Featured Preaching Leaders
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Kirk Byron Jones
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Tom Long
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Heather Murray Elkins
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- Kirk Byron Jones
Author of the Event Title text: "The Jazz of Preaching"
Andover Newton Theological Seminary
Kirk Byron Jones, D. Min., Ph.D. is a graduate of Loyola University, Andover Newton Theological School, and holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Emory University and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Drew University. Currently a professor of ethics and preaching at Andover Newton Theological School, Dr. Jones serves as guest preacher and teacher at churches, schools and conferences throughout the United States. His writings have been published in various journals, including The Christian Century, Leadership, Gospel Today, Pulpit Digest, and The African American Pulpit, a quarterly preaching journal he co-founded in 1997. Dr. Jones is the author of several best-selling books including Rest in the Storm: Self-Care Strategies for Clergy and Other Caregivers and Addicted to Hurry: Spiritual Strategies for Slowing Down, both published by Judson Press, and The Jazz of Preaching: How to Preach With Great Freedom and Joy published by Abingdon Press. Most recently, he has authored Morning B.R.E.W.: A Divine Power Drink For Your Soul and The Morning B.R.E.W. Journal published by Augsburg Books. These works explain Dr. Jones’s personal morning devotional practice that includes: B- Being Still, R-Receiving God’s Love, E- Embracing Personhood, and W-Welcoming the Day. In January, 2007, Jossey-Bass Publishers released Dr. Jones’ newest book, Holy Play: The Joyful Adventure of Unleashing Your Divine Purpose. Holy Play is a ground-breaking work that offers a dynamic new way to understand and live your divine purpose: Purpose is not something we passively receive from God; purpose is something we actively create with God. Dr Jones explains, “This book gives people permission to stop waiting for God to tell them what to do, and start doing what God has been inspiring them to do all along.” Dr. Jones enjoys a leisure life of family play, reading, listening to music (especially jazz), and having new learning adventures every day.
- Tom Long
Bandy Professor of Preaching
Emory University - Candler School of Theology
Rev. Tom Long is the Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, and the author or editor of 14 books on preaching and worship. He is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Professor Long's research interests are homiletically theory and biblical hermeneutics and preaching. His current research project is centered in he theology and practice of Christian funerals.
- Heather Murray Elkins
Drew University - Theological Seminary The Rev. Dr. Heather Murray Elkins is Professor of Worship, Preaching, and the Arts at Drew Theological School and the Graduate Division of Religion at Drew University. She is currently Convener of Liturgical Studies Area in the GDR and Convener for Feminist Studies in
Liturgy Seminary in the North American Academy of Liturgy.
An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, she served congregations for eight years in her home conference of West Virginia. She began her teaching career as an instructor at Rough Rock, Arizona, and the first bi-lingual community-run school on the Navaho Reservation. In 2001 she helped to initiate the faculty exchange program at Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, South Korea, teaching liturgical theology and worship.
In addition to her teaching career she has served as a truck stop chaplain, a university chaplain, and an academic dean at Drew. Her primary work in the Theological School curriculum involves courses on worship, the Center for Ministry and Imagination, and cross-cultural courses on Appalachian Studies.
Author: Holy Stuff of Life (2006) Pilgrim Press
Carol Cook Moore is the Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching and Chapel Elder at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. Dr. Cook Moore is an Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church and a member of the Oklahoma Annual Conference where she served in a variety of pastoral settings prior to returning to graduate school. She earned a M.Div. from Saint Paul School of Theology and a PhD in Liturgical Studies with a concentration in Women’s Studies from Drew University. Dr. Cook Moore approaches worship and preaching as an event that requires careful planning, fresh inspiration, and mindful knowledge of the text, the context, and the communities of faith present historically, symbolically and physically for this event. She writes, “Many times in preparing a worship event, it reminds me of my mother’s wisdom in the kitchen. No two pot- roast Sunday dinners were the same. Sometimes there was more onion or more potatoes or the gravy needed more salt. Mama’s culinary wisdom and attentiveness to the ingredients, the heat of the kitchen, the peculiarities of the pressure cooker as well as the increasing hunger of her flock came together to create a feast that simply put, tasted of sacrificial love and deep joy. So it is with the pastor’s study, crafting, and preparation of worship and preaching as we take the biblical text, the ingredients of the service, and the conditions of the worshiping community and greater community and –with the power of the Holy Spirit-- serve up a holy meal with a taste of heaven.” Dr. Cook Moore is currently working on a collection of writings on the topic of encountering grace in the midst of grief.
FolkPsalm Band
Professional Bluegrass artist and lifelong musician Charles Pettee, (with over 3,500 performances with Flying Fish recording artist The Shady Grove Band), became fascinated with the Psalter back in 2001 when it occurred to him that these ancient Hebrew prayers were, originally, and essentially, folk songs, (i.e., works of the oral tradition of an agrarian people). As a composer whose works have aired in over 20 countries, as well as satellite and TV transmissions, Pettee set out to render these poems in the contemporary bluegrass/folk genre with which he was successful – Appalachian-based music, with a spontaneous feel and with instrumental and vocal improvisation. His desire was to hear these prayers in as unaffected manner as the original participants. (“To highlight the powerful metaphors in these poems,” he says, “making it harder for one to take these literally and easier for one to open one’s heart to the spiritual vistas and valleys that the Psalms describe so well.”) The first CD, “Steady Love” featured a stellar line-up of NC-based musicians, and received accolades from critics, pastors, and fans alike. As Pettee likes to say, the musicians, “never went away”, and so the group Charles Pettee & FolkPsalm was born. Their third CD “The Way of Manna – Agrarian Songs from the Bible for the Care of Creation” was released in early 2010, and includes a booklet of essays by Professor Ellen Davis of Duke Divinity School, a longtime consultant for Pettee’s translations into song lyrics. FolkPsalm is an affiliation of 7 musicians, though live performances by the whole ensemble are rare. Pettee is most often accompanied by fiddler and vocalist Elizabeth Bahnson, (a founding member of the highly successful group the Steep Canyon Rangers and 20008 graduate of Duke Divinity School), of Brevard, NC, and vocalist Brittany Whitmire, (long time singer and western NC native who owns, with her husband, Busy Bee Farms of Rosamond, NC).
Don Carlton
Don Carlton is the minister of Evangelism at Centenary UMC in Winston-Salem, NC. He was an elder in the Virginia Conference (Retired) with thirty six years of service. He has done theological study both at Wesley Seminiary in Washington, DC and Candler School of Theology in Atlanta,GA. He is married to Amy L. Carlon and they have 2 children, Mark and Laura.