Category: October 2022

Perkins’ Sacred Music program was well-represented at the 2022 Annual Conference of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, held July 17-21 in Washington, D.C.  This year’s gathering, the first held in person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, commemorated the society’s 100^th anniversary.  Perkins faculty, students and alumni/ae were among the approximately 300 people attending and leading the program. The Hymn Society comprises representatives from more than 50 denominations; some had traveled as far as 8,000 miles to attend.   

Along with co-leader Becca Whitla, Marcell Silva Steuernagel led a sectional workshop on Liberation Theology and hymnody, titled “Sing the World God Imagines: Performing Liberation in Congregational Singing.” Together, they explored liberation approaches to worship and congregational singing and how liberating song can be a catalyst for transformative action in the church and in the world.

Silva Steuernagel, who is Assistant Professor of Church Music and Director of Perkins’s Sacred Music Program, was also a featured session speaker at the Hymn Society Conference, and led a session titled “Protest and Piety in Latin American Congregational Music.” This lecture-recital wove together commentary about the history and poetry of Latin American congregational song with the performance of a wide variety of pieces featured in songbooks from the region.

C. Michael Hawn, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Church Music and (until Sept. 1, 2022) Director of the Doctor of Pastoral Music Program at Perkins, also served as a featured speaker at sessions on the Life and Work of Taiwanese Hymnologist, I-to Loh, and the presentation of Hawn’s new hymnology text, Sing with Understanding: Introduction to Theology in Christian Congregational Song, 3rd Ed. (Chicago; GIA Publishing, 2022) with Beverly A. Howard, Martin V. Clarke, and alum Geoffrey C. Moore (Ph.D. ’20). The sectional provided an overview to this new pedagogical approach to the study of congregational song.

Perkins alumnus Ryuichi Mizuno (Th.M. ‘92), Professor of the Hebrew Bible at the School of Theology, Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan, also served as a featured leader for a sectional program on “Imagining Japanese Hymns in a World God Imagines.”  Another Perkins alumnus, Tommy Shapard (D.P.M. ’21) presented a sectional on “A Micah Approach to Missional Musicking for Racial Justice.

Three M.S.M. students — Fernando Berwig Silva, Mykayla Taylor, and Seth Luna — also attended the conference as well as Doctor of Pastoral Music student Alan Moser and alumnus Joshua Taylor (D.P.M. ’20). The incoming president of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada is Hilary Donaldson (M.S.M. ’10).

Hawn was quoted in a Religion News Service story about the conference and the Hymn Society’s 100^th anniversary; read the story here.

 

 

Marcell Silva Steuernagel at Worldwide WCC Gathering in Germany

While Marcell Silva Steuernagel has significant experience in culturally diverse worship, he had never attempted to sing Samoan worship music or to chant in Coptic before. But the chance to try both for the first time came when he served on the team leading worship and music at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches.

The gathering drew some 4,000 people from virtually every major Christian tradition or denomination to Karlsruhe, Germany, from August 31– September 8, 2022. Held every eight years, this year’s Assembly had the theme “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”

“I was part of an international group of musicians from many difference places — Scotland, Argentina, Egypt, among others,” said Silva Steuernagel, who is Assistant Professor of Church Music and Director of Perkins’ Sacred Music Programs. His involvement ranged from leading the assembly in song and prayer to playing guitar and playing percussion. The WCC worship team was led by Swee Hong Lim, who directs the Master of Sacred Music (MSM) program at the University of Toronto.

Evelyn L. Parker, Perkins professor emeritus, was also at the gathering, as a representative of her home denomination, the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church. Parker was elected to the central committee in 2006 and helped guide the planning for the Tenth Assembly of the WCC held in Busan, South Korea, in 2013. She again was elected to the WCC’s 150-person central committee, which serves as the main decision-making body of the WCC between assemblies.

Participating in the worship leadership team was “a huge privilege,” Silva Steuernagel said. “This gathering only happens every eight years, so not many people get a chance to help lead the worship.”

The worship team had to master dozens of songs in a short period; in working with an international group of musicians, Silva Steuernagel added, there was much that could’ve gone wrong. “There are cultural assumptions around music making,” he said. “Germans have different cultural expectations than Polynesians, for example, about time management and organizing rehearsals. We had our differences and we worked them out. I made some really good friends as a result. Making music together does that.”

The assembly highlighted issues related to climate change and creation care. German President  Frank-Walter Steinmeier was present for the opening ceremonies.

“You had Roman Catholic cardinals walking around and Greek Orthodox bishops playing foosball,” he said. “I felt very privileged to represent Perkins at such a level.”

Founded in 1948, the WCC brings together churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 120 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 580 million Christians and including most of the world’s Orthodox churches, many Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches, as well as United and Independent churches. While most of the WCC’s founding churches were European and North American, today most member churches are in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific. There are now 352 member churches. The WCC serves as a unique space where member churches can reflect, speak, act, worship and work together.

“The most important thing about the WCC is that it still exists and hasn’t imploded after 70 years,” Silva Steuernagel said. “Churches are still willing to send delegates to discuss issues and to see if they can find common ground.

 

 

 

Perkins School of Theology restarted its Faith and Business Luncheon on September 19, after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

Nearly 100 people were on hand at the Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Great Hall for an event honoring Larry James, CEO Emeritus of CitySquare.

The Rev. Katherine Glaze Lyle (M.Div. ’93), a Perkins Executive Board member and retired United Methodist pastor in the North Texas Conference, served as the event’s host and introduced the speakers.

“When we started this luncheon series, we wanted to highlight people of faith who took their faith into the larger world, through their professional or business life,” Lyle said. “As we talked about who would be the appropriate person to feature in today’s luncheon, there was one name that kept coming up: Larry James. Who better exemplifies a witness of faith through all the dimensions of his life? I want to take a minute to recognize and honor Larry for all that he has done in Dallas. Larry, we love you.” Those words were met with a standing ovation.

Dr. John Siburt, current President and CEO of CitySquare, and Elizabeth Wattley, President and CEO of Forest Forward, spoke on behalf of James who was unable to serve as speaker due to a health condition. Wattley and Siburt explained their association with Larry James, how his mentorship inspired them, and how James’ work with CitySquare and the broader community impacted their own lives.

Forest Forward is a nonprofit organization fighting the effects of systemic racism in Dallas through neighborhood revitalization in South Dallas. Wattley is a 2015 graduate of SMU’s Cox School of Business and was recognized as an Outstanding Young Alumna of Cox in 2021. She shared how Larry James’ encouragement and mentorship helped launch her career.

“Larry saw something in me,” she said. “He was one of the first people to take a chance on me at this work. I had the privilege of being able to work with CitySquare on the cottages for the chronically homeless. Once that project was finished, Larry said to me, ‘Well, what do we do now? How do we bring equitable opportunities to the Southern sector of Dallas?’ ”

Benefactors acquired the historic Forest Theater, a landmark in the Black community in South Dallas, and provided funding to CitySquare. The theatre’s renovation ultimately became the anchor project that launched Forest Forward.  To date, the nonprofit has transformed the former MLK Learning Center into the MLK Arts Academy, the only school in the Dallas Independent School District offering an arts-focused education for grades pre-K through 8^th grade.

Forest Forward ultimately aims to raise $75,215,000, a nod to the neighborhood’s 75215 zip code.

“When we talk about equity with Larry, it’s no small thing,” Wattley said. “This work would not be possible without Larry James. He currently serves as our board chair. Working with him has been an absolute honor. I just want to thank you, Larry, for your continued service and support.”

John Siburt shared how he’d been mentored by Larry James informally for 10 years, until Siburt ultimately took over the reins of CitySquare. Over the years, he has watched James help people in need, often in quiet ways that went unnoticed. Siburt recalled the parable of the Good Samaritan, which Jesus told in response to the question, “What do I have to do to be righteous?”

“Larry never asked that question,” Siburt said. “The question he has always asked is, ‘Who needs a neighbor? Whose neighbor am I?’ Larry’s view of neighborhood is a lot bigger than ours. It’s not bound by gated fences, zip codes, race or income. Larry sees everyone as God sees us, as children of God. He’s the one who always sees those who are hurting and thinks it’s worth his time to stop and render aid.”

Siburt added that James is known as a prophetic voice in the city of Dallas.

“He calls out power and privilege,” he said. “What’s unique about Larry is that he’s able to do that and still love and pastor and care for the people that he’s prophesying to. I’ve seen more than one preacher basically ask him, ‘How do you tell the truth and not get fired?’ ”

Siburt added that Larry James’ entrepreneurial gifts have allowed CitySquare to expand and flourish. But while the topic of the luncheon was “The Role of Faith in Business,” Siburt joked that James’ approach wasn’t always good business in the conventional sense.

“Capitalism and racism create winners and losers,” he said. “Larry believes we should see all people as children of God. That is the gospel. If more churches lived that and shared that, I don’t think we’d need to tear so many churches down.

“Larry is always there to love people, to believe in people and to keep having faith. On a given day, you might see a millionaire stop by his office to have coffee, and then see a homeless man stop in to have coffee. Each was received as a child of God.”

 

Bridwell Library has launched the new Bridwell Press, with the publication of its first book, The Antediluvian Librarians’ Secrets for Success in Seminary and Theology School, written and illustrated by four current and former Bridwell Library staff members.

The new press aims “to engage with a broad community of authors, who seek to publish creative, quality, and freely accessible works on a global scale,” according to the Bridwell Press mission statement.

“We believe there is room for new, adventurous, and diverse thinking in publishing, especially as it supports emerging scholars who may not have easy opportunities to publish,” said Anthony J. Elia, Director and J.S. Bridwell Foundation Endowed Librarian, Bridwell Library, SMU Libraries & Perkins School of Theology. “The press will support open source, interdisciplinary, and creatively unorthodox scholarship.”  In developing these efforts, Elia also was recently appointed as Associate Dean of Special Collections and Academic Publishing.

This first work, along with successive books due out later this year, reflect a diverse group of genres and disciplines.

“We hope to fill more than one niche, but our goal is to provide works of great and varied interest, which are also affordable: either free as e-books or at-cost for print-on-demand options,” Elia said. The press uses the Fulcrum digital publishing platform based out of the University of Michigan; its print-on-demand option is provided by the University of Chicago Press.

Over the past 70 years, Bridwell Library has published more than 100 titles under various imprints associated with its collections, from exhibition catalogs and Methodist works to biographies and occasional papers. Bridwell Press will balance Bridwell Library’s legacy with “a more openly defined space for scholarly activity,” according to Elia.

“We hope to encourage authors to cross boundaries in their work, such as religion and cooking; theology, arts, and rhetoric; ministry and martial arts; music and ethics; translation studies in areas under-served or underutilized,” he said. “While we wish to maintain the highest professional standards, we also believe that there is always room for new, adventurous and diverse thinking in publishing.”

Elia added that another goal is to support the goals of the university in its road to R1 (Research 1 University Status), especially related to scholarly content creation and academic publishing.

Bridwell Press’s first publication, The Antediluvian Librarians’ Secrets for Success in Seminary and Theology School, was a collaborative effort by four current and former staff members at Bridwell Library: Jane Lenz Elder, Duane Harbin, and David Schmersal, who co-wrote the book, and Rebecca Howdeshell, who illustrated and formatted the book.

“We are indeed very lucky to have this kind of superb talent on staff to put together our first volume, which is an outstanding work in every way,” Elia said.

Three additional books are slated for publication this fall, including Food for the Soul: The Recipes of Schubert Ogden, an abridgement of Roberto Unger’s Religion of the Future, and Marc Ellis’ First Light: Encountering Edward Said and the Late Style Jewish Prophetic in the New Diaspora.

Visit the Bridwell Press page here: https://www.smu.edu/libraries/scholarship/publishing/bridwell

Browse offerings of the Bridwell Press and purchase hard copies here: https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/kk91fn96t?locale=en

The Lilly Endowment-funded initiative at Perkins School of Theology, “Testimony HQ,” has selected eight congregations for the second cohort of developing thriving congregations through the practice of testimony as community engagement. Read the press release here.

Registration is now open for this year’s Fall Convocation, Nov. 14-15, at the Perkins Chapel and Hughes-Trigg Ballroom at SMU. With the theme of “Food and Faith,” guest speakers will include Aarti Sequeira, a chef, author, producer and Food Network personality; Norman Wirzba, a Duke University professor who writes about food and theology; and Jin-Ya Huang, founder of Break Bread, Break Borders (BBBB), a social enterprise empowering refugee women.

Read more here: https://blog.smu.edu/perkins/fall-convocation-22/

To register, click here: https://www.smu.edu/Perkins/PublicPrograms/Perkins-Fall-Convocation-2022

Registration is now open for the 2023 Perkins School of Youth Ministry (PSYM), a four-day educational gathering for youth ministers taking place January 9-12, 2023. This year marks the 36th year of PSYM, which will take place at Highland Park United Methodist Church, near the campus of SMU. PSYM 2023’s theme is “Everyday Adventure.” For more information and to register, click here.

These days, the Rev. Roger Clayton (D.Min. ’21) often finds himself repeating the six words that John Wesley selected nearly 300 years ago: “How is it with your soul?”

Wesley began his Class Meetings, the original small groups of the early Methodist church, with that question. Now, Clayton is using the same approach to nurture disciples at Needville United Methodist Church, a rural church south of Houston, where he currently serves as pastor. Inspired by Wesley’s Class Meetings, each small group gathering begins with sharing about the state of participants’ souls.

“They talk openly and honestly about what’s going on in their lives,” Clayton said. “There’s nothing the class doesn’t touch. There’s nothing they don’t all talk about. And it all stays in that room.”

These small groups at Needville were recently featured in an article on the Texas Annual Conference website, “A Time for Honest Conversation.” Susan Roehs at The Disciple Maker blog has written about the program as well, in a post called “The Class Meeting for Modern Times.” And much of the groundwork for those small groups was laid at Perkins as Clayton earned his Doctor of Ministry degree.

Call to Ministry

Clayton’s call to ministry came during his college years at The University of Texas at Austin, where he was a political science major with plans to become an attorney.

“Being a pastor was not part of my original plan,” he said. “I grew up in a United Methodist church. I loved church and knew it would always be a big part of my life.” But professionally, his focus was the law, with hopes of ultimately becoming a judge.

That changed during the summer between his junior and senior years. The Rev. Burt Palmer, the pastor at his home church, Bear Creek United Methodist, invited Clayton to intern that summer. Clayton said yes, thinking the internship would be a good way to earn some money while giving him time to study for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT).

“Within the first couple of weeks I fell in love with being inside the church,” he said. “I told Burt that I was feeling a calling, and he took me under his wing. I spent the summer shadowing him, on hospital visits, at meetings, everything that’s part of a pastor’s job.”

By the end of the summer, Clayton dropped his LSAT courses and decided to begin the path toward ordination in the United Methodist Church.

Earning a Master of Divinity at Drew Theological School was next.  There, while interning at the United Methodist Archives and History Center, Clayton became intrigued with Wesley’s Class Meetings.

“We had all this history at our fingertips in the archives, and we were trained on how to work with it and handle it,” he said. “Most of my job involved menial tasks, but I also got to walk through the stacks. I actually got to handle some of the original letters that Wesley wrote and to touch Asbury’s saddlebags.”

Reading the diaries of John Wesley and other original pastors of the Methodist movement intrigued Clayton.

“I witnessed how transformative Methodism really was in that time,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking about what it could do in the modern-day church. Mostly I was just curious.”

That began to change after graduation, when Clayton became associate pastor at Livingston United Methodist in southeast Texas, in charge of small group ministry. He observed that traditional Sunday school classes and Bible study programs weren’t bringing in new members or transforming hearts.

“Sunday school classes were a way of building more Pharisees than disciples,” he said. “That’s not necessarily a negative thing.  But I realized that the small group was a way to build deep and lasting relationships through accountability. That’s the goal of practical discipleship.”

Doctoral Dissertation

The chance to explore Class Meetings more deeply came when Clayton enrolled in the D. Min. program at Perkins. One of his first classes was “Ecclesiology, Community and Models of Leadership” with Dr. Mark Stamm; that rekindled his love of the Class Meeting. He decided to focus his dissertation on Class Meetings and presented an outline to Dr. Ted Campbell.

“I’ll never forget the first time I talked with him about it,” he said. “I had been feeling very defeated. I wasn’t sure I had anything new to say. But Dr. Campbell was encouraging and showed me two areas where he felt I was on to something new.” That included Clayton’s ideas of exploring similarities between Wesley’s Class Meetings and secular small group programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Valor, a small group program for members of the military.

“If it can work in the secular world and produce incredible results, with narcotics abusers getting better and military folks being able to comprehend how to better live their lives, we can definitely bring that back into the church to help us make better disciples,” he said.

Ultimately, Clayton wrote his dissertation on “The Modern Wesley Class Meeting: Bringing Accountability, Practical Faith and Personal Connection into Established Local Congregations.”

Clayton also praised Dr. Billy Abraham, who was the second reader for Clayton’s dissertation. (“I had many conversations with him and loved talking with him”) as well as the D. Min. program director, Dr. James Lee, who stepped in after Abraham passed away.

“In all of my higher education experiences, I don’t think I’ve met a director as open to students as Dr. Lee,” he said. “He was always so approachable and knowledgeable, and he was so helpful in the process.”

Today, Clayton is putting his dissertation into practice at Needville UMC. He’s seeing church members becoming more connected, growing in their faith and becoming more committed as disciples as a result of that community.

“The class, which has been meeting for almost two years now, has added to its original number and has helped me to create the next round of classes by giving testimony in a Sunday morning church service,” he said.

Clayton is hopeful about the potential for small groups — today’s incarnation of Wesley’s powerful Class Meetings — in increasingly disconnected and polarized communities.

“I see neighbors who don’t know each other and communities inside of large churches who don’t know 50 percent or more of their congregations,” he said. “But I believe we can rebuild the community, and it starts with small groups.”

Pulitzer Nomination for Recinos 

Harold Recinos’ new book, The Days You Bring (Resource Publications, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers; 2022), was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in poetry and has been officially accepted by the Pulitzer board. The winner in the category will be announced next spring. Recinos will publish another volume of poetry, The Looking Glass: Far and Near, next spring. “For me, this craft of poetry is graffiti on public culture saturated with the mixed feelings of truth that originate in the permanent Spanglish knot in my throat,” he said. Recinos is Professor of Church and Society.

 Article Published on The Conversation

An article by James Lee, “The ‘fathers of the church’ died around 1,500 years ago, but these ancient leaders still influence Christianity today” has been published on The Conversation blog. Lee discussed the criteria used to distinguish fathers of the church: orthodox or right theological teachings; the holiness of their life; the church’s recognition of them and their teaching; and antiquity, meaning they lived during the early Christian era that ended around the seventh or eighth century. Lee added that modern scholarship has also drawn attention to the important influence of women on the church during the age of the fathers. “Today, church leaders continue to rely upon the fathers’ teachings as authoritative sources of wisdom,” Lee wrote. “History has shown that Christians frequently disagree on matters of doctrine, and they always will. In those moments, future leaders may look to the fathers as sure-footed spiritual guides.” Lee is Associate Professor of the History of Early Christianity, Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program and Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor. Read the blog post here.

Priscilla Pope-Levison Honored by Archives & History  

Dr. Priscilla Pope-Levison was named the 2022 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award by the General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH) at the agency’s annual meeting on September 15. Each year, the GCAH gives this distinguished service award to a person who has made significant academic contributions to the “ministry of memory” of The United Methodist Church, according to Dr. Ashley Boggan, Archives & History general secretary. Boggan noted Pope-Levison’s ground-breaking research into the lives of the denomination’s pioneers, especially women in evangelism. Pope-Levison is the author of numerous books, including Models of Evangelism; Building the Old Time Religion: Women Evangelists in the Progressive Era; and Sex, Gender and Christianity, which she edited with John R. Levison.

New Book by Robin Lovin

Robin W. Lovin’s new book, WHAT DO WE DO WHEN NOBODY IS LISTENING? Leading the Church in a Polarized Society was reviewed by Robert D. Cornwall on his Word & Way blog.  Writes Cornwall: “We can withdraw and let polarization continue on unchallenged by people of faith. We can join the teams and let the teams use us for their own purposes. Or we can choose to take up space and work toward the common good. I would choose the latter, and I believe Lovin provides us with some of the tools we need to pursue that course of action.”  Read the review here. Lovin served as the William H. Scheide Senior Fellow in Theology at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, N.J. as well as the Cary Maguire University Professor of Ethics at SMU and dean of Perkins School of Theology. He is the author of several books dealing with Christian ethics.

Christ’s Foundry UMC Honored

Christ’s Foundry United Methodist Mission (La Fundición de Cristo) in northwest Dallas received special recognition on Sept. 21 from Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and the Dallas City Council for the church’s community outreach and assistance during COVID-19. The Rev. Amy D. Spaur (M.Div. ‘14), the church’s Lead Pastor and Missionary, expressed gratitude for the support of Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Omar Narvaez and his office for their partnership and support.

Justin Barringer Named Theologian-in-Residence

Justin Barringer (D.Min. ‘21) was recently featured in a story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about his new post as pastor of community engagement and theologian-in-residence at Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock. While in Dallas, he served as director of neighborhood initiatives and social outreach at Owenwood Farm and Neighborhood Space, White Rock United Methodist Church’s outreach campus. He and his wife, Rachel, also launched Diapers, Etc., a diaper and hygiene pantry that has provided nearly one million diapers to needy North Texas families. Barringer’s doctoral work focused on religious ethics, with his dissertation titled “Protest and Politics: A Biographical Theology of Bayard Rustin, Friendship, Charity, and Economic Justice.”

Alum Book Wins Award

Dr. James E. Woods (M.T.S. ’11, D.Min. ‘18), an adjunct member of the Spiritual Formation faculty, has received a Catholic Media Association third-place prize in the category of Mysticism for his book Putting on the Mind of Christ: Contemplative Prayer and Holistic Unity, Orbis Books, 2021.  The book is a revised version of Woods’ D.Min. dissertation; Ruben Habito wrote the Foreword. In addition to serving as Spiritual Formation Faculty (adjunct), Woods is also on the regular faculty team of the Spiritual Direction Certification program in the Office of External Programs.

Book Launch

The Rev. Mary Beth Taylor (M.Div. ‘11) has published a new book, Everything You Didn’t Learn in Church: A Guide to Sexuality & Relationships, a guide on sexuality and relationships aimed to guide readers through a process of self-discovery, forgiveness, transformation and healing. Biblical scripture, prayers, questions and meditations are included in each chapter. “Spirituality and sexuality don’t need to be separated and sexuality doesn’t need to be taboo,” Taylor said in a Facebook post. “We can talk about both, and we can grow and learn by doing so.” In reviewing the book, author Dr. Denise Nicholson said, “Mary Beth Taylor’s debut memoir is a modern American tale that depicts the ache of abandonment from the church, the perils of spiritual conflict, the longing for acceptance in the church, and the deep desire to love freely and be spiritually connected.” Taylor currently serves as interim pastor at Elizabeth United Methodist Church in Elizabeth, Colo.

Obit: Bishop John Russell

Bishop John William Russell (Th.M. ‘52), a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, died on September 2 at the Reunion Court of the Woodlands, Texas. He was 96. After serving relatively smaller churches, Dr. Russell spent 20 years as pastor of some of United Methodism’s largest congregations (Village Church, Oklahoma City; First Church, Enid; Boston Avenue, Tulsa), with an interim appointment as District Superintendent of the Tulsa District. In 1988, he became the first episcopal leader of the newly formed Central Texas Conference. He was a member of the General Council on Finance and Administration and the Board of Trustees for Southern Methodist University. Russell was a World War II veteran. He and his late wife, Mary Jean, were married for 71 years. Read this story from J. Vance Morton on the bishop’s long, fruitful life and ministry. Funeral services took place September 9 at the First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth. Donations may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, or the charity of your choice, in memory of John William Russell. 

Obit: Daniel Soliz  

Daniel Soliz (M.Div. ‘22) age 59, of Whitney, Texas, passed away August 15 in Dallas. A memorial service took place August 24 at First United Methodist Church Duncanville in Duncanville, Texas.

 

 

Obit: The Rev. Dr. Kenneth R. Reed

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth R. Reed (Th.M. ‘55) died in Baton Rouge, La., on August 30 at the age of 90. Reed served 68 years under appointment in the United Methodist Church. He served churches in the Central Texas, North Texas and Louisiana conferences as a pastor and, later, as District Superintendent. In 1990, he became President/CEO of the United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana, from which he retired from active ministry in 1998.  Reed was a 30-year veteran of the National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve. Services were held September 3 at Broadmoor United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge, La.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana or Broadmoor United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge. Read Reed’s obituary here.

Obit: The Rev. Tommy Bergeron 

The Rev. Tommy R. Bergeron, Sr. (Th.M. ‘63) died September 14 at his home in Summerfield Senior Living Community in Slidell, Louisiana, at the age of 84. Bergeron was an ordained United Methodist minister who faithfully served at churches across southern Louisiana for nearly 40 years before his retirement in 2001. Upon retirement, Tommy returned to ministry serving Live Oak Church in Denham Springs, La., until 2021. He was an active Rotarian and community leader, and during retirement, could often be found telling Cajun stories or playing Santa Claus. His children’s ministry, using hand puppets, was adored by everyone.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Rev TR Bergeron Memorial Scholarship Fund at Centenary College of Louisiana, 2911 Centenary Blvd, Shreveport, LA 71104 or online at www.centenary.edu/give.

Read Bergeron’s obituary here.