Academy honors senior pastor

The Rev. Lawrence W. Corbett, senior pastor of Central Union Church, has been selected the 2011 Parish Pastor of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy at its annual conference in Orlando, Fla.

In the past three years, Corbett has revived the identity of the historic church and started new ministries in response to its changing needs, an academy news release announced last month.

In 1989, before joining Central Union, he founded the Pinnacle Presbyterian Church in Scottsdale, Ariz. Its membership grew to more than 1,300. From 1972 to 1977, during his term as pastor of Lakeview Presbyterian Church, which had a diverse congregation in a predominantly black community in St. Petersburg, Fla., the church began a community youth program to keep young people off the streets, the release said.