Jim Varner has served as Clerk of Session of The United Presbyterian Church, Hornell, NY (UPC) for 30 years. He has announced that 2026 will be his last year as Clerk of Session.
Jim joined UPC in 1980 and was ordained a Ruling Elder shortly after that. He has served many terms on Session. At UPC he has served on many committees, including Budget, Stewardship, Christian Education, Finance, Personnel, Rolls, Manual of Operations, Nominating. He has served on Geneva Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry and Committee on Operations, and he served on several Administrative Commissions elected by the Presbytery to assist local congregations in crisis. Geneva Presbytery elected Jim to serve a term as an Elder Commissioner to the Synod of Northeast. Jim was appointed by Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry to serve as Moderator of Session of the Andover Presbyterian Church, as position he still holds.
Jim is retired (Prof. of Ceramic Engineering, Emeritus, Alfred University, Alfred, NY). He is married to Linda (who is a Deacon at UPC). They have two adult children (Laura and Jeffrey) and two grandsons.