Biography of Rev Terry Burns

Terry Burns was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, but being part of military family, he spent the early years of his life in Japan, France, and Germany, as well as other parts of the United States. When his father’s military career was finished, the family settled into a home overlooking the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After finishing secondary school, Terry attended and graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in history. While earning his degree, Terry also completed the training needed to earn a commission as an Army officer, and he entered active service as a cavalry officer shortly after graduation.  Like most military officers, Terry’s career took him to places like Korea, Panama, and Germany, as well as a number of assignments in the United States. Following his retirement in 1995, Terry attended Regent University’s School of Divinity and graduated with an MA in Church History and Theology in 2002. After finishing at Regent, Terry began the ordination process with the Presbyterian Church in America, and he was ordained as a minister in 2004. His first placement was an assistant pastor with Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia until 2007, when he became an associate pastor with Grace Presbyterian Church, which was also located in Charlottesville. After a significant amount of thought and prayer, Terry accepted the call to be the minister at Nicosia Community Church in Nicosia, Cyprus in October of 2009. While there, Terry became a Corresponding Member of the Church of Scotland’s Presbytery of Europe, and he later underwent assessment, and earned his Certificate of Eligibility with the Church of Scotland in 2014.

Terry is married. His wife Cindy was an administrator and faculty member with the University of Nicosia’s distance learning program during their time in Cyprus. They have three sons – Kevin, Brian, and Alan – all of whom live in northwest Texas. In addition to the boys, they have eight grandchildren: Kenedi, Kolter, Kingsley, Kutter, Kalen, Krosbie, Knoxleigh, Hunter and Keaton. Cindy and Terry enjoy traveling throughout Europe, as well as taking the occasional trip home to see their family and friends in America. Before needing eye surgery, Terry was an avid motorcyclist, and enjoyed touring around the Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains with Cindy as his “back seater.”  Despite a rather Scottish sounding surname, Terry’s – and Cindy’s – ancestors hail from Ireland and France. Although they have never lived in Scotland, Terry and Cindy have visited, and in combination with their time in the Presbytery of Europe, they’ve developed a taste for haggis, cullen skink, salmon, stovies, and lowland hog roast sandwiches – along with some of Scotland’s finer and more discriminating beverages. All humor aside, Terry and Cindy seek your prayers for God’s guidance and direction as they settle into life, and become members of the community, in Culbokie and Cromarty.