In our time together we’ll be reflecting on the value and variety of personal stories and how to make them a gift to those you love, to a congregation or small community, to others who may need what you have to share, or to a public you may never know. Knowing how and when to …
View course details “Personal Stories and the Purposes They Serve”

This conference is a response to the alarm that has been sounded by many Christian scholars over the past few years that the Old Testament has become “a discredited, and therefore disused book.” Today, even Christians that want to affirm the Old Testament often struggle to know what to do with it. But things have …
View course details “Common Roots : Ancient Evangelical Future Conference”

On May 22, 1723, J.S. Bach moved to Leipzig to take up a posting as director of music at St. Thomas Church, beginning 27 years of vigorous musical output in that city. Over that time, Bach composed, performed, and directed some of the most famous sacred music in the western tradition. Through it all, the …
View course details “The Fifth Evangelist: The Sacred Repertoire of J.S. Bach”

To be able to laugh, to have humor and to be foolish are all tremendous forms of resistance, of showing love/compassion and affirming life in a time where depression, anger, sadness and disasters are mounting. This course follows a Christian Russian tradition called Sacred Fools and intends to be a practical-theoretical way of engaging humor, …
View course details “Humor, Laughter, Foolishness: Performing Love, Resilience and Resistance”

This is a hands-on preaching and digital ministry course for new preachers. Learn to preach from the ground up comfortable in the pulpit and online. This will NOT be manuscript preaching! We will practice a conversational, video-friendly, note-free sharing of Good News. Preachers will learn to: Use the ‘Triangle Preaching Process’ – Scripture, situation, self. …
View course details “Practical Preaching in the Digital Age”

”Preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” With apologies to Karl Barth, in today’s church and world you should have your phone in the other hand! This course is for experienced preachers who are ready to ditch the manuscript – and the academic style of preaching from the 20th …
View course details “Get to the Good News”

All current programs and all upcoming courses should be listed on the web page indicated here.  

“Preaching Hope for a Weary World” is the Festival’s response to the hardships and heaviness that have been our reality the last few years. From a pandemic, to protests, to politics, and polarization; from wars, to gun violence, and climate change catastrophes, what is our call to preach? Hope. Surprisingly, in looking back over Festival …
View course details “Festival of Homiletics: Preaching Hope for a Weary World”

This course builds on the exegetical methods established in BIBL 503, using Paul’s epistle to the Philippians as a living lab for further exposure to the methods and tools of New Testament exegesis, particularly those tools and methods relevant to the study of New Testament letters. In the course of study, we want not only …
View course details “Advanced New Testament Exegesis”

This course aims to further student competence in the interpretation of the texts of the Old Testament. It presupposes knowledge of the basic steps of exegesis (as introduced in BIBL 503) and a growing awareness of the history of criticism (BIBL 600). It also presupposes a sound grasp of elementary Hebrew and a desire to …
View course details “Advanced Old Testament Exegesis”