b'Sprunt 5SPRUNT WORSHIP LEADERRev. Dr. M. Craig BarnesIf you ask Craig Barnes howcontemporary church. There were excellent texts, he explains, but they retirement is going, he maywere meant for the 20th century. 2016 was a major dividing year, and social well talk about the 100-year- polarization after that election has only gotten worse.oldhousethatheandhisThere are also lingering theological effects from the pandemic that need wife,aninteriordesigner,to be addressed by the church. We all went online in 2020, and online boughtandarerestoring.Communion at home was authorized, he says. It wasnt wrong. We did (Its a good day if nothingit because we had to do it. But there was absolutely no theology for that. breaks.) At the same time, theReflecting on his time as pastor, teacher, and leader, he has felt a burden former president of Princetonto define pastoral identity. It used to be that everyone was really clear on TheologicalSeminaryisatwho the pastor was and what the pastors job was, he explains. Today, work responding to a lifelongpeople want an entrepreneur to turn around declining numbers, or to be a callingtohelppastorsbevoice for social justice, or to be a pied piper and get the kids back to church, pastors.or to be a strong teacher, or to train and mobilize lay leaders. If you try to It is a task that is as hard as it has been at any time in the churchs history,be all these things, you will internally combust.and his thoughts about that will figure into a book he is researching andSo thats the question for today: Exactly who is the pastor, and what do into the sermons he will deliver during the 2024 Sprunt Lectures. we want the pastor to be doing?Dr. Barnes says that during his last few years as an educator, he had a hard time finding textbooks for his courses that were relevant to the 2024 BAA TRAILBLAZERRev. Dr. Leonard L. Edloe (Th.M.18)LeonardEdloesaysbeingprofession in 2016 by being named president of the American Pharmacists namedtherecipientofAssociation Foundation.the2024BlackAlumniEdloe says he feels particularly honored because two previous recipients Association Trailblazer of theof the Trailblazer award are individuals he has long admired and knew Yearawardcaughthimbypersonally: Leontine Kelly, who was the first Black female bishop in the surprise.United Methodist Church, and Dr. Allix James, former president of Virginia It shouldnt have. His careerUnion University. has been one of service to hisWhen he remembers his time at Union Presbyterian Seminary, he thinks profession,hiscommunity,of the library and its deep resources, which he first encountered working and his church.toward his Master of Divinity. But just as quickly, he thinks of Dr. Katie The Richmond native wasGeneva Cannon, professor of Christian social ethics. Working with her awarded a Master of Theologywas an experience, he says. She was a walking bibliography. I also had fromUnionPresbyterianthe opportunity of taking a course with President Blount.Seminary in 2018. He is the founder of New Hope Fellowship in Hartfield,Most recently, Dr. Edloe has completed work on a book, Restoring the Virginia. He has also had a career as a pharmacist for more than 42 years,Glory: Breathing New Life into the Rural Black Church.owning four pharmacies in the Richmond area. He was recognized by his LUNCHEON SPEAKERRev. Lori Raible (M.Div.06)It was during Lori Raibles timetheology in a way that resists the temptation to make assumptions about as co-chair of the selectionthe way we function and organize ourselves.committeethatcalledJacqShe draws on a deep well of experience with issues of leadership. Raible Lapsley to the presidency ofreceived her M.Div. in 2006 and was part of the first graduating class on the Union Presbyterian SeminaryCharlotte campus. She was named to Unions board of trustees as a student that she felt an extraordinaryrepresentative and is now in her second term as a regular member. She levelofexcitementabouthas served on committees for academic affairs and business and finance, thefutureoftheologicalas well as co-chairing the presidential search committee, and is currently educationandabouttheworking on the presidential inaugural committee.future of Union.Raible maintains an abiding interest in supporting newly ordained Over10months,acrossministers. I think Union is the gold standard for theologically equipping the country and beyond, wepastors, and Im shameless about this, she says. When folks leave Union, had conversations with morethey are ready.than 80 individuals, says Raible, who will be the Alumni Luncheon speakerSheiscontinuingresearchintheareashedefinesasgender, during Sprunt Lectures week. I learned about the respect the churchsorganizational theory, and the church, a pursuit she plans to discuss in thought leaders have for Union and the hope they have for this school. her Sprunt Lectures Alumni Luncheon speech. We need to need to claim, Raible marries that excitement with a profound concern about how theand rearticulate, our Reformed faith in a way that moves toward innovation structures of the church are organized. It is important we express ourand growthhow we do what we say we believe.UNION PRESBYTERIAN SEMINARY Sharon & Brook'