Center for Action and Contemplation

Seasons of Service with Rev. Dr. Zina Jacque
In God's wisdom all of the natural world undergoes a pattern of seasons.  And, though they may vary from place to place in duration and intensity; by God's design and according to a calendar only Divinity controls, seasons always come and go.  Not unlike the natural world each of us undergoes a pattern of seasons.  This session will consider what it means to be in a particular season of life in our work for justice and how we might cooperate with God and make the most of the seasons and times of our lives. 

Rev. Dr. Zina Jacque has spent the last 30 years working for those who have been denied access to educational and health care opportunities.  For almost two decades, with a focus on first generation students, Dr. Jacque worked in the field of higher education; leading admission, financial aid, and student affairs offices for many of the nations top universities.  For the past ten years she has focused on the needs of youth at risk for destructive behavior and the availability and delivery of mental health care to economically disadvantaged communities.  Currently, her energy is focused on a new assignment as the senior pastor of the Community Church of Barrington in Illinois

Bringing the ministry of the church outside the church walls with Dan Franz

How can we discern what God is calling our specific congregation to do in service to the poor? How can our church build a bridge of friendship with people from diverse backgrounds who may be outside our comfort zone? What are safe and appropriate boundaries in ministry that are healthy for our congregations and, at the same time, authentically honor the dignity of our friends in the community that we’re serving? Is it possible for our congregations to connect deeply with Christ as we come alongside him in his ministry to the poor, and what can this mean to us as a church? In this workshop we’ll be looking at ways that our congregations can “build a bridge of friendship, and let Jesus walk over it”.

Dan Franz is a pastor on staff at Vineyard Church of Columbus, and has overseen their urban and mercy ministry for the past 8 years. This has included a free medical clinic and food pantry, several outreaches to the homeless community, prison ministry, senior ministry, and other outreaches. Dan also served as a registered nurse at Children’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., for several years, and was involved in church outreach in Brooklyn, N.Y. for 2 years. He is grateful to be married to his wife Carol, and for his 4 children, 10 grandchildren, and his good dog.

Home: A Safe Place For Growing Up with Lynne Hybels
In this interactive session, we will explore ideas for creating a family space where kids can discover who they are, search authentically for God, and capture a vision for meaningful engagement with the world. We will consider the values of kids’ little rebellions and the challenges of letting go, as well as the difference between managing our kids and building relationships of mutual respect. We will focus not on shaping up our kids, but on being ruthlessly honest about what it means to stay in shape for parenting.

Lynne Hybels joined her husband, Bill, in ministering to high school students before starting Willow Creek Community Church in 1975.  She is the author of Nice Girls Don’t Change the World and coauthor of Rediscovering Church and Fit to Be Tied. For years Lynne has been involved in Willow Creek's ministry partnerships in Latin America and Africa. She recently collaborated with the Willow Creek Association to develop Hope and Action – a DVD and participants guide that introduces churches and small groups to first steps they can take to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Lynne and Bill have two adult children, Todd and Shauna, one son-in-law, Aaron Niequist, and one grandbaby extraordinaire, Henry.

Congregation-Based Community Organizing: Public, Powerful and Provocative with Rev. Dr. M. Bruce McKay

This workshop will introduce congregation-based community organizing as a powerful vehicle for projecting faithful values into the public arena, helping you to win on issues that flow out of the self-interest of congregants, develop trained lay leadership, strengthen your local congregation, and move toward a national justice agenda.  Key concepts and tools such as power, self-interest, agitation, and one-to-one conversations will be touched upon in this introductory overview.  The work of Northeast Ohio Organizing Alliance for Hope (NOAH) will be highlighted.  Stories will be shared from the experience of the presenters and the workshop will be interactive.

Rev. Dr. M. Bruce McKay has been the pastor of Pilgrim-St. Luke’s United Church of Christ in Buffalo, NY for the last 18 years.  For the prior 10 years he served the Church of the Living Hope in East Harlem.  He is the founding President and current Co-President of VOICE-Buffalo, an affiliate of the Gamaliel Foundation.  He has been on the national staff of the Gamaliel Foundation for 7 years and is the founding organizer for Lockport-Area VOICE and the Niagara Organizing Alliance for Hope (NOAH), in Niagara County, NY.  Rev. McKay is the liaison for the Gamaliel Foundation in its partnership with Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Prophetic Advocacy 101 with Virginia Lohmann Bauman and Adam Russell Taylor
This session equips those who are committed to meeting the needs of the less fortunate to offer a collective voice and witness.  The session is grounded on a framework of understanding that biblical faith and spirituality are relevant to social and political engagement.  Designed to help local leaders draw strength from their Christian identity, this session provides training to help participants become effective advocates at the local, state, and federal levels of government. In this session of Prophetic Advocacy 101 participants will learn skills and strategies for turning a vision of hope into political reality for the poorest of our communities.  Special attention is paid to the unique assets and opportunities faith-based advocates have - and how those should help them speak to lawmakers with a credible voice.

Virginia Lohmann Bauman is the Ohio Field Organizer for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.  She recently earned her Masters of Divinity degree from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, where she was awarded the Ronald L. Williams Book Prize in Theology and Ethics, the Howard E. Large Book Award for Christian Activism, and the Interpretation Award for Biblical and Theological Studies.  Ms. Lohmann Bauman is an ordination candidate in the American Baptist Churches USA. Ministry is a second career for Ms. Lohmann Bauman.  She had a successful career as a trial lawyer and mediator before entering seminary.  She is a Fellow of the Ohio State Bar Foundation and of the Columbus Bar Foundation.  She recently ended an eight year term on the Board of Trustees of the Legal Aid Society of Columbus, and she presently serves on the Board of Trustees of the United Methodist Children’s Home and on the Advisory Council for the Gault Center for Christian Leadership. 

Adam Russell Taylor currently serves as the Senior Director of Campaigns and Organizing at Sojourners. He formerly served as the Executive Director of Global Justice, an organization that educates, trains, and mobilizes students around issues of global human rights and economic justice. Before co-founding Global Justice, Taylor worked as an Associate at the Harvard University Carr Center for Human Rights. Taylor earned a Masters degree in Public Policy from the JFK School of Government, Harvard University (2001) and a BA from Emory University (1998) in international studies. Taylor served as the co-chair of the Jubilee U.S.A. Network and now serves on the Advisory Board of the Global Interdependence Initiative. Taylor is an Associate Minister at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington DC where Dr. Wallace Charles Smith serves as Senior Pastor

Finding your Voice with Judy Bierbaum

“I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue.” – Exodus 4:10

Even Moses wanted someone else to do the talking! Judy Bierbaum shares her story of how – through prayer and social action – she discovered a voice within that she didn’t think was possible.  Listen to her story and passionate journey of how by God’s grace she moved from fear to trust (well, maybe still some fear), and uses that voice to be an advocate for those who often go unheard.

About the presenter: 
Judy is a psychotherapist who currently works in a school-based mental health clinic.  She has worked with children and adolescents in the areas of trauma and sexual abuse for the majority of her professional career. Bierbaum and Keith, her husband of 30 years, have traveled and volunteered throughout Latin America and Asia.  It was Bierbaum’s early experience in Calcutta, India, working with Mother Theresa that awakened her passion for peace, justice, and the practice of nonviolence. She has given workshops on the practice of nonviolence and the effects of trauma in numerous places, including the United States, Colombia, Bolivia, and Thailand.  She has served two prison sentences for her part in actions of civil disobedience while protesting the U.S. Army School of the Americas.  Bierbaum enjoys outdoor activities, including mountain biking, hiking, and skiing, as a way of keeping her life in balance.

Where Have All the Prophets Gone?  With Marvin McMickle.

This interactive session is for preachers and lay leaders to think about how to reclaim the issues of justice and righteousness in our preaching and in our ministry programs. The workshop will identify the four obstacles to that goal and equip participants to respond to them so that the prophetic message can be reclaimed.

The Rev. Marvin A. McMickle, Ph.D.
Marvin A. McMickle has been serving the church of Jesus Christ as a pastor, professor and widely published author for more than 30 years.
Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1948, Dr. McMickle is a 1970 graduate of Aurora University in Illinois with a B.A. in Philosophy. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1973 and did two additional years of graduate study at Columbia University in New York. He earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey in 1983. He was awarded the Ph.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1998.

He was also awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by Aurora University in 1990.
He was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1973 at Abyssinian Baptist Church of New York City where he served as an assistant minister and later as the associate pastor from 1972-1976. He served as the pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church of Montclair, New Jersey from 1976-1986. During that time he served as President of the New Jersey Council of Churches (1984-1986) and as a member of the Montclair Board of Education (1982-1986). He also served two terms as president of the Montclair Branch of the NAACP. During those years Dr. McMickle served on the adjunct faculty at Princeton Theological Seminary, New Brunswick Theological Seminary and New York Theological Seminary.

Dr. McMickle has served as the Senior Pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio since 1987. During that time he led the church in establishing a ministry for people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. This ministry was the first of its kind in the entire country. The church also offers ministries in the areas of job training, a hunger center, three AA units, an all-day head start program, a credit union with over $2 million in assets and a tithing program in which the congregation tithes out to the community 10% of its annual income every year. He has also served as president of both the NAACP and the Urban League in Cleveland, as well as serving as president of the Shaker Heights Board of Education and as president of the Karamu House Performing Arts Center.

Dr. McMickle is the Professor of Homiletics at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio where he has served on the full-time faculty since 1996. He is the author of nine books and dozens of articles that regularly appear in professional journals and magazines. He is a Contributing Editor for The Living Pulpit. He is a featured writer for the National Baptist Voice, the quarterly journal of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. His sermons and essays regularly appear in Preaching magazine and in The African American Pulpit.
Dr. McMickle has been married to Peggy Lorraine Noble since 1975 and they have one son, Aaron who is a middle school teacher in New York City.