Category: News

Helping Theology Students Become Financially Savvy

Nobody goes into ministry for the money. Most students choose to pursue a seminary education out of a sense of calling.  But when theology school students graduate with heavy debt loads, that can weigh heavily on their ministries.

According to a 2014 study by the Center for the Study of Theological Education at Auburn Theological Seminary, more than a quarter of students graduating in 2011 with a Master of Divinity degree had more than $40,000 in debt. Some 5 percent were more than $80,000 in the red.

At Perkins, the Financial Literacy Program aims to ease that burden.

“Our goal is to help our students at Perkins to become financially savvy, and to make it fun and informative,” said Jean Nixon, Financial Literacy Coordinator.

The program is funded through a $250,000 grant as part of Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Theological School Initiative to Address Economic Issues Facing Future Ministers. Perkins was one of 67 theological schools across the U.S. and Canada to receive grant funding.

Burdensome Debt

After graduation, debt becomes more than a source of worry and a financial strain.  Many seminary grads are forced to moonlight, or even to choose another job instead of ministry, to pay the bills.  Personal financial pressures may severely limit the ability of seminary graduates to accept calls to Christian ministry and undermine their effectiveness.

“Even though Perkins does a good job of giving financial aid to most students, it’s still very expensive to attend graduate school,” Nixon said. “And most students are going into jobs that might pay little or that will only be part-time, which makes it really hard to pay off that debt.”

Perkins’ Financial Literacy program aims to better prepare students, primarily through a series of monthly educational gatherings. Each event features financial experts and other speakers, a free lunch and opportunities for individual counseling for those students who desire it.

The program kicked off in the fall semester, starting in September with a session on student debt titled “The Elephant in the Room.”  The October program, “Lipstick on the Pig,” focused on budgeting, and the November program, “Feed My Sheep,” offered a Q&A with Perkins alumni.

In December, some 50 attendees came to the Literacy Program’s session on celebrating the holidays on a budget, with a chef demonstration on frugal cooking, tips for finding gifts at the Dollar Store and ideas for low-cost DIY gift wrapping.

“The whole idea was that you can still have a great holiday without breaking the bank,” Nixon said.

Pres Ida del Rosario Pimentel, an M.A.M. student in Pastoral Care at Perkins, attended all the sessions this fall and expressed gratitude for the program.

“To continue to meet the call of serving people, we need to take care of ourselves,” she said. “Just as God provided Sabbath, I think of financial literacy as self-care.”

Pimentel added that she has shared some of the information she’s learned with church workers in the Philippines.

“My calling is working with clergy, deaconesses and church workers, equipping them and providing tools for their ministry,” she said. “Most of the church workers who leave the ministry do so because of finances.”

Changing the Culture

A key aspect of the program is educating students on how to choose loans wisely and to limit the amount borrowed where possible. The program also aims to combat a common perception that equates loans with “free money.”

“We’re trying to change the financial culture of seminary students based on the fact that it’s not the highest paid profession,” said Nixon.

Gatherings in 2019 will focus on good financial habits and taxes for clergy persons.  Special one-on-one counseling will be offered in the spring to assist senior students in managing student loans after graduation.

Nixon’s office also publishes a Financial Literacy News newsletter for Perkins and posts weekly Bible quotes relating to wise financial management on screens in the hallways of Perkins campus buildings. Plans are underway to create a web page connected directly to Perkins’ financial aid page.

Pimentel sums up what she’s learned so far: “Live simply, find ways to reduce debt, and if you have to take out a loan, shop around for the best option of repayment. It’s not shameful to be in debt and most of all, there are programs such as the Perkins Financial Literacy as resources.”

This fall, Perkins welcomed a second cohort of Perkins Scholars.  The Perkins Scholar designation is given to students who have distinguished themselves in their previous studies.  Ten Master of Divinity (M.Div.) students from each entering class make up each year’s cohort. Each Perkins Scholar receives a scholarship totaling $21,000, spread over three years, in addition to any other scholarship awards.

In the spring of 2017, the Perkins Executive Board took up the challenge to put this project in motion.  Members of the Executive Board, an advisory board to the Dean, care deeply about Perkins School of Theology and the student body. A goal of 10 Perkins Scholars a year was created. Several members have pledged more than one scholarship!

Members of the first cohort of Perkins Scholars (pictured) completed their initial year of M.Div. studies, and are currently enrolled for the second year.  The second cohort of Perkins Scholars began M.Div. studies this fall, and have acclimated to life at Perkins.  The students in the second cohort of Perkins Scholars are Paul Bussert, Jessica Hallett, Steven James, Shayla Jordan, Shandon Klein, Adam Lubbers, Margo Moore, Kelly Rose, Matthew Schroeder and Vicki Wood.

Perkins is now raising funds for the third cohort of Perkins Scholars who will be chosen to enter M.Div. studies in the fall of 2019. At that time, there will be 30 Perkins Scholars in Dallas and Houston combined, ten in each class. Collectively, they will receive a total of $630,000 in Perkins Scholar awards by graduation!

Welcome to this outstanding group of M.Div. students. A special thanks to the generous donors who have contributed to this scholarship program! If you or your church would like to participate in the Perkins Scholar program please let me know.

With a thankful heart,

John A. Martin
Director of Development
Perkins School of Theology

 

Read more about the 2018-19 Perkins Scholars.

The book of Acts calls on believers to witness “to the ends of the earth.”  With a new digital platform, Perkins aims to go even further: bringing that witness to and from the ends of the earth.

With the Global Theological Education Virtual Visiting Professor project, Perkins is helping create a fully accessible and continually growing library of short classes coming from scholars world-wide and available across the globe.

“It’s creating resources from the entire world, to be available to the entire world for theological education, not only in seminaries but also in Sunday school classes and other groups,” said Robert Hunt, a faculty member and Director of Global Theological Education (GTE) at Perkins.

To make these resources available to teachers and students worldwide, including those in remote areas, the GTE program will use both the internet and custom-built intra-net devices that require no Internet access. This will not only strengthen theological education globally but will give scholars in the global south the opportunity to share their unique insights and wisdom.

Additionally, modules and materials developed through this program will be made available to the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church’s Course of Study and Regional Hubs dedicated to Global Theological Education.

“We at GBHEM welcome Perkins’ bold new initiative to better serve the global education and ministry needs of the United Methodist Church,” said Rev. Kim Cape, General Secretary of the denomination’s leadership development agency. “With Perkins we are committed to providing access to quality theological education world-wide.”

The project aims to meet a need for theological education outside the U.S., particularly in Africa, where church membership is growing rapidly and the pipeline for educating pastors can’t keep pace, said Andrew Harper, a Perkins alum (M.T.S., ’16) and head of Global Partnerships at Cliff College—one of the project’s partner organizations.

“In Africa, education is very expensive, there’s a shortage of funding and a lack of expertise in particular areas, such as pastoral care and counseling,” he said. “The church in Africa is seeing a great need to equip their pastors and theology students, but the expertise has been largely centralized in the global north. We have an immense opportunity to provide a platform to share that knowledge.”

The project began with a conversation between Perkins and leaders of the Endowment Fund for Theological Education in the Central Conferences of the United Methodist Church, which includes Africa, the Philippines and Europe, as well as representatives of the denomination’s General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM). That led to a commitment by Perkins to help develop resources to benefit theological schools in the Central Conferences.

“We would want to develop resources that come from outside the U.S., from scholars in Africa, the Philippines and Latin America, and make them available on a platform that will be available to everyone, and we have moved quickly in that direction,” Hunt said.

To date, the project has created a model for online learning and a pilot website featuring Ted Campbell’s existing online course in Early Methodism. (To see the pilot course, visit GTEPilot.com.  Short videos on the history of Methodism in other countries are also posted there.) Currently, seminary leaders in Africa, the Philippines and Latin America have reviewed the pilot website and provided feedback on the approach.

As important, in 2019 the program will begin to record and produce courses led by scholars at United Methodist institutions in the Philippines, Africa and Latin America. Hunt traveled to the Philippines in July and December, and South Africa in November, and has confirmed plans for the first resource creation seminar in May of 2019. By partnering with the Philippines Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities, the program will create as many as a dozen short courses in a week’s time. Similar resource creation seminars, structured to meet local needs and to take advantage of unique opportunities, will be held in Africa and Latin America later in the year.

The program is also partnering with the American Society of Missiology and the International Association of Mission Studies to produce short “master classes” with important missiological thinkers from around the globe. And it hopes to take advantage of upcoming meetings of women in theological leadership to integrate their perspectives into the available resources.

“Immediately, the plan is to have 15 to 25 short courses on the website and the intra-net devices by end of 2019,” Hunt said. “As we move forward, we will work with local institutions to develop appropriate methods of resource creation. Our seminars will train leaders in online pedagogical methods so that they can adapt available technology to continue to produce new courses from scholars in those countries.” The program will also partner with the Hunt Institute of Engineering and the Humanities at SMU to develop courses for pastors related to leadership in community development.

In developing the online platform, Hunt drew on expertise in online teaching from SMU’s Annette Simmons School of Education & Human Development. A typical course will feature multiple modules, each with a video lecture of 8-12 minutes in length, as well as assigned readings and accompanying materials (such as illustrations, charts, and data), discussion questions, and an online discussion forum.  To adapt Campbell’s online course as a pilot, his hour-long lectures were divided into shorter “chunks” for easier viewing from a small device such as a mobile phone.

“Typical online courses based on hour-long video lectures are neither pedagogically effective nor technologically advisable,” Hunt said. “The lectures take too long to download and can rarely keep a student’s interest.”

Each course will have clear learning objectives and criteria for measuring how each student meets those objectives. “This is important so that, regardless of where the student is, the course can meet their accreditation requirements,” Hunt said.

One challenge of the project will be to ensure that teachers aren’t isolated from fellow scholars, and students don’t study in isolation – that they have access to other students and to professors for discussion and dialogue. So, in addition to internet enabled discussion groups, project leaders are working with SMU’s engineering and computer science faculty to identify the best technology to extend online discussion possibilities to remote areas.

“Broadband is sparse in Africa, but almost every person in Africa has a mobile phone,” Harper said. “We are working on finding the best ways to bring people together digitally.”

Ultimately, each Central Conference theological school will determine how the online resources are used – whether for distance learning, as part of a hybrid curriculum, or as material for classroom teaching, or as homework assignments.  Because the courses are presented in short segments, the material will also be ideal for Sunday School classes and other informal learning settings.

“Initial funding for these efforts comes from the Perkins School of Theology Global Theological Education Fund, a grant from the Association of Boards in Theological Education’s In-Trust Center for Theological Schools, and the Woodworth Estate in Oklahoma,” said John A. Martin, Director of Development and External Affairs. “And we’re currently seeking funding to extend the project after 2019.”

Harper notes that sending an African student to the U.K. to obtain a theology degree at Cliff College costs about $75,000; for that cost, an online program could deliver 33 Master’s degrees to students in Africa.

“If we want to talk about good stewardship of Christian money, that’s just huge,” he said.

Ultimately, the project will give western theology students and scholars access to the perspectives of scholars in Africa and other developing nations.  Harper cited examples of African church leaders who have done cutting-edge work in evangelism and reconciliation, developing that expertise through “unspeakable” challenges faced in those countries, but whose expertise has not yet been shared widely.

“I see this whole project as highly anti-colonial,” Harper said. “It is a decentralization of theological education, and it will be a disruptive force.”

“By gathering resources from around the globe for use around the globe we hope to create a truly global theological education for students around the world,” said Hunt. “An education for students anywhere, accessible both in the classroom and beyond.”

 

Participants in feature photo at top (from left): Rev. Shannon Conklin-Miller, Assistant General Secretary for Clergy Formation, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, The United Methodist Church; Dean Craig C. Hill, Perkins School of Theology; Dr. Robert Hunt, Director, Global Theological Education Program, Perkins; Rev. Connie Nelson, Director of Public Affairs and Alumni/ae Relations, Perkins; Dr. Andrew Harper, head of Global Theological Education, Cliff College, UK; Bishop Patrick Streiff, resident bishop of Central and Southern Europe Area and chair of the Endowment Fund for Theological Education in the Central Conferences; Mark Greim, Business Manager, Perkins; Dr. Evelyn Parker, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Perkins; Dr. John Martin, Director of Development, Perkins; Dr. David Field, Academic Coordinator of Methodist E-Academy; and Dr. Andrew Keck, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives, Perkins.

The annual Houston Lay School of Theology will take place on Saturday, February 16 at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston. The program, “Praying with the Desert Fathers and Mothers,” will be led by Tamara Lewis, Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity, Perkins School of Theology.

The day-long course invites participants to travel back in time to rediscover the spiritual riches of the ascetic mothers and fathers of the desert, who left mainstream society to devote themselves to worship, prayer and contemplation of Christ in the deserts of Egypt and Syria. In this harsh physical environment, these early believers risked all to achieve what they believed were the essential mental, spiritual, and physical purifications towards greater unity with God.

Participants will have the chance to reflect on their writings and learn from their prayer practices.

“For the patriarchs, and the prophets, and the mothers, and disciples, yes even for Christ, the desert was a place that refined one’s strength,” said Lewis. “The desert is the place of suffering, but also deepens one’s sense of dependence on God.”

For a long time, Lewis noted, some scholars denied that the Desert Mothers even existed. They claimed no women went out to the desert, only the men – that women stayed at home, not daring to venture out into the realm of the abyss, to the underworld, to the place of dry bones.  Now the tradition of the Desert Mothers is generally accepted. Historical writings and the texts reveal that in early Christianity, women often wore male habits in order to enter monasteries or survive in the desert.

The writings and experiences of the Desert Fathers and Mothers speak to anyone who seeks a deeper experience of faith, Lewis added.

“The desert invites us to ask ourselves, ‘Are we willing to die in those places that need to die?’ she said. “Jesus said let the dead bury their own dead. Will we? What are we holding onto that needs to die?”

Sponsored by Perkins, the Houston Lay School meets each February and August, offering an opportunity for laity and others to explore issues of spirituality, theology, religion and church leadership with faculty from Perkins and guest speakers.  The program is made possible in part by the Howard-Holbert Endowment at SMU.  To register, click here.

Sometimes, when you’re looking to help someone, you find something for yourself. That’s how Maxwell Urbina ended up a Perkins student.

“Initially, I looked into SMU for my brother, who was interested in a career in engineering at the time,” he said.  “And I realized that God was guiding me to Perkins.”

In researching SMU, Urbina discovered that Perkins offered the M.Div. degree. A member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, he’d been planning to pursue that degree at Andrews University’s Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in Michigan. But that would have meant spending years away from his family. His wife, Avelina Diaz de Urbina, is a physician and needed to stay in Dallas to work on obtaining her medical license in the U.S.

Thankfully, Perkins proved a good fit, and Urbina is on track to graduate in 2020.  He has jumped wholeheartedly into campus life.  He represents Perkins in the SMU Student Senate, serving on the Senate Scholarship Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, and is a member of the Perkins Student Development Committee.

Urbina also serves as Residential Community Chaplain (RCC) for the residential Commons that includes Mary Hay, Peyton, and Shuttles Halls, a responsibility he takes to heart.  After learning about the practice of walking prayer in Ruben Habito’s spiritual formation class, Urbina began visiting every floor of each building in the commons every day, conducting a daily one-man walking prayer vigil.

“I’m walking the hall slowly and having a word of prayer for each student as I pass each student’s doorway,” he said.

Urbina hasn’t met any other Seventh-Day Adventist students on campus – but sees that as a source of blessing.

“Most of my Perkins classmates do not belong to the United Methodist Church,” he said. “They’re Pentecostal, Episcopal, Lutheran, Church of God, Catholic – and I learn from all these traditions.  I think God sent me to this university to open my mind and my eyes and my theology. Not to change my doctrines or my beliefs, but to understand more when I meet someone who’s not in my faith … to understand that we are still children of God, all worshipping the same God, but from different perspectives.”

Urbina, who is originally from Nicaragua, comes from a family of politicians. He is the great-grandson of Joaquín Zavala Solís, President of Nicaragua in the late 19th century, and several of his family members were close associates of Anastasio “Tachito” Somoza DeBayle, who served two terms as President of Nicaragua in the 1960s and 1970s.  But since he was a young boy, he has felt the call to ministry. He has already chalked up 18 years of experience as a pastor, having served Seventh-Day Adventist churches in Puerto Rico, California and Texas. For his next chapter, he’d like to pursue the chaplaincy full-time. He’s currently serving as a chaplain at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

“I know God called me to this ministry as a pastor,” he said. “Now, I believe He can use me to help people in the last moment of their lives.”

In the educational journey that eventually brought him to Perkins, he says, he has often had to step out in faith.  When he first began pursuing an undergraduate degree at Washington Adventist University in Maryland, he was undocumented, lacking the proper paperwork to matriculate as well as the money to pay the deposit on his tuition and expenses.  Somehow, he says, God provided.

Even his own birth, Urbina believes, was a miracle.  His mother was in Managua, just three weeks pregnant, in December 1972 when a devastating earthquake struck, killing thousands and leaving 300,000 homeless.  She was injured by a falling piece of heavy furniture and began to bleed; the family believed she was miscarrying. Maxwell believes it was prayer that healed her and saved the pregnancy.

Experiences like these lead Urbina to claim Joshua 1:9 as his favorite Bible verse: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

“When I read Joshua 1:9, it’s like it was written it for me,” he said. “Every day it reminds me that I have to be strong. Because God is always there for me.

Meet the newest class of Perkins Scholars! These students, who arrived at Perkins in fall 2018, represent the latest cohort in this new scholarship program, which was launched in 2017. The program is geared toward attracting outstanding M.Div. students who have distinguished themselves in their previous studies.

The inaugural class of Perkins Scholars entered the community in the fall of 2017, and the third class will begin in the fall of 2019.  A total goal of $630,000 in funding will provide for three classes.

Read more about the Perkins Scholars program from Director of Development John Martin.

 

Paul Bussert
Hometown: Bixby, Oklahoma
Undergraduate major: Instrumental Music Education – Oklahoma State University
Career goal: Serving as a fully ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, hopefully within the Oklahoma conference.

 

Jessica Hallett
Hometown: Quitman, Arkansas
Undergraduate major: History, minor in Anthropology – Arkansas Tech University
Career goal: Serving as an elder in the United Methodist Church.

 

Steven James
Hometown: Mesquite, Texas
Undergraduate major: Journalism – University of North Texas
Career goal: Considering pastoral ministry as well as opportunities in immigration chaplaincy, refugee chaplaincy, and prison ministry.

 

Shayla Jordan
Hometown: Wichita, Kansas
Undergraduate major: Philosophy and Religious Studies, minor in Leadership Studies – Southwestern College
Career goal: Ordination in the United Methodist Church while pursuing a calling in higher education.

 

Shandon Klein
Hometown: Richardson, Texas
Undergraduate major: Biology and Chemistry – Minnesota State University Moorhead
MS in Biotechnology – Johns Hopkins University
Career goal:  An ordained elder within the United Methodist Church.

 

Adam Lubbers
Hometown: Granbury, Texas
Undergraduate major: Biblical Text & Languages and History – Abilene Christian University
MA in Medieval History – University of York
Career goal:  Ordained elder in the United Methodist church, with plans to pursue a doctorate.

 

Margo Moore
Hometown: Westfield, Indiana
Undergraduate major: Communications – Baylor University
Career goal: Sharing the gospel with people from an academic perspective.

 

Kelly Rose
Hometown: Kingswood, Texas
Undergraduate major: Christian Ministry, emphasis in Youth Ministry, minor in Communications – University of Mary-Hardin Baylor
Career goal: Pursuing a doctoral program with the hopes of being a professor.

 

Matthew Schroeder
Hometown: McKinney, TX
Undergraduate major: Literary Studies – The University of Texas at Dallas
MA in Literary Studies – The University of Texas at Dallas
Career goal: Either to start a church with a focus on LGBT+ and disability ministries or to get a PhD and teach queer and disability theology.

 

Victoria “Vicki” Wood
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Undergraduate major: Theatre – Hendrix College
Career goal: Ordination as either an Elder or Deacon in the United Methodist Church.

Perkins celebrates our newest graduates, who received their diplomas during SMU’s December Commencement Convocation on Saturday, Dec. 15.

The 12 graduates include: Amber Rose Oxley Mitts, Master of Divinity degree (M.Div.); Kuppusamy Balasupramaniam, Jacqueline Dean-Shaw, Mark Andrew Hardin, Boon Hwa Lee, Demetrese D. Phillips, Tian Yeow Aaron Tay, Blair Elizabeth Thompson-White and James E. Woods II, Doctor of Ministry degree (D.Min.); and Duk Kun Kim, Darrius Josiah Montgomery and Walter Sithole, Master of Theological Studies degree (M.T.S.)

We give thanks to God for each of these students as they embrace their calls to serve in the world!

 

The weather outside was frightful, but indoors the spirit was warm and festive at Perkins’ annual Advent Worship, held December 6 at Perkins Chapel. More than 150 people ventured out in the cold and rain to attend the two services at 4 and 8 p.m.

This was the first Advent service led by Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Perkins’ new Director of the Master of Sacred Music program. Centered on three Nativity canticles (lyrical passages) found in the gospel of Luke, the liturgy alternated between scriptural readings, traditional congregational hymns, and five new compositions commissioned especially for the occasion.

“I got feedback from quite a number of people who really enjoyed the worship,” said Steuernagel. “They felt the new music shed fresh light on these nativity canticles. And people participated quite vigorously in song!”

 

Perkins Grads Witness at the Border

Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño (Masters of Theology, 1979) recently led a group of more than 300 faith leaders in a march at Border Field State Park in San Diego on International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, in a “moral call for migrant justice.” Dozens of protesters, including two United Methodist pastors, were arrested and charged with civil disobedience when they stepped across the barrier set up by the U.S. Border Patrol. Bishop Carcaño is episcopal leader of the California-Nevada Conference and leader of the United Methodist Task Force on Immigration. Read the UMNS story here.

At the immigrant detention center in Tornillo, Texas, 400 teen-agers are getting the opportunity to join in interfaith worship thanks to the efforts of North Texas United Methodists, led by Perkins alums the Rev. Owen Ross (M. Div. ’02) and the Rev. Elizabeth Moseley (M.T.S. ’07). Read the UM Insight story here.

 

Melville Family Foundation

Randolph (Randy) and Lael Melville (M. Div. ’16) recently established the Melville Family Foundation, with the mission of closing “the education gap for black and brown children in Southern Dallas.” The Melvilles both hold BA degrees from Princeton University, where they met during college and developed their shared passion for education.

 

 

 

 

Prophetic Voice

D Magazine recently highlighted the pastoral work of a Perkins graduate in an article entitled “The Rev. Dr. Michael Waters Is Here to Heal the City’s Soul.” Waters (D. Min. ’12, M. Div. ’06) is senior pastor at Joy Tabernacle A.M.E. Church in South Dallas. He spoke eloquently following the death of Botham Jean, an African-American man who was shot by a Dallas police officer. “When he approached the podium that day at City Hall, it was a moment he spent his life preparing for,” the story said. Read the story here. 

 

Police Chaplain

The Rev. Heather Gates (M.T.S. ’13) has been named Lead Chaplain for the Galveston Police Department in Galveston, Texas.  In this extension ministry, she serves as a full-time employee of the City of Galveston as well as a pastor on the staff of Moody Methodist Church. Gates provides “a ministry of presence and a listening ear” to officers who have experienced trauma on the job as well as those who may be facing personal or family challenges. “One of the officers talked me into doing a ride-along in early 2016 and my involvement in the department slowly increased from there,” she said. “Now, I spend a lot of my time out riding in the cars with the officers and networking with the community.” Gates says she loves the work because “it takes the church to places it might not always be.” Read more about her ministry on her blog.

 

 

In Memoriam

Bishop Benjamin Chamness

Bishop Benjamin Chamness (M.Th. ’65) died December 22 in Huntsville, Texas, with his family by his side. Bishop Chamness, 78, was elected to the episcopacy by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference in 2000 and assigned to the Fort Worth Area. He served as the resident Bishop of the Central Texas Conference and the Fort Worth Area. He retired from the episcopacy in 2008.  Bishop Chamness was buried at the cemetery at Rehobeth UMC in Carthage, Texas, on December 29, and a memorial service was held at First UMC of Huntsville on January 4. Read the UMNS obituary for Bishop Chamness.

Rev. Dr. David Thomas Howeth

The Rev. Dr. David Thomas Howeth (M.Div., ‘90) died in his home in Wylie, Texas, on December 24.  Howeth, 68, was ordained by the United Methodist Church as a Deacon in 1989 and as an Elder in 1992. He served several churches in the North Texas Conference before retiring in 2015, including Spring Valley United Methodist Church in Dallas; First UMC in Sachse; First UMC in The Colony; First UMC in Nocona; Greenland Hills UMC in Dallas; Buckingham UMC United in Garland; Schreiber Memorial UMC in Dallas; and First UMC in Howe. He also loved working with the North Texas Conference’s youth camps at Bridgeport, Texas, and served as a leader for numerous Walks to Emmaus and Chrysalis Flights. A memorial service was held at First United Methodist Church of Gainesville on January 3.

Rev. James “Jim” Marvin Meadors, Jr.

The Rev. James “Jim” Marvin Meadors, Jr.  (Master of Theology – 1956), retired Elder and former District Superintendent in the Arkansas Conference, passed away on Dec. 9 at the age of 89. Jim was the pastor of many different churches in the Arkansas Annual Conference and served as conference secretary for many years. He was also director of the council office for what was then the North Arkansas Conference and a delegate to the United Methodist General Conference. Rev. Meadors was the father of Rev. Stephen Meadors.  A memorial service was held at Goddard UMC on December 15.  Condolences may be sent to the family at the following address: Ms. Ella Mae Meadors, 123 N 53rd St, Fort Smith, AR 72903.  Read his obituary at the Arkansas Conference website here.

Bishop William B. Oden

Former Council of Bishops President William B. Oden passed away on December 22 in Highlands Ranch, Colo., with his family surrounding him. Bishop Oden was elected to the episcopacy by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference in 1988; he served the Louisiana Conference from 1988 -1996 and the North Texas Conference from 1996 until his retirement in 2004. Bishop Oden was president of the Council of Bishops from 2000-2001 and served as the Council’s Ecumenical Officer from 2004-2008.  Bishop Oden was well-known to the Perkins and SMU community, having served on the SMU Board of Trustees from 1996 to 2004, as Perkins’ Bishop in Residence from 2004 to 2008, and as a member of the executive board for SMU in Taos. Bishop Oden’s memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on March 9 at Christ Church UMC in Plano. Bishop Oden’s family asks that, in lieu of flowers, gifts may made to the William B. Oden Scholarship at Perkins. Read the UMNS obituary for Bishop Oden.

Rev. Richard L. Wright

The Rev. Richard L. Wright (M.T. S. ’88), a retired minister from the West Virginia Conference, died on December 4, 2018, at the age of 88.  A devoted father, grandfather and husband, Wright served congregations in West Virginia at Clifton Methodist Church, Mason Methodist Church, Rainelle Methodist Church, and The Church of the Good Shepherd in Grafton, Bridgeport United Methodist Church and Wesley United Methodist Church in Morgantown. He was the Council on Ministries Director in Charleston for five years, District Superintendent of the Buckhannon District for six years, and the Dean of the Bishop’s Cabinet.  He served eight years on the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry and was elected five times as a delegate, and once as reserve, to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church. Wright retired in 1997 after 45 years of active ministry.   Read his complete obituary here.