Nourishing
the Preaching Life
A Fellowship of Preachers
Saturday, October 19, 2024
10:00 am - 3:30 pM
Doors open at 9:30am
St. JOhn's Episcopal Church
1458 Locust Street
Dubuque, Iowa
Lunch Provided.
Suggested donation: $15
Growth. Encouragement.
Fellowship.
A Fellowship of Preachers offers a day of worship, learning, and fellowship with six experienced preachers, representing four Christian traditions.
Whether you preach regularly or are just getting started, this day will deepen your understanding of preaching and nourish your spiritual life.
Schedule
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2024
ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, DUBUQUE
Morning
9:30 am Check-In, Registration & Refreshments
10:00 am Welcome & Worship
Rev. Dr. Kevin Goodrich OP, preaching
10:30 am Workshops
11:45 am Lunch
Afternoon
12:30 pm Workshops
1:45 pm Panel Discussion
2:45 pm Closing Worship
Rev. Dr. Beth McCaw, preaching
Preachers for Worship
rev. dr. kevin goodrich, O.P.
Father Goodrich is a vowed friar in the Anglican Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans, a religious order in The Episcopal Church and wider Anglican Communion. He serves as the Pastor of St. John’s Church in Dubuque. He also teaches in the local pastor and Doctor of Ministry programs at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.
The Dominicans have a long tradition of itinerant preaching. Father Goodrich has preached in rural, suburban, and urban congregations across the Western world. He is a trained spiritual director and holds doctoral degrees in spirituality (DMin) and theology (PhD). He is the author and editor of several works, including: The Greatest Desire: Daily Readings with Walter Hilton (DLT, 2023).
rev. Dr. Beth McCaw
Dr. McCaw serves as associate professor of ministry at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, as dean of the seminary and vice president of the University. She began her faithful service to UDTS nearly 20 years ago in 2004 when she was called as pastor to students and assistant professor of ministry. She was promoted to associate professor of ministry in 2017. Since then, she has taught ministry with special attention given to caregiving, mission, and congregational life. She also serves on the Wendt Character Initiative's Advisory Board. She received the 2020 William L. Lomax Award for Excellence in Teaching and Advising. Recently, she was a major author on a proposal that received $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish Plentiful Gifts: Nourishing Members for the Flourishing of Small Member Congregations.
Preaching Workshops
MORNING
Inviting People Into Scripture: Centering Scripture in Preaching in Invitational Ways
Rev. Dr. Troy Troftgruben
This workshop will talk about the significance of putting the story of scripture at the center of our preaching, not only to inform and address people in an age of decreased biblical literacy, but even more because the stories of scripture matter to faithful preaching. The workshop will entertain conversation about reading and enjoying scripture as a habit for preachers, strategies for dwelling in and engaging scripture as part of sermon writing, retelling biblical stories in sermons in engaging ways, and keeping scripture at the center of our preaching work.
“What do I do with my hands?!” Embodiment and “Delivery” in Preaching
Dr. Samantha Gilmore
This workshop will explore a theology and practice of embodiment and “delivery” in preaching. (“Delivery” is in quotes because the workshop leader doesn’t love the one-way street this term suggests. But she hasn’t found another term that doesn’t come with its own baggage. Suggestions welcome!) Participants can expect a combination of discussion and experiential learning.
AFTERNOON
“Worms” Eye View: Preaching Marginal Texts of the Old Testament Faithfully
Rev. Dr. Helen Chukka
This workshop will examine challenging texts from the Old Testament that are used knowingly or unknowingly to perpetuate a rhetoric of hatred and difference.
New Life in the Psalms
Rev. Dr. Timothy Slemmons
Sit with these 'songs of the Spirit,' read them as a unit, and you will soon find the vitality they offer both breathtaking and endlessly inspiring. All the great theologians have recognized the utter uniqueness of this central and largest book of the Bible and testified to the incomparable gifts it bears for the life, faith, health, and growth of the church. With a view to planning worship and preaching, this workshop will rekindle your love for and wonder at the Psalms.
Workshop Leaders
rev. dr. troy Troftgruben
Troy serves as Associate Professor of New Testament at Wartburg Theological Seminary, where he has taught since 2013. Before that, he served for five years as a pastor at Calvary Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Grand Forks, ND, and as an adjunct instructor at the University of North Dakota. A graduate of Luther Seminary (M.Div.) and Princeton Seminary (Ph.D), Troy’s areas of special focus are Luke-Acts, early church communities, and pedagogy in a digital age. He has written Bearing Witness in Acts and Today (Cascade Press: 2025), Rooted and Renewing: Imagining the Church's Future in Light of Its NT Origins (Fortress, 2019), and various articles in Journal of Biblical Literature, Currents in Theology & Mission, Lutheran Forum, Word & World, and The Wabash Journal of Teaching. Troy has assisted with preaching courses at Wartburg Theological Seminary since 2022 and is a regular contributor to Augsburg's Sundays and Seasons: Preaching and Working Preacher. By vocation, he sees himself as a pastor with a specialized call: the spiritual formation of church leaders. He is married to Maria, and together they have two children in high school. On Sabbath time, Troy enjoys biking, playing and listening to music, and practicing the discipline of hope by following Minnesota sports teams and the Chicago Cubs.
Dr. Samantha gilmore
Dr. Gilmore is the Assistant Professor of Homiletics at Wartburg Theological Seminary. She previously taught homiletics at the General Theological Seminary (New York, NY) and speech communication in ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary (Princeton, NJ). She holds a Ph.D. in Practical Theology focusing on Homiletics, an M.Div., and an M.A. in Christian Education focusing on Spirituality and Missional Formation from Princeton Theological Seminary. As a Designated Linklater Teacher (an internationally recognized embodied voice method), Samantha taught voice and speech at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, and the Tom Todoroff Studio (New York, NY). She is developing fruitful relationships between theater and preaching to help preachers find their voices for embodied proclamation that corresponds to the freedom and abundance of the gospel. In her spare time, Samantha enjoys the sounds and smells of rain, cooking and eating new (vegan) recipes, scouting out the best coffee shops in town, and taking lazy walks with her husband Lance and their dog Driscoll.
Rev. Dr. Helen chukka
Helen Chukka serves as an Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible at Warburg Theological Seminary.
She earned her Ph.D. in Old Testament from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. She hails from Andhra Pradesh, India, and is an ordained minister of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church. Hailing from a diverse linguistic, religious, and cultural context, Helen developed a passion for engaging scripture from the margins and proclaiming the gospel of Christ faithfully. Her area of interest includes intersectionality of gender, caste, class, and race.
REv. Dr. Timothy Slemmons
Timothy Matthew Slemmons is Professor of Homiletics and Worship and Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.
A Presbyterian Minister, Tim has written and published across a number of genres. His publications include Groans of the Spirit: Homiletical Dialectics in an Age of Confusion (2010); Year D: A Quadrennial Supplement to the Revised Common Lectionary (2012); The Freedom of Christ: Sermons on Galatians (2015), Our Father Knows: The Prayer that Jesus Taught (2016), The Good Confession (2020), A Short Course in Preaching (2023), and A Short Course in Reformed Worship (2024). As translator, his Works of Oecolampadius series (B&N Press) now extends to four volumes, the latest being "You Have the Pound": Exhortation to Read the Holy Scriptures and Other Prefaces, Discourses, and Correspondence from 1524.
Sponsors
Contact Information
Physical Address
Email Address
office@stjohnsdbq.org
Phone Number
(563) 556-0252
For over 175 years, people in and around Dubuque have called St. John’s their spiritual home. Founded by the famous missionary, Bishop Jackson Kemper, and a group of pioneers, the first services were held in private homes, the courthouse, and even a saloon!
The current church building dates back to 1875.
At St. John's, doubts are okay, questions are welcome. Please come as you are!
