SMU MINISTERS WEEK TO FOCUS ON URBANIZATION OF SOCIETY FEB. 4-6

DALLAS (SMU) -- Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology will hold its annual Ministers Week Feb. 4-6 in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center, 3140 Dyer St. More than 400 pastors from across the nation are expected to attend three days of lectures and workshops exploring topics such as urbanization of society, prophetic preaching, and the power of faith communities.

Among the speakers for Ministers Week is Sojourners magazine Editor Jim Wallis. The convener of Call to Renewal, a national federation of churches, denominations and faith-based organizations working to overcome poverty, Wallis offers regular commentary and analysis for radio and television and teaches a course on faith, politics and society at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He wrote Faith Works: Lessons from the Life of an Activist Preacher (2001), The Soul of Politics (1994) and Who Speaks for God: A New Politics of Compassion, Community and Civility (1996). Wallis will present the Fondren Lectures:

• “Tapping the Power of Faith Communities,” at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5.
• “Find New Allies and Search for Common Ground,” at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Participants may pre-register before Jan. 21. Cost is $150 for individuals, $75 for spouse, $50 each for retired pastors and $40 each for retired pastor’s spouses.

Other speakers also will present at Perkins’ 2002 Ministers Week.

• Teresa L. Fry Brown, assistant professor of homiletics at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, will deliver the Peyton Lecture, “Prophetic Preaching for Such a Time as This,” at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6. Brown researches African-American and feminist styles of preaching, sociology, feminist ethics and history of African-American spiritual values. Her writings include God Don’t Like Ugly: African-American Women Handing On Spiritual Values.
• Ernesto J. Cortés, Southwest Regional Director of Industrial Areas Foundation, a non-profit organization that networks community-based organizations committed to revitalizing local democracies, will deliver the Barton Lecture, “An Evening with Ernesto Cortés,” at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5. Cortés has dedicated his life to public service by working to make government more responsive to the poor and politically disenfranchised by helping ordinary people develop the competence, confidence and leadership to participate in the affairs of their local governments. He has become an international model of leadership to solve social problems through local self-help.
• Ched Meyers, co-director of the Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries in Los Angeles, who will present the Jackson Lecture, “Regard(en)ing the City: Biblical Apprehensions of Urbanism, from the Curse of Joshua to the Vision of John,” at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5.
• Harold J. Recinos, professor of church and society at Perkins School of Theology, will present the Perkins Faculty Lecture, “Urban Ministry in the American City: National Identity, Difference and the Gospel in the Public Square,” at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6. Recinos served a Latino parish on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and has written Hear the Cry! A Latino Pastor Challenges the Church, Who Comes in the Name of the Lord? Jesus At the Margins, and Jesus Weeps: Global Encounters on our Doorsteps. Recinos will join the Perkins faculty in January 2002 from Wesley Theological Seminary where he is professor of theology, culture and urban ministry.
• Amy L. Sherman, senior fellow of the Welfare Policy Center at the Hudson Institute in Charlottesville, Va. will give the Martin Lecture, “Restoring Hope: The Church as Community Asset” at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5. Sherman is author of several books including Restorers of Hope: Reaching the Poor in Your Community with Church-based Ministries That Work. She was named in 1996 one of the Top 50 Evangelical Leaders under 40 by Christianity Today magazine.

For more information on Ministers’ Week, contact the Perkins Office of Continuing at Education (214) 768-3515.