Edith Guffey has spent her adult life in administrative roles with large organizations. After working for several years in student records and admissions at the University of Kansas, she found her home in the national setting of the United Church of Christ in 1991. Guffey initially served as the denomination's secretary, which included acting as the denomination's "chief statistician." In 1999 she was elected Associate General Minister, tasked as Read More …
Leadership
Review of God Is Not a Christian (#0371)
Meet the Author and Editor The Most Rev. Dr. Desmond Tutu was the first black person to serve as General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches and the first to serve as Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa. Tutu is best known for his tireless and effective work to end apartheid. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism in 1986, the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2005, and Read More …
Should Clergy-Scholars Lead the Church? (#0339)
Donald Miller is the author of several books including A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing my Life (2009) and Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (2003). To connect with him, read his blog, like him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter. Earlier this month he posted, "Should the Church be Led by Teachers and Scholars?" In the article he questions the centuries old norm of the church being led by Read More …
Church and Academy: Healthy Interdependence? (#0338)
J. R. Daniel Kirk, Assistant Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, recently wrote multiple blog posts about the divide between the church and the academy. In "Church and Academy Need Each Other" he writes: . . . the church and the academy need each other–and we sometimes reflect this interdependence in ways that we are unaware of. . . . let me say why the academy needs the church. The church always remembers what the academy too often forgets: the Read More …
Returning to Parish Ministry (#0333)
After my first time away from parish ministry since the early days of seminary, I will be returning to that role effective May 1 when I assume the role of Director of Adult Education at Naples United Church of Christ. Some of my regular readers may be familiar with that name as I have written several times about my volunteer leadership experiences in this community of faith, especially in leading worship (i.e. sermon manuscript or other recent materials: 1, 2, 3, 4). Read More …
Reshaping Seminary Education (#0315)
Earlier this month, I wrote "A Shift in Theological Education" to highlight the shift in seminary education from primarily an on campus face-to-face learning experience to one that includes hybrid (using both face-to-face and online components) or online courses. This shift mirrors what has happened in higher education more generally where online enrollment grew 20% over the most recently available seven year period from 9% to 29%. Interestingly, The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. Read More …
A Leadership Check-Up (#0302)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He earned his MBA from Stanford, and was called “the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age” by Business Week. For more information visit his website or read his blog. He recently posted "Seven Questions for Leaders" Do you let the facts get in the way of a good story? What do you do with people Read More …
I Will Follow You Anywhere If . . . (#0293)
Scott Williams is the Campus Pastor of the Northwest Oklahoma City Campus of LifeChurch.tv, which launched three years ago and already has an average weekly worship attendance of over 3,500. To connect with Williams, read his blog, watch him on YouTube, follow him on Twitter, or friend him on Facebook. Earlier this week he shared his list of "10 Reasons People Will Follow A Leader Anywhere" 1. They have a mind of their own, not a “Yes Man or Read More …
Multiethnic Calling (#0290)
Mark DeYmaz is the founding pastor of Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas and the co-founder and current Executive Director of the Mosaic Global Network, which is a relational network of local church pastors/planters, researchers, educators and ministry leaders, that exists to catalyze the growing movement toward multiethnic economically diverse churches. His article in the March/April edition of "Outreach" featured brief excerpts from key speakers at the Multi-ethnic Church Conference, Read More …
No More Interim Pastors? (#0285)
The Author Anthony Robinson is an ordained United Church of Christ pastor who currently serves as President of Congregational Leadership Northwest. He travels throughout North America as a speaker, teacher, preacher, consultant and coach serving congregations and their leaders. Robinson has taught at several schools including Toronto School of Theology, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle University, and Vancouver School of Theology. He is the author Read More …