Speak Bios: Spring 2008

• Feb. 12 | Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas, President
After 38 years as a pastor in four churches in Wisconsin and Ohio, and five years as an associate in evangelism with the World Methodist Council, Dr. Kalas came to Asbury in 1993 with the opening of the Beeson program, to teach preaching and to serve as mentor to the Beeson pastors. He joined Asbury’s School of Theology preaching faculty in July 2000. More than thirty of his books have been published by a variety of publishers, as well as 12 adult study quarterlies for the United Methodist Publishing House. He has recorded the entire Bible on audiotape, along with his Grand Sweep devotionals. Additionally, he is the author of Christian Believer, an intensive study of Christian doctrine produced by the United Methodist Publishing House for interdenominational use. A video component, "Behind the Pages," has recently been added to his book, "Parables from the Back Side." He has two adult children, Taddy and David, and his wife, Janet, whom he married in 1994, has two adult children.

• Feb. 13 | Staff & Faculty Only - Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas, President

• Feb. 14 | JD Walt, Dean of Chapel
Rev. Walt joined the Asbury Seminary administration in the fall of 2000. Prior to this, he was a Teaching and Preaching Pastor at The Woodlands United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas. Rev. Walt serves as the Vice President for Community Life and the Dean of the Chapel, giving broad leadership to the areas of Worship, Prayer and Spiritual Formation on campus as well as ministries to Spouses, Families and International Student constituencies. As part of Rev. Walt’s work at Asbury, he is giving direction to Seminarius, a creative and innovative project funded by the Lily Foundation, designed to connect students with the full range of prayer and spiritual formation resources available through the Seminary community and beyond. In addition to his experience at The Woodlands, Rev. Walt served as the minister of students at Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, Ark., from 1992-94. As a licensed attorney, during that same time period, he was an associate at the law firm of Burke and Eldridge in Fayetteville. He also served brief tours as an associate with Wright, Lindsey & Jennings Law Firm in Little Rock, Ark., and as a Legislative Aid for United States Senator David Pryor. Rev. Walt is an ordained elder in the Texas Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.

He and his wife, Tiffani, also an Asbury Seminary graduate and ordained Deacon in the UMC, have four children: John David III, Mary Kathryn, Lily and Samuel.

www.farmstrong.blogspot.com

• Feb. 19 | The Choral Ensemble from Seoul Theological University
The Choral Ensemble from Seoul Theological University (South Korea) is making a music ministry tour in the United States in February 2008. Major tour venues include seminaries, Christian colleges, and churches in the New York City area, in and around Lexington, Kentucky, and in Southern California.

Since 1979, the Choral Ensemble has made its chief goals to praise and glorify God, and to share God’s love with others through music and personal faith stories. Membership is open to STU students of any academic major, based on a musical audition and interview process. While most of the current members are, in fact, majoring in Church Music at the university, some are studying Theology or Mission English.

Besides singing on STU’s campus, the group also welcomes opportunities to sing in churches, schools, military bases, prisons, hospitals, homes for the elderly, orphanages, and community centers. International tours have taken them to Australia, Bangladesh, the Republic of Ireland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Conductor Hyo-Dong Sohn received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Church Music from Seoul Theological University. While studying there, he was an active member of the Choral Ensemble as a tenor and as student conductor. He earned further degrees from Alliance Theological Seminary (Nyack, NY) and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY). Professor Sohn not only teaches in the Church Music department at Seoul Theological University; he is a director of music at two large churches in Seoul, leads church music seminars, directs a city-sponsored children’s chorus in Kwachon, and is founder and director of the Jobel’s mixed choir and women’s choir. He and his wife have two sons and one daughter.

• Feb. 20 | Dr. Jim Dunn: Wesleyan Denomination Director of Spiritual Formation
Jim is a person who has a deep passion to develop new and better disciples for Jesus Christ. Prior to leading the Spiritual Formation Department of The Wesleyan Church, he has served the Lord in several significant capacities including senior pastor, college professor, district board member, college board member, and convention planner. While he is more and more in demand as a special speaker for churches, camps and conferences, Jim is also an author interested in inspiring as many as possible to become more like Jesus Christ. Jim loves to spend time with his family as much as possible - Mindy, his wife and their two children, Caleb and Courtney.

www.headhearthand.com

• Feb. 21 | Prayer Conference: Margaret Therkelson
• Feb. 22 | Prayer Conference: Margaret Therkelson
Margaret Therkelsen’s ministry can best be summarized by saying that she stimulates others to develop an active prayer life of their own. She does this through weaving together insightful understanding of Scripture, relating her own prayer journey, and wonderful answers to prayer.

As a child Margaret felt a call to a life of prayer that was initially nurtured by her parents. She witnessed God working as the result of their prayer life and the reality of prayer became very winsome. From her father she developed a unique quality for meeting people where they are in their spiritual walk and encouraging them to go on with God as they deepened their prayer life. From her mother, who had been active in various prayer movements, Margaret has developed a sense of how real and personal God can be in prayer.

Following a life changing experience with the Holy Spirit, now some 30 years ago, and a physical healing, Margaret has been led into an ever-widening prayer ministry. Along side of her prayer ministry she has had a counseling practice in Marital and Family Therapy. To have more time for prayer she released a 33 year college teaching career in music. This ministry of prayer has spread beyond local connections as today she leads prayer retreats and seminars across the United States. Margaret also has been privileged to speak to groups in Africa and Haiti about the prayer life.

She leads a community wide prayer group of men and women in her local church which have been meeting for twenty four years. Her publications include The Love Exchange: An Adventure In Prayer and Realizing the Presence of the Spirit. The latter is being printed in Germany and Africa. Her latest book, just recently released is entitled A Prayer Experiment: Prayer Principles from The Sermon on the Mount.

Margaret’s husband, John is a minister in the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is currently serving as a staff chaplain at Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky where they reside

• Feb. 26 | Beeson Lecture Series: Fleming Rutledge
• Feb. 27 | Beeson Lecture Series: Fleming Rutledge
Fleming Rutledge is a preacher and teacher known throughout the mainline Protestant denominations of the US, Canada and parts of the UK. She is the author of five books and has received a grant from the Louisville Foundation to complete a book about the meaning of the Crucifixion.

One of the first women to be ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal Church, she served for fourteen years on the clergy staff at Grace Church on Lower Broadway at Tenth Street, New York City.

A native of Franklin, Virginia, Mrs. Rutledge was married in 1959 to Reginald E. (Dick) Rutledge and they have two daughters and two grandchildren.

http://www.generousorthodoxy.org

• Feb. 28 | This is My Story (with Harry Hosier Scholarship Fund Offering)

March

• Mar. 4 | Bishop Ronald Gainer
• Mar. 5 | Dr. David Pendleton
• Mar. 6 | Theta Phi Lecture Series
• Mar. 7 | Theta Phi Lecture Series
• Mar. 11 | Dr. John Harnish, First United Methodist Church Birmingham, MI
The Rev. Dr. John E. Harnish is the Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church, Birmingham, MI. He came to FUMC Birmingham after serving as pastor of FUMC Ann Arbor, MI. Prior to that appointment he was the Associate General Secretary of the Division of Ordained Ministry with the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church, based in Nashville, Tennessee. In that role he was responsible for the denomination’s work in theological education, the training of pastors, and other issues related to ordained ministry. He was instrumental in the formation of the newest United Methodist seminaries in the world — those in Moscow and Tallinn, Estonia. He continues to serve on the Board of Trustees for the Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary in Estonia.

'Jack’s' earlier appointments in Michigan include Court Street United Methodist Church in Flint, Dexter United Methodist Church, and the Washington and Davis United Methodist Churches. He was ordained in the Western Pennsylvania Conference and served his first appointment there. His home town is Clarion, Pennsylvania. Jack has a BA in speech and drama from Asbury College and a Masters of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary. Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary awarded him a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1998. He has served as a delegate to several General Conferences and will be a delegate to the World Methodist Conference in Korea in 2006. He currently serves as a Trustee at Methodist Theological School in Ohio and on the Church Relations Council at Garrett.

Judy Harnish is an elementary principal at Cornerstone Elementary School in Dexter, Michigan. She is a native of Lapeer, Michigan, and a graduate of Asbury College and Eastern Kentucky University. Jack and Judy have two sons. Chris is an architect in New York City. David and his wife Kerri live in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where David is a high school teacher and Kerri is a librarian at Gettysburg College.

Jack and July love to travel and also love their “up north” home on Platte Lake. They love antiques - every piece of furniture has a story, beginning with the wooden wagon which originally belonged to Judy’s father. It has served as a coffee table in every one of their homes. They love theater, reading, and time with their kids.

• Mar. 12 | MidWeek Eucharist
• Mar. 13 | Dr. Marilyn Elliot, Chaplain to Students and Families
• Mar. 18 | JD Walt, Dean of Chapel
Rev. Walt joined the Asbury Seminary administration in the fall of 2000. Prior to this, he was a Teaching and Preaching Pastor at The Woodlands United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas. Rev. Walt serves as the Vice President for Community Life and the Dean of the Chapel, giving broad leadership to the areas of Worship, Prayer and Spiritual Formation on campus as well as ministries to Spouses, Families and International Student constituencies. As part of Rev. Walt’s work at Asbury, he is giving direction to Seminarius, a creative and innovative project funded by the Lily Foundation, designed to connect students with the full range of prayer and spiritual formation resources available through the Seminary community and beyond. In addition to his experience at The Woodlands, Rev. Walt served as the minister of students at Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, Ark., from 1992-94. As a licensed attorney, during that same time period, he was an associate at the law firm of Burke and Eldridge in Fayetteville. He also served brief tours as an associate with Wright, Lindsey & Jennings Law Firm in Little Rock, Ark., and as a Legislative Aid for United States Senator David Pryor. Rev. Walt is an ordained elder in the Texas Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.

He and his wife, Tiffani, also an Asbury Seminary graduate and ordained Deacon in the UMC, have four children: John David III, Mary Kathryn, Lily and Samuel.

www.farmstrong.blogspot.com

• Mar. 19 | Calvin Taylor
Born 7 November 1948 in Los Angeles, California, composer, pianist, and organist Calvin Taylor was drawn to music as a young child. The active cultural and musical life of the church provided earliest impressions and inspiration. He began playing piano in all keys at five years, and by age 14 was serving as organist in several southern California churches. Taylor was exposed to a variety of the symphonic repertoire as a member of the trumpet section of both the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic and Southwest Youth Symphony.

Calvin Taylor made history at Oberlin Conservatory in 1970 when he became the first organist in the school's over 150-year history to improvise a graduate concert encore (an eleven-minute extemporization on O Du Fröliche, Weihnachtzeit). At The University of Michigan, he studied organ with Marilyn Mason and composition with Leslie Bassett, completing the M.M. in 1974. Taylor became active as a studio arranger and studied composition and orchestration at U.C.L.A. and The Dick Grove School of Music in the early 80's. At the Grove Workshops, Taylor had the opportunity of learning from popular music composers Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, David Raksin, Dick Grove, and Peter Matz.
The music of Calvin Taylor has been programed by the Kristiansand, Redlands, Inglewood, Central Kentucky Youth, Shreveport, University of Kentucky, U.C.L.A. Philharmonia, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, South Arkansas, and Nashville Symphony orchestras. As a 1998 winner of The Unisys African American Composer's Residency and National Symposium, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra read and recorded Taylor's Inner-city Sunrise under the direction of Kay George Roberts.

Among Dr. Taylor's works are Five Spirituals for Organ, 1998 and Spiritual Suite for Organ, 2002. Both volumes were commissioned by and dedicated to Dr. Marilyn Mason. Five Spirituals for Organ were premiered at the RLDS Temple in Independence, Missouri September 21, 1998 by Dr. Mason. Their first English performance took place at Selby Abbey, York, on October 4, 1998. Spiritual Suite for Organ received its world premier in a concert by Dr. Taylor at Church of the Holy Apostles in New York City, February 19, 2002. As part of the celebration of 50 years of African American presence at the University of Kentucky, Calvin Taylor was commissioned to write Choral Fantasia on Deep River. The seventeen-minute work for symphony orchestra and mixed festival chorus received its world premier on November 30, 1999 by the U.K. Symphony Orchestra and choirs.

Never far from his roots in religious music, Taylor has traveled for many years throughout the U.S.A. presenting thousands of concerts in America's churches. Well-known publications by Calvin Taylor include Spirituals for Piano, Keyboard Kids® piano series, and The Patriotic Piano.

Calvin Taylor was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda in 1974. He was a Lymon T. Johnson Fellow and also a winner of the William C. Parker Academic Achievement Award at the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Taylor has toured throughout the world, playing in North and South America, Europe, and the Far East. As arranger and composer, his music has been heard and enjoyed by millions.

• Mar. 20 | Maundy Thursday, Last Supper Reenactment
• Mar. 25 | Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas, President
After 38 years as a pastor in four churches in Wisconsin and Ohio, and five years as an associate in evangelism with the World Methodist Council, Dr. Kalas came to Asbury in 1993 with the opening of the Beeson program, to teach preaching and to serve as mentor to the Beeson pastors. He joined Asbury’s School of Theology preaching faculty in July 2000. More than thirty of his books have been published by a variety of publishers, as well as 12 adult study quarterlies for the United Methodist Publishing House. He has recorded the entire Bible on audiotape, along with his Grand Sweep devotionals. Additionally, he is the author of Christian Believer, an intensive study of Christian doctrine produced by the United Methodist Publishing House for interdenominational use. A video component, "Behind the Pages," has recently been added to his book, "Parables from the Back Side." He has two adult children, Taddy and David, and his wife, Janet, whom he married in 1994, has two adult children.

• Mar. 26 | MidWeek Eucharist
• Mar. 27 | Coming Soon

April

(Reading Week, Mar. 31-Apr. 4, no services)

• Apr. 8 | Dr. Karl Stegall, Sr. Minister, First UMC Montgomery, AL
Dr. Karl K. Stegall served as Senior Pastor at First UMC in Montgomery from 1983 until his retirement in 2007. Dr. Stegall led that church in extraordinary ways. With a membership of almost 3500 and a worship attendance of over 1300, First UMC is a leader in mission, in stewardship, and in ministry in Montgomery and around the world. A native of Emelle, Alabama, he is a graduate of Livingston High School, the University of Alabama, Auburn University, and Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He has also received honorary doctorates from Birmingham Southern College and Huntingdon College. Dr. Stegall is a member of the Executive Committee of the World Methodist Council. He has been a delegate to 7 consecutive General and Jurisdictional Conferences of the United Methodist Church. Dr. Stegall also serves as a Trustee for the Board of Mental Health and Retardation of the State of Alabama.

• Apr. 9 | MidWeek Eucharist
• Apr. 10 | Cessna Lectures: Dr. Mark McMinn
Mark R. McMinn recently moved from Wheaton College in Illinois, where he was on the faculty for 13 years, to George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon where he now teaches in the Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology. Mark holds a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, is a licensed psychologist in Oregon, and is board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a past president of the Psychology of Religion division.

His workshop will be based on his recent book, Integrative Psychotherapy: Toward a Comprehensive Christian Approach (co-authored with Clark D. Campbell). Among his previous books are Finding Our Way Home: Turning Back to What Matters Most, Care for the Soul (co-edited with Timothy R. Phillips), and Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling.

Mark and his wife, Lisa—a sociologist and author—recently built a house on a hillside in rural Oregon, doing much of the work themselves. They have three grown daughters.

• Apr. 15 | Dr. Sandra Gray, President, Asbury College
Dr. Sandra C. Gray assumed the president’s position at Asbury College on July 1, 2007 after fulfilling one year as the College’s provost. She has been a member of the faculty at Asbury College as a professor of business management since 1989.

Throughout her career, Dr. Gray has served on numerous boards and planning committees. She was vice-chair of the faculty from 2003-2005 and provost at the College in 2006-07. In 2005, she led the College’s first business-related student trip intended to impart basic business skills for community members in Choluteca, Honduras. This opportunity has become an annual trip for students in this discipline.

She continued to pursue education, teaching courses on international trade and financial markets in Russia, China and Austria. Her research interests resulted in several invitations to lecture internationally. During her spring 2002 sabbatical, Dr. Gray taught at the International University of Vienna, Austria.

Dr. Gray received her Ph.D. in public administration and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Kentucky in 1997 and 1984, respectively. After earning her undergraduate degree in business and economics, she completed numerous post-secondary education courses from the University of South Carolina, the Economics University of Vienna in Austria, the University of Colorado and the University of Oklahoma. Prior to her appointments at Asbury College, Dr. Gray worked in the banking industry, giving her a broad understanding of the Lexington business community.

Dr. Gray is actively involved in Centenary United Methodist Church in Lexington, Kentucky. She has served as chair of the church’s finance committee and she and her husband, Ken, have taught a Sunday school class for young married couples. She and Ken, an architect in Lexington, reside in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

• Apr. 16 | Dr. Ullas Tankler, Executive Secretary for Europe & North Africa, General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church
Ullas Tankler is a Beeson pastor (97-98) from Estonia. He is currently the Executive Secretary for Europe & North Africa for the General Board of Global Ministries of the UMC, working part of the time out of the New York office and the rest of it traveling in Europe and North Africa and the USA.

• Apr. 17 | Distinguished Alumni Chapel
• Apr. 22 | Festival of Hymns: Dr. Albin Whitworth
• Apr. 23 | Mid-week Eucharist
• Apr. 24 | Eta Beta Rho Hebrew Honor Society
• Apr. 29 | The Asbury Exchange
• Apr. 30 | Mid-week Eucharist

May

Asbury Theological Seminary

Online Chapel

Speak Bios: Spring 2008

March

April

May