Associate Professor of Bible Randy Willingham U~il ~ Churches When the Bible department decided to partner with Pure Heart Vision, a non-profit organization for building ministry partnerships and helping Christians dedicate their lives to God, the result was nothing less than life changing for all involved. Randy Willingham, professor of preaching and ministry, had a vision of just how important such an organization could be and played a chief role in the partnership, the result being the new Center for Spiritual Leadership (CSL). "The center began as a dream of Dr. Willingham," Bruce McLarty, vice president of spiritual life, said. "For many years, he has worked as a consultant with churches that were dealing with conflict or were simply trying to navigate the choppy waters of an elder or preacher transition. He saw the possibilities of what a center on the Harding campus could accomplish." Willingham put his experiences in church conflict resolution into practice, creating a large-scale operation through which the department could attend to the health of church congregations nationwide. "We help churches double their leadership capacity, find ministers, turn destructive conflict into positive growth ell:periences and connect [them] to resources relevant to taking the next step in their discipleship challenge," Willingham said. '1\dditionally, we develop custom workshops for churches that expose them to visions of ministry beyond their current capacities." Willingham noted that the center was not just for congregations, however; it also assisted church leaders and workers on an individual basis to meet their personal needs. "To individual Christians, we provide tools for more effective ministry and care for caregivers," Willingham said. 'We invest in both men and women as significant future voices of spiritual influence. [W"e help J ministers find churches and provide a hotline counseling service for anyone in churches who is involved in providing care to others." The CSL's projects included anything from coaching ministers to larger-scale teleconferences, allowing world class experts to speak to caregivers on relevant issues. It also provided a mentorship program and scholarships for interns interested in entering the field of church welfare and ministry. Of course, even with numerous projects on hand, Willingham already had big plans for the future of the center. "We will use new technologies [and] compile digital resources," Willingham said. '1\.n example of this would be the Flavil Yeakley Library, which is a compilation of all available research from Dr. Yeakley, d1e most often quoted Bible faculty member in Churches of Christ." With many projects currently underway and greater things yet to come, CSL members were greatly encouraged by the success of the organization and had high hopes for its future. "Vve have seen churches resolve what seemed like impossible conflicts," Willingham said. "We have seen dying churches infused with new life and individual believers turning from cynicism to true hope." McLarty agreed on the importance of the center. "The work of the CSL holds great promise," McLarty said. "There is always a tremendous need for this type of ministry." Sarah Eason Randy Willinghwn works with intern junior Kristy Soler on Sept. 23 to packaging gift bags for board members who came for the 88th annual Bible Lectureship. Soler's favorite part of working with vVillingham was getting to meet on a weekly basis with all of the other interns as they learned to efficiently work as a team. Ashel Parsons Leadership 207- <Aww=
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