United Update

Online newsletter for alumni/ae and friends of United Theological Seminary

Vol. 5, Issue 2
February 22, 2008

Stories in this Issue ---> Explore United on March 1 or March 5 Come for a TASTE of UNITED! Workshop to Focus on Congregational Transformation Roots and Wings for Ministry United Celebrates Black History Month 2008 Heck Lectures to Focus on Black Preaching Lorenz Exhibit Opening March 1 Summer Seminar in the Smokies! New on the Web Site United Featured on UMTV Pohly Center Hosting Two Upcoming Events Faculty and Staff News Coming Events Event Photos - - -

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Explore United on March 1 or March 5

Do you know someone in your church who has received a call to serve? Invite them to Explore United at the United campus on Saturday, March 1, or Wednesday, March 5. These events offer an opportunity to meet with other people who are answering that call to serve God.

“For me, Explore United was an answer to prayer,” said Sherri Blackwell, ’06, ’07. “I met people like me who were seeking answers to the same questions – people who later became my classmates and friends. In a time of indecision, Explore United was one of God’s best gifts!”

Explore United events offer the chance to talk with currently enrolled students, former students who are now in ministry, and our faculty and staff. All of them share a commitment to Christ and to helping others find their way in this spiritually complex world.

For more information including a schedule of events, registration and directions please visit the Explore United web page or call 937-529-2201.

Come for a TASTE of UNITED!

United’s third annual spring open house is coming up on Saturday, March 1, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Featured along with mini-workshops, worship, demonstrations and tours, will be a panel led by Acting President Wendy Edwards. Members of the panel will interpret and explore emerging directions and programs of the “new United.”

The day also includes the opening of two special exhibits, “Edmund S. Lorenz: Dean of Dayton Church Music” and “Germans in the Valley.” Also part of the day is a Lorenz Hymn Festival at 10:30 a.m.

Alumni/ae, church and community partners and friends are urged to join for all or a portion of the day. There is no cost. For more information visit the Taste of United web page or contact Vickie Souvé at 937-529-2201.

Workshop to Focus on Congregational Transformation

United Theological Seminary and the Center for Parish Development are hosting “Called to be Faithful,” a one-day continuing educational event focusing on congregational transformation, on Friday, March 28, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

A vital church begins with an understanding that everything we do as a Christian community relates in some way to God’s sending of the church to participate in God’s mission. “As the father has sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21). An intentional journey of transformation involves a congregation in discerning God’s call afresh and claiming new life and ministry in response to the God who calls and sends them.

Pastors will take home:

• Resources that will stimulate awareness, lead conversation, and most of all stimulate readiness for discovering God’s call afresh.
• Awareness and support of colleagues in ministry who share the desire for faithful and fruitful renewal in the church.
• Ideas and plans for taking next steps on their journey of faithfulness.

The fee is $25, and includes all resources and lunch. For more information about the workshop, visit the Called to be Faithful: Congregational Transformation Workshop on United’s web site or on the Center for Parish Development’s web site or contact Roland G. Kuhl, at the Center for Parish Development, 847-223-6180 or rgkuhl@sbcglobal.net.

For information about a doctor of ministry degree in Congregational Transformation, please visit United’s D.Min. Focus Groups page or the Center for Parish Development’s D.Min. page.

Roots and Wings for Ministry

Upcoming Roots and Wings for Ministry classes of special interest both to lay and clergy leaders and congregational ministry teams include “Spiritual Traditions and the Practice of Ministry” on March 14-15 and April 11-12; “Developing Health Ministries in Your Congregation,” on April 11-12; and “Forgiveness: the Jesus Way,” on May 3.

Detailed information is available on the Roots and Wings Courses page. For information on special scholarships available for first time students and congregational teams, please contact Elise Eslinger, eeslinger@united.edu.

United Celebrates Black History Month

United celebrated Black History Month with two special worship services and the kickoff of its new Baptist House of Studies.

To read about these services, please visit the news story, United Celebrates Black History Month.

2008 Heck Lectures to Focus on Black Preaching

“The Trialectics of Black Preaching: Prophetic Mission, Pastoral Care, and the Worship Life of the Church” is the title of the lecture series for the 2008 J. Arthur Heck Lectures and Spring Convocation on March 25-26.

Our guest lecturer, Dr. Dale P. Andrews, is the Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology at Boston University School of Theology. Lectures include “Is There a Crisis in Black Preaching?”, “Does Black Preaching Still Have a Word for the World,” and “Pawning Our Way Through Life.”

For a complete schedule and registration information, please visit the Heck Lectures page.

Lorenz Exhibit Opening March 1

United welcomes the public to view “Edmund S. Lorenz: Dayton’s Dean of Church Music,” a cultural history exhibit exploring the life of author, composer, educator, minister, and publisher E.S. Lorenz, founder of the Lorenz Publishing Company. The exhibit is free and open to the public 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. weekdays March 1 through July 18 at the United campus.

Also opening March 1 is “Germans in the Valley: German Immigrants, Their Descendants and Culture in Montgomery County, Ohio 1796-1918,” a local history exhibit produced by Lindy McDonough of Dayton Metro Library. The exhibit will be open to the public free of charge 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. March 1 through July 18, at United Theological Seminary, 4501 Denlinger Road, Trotwood, OH. The seminary is closed on Sundays and holidays.

Tour groups are welcome for either exhibit. For additional information, please contact Tim Binkley, United Archivist, at 937-529-2201.

Summer Seminar in the Smokies!

Those interested in an opportunity to participate in SOULfeast, the annual spiritual formation conference on July 20-24, 2008, at Lake Junaluska, NC, are invited to participate in a special integrative seminar offered by United in collaboration with SOULfeast sponsors, The Upper Room/General Board of Discipleship of the UMC.

Dr. Richard and Elise Eslinger will be convening the seminar which features consultation with SoulFeast conference leaders Dr. Rudy Rasmus (urban pastor in Houston), Rev. Marjorie Thompson (Companions in Christ creator), Steven Bryant (world editor of the Upper Room), among others.

The United seminar is being offered as continuing education for pastors, or as a Wings class in the Roots and Wings program. For more information, visit the SOULfeast: The Heart of Pilgrimage: Living by the Spirit or contact Elise Eslinger at eeslinger@united.edu.

United Featured on UMTV

More United coursework is gaining national exposure! Last October, United Methodist Communications sent a producer to spend the day with Jim Eller, Fully Affiliated Instructor in Digital Culture Ministries, and two of his classes, Intro to Video Storytelling (MCC 124) and Advanced Ministry in Contemporary Culture (MCC 216). He spent time interviewing Jim and students, talking to them about challenges encountered learning to create in a new medium. The end result is now available on online at UMTV.

The segment is now part of a collection of stories managed by United Methodist Communications, and housed at UMTV.org. The purpose of UMTV.org is to make these stories accessible to producers and news organizations nationwide. The stories are available free of charge. We also have the video story on our web site, entitled United’s Video Studio.

Pohly Center Hosting Two Upcoming Events

On April 15, Dr. Gwen Purushotham from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry will be on United’s campus to present a seminar on her book, Watching Over One Another in Love: A Wesleyan Model of Ministry Assessment. If you’ve ever wondered how to effectively hold volunteers, team members, clergy, or church leaders accountable for ministry responsibilities, you won’t want to miss this!

Dr. Purushotham is well-known internationally for her expertise in the area of supervision. The day-long event will include plenary sessions on Issues in Effectiveness and Evaluation and Practicing Ministry Assessment as a Means of Grace, a book signing opportunity, table discussions, devotions and worship.

The Pohly Center for Supervision and Leadership Formation is also offering one of the core courses in supervision certification over two weekends, April 4-5 and May 2-3. It is available to all who are interested in gaining a better understanding of how faith is integrated into every aspect of life: work, family, church, etc. Participants will explore a number of faith-based theological reflection models while focusing on learning the Pohly narrative model.

For more information visit the Pohly Center web site or phone the Pohly Center at 937-529-2201.

Faculty and Staff News

Dr. Tom Dozeman, Professor of Old Testament, reports the following from his sabbatical year:

Publishing

• Anchor Bible Commentary on Joshua for Yale University Press
• “Exodus.” The Eerdmans Critical Commentary, Volume 2. Edited by David Noel Freedman, General Editor, and Astrid B. Beck, Associate Editor. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publisher, June, 2008.
• Holiness and Ministry: A Biblical Theology of Ordination to Word and Sacrament. Oxford University Press, June, 2008.
• “Numbers.” In The New Interpreter’s One Volume Commentary on the Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2008.
• “The Midianites in Numbers.”In Studies in Leviticus and Numbers, edited by T. Römer. Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2008.
• “Mapping Biblical Geography.” In Constructions of Space: Theory, Geography, and Narrative, edited by C. Camp and J. Berquist, pp. 104-28. Volume 1. London: T. & T. Clark, 2007.
• “Canonical Criticism.” In The New Interpreter’s Bible Handbook of Preaching. Nashville: Abingdon, 2008.

Lectures

• “Lectures on Exodus" for the retreat of alums from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
• “The Inner-Biblical Interpretation of Exodus 32, Deuteronomy 9-10, and 1 Kings 12:29-36” as a paper presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in San Diego (November, 2007).
• "Lectures on Exodus" for the John Knox Bible Study of the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, IL.
• “Women and the Bible" lecture series for the National Endowment of the Humanities Summer Workshop for Teachers of Religion in Portland, Oregon (July, 2008).

Dr. Larry Welborn, Professor of New Testament, will be presenting a paper entitled “Vis et gravitas: The Earliest Criticism of Paul as a Writer in 2 Cor. 10:10” at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Early Christianity at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, on May 10.

Dr. Jason Vickers, Assistant Professor of Theology, has published a new book, Canonical Theism: A Proposal for Theology and the Church, which is now on sale at Cokesbury. Dr. Vickers edited and contributed to the book, along with William J. Abraham and Natalie B.Van Kirk. Also contributing to the book is Dr. David Watson, Assistant Professor of New Testament and Associate Dean for Program Development.

Dr. Andrew Park, Professor of Theology, was selected as member of the Teaching and Learning Committee of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). He participated in his first meeting held at Emory on February 8-10. The committee is responsible for the development of the teaching and learning potential of the AAR members.

Dr. Marilyn Evans and Roger Evans, co-directors of the Pohly Center for Supervision and Leadership Formation, and Elise Eslinger, Director of the Institute for Applied Theology participated in the annual meeting of SACEM (Society for the Advancement of Continuing Education for Ministry) recently. The theme of the conference was “Lifelong Learning: Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Age.”

Jennifer McVay-Dyche has a new office and a new title. At the end of January it was announced that Jennifer’s new title is Director of Educational Technology and Distance Learning, and she moved to a new office in the Academic Affairs suite. She will be working closely with the academic staff and faculty to continue development of United’s educational technology and distance learning initiatives.

Coming Events

February 22-23: Principles and Practice of Supervision

March 1: Explore United

March 1: Taste of United

March 5: Explore United

March 22: Easter Vigil

March 25-26: Heck Lectures

March 28: Called to be Faithful: Congregational Transformation Workshop

April 4-5 and May 2-3: Theological Reflection in Supervisory Practice

April 7-11, 2008: Equipping the Saints, Part 3: The Equipping Leader

April 11-12: Developing Health Ministries in Your Congregation

April 11-12: Transformational Ministry in Transitional Communities: Healthy Congregational Development and Revitalization

April 15: Watching Over One Another in Love

April 27-May 4: United Sound Alumni/ae Tour (including a General Conference option)

May 3: Forgiveness: The Jesus Way

May 10: Explore United

May 24: Commencement

Event Photos