A more expansive view: a blog about encounters with Presbyterians and seminaries

Adaptive, Appreciative, and Prophetic

I have been deeply moved over the last few weeks while reading the book Barbara Jordan: Speaking the Truth with Eloquent Thunder edited by Max Sherman, a Presbyterian Elder from Texas. The book is primarily a collection of important speeches given by Jordan from 1974-1995, two years after she was elected as the first African American woman from the South to be elected to the United States Congress to a year before her death. After reading the book I have played the accompanying DVD of a few of those speeches. A 1976 Keynote Address is particularly powerful and instructive. There is a great deal to learn from her speech about leadership, no matter where you are politically. Masterfully she describes qualities of leadership that embody what I hope will characterize the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Committee on Theological Education: adaptive, appreciative, and prophetic.

I hope we will be adaptive in our approach. Jordan praises innovation and the willingness to "adapt to changing circumstances …(and) … to suffer the discomfort of change in order to achieve a better future." (Sherman, 37) Set agendas for all times and places will fail us in these changing times. If there is anything we can expect in theological education, it is change; change to a greater degree in the next twenty-five years than in the last twenty five. Daniel Aleshire, Executive Director of the Association of Theological Schools, makes this point in his new and outstanding book Earthen Vessels: Hopeful Reflections on the Work and Future of Theological Schools. I think the same will be true in the PC(USA). Adaptive leaders are at their best when they respect the past but do not ignore the current context.

Jordan also practices what contemporary authors are calling appreciative inquiry. It is the same methodology that Aleshire embodies in his book. For Jordan and Aleshire, they encourage leaders focus on strengths rather than weaknesses. Aleshire points out that if we look for problems we will find them. Instead, we need to pay attention to what is working. Others talk about "best practices" in this same way. Appreciative inquiry values deep listening. How could the PC(USA) utilize this methodology to enhance and deepen our ministry together?

What may be most moving about the Jordan speeches are the prophetic moments in each of them. She seems to have ...a more expansive view... of the future and a hope that sees beyond current crises toward the place the country was being called to go.

What do you think? What are other marks of leadership that you think will be essential as we move over the often stormy seas of change? How do you manage change and use it for the glory of God?

Lee in Louisville and getting excited about being in Princeton, NJ for our COTE meeting in a few weeks!

Presbyterian Leaders in Theological Education

If you put on your Presbyterian-tinted glasses and started looking around the theological education world you would quickly notice that a lot of PC(USA) ministers and elders are top leaders in seminaries and significant theological education partners.

Earlier this week I was on the phone with Trace Haythorn, the President of the Fund for Theological Education (not to be confused with our own Theological Education Fund, the only denomination-wide support for our Presbyterian Seminaries.) Trace is deeply ecumenical, but also deeply Presbyterian. He has served on national Presbyterian groups and came to FTE from the faculty and staff of Hastings College, a Presbyterian school near Omaha, Nebraska. FTE supports a number of innovative and ecumenical programs that support theological schools, seminary theological students, and their faculties. Congregations that care about formation for ministry are also partners with FTE. The Rev. Dr. Trace Haythorn is a leader in this effort centered in Atlanta, GA.

The same is true for the Rev. Dr. Carol E. Lytch, the Assistant Executive Director of the Association of Theological Schools in the U.S. and Canada (ATS) since September of 2006. ATS is a primary resource for over 250 theological schools in North America and the organization that houses the accreditation body for these schools as well. Carol came to ATS, headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, from Louisville Seminary where she taught and coordinated the Lilly Endowment Programs for Strengthening Congregational Leadership.

Speaking of the Lilly Endowment, Inc., I hope you know their Vice President for Religion, the Rev. Dr. Craig R. Dykstra. A minister, educator, author, scholar, and leader in imagining and supporting the renewal of the vocational ecosystem in the North American Church and especially how educational institutions including seminaries can be a part of that renewal. Prior to his appointment at the Lilly Endowment, Dykstra taught at both Louisville Presbyterian and Princeton Theological Seminaries.

Presbyterians serve as Presidents or Deans at our Presbyterian seminaries, but many also serve at other schools:

The Rev. Dr. Jose' Irizarry is the Academic Dean of the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico and formerly the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at McCormick Theological Seminary, the PC(USA) Seminary in Chicago, IL.

The Rev. Dr. James Hudnut-Beumler is the Dean of the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University and Anne Wilson Potter Distinguished Professor of American Religious History. Hudnut-Beumler formerly served as a Dean at a Presbyterian seminary, Columbia in Decatur, GA.

The Rev. Dr. Susan L. Nelson is Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean; Professor of Theology and Culture at Claremont School of Theology. Nelson came to Claremont from Pittsburgh Seminary.

The Rev. Dr. Nancy J. Ramsay is the Executive Vice President and Dean and also as Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care at Brite Divinity School. She began her service at Brite in June of 2005. Prior to that time she served as the Harrison Ray Anderson Professor of Pastoral Theology at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Elder Richard Mouw is the President of Fuller Theological Seminary . He has served in that position since since 1993, after having served the seminary for four years as provost and senior vice president. A philosopher, scholar, and author, Mouw joined the faculty of Fuller as professor of Christian philosophy and ethics in September 1985 after serving as a professor at Calvin College.

The list could go on and on and on. It is worth celebrating the commitment and contribution to theological education that Presbyterians make. At the risk of sinful pride, I hope we can give thanks for the many gifts!

Lee

Louisville

Pentecost Came Early This Year!

Nora Tubbs Tisdale, Professor of Homiletics at Yale Divinity School, titled her Union-PSCE Presidential Inauguration day sermon*, "When Pentecost Comes Early."  On the Wednesday before Pentecost Sunday, May 7, 2008, Tisdale reflected on Acts 2:1-21 in light of the historic nature of the day.  Her friend, co-author, and former colleague at Princeton Theological Seminary , Brian K. Blount, was about to be formally installed as the President of Union-PSCE.  Tisdale was beside herself for most of the sermon as she suggested that Christians "have not always lived as God's Pentecost people."  She went on to say, "some of us have waited a long time" for a day like today. 

All gathered in Watts Chapel and on the Union-PSCE campus seemed to be aware of the mysterious yet tangilble presence of God breaking into our time once again to give us a glimpse of a pentecostal moment in the PC(USA).  We knew it and Tisdale, like the wise and discerning preacher she is, named it for us. 

It was not just Tisdale's sermon or Blount's inauguration that captured my attention in Richmond, Virginia the first week of May.  I also was a part of a Committee on Theological Education co-sponsored event, "Calling the Order of the Day: African-American Pedagogies in Presbyterian Theological Education."  Two and one-half percent of the Theological Education Fund (TEF) gifts are designated annually for cooperative projects like this one.  Presbyterian theologians from colleges, seminaries, congregations, and presbyteries from accross the nation reflected on ways to strenghen leadership and pastoral formation from a distinctively African-American Presbyterian tradition.  The Revs. Drs. Katie G. Cannon (Union-PSCE) and Marsha Snulligan Haney (ITC/ Johnson C. Smith) directed this collabortive and collegial conference and symposium.  Worship, mission, and the arts were all deeply integrated into this event with the Rev. Dr. James "Jim" Reese leading morning prayer each day.

In one sense, "The Order of the Day" came earlier than many expected and much too late for most.  It was time to "Call for" the order of the day, like any good Presbyterian who knows their parlimentary procedure.  It was time to alert the divine moderator that humanity was ready to respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit so tangibly present at that first Pentecost and in Richmond as well.

The Acts passage talks about people speaking in their own tongue but understanding even those who spoke other languages.  I saw that happening in Richmond.  I saw people from different cultures and traditions hearing and understanding those different from themselves.  I saw sisters and brothers in Christ coming together to celebrate the gift of God in the life and ministry of Brian Blount.  I saw Pentecost in the prayers, the sermons, the relationships built and nurture, the singing, the lectures, and maybe most clearly as we all gathered around tables for meals and receptions.

I try to attend the weekly Wednesday communion service in the Presbyterian Center.  I was out of town on the week of May 7th for the events described above.  I missed the communion at the Center, did not take part in a formal communion service, but I am here to thank God and say I did not miss communion.  Praise to God was lifted up, confession and reconcilation was done, the Word was proclaimed, bread was broken, the cup was shared,  prayers were prayed, dedication was made, and we all were blessed and sent into the world to tell the story and live the story... to, in Brian Blount's words echoing Jesus' words at Lazarus's tomb, "to come out" and be the gospel story.

Lee from Louisville

Sabbatical Grants, Seminary Debt Assistance, and More!

How can a PC(USA) pastor pay for a sabbatical?  How can some of a pastor's educational debt be payed down?  Who can presbyteries and synods partner with to  create continuing education events and opportunities for church leaders? 

The answer to all three of these questions is the Board of Pensions (BOP)of the PC(USA)!  Specifically, the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions works with pastors, congregations, synods and presbyteries to make these opportunities available.  The sabbatical grants and seminary debt assistance is limited to pastors serving churches under 200 and 150 members respectively.  Presbyteries and synods can work together with other presbyteries and synods to propose special projects with the Middle Governing Body Grants maybe with a Presbyterian Seminary as a third partner?  All the details, application directions, and contact information for further questions can be found on the Pastors: Vocational Leadership Needs page of the Assistance Program website of the BOP.

Back up to the Assistance Program website and you will see a number of other ways the BOP can assist financially during times of special need including emergency assistance, adoption, and transition-to-college grants.  Many retired church workers may apply for income and housing supplements.

These are twice a year or more Peter Sime, the Vice President for Assistance and Funds Development at the Board of Pensions, visits the Presbyterian Center.  He visited recently on, and this is not a joke, on April 15th, tax day!  He came to report on some of these assistance programs and continuing conversation with national PC(USA)  staff who work to support ministers of Word and Sacrament.  Amazingly, many of these programs are under utilized. 

Maybe you know someone that they could help today!

Lee from Louisville.

Happy Eastertide and Kentucky Derby week :)!

New Life Blooming All Over

The resurrection stories in the gospels each includes eyewitnesses to the good news of the new life of Christ.  No longer dead but alive and, as Matthew's account says, "going ahead" of the disciples. 

The last few weeks I have been aware of our seminaries leading the church in many exciting ways that gives me hope that our new life in Christ is real and tangible in the world we now live.

I see that new life...

• in so many of the news stories that the Presbyterian News Service reports to us on our seminaries.
• as Louisville Seminary appoints Cliff Kirkpatrick, the retiring Stated Clerk of the PC(USA) to a professorship of Ecumenical Studies and Global Ministries.
• when leaders of Rabbinical Schools and Presbyterian Seminaries gather to imagine how we all could form better interfaith leaders for the future.  This was done in cooperation with the PC(USA) office of Interfaith Relations.
• as professors from one of our seminaries are invited to be plenary speakers at another one of our seminaries.
• as I anticipate the april 9-11 gathering of over 100 volunteers in Dallas, TX who serve as Theological Education Fund Seminary Support Network members.
• in the participation of national and local church leaders from across the country in what may be one of the largest alumni and friends gatherings at Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA April 6-8.
• when I recieve an invitation to the May 7 inauguration of the Rev. Dr. Brian Blount as Professor and President at Union Theological Seminary and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education.
• as I am in conversation with the Rev. Dr. Sara Juengst, former professor at Columbia Theological Seminary and christian educator, the recipient of the 2008 PC(USA)/ Committee on Theological Education Award for Excellence in Theological Education.

Christ is risen!  Christ is risen, indeed!

Thanks be to God!

Lee in Louisville

Seminary Board Chairs Collaborate!

In 1993 the General Assembly approved and endorsed a report from the second Special Committee to Study Theological Institutions in the PC(USA).  Among the recommendations was one for PC(USA) Seminary presidents.  The Committee and GA recommended that gather annually on their own for the mutual benefit of all.  That recommendation was whole-heartedly embraced and the presidents began meeting in 1994, often with their spouses.  This meeting comes at their own expense with the assistance of their institutions.  This meeting is in addition to being full members of the General Assembly's Committee on Theological Education that meets three times in a two-year period.  The benefits are great including the nurturing of collegiality among these leaders in the church and the academy.  As early as 2003 the board chairs of the seminaries were invited to join the presidents and the benefits blossomed even larger.  Other seminary staff began to gather, leading themselves in collaboration and cooperation with the staff in the Office of Theological Education. 

This year another group began to gather as colleagues and partners on their own and with staff resourcing from the Office of Theological Education, the chairs of our PC(USA) Seminary Boards of Trustees.  These dedicated volunteers are sometimes invisible in the pastoral formation ecosystem.  Yet, as I learned again, they are essential and excellent partners.  The long-time chair of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Dot Ridings pictured above, made this dream a reality.

In 2007 the Chairs met gathered with their presidents and, at that time, decided they could learn more from one another.  This past weekend eight of them gathered in Louisville for three days.  Mark Hostetter of Auburn, Art Ross of Union-PSCE, Jack Isherwood of Pittsburgh, Mary Lee Fitzgerald of Princeton, Peter Whitelock of San Francisco, Deborah Block of McCormick, Pam Kidd of Louisville and the outgoing chair of Louisville and "dean" of this group, Dot Ridings.  Bill Scheu of Columbia had planned to attend but could not make it at the last minute.  Others were interested as well but the timing did not work.

They met at the Presbyterian Center in downtown Louisville and at Laws Lodge on the LPTS campus.  Dean and Rebecca Thompson hosted the group for dinner one night.  Linda Valentine and I spent time with the group to help give them a feel and understanding of seminary connections to and with the General Assembly Council, the Committee on Theological Education, and our COTE project to support schools through the Theological Education Fund, and to the PC(USA) in general.  Carol Lytch, Presbyterian minister, PhD, and Assistant Executive Director of the Association of Theological Schools also made very helpful presentations to the group.

But it was their conversations with each other that really seemed to mean to most.  In the end, they wanted more time to share and listen... to learn from one another.  Peer learning is what the ATS encourages.  Peer learning in action.  That's what I experienced: theological education leaders being educated.  Forever committed to being ever more excellent and taking their trusteeship seriously because it matters to the seminaries, but more than that, it matters to the Church of Jesus Christ. 

Thanks be to God for PC(USA) Seminary Board Chairs and to the Boards and institutions they lead!

Sincerely, Lee

Louisville, KY

Shaping "God's Potters"

Call and formation of pastoral leaders requires a holistic approach.  I have spent the day with Jackson Carroll, the retired director of Pew and Pulpit:Research on Pastoral Leadership and author of God's Potters:Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations.  Identifying those who are called to ministry of Word and Sacrament, inviting those persons to consider this call, and continuing to form those persons for healthy ministry is a ministry of congregations, congregational groups, Sessions, youth groups, presbyteries, campus ministries, seminaries, denominations, and more!

In other words, it is all of our responsibility.... for a lifetime!  Lifelong learning in multiple forms is very important.  Starting with the first day a congregational member holds the infant baby of another member throughout life, we are forming one another for faith, life, and leadership.

Peace, Lee

From St. Louis, MO