My study explores the gender-based conflict exploited in three of Ellen Glasgow's novels, Phases of an Inferior Planet (1898), The Miller of Old Church (1911), and Vein of Iron (1935), each of which may be termed a "homiletic" work of prose fiction. A literary genre developed exclusively by women writers such as Glasgow in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the homiletic novel serves as a protest against the limitations of an androcentric Christian world view. / Understanding that there is a relationship between religious precepts and the construction of gender, Glasgow, in her homiletic fiction, rejects patriarchal guidelines that place women in the subordinate role of other. All three of Glasgow's homiletic novels focus on one other major, recurrent theme in homiletic fiction; that is, the polarity between the male ministers with their overly rational mind set and the women in their lives who rely on the authority of their own hearts and refuse to spiritually capitulate to a male-centered theology. All of Glasgow's ministers are intellectual rationalists who are philosophically disconnected from the women in their lives, often wives or daughters who spurn traditional Christian thinking. Thus, the authority of Glasgow's ministers in all three of her homiletic novels is undercut by the more autonomous women in their lives, women who mistrust or question androcentric authority. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-10, Section: A, page: 3959. / Major Professor: Joseph R. McElrath, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

<p> The project director developed a plan for sermon feedback to evaluate the expository preaching of the pastors of Open Arms Church (OAC), in Upstate New York. Understanding that no preacher has arrived, the project director recognized an opportunity to help the teaching pastors of OAC continue to grow as expository preachers. The project director sought to identify key sermon criteria as well as effective feedback methods OAC pastors could utilize to seek sermon improvement. </p><p> Over a period of twelve months, from January 2018 to December 2018, the project director engaged in research and interacted with preaching experts, OAC pastors, and non-pastoral OAC members to develop a feedback plan. The project director recognized biblical and theological foundations for the feedback plan through a study of key scriptures (Prov 19:20, Acts 15:1&ndash;35, Acts 18:24&ndash;28, and 1 Cor 2:1&ndash;5). By reviewing select preaching texts, the project director identified important content, structural, and delivery elements of expository sermons. He surveyed preaching literature and interviewed church leaders to discover various approaches to sermon feedback. A panel of preaching experts&mdash;Greg Heisler, Scott Pace, Stephen Rummage, and Hershael York&mdash;provided qualitative evaluations for each stage of the plan&rsquo;s development. OAC pastors and a group of OAC members also reviewed the plan for clarity and usefulness. </p><p> The project director included three documents in the final feedback plan: a list of twenty key expository sermon elements, an overview of three integrated methods for feedback, and a sermon feedback guide that evaluators could use to provide sermon critique. The project director recognized that by working in cooperation with others, he produced a better feedback plan than he would have if he had worked alone. He anticipated the continued benefit of working in collaboration with others by participating in the implementation of the project at OAC.</p><p>

<p> The project director chose to design a church revitalization partnership strategy. This strategy would enable First Baptist Church of Rockwood to assist another church in the Big Emory Baptist Association needing revitalization. The nature of the seven-step strategy provides flexibility, so the strategy can be used in a variety of ministry contexts. </p><p> Chapter one presents the purpose and nature of the ministry project. After listing the project&rsquo;s ministry and professional objectives, the project director described the project&rsquo;s ministry context, rationale, assumptions, limitations, delimitations, description, and definitions of terms. Through these descriptions, the project director explained the how and why of the project. </p><p> Chapter two addresses the biblical foundations for the ministry project. The project director details the benefits of a revitalization partnership from Ecclesiastes 4:9&ndash;12, the necessities for a revitalization partnership in Nehemiah 2:11&ndash;20, and an example of a revitalization partnership in 1 Corinthians 16:1&ndash;4. Each of these passages support the purpose for the strategy created through this ministry project. </p><p> Chapter three examines the ministry foundations for the ministry project. First, the project director discloses the historical foundation for revitalization partnerships. Next, the project director cites current authors emphasizing the need in revitalization partnerships for strong leaders and intentional planning. Finally, the project director details the seven-step structure for the project&rsquo;s strategy. </p><p> Chapter four details the course of work the project completed to accomplish the project&rsquo;s goals. The project director enumerates three phases of work. Phase one describes the people involved in the ministry project. Phase two explains the process of the ministry project. Phase three details the product of the ministry project which was validated by the expert panel and members of FBCR. </p><p> Chapter five analyzes the results of the ministry project. After presenting a summary of the project&rsquo;s seven step strategy, the project director evaluates various issues such as objectives, strengths and weaknesses, and the project&rsquo;s process. The project director then reflects on lessons learned and future implications for the project&rsquo;s strategy.</p><p>

This dissertation examines the call experience of various religious leaders as recorded in literature, and compares these to the call experiences of contemporary Southern Baptist ministers. / The analysis and comparison will be accomplished through application of a five-stage paradigm taken from Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces and Roger Walsh's Spirit of Shamanism. / Chapter One describes and compares the call experience of the shaman, the biblical prophet, and reformational literature on the call to ministry. Campbell's paradigm is applied to the specific ethnography of Black Elk as a shaman, the biblical accounts of Moses as a prophet, and the autobiographical material of Peter Young as an 18th Century minister. / Chapter Two presents a brief history of the Baptists. The historical data focuses on the development, and growth of the Colonial Baptists, the Southern Baptists, and the Florida Baptists. / Chapter Three develops further the methodology and research context of this study. It presents biographical data on the research group, and historical data on Wakulla County and the Southern Baptist churches of Wakulla County. In addition, Chapter Three provides information on the method of gathering data through ethnographic interviews. / Chapter Four presents the interview data and analyzes it in terms of the first two stages of Campbell's paradigm. These two stages incorporate the early childhood and life experiences, and the awakening and call to adventure of the ministers through their conversion and call experiences. / Chapter Five examines the ethnographic interview material for the final three stages of Campbell's paradigm dealing with religious vocation. These three stages incorporate discipline and training, culmination of the quest, and reintegration and return. / Finally, in Chapter Six the religious call experiences of the shaman, the biblical prophet, and the minister are compared within the context of Campbell's paradigm. This comparison will seek to examine how the call experiences and ministries are modeled by their respective cultural contexts. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: A, page: 2416. / Major Professor: Bruce T. Grindal. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

<p> This study investigated the manifestations of the dead mother complex in chaplains. Dead mother complex is a phrase coined by Andre Green (2005) to describe the internal psychodynamic process of a person, who, during his or her formative years, experienced psychic absence from a primary caregiver. The research focused on hospital and hospice chaplains because of their possible affinity to the complex. The research questions for this dissertation were: What are chaplains' experiences of the dead mother complex (a) in their early formation, (b) in their significant relationships, (c) in their work as chaplains, and (d) in their relationship with God? This research sought to utilize reproducible methods of data collection regarding the dead mother complex. The phenomenological format and active imagination were used to procure data. Phenomenological methods of analyzing data resulted in a description of manifestations of dead mother complex experienced by chaplains. The findings provide new specific examples of the chaplains' lived experiences useful for psychologists and psychoanalysts who have patients with the dead mother complex. The importance of the role of presence is uncovered. This research also offers insights for chaplains regarding how their inner worlds relate to their vocations. Some pertinent myths and symbols are reviewed as they relate to the complex. . </p>

<p> The purpose of the current phenomenological research was to explore the assimilation experiences of adult new converts into churches affiliated with the Baptist Missionary Association of America in order to help ministerial leaders understand what new converts experienced at conversion, looked forward to, or resisted regarding their assimilations. The researcher interviewed 28 participants representing seven BMA churches located in the Ark-La-Tex region of the southern United States. Participants included 21 new converts, baptized within the past one to three years, and a leading staff member from each church. The researcher recorded and transcribed interviews, separated excerpts from the interviews into categories, analyzed the data, and determined common themes from the data. Nineteen findings resulted from the study. New converts described their experiences of conversion, what they anticipated or resisted regarding retention and spiritual growth, the effect of church assimilation strategies, and how ministerial leaders might benefit from their experiences. Findings included the proximity of conversion to major life events, the eagerness of converts to join a family-like fellowship, acknowledgment of particular fears regarding baptism, contrasting views between converts and leaders regarding how converts learn what to do next, inability to describe intentional assimilation processes, and the importance of available leaders to assist new converts. The researcher determined 14 conclusions that resulted in eight recommendations for churches and church leaders and 14 recommendations for future researchers. The researcher attempted to fill a gap in knowledge by seeking the input of new converts regarding assimilation.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 2004. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 64-06, Section: B, page: 2939. Adviser: Roger L. Greene.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1971. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

<p>Churches in the United States struggle with onboarding and orienting new associate pastors. At the same time, many of these churches lack a broader leadership development strategy for their ministry teams. To address these challenges, the project director developed a strategy for equipping newly hired ministry staff members at Lawndale Baptist Church (LBC) of Greensboro, North Carolina, with leadership behaviors especially needed for associate pastor ministry. In chapter one, the project director established objectives for the ministry project. He then outlined the ministry context for which he designed the project, also offering a rationale for his work. He defined key terms such as leadership, leadership behaviors, second chair leadership, followership, coaching, and ministry staff. The project director used chapter two to address the biblical and theological foundations for leadership from a variety of associate pastor roles. He worked through three passages using the framework of observation, interpretation, and application. The project director drew specific instructions for following spiritual leaders from Hebrews 13:7?19. He then considered a positive example of secondary leadership from Daniel 1 and a negative example from Numbers 12. In chapter three, the project director established the research and literature foundations for the project. He began by focusing on situational leadership, as well as the balance between great and godly leadership. The project director next considered resources related to associate pastor leadership behaviors, before studying leadership behaviors in the context of the church. He then studied the complementary leadership concepts of followership and 360-degree leadership. He concluded the section by looking at comparable tools and resources available through Lifeway?s Leadership Pipeline and already existing within various local churches. In chapter four, the project director shared the narrative description of his progress through the ministry project. He used the first section to describe the preparation phase of choosing a project, researching, and recruiting an expert panel. In the next segment, he outlined the steps of implementation, including building a survey, writing lesson plans for the training modules, and creating a Likert scale evaluation to serve as a pretest and posttest. The project director finished the chapter by describing the process of qualitative analysis used to evaluate the lesson plans for the training modules and his process of creating them. The project director used chapter five of the project to conduct an analysis of the completed ministry project. He began by providing a summary of the results and evaluating the fulfillment of the project objectives. The project director then described strengths, weaknesses, and patterns discovered through the process. He finished the chapter by drawing conclusions, offering suggestions for further research, and providing personal reflection on the ministry project.

<p> In most any church, the transition to a new lead pastor presents a significant challenge to a congregation. Ethnography is the practice of listening to a particular group or culture to learn the nuanced life of that community. This ethnography of a congregation located in upstate New York examines the congregation&rsquo;s response to a particularly difficult pastoral transition. Based on interviews with more than forty members of the church, as well as interviews with pastoral staff and denominational overseers, this study presents a snapshot of the church as it faces a new transition in pastoral leadership while the wounds of a previous transition remain tender. This study advocates for leaders to provide the kind of listening that acknowledges the challenges that result from a change in lead pastors, and to be proactive and transparent in communicating with parishioners throughout the transition period.</p><p>