Webinars

• Each month we will have the opportunity to watch 2 recorded webinars.    
• Each webinar lasts for 1-2 hours.  
• Watch on your own time, at your own pace.  
• Links to the webinars will be available at the beginning of the month.  These will be emailed to you after you register (see below).  If you cannot access the webinars via the Internet and could watch them on DVD, please indicate that in your registration.
• We will gather via Zoom on the First Monday of the following month for discussion. 

Empowering the Laity to Care for Pastors

Presenter: Rev. Greg Alexander

Pastors and their families are human, too! They have the same realities to deal with in their lives as do the members of their congregation. This webinar will explore healthy and unique ways laity can help meet the needs of their pastors.

The Rev. Greg Alexander is the General Minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Kentucky. He has been working with congregations and pastors as a member of the CCK staff  for over 25 years and brings that experience to this webinar. In addition, he is an adjunct faculty member of Lexington Theological Seminary as an instructor in Congregational Systems.

Using Congregational Assets to Strengthen Community

Presenter:  Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser

Does your congregation have a building that sits empty most of the year? Do you have a large plot of land around the church? Are there local leaders, key influencers and great storytellers in your congregation? Do you have cooks, seamstresses, contractors and grandmothers? This webinar intends to help pastors and lay leaders explore the ways the various assets of their congregations could be put to more intentional missional use. We will consider charity and volunteer work and also think of systemic changes congregations can support through grassroots coalition building, policy and structural change and racial reconciliation. 

Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser is the Robert G. Culp Jr. Director of Service Learning and Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy at High Point University. He is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He joined the HPU faculty in 2011 after teaching at the University of Chicago and DePaul University. He primarily teaches Business Ethics, Educational Ethics, Christian Theology and Civic Responsibility and Social Innovation. 

Discuss these webinars via Zoom on Monday, October 5 at 7 pm.  A link/call-in number for this discussion will be sent to you during the last week of September.

Ask a Rabbi
Presenter: Rabbi Moshe Smolkin
The Torah emphasizes the importance of asking questions. It provides us with sample questions our children might ask and offers us possible responses depending on how the question is asked and on who is asking the question. Asking questions is essential in Judaism, and we encourage our children to ask questions from a young age. Questions allow us a chance to understand a subject in new ways and from multiple perspectives. This is imperative if we are to deepen our understanding of the Holy Blessed One, of Torah, and of each other. This webinar is a chance for you to ask your questions.

Rabbi Moshe Smolkin is in his 10th year as the rabbi of Ohavay Zion Synagogue in Lexington, Ky. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Brandeis University and a M.A.T. in Mathematics  Education from Tufts University. He taught high school math before attending the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at American Jewish University in Los Angeles, where he interned as an  interfaith chaplain at UCLA Hospital. He also spent a year learning in Jerusalem. During the last two years of rabbinical school, he interned at Mishkon Tephilo in Venice, California. He was  ordained in 2009 and moved to Lexington with his wife, Talia.

Your Money and Your Life: Stories of Stewardship

Presenter:  Rev. Cindy Maybeck

Do you dread the liturgical season of stewardship in your church? What if our approach to money was as fun, humorous and loving as the telling of a favorite Bible story? As we share biblical and personal stories about money, we move from dread to joy, from fear to trust, from a view of scarcity to one of abundance. Learn how to bring this spirit of creativity and joy into your church, creating community on the way. 

Rev. Cindy Maybeck, founder of Spirit Story Ministry (www.cindymaybeck.com), has over three decades of experience in the pulpit. She served as pastor of multi-denominational congregations related to the American Baptist Churches USA, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ. An accomplished teacher and engaging preacher, she tells biblical stories by heart and leaves people transfixed and inspired by her personal stories. 

Discuss these webinars via Zoom on Monday, November 2 at 7 pm.  A link/call-in number for this discussion will be sent to you during the last week of October. 

Imagining a New World
Rev. Teresa Hord Owens
In these unprecedented times, more than ever, we must have the courage to imagine a new church for a new world.  We must give ourselves permission to change and live in freedom from fear.

November 7, 2020 | 1:30-3:30 p.m. EST  Watch our General Minister & President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) LIVE via Zoom on this day (a link will be emailed to you) OR receive a link to this recorded webinar the following week.

Rev. Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens is the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  She has served as a former Dean of students at the University of Chicago and has more than 20 years of experience leading diverse teams in corporate America.

The Local Church & Social Justice: Bringing Church to the Streets

Presenters:  Rev. Dr. Don Gillett and Rev. Megan Huston

When ministers are at their best, they are preachers, organizers and chaplains, but balancing these roles can be challenging, especially in the midst of our current political divide. Rev. Dr. Don Gillett and Rev. Megan Huston spent two years working together as clergy leaders for Kentucky’s Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. They will share stories and best practices about navigating the difficult path of balancing the pastoral and the prophetic. During this webinar, participants will be invited to ask questions and explore what it means to be called as a pastor or lay leader to live into the ministry of loving God and neighbor. 

Rev. Megan Huston is in her 11th year of congregational ministry and is currently serving in her sixth year as Senior Minister of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Bowling Green, Ky. She also serves as a TriChair for the Kentucky Poor People’s Campaign. 

Rev. Dr. Donald K. Gillett II is the Senior Pastor at East Second Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lexington, Ky., where he has served since July 1999. He is the Executive Director of the Kentucky Council of Churches. He also serves as a Tri-Chair of the Kentucky Poor People’s Campaign. 

Discuss these webinars via Zoom on Monday, December 7 at 7 pm.  A link/call-in number for this discussion will be sent to you during the last week of November.