, she relocated to Georgia in 1995 to become a professor of business at Reinhardt College, where she remained until 2001. She now works as an office manager for a law firm.
Having been deeply involved with all the churches she has attended since her college days, Alyce served on the missions committee of her church in Urbana, Ill., and helped develop a church library. While in Springfield, Ill., she help direct the young adults program and led several other educational programs.
In her free time, Alyce enjoys painting and music and is a huge Disney fan. A resident of suburban Atlanta, she also writes an occasional column for Whosoever called Letters to Home.