Cultivating Thriving Communities Course

Rural Church D.Min. Fellows Capstone

 
 

Rural Pastors Impacting Local Communities

Watch how sixteen NC pastors reimagined how to address complexities in their own rural communities. From the challenges of access, resources, and isolation, these students embodied radical hope in bringing their theological formation to practical solutions in their rural communities.

 
 

Student Projects

 

Hope for Healing

Rev. Cathy Kearney calls Warrenton her home. This town is one of the oldest communities in NC and has a rich history with a beautiful agricultural landscape. Cathy’s local church plays a vital role in the wellbeing of this neighborhood. Through the D.Min. program, Cathy brought her concern for race to her own ministry and community. Her project, Hope for Healing, created an opportunity for dialogue around race, as she invited an ecumenical community to attend a retreat and discuss racial identity, what racial identity means to attendees, and what they believe is needed to move forward.

 

Upstream Solutions for Community Thriving

Darren loves rural churches because of their nimbleness. Darren is the former pastor of Smith Grove UMC in Mocksville, NC. As a pastor, Darren is constantly connecting with those in his community, looking for grants, and advocating for justice issues. He became a D.Min. fellow in order to be better equipped to respond to the challenges of his rural community. His project provided upstream solutions by fostering spaces for conversations on food insecurity, transportation, and mental health in his community. Through the course, Darren developed a passion to do this work on a larger scale and became a project manager for the NC Rural Center where he works with UMC congregations on asset based community development. 

 

Serving Community by Selling Church Property

Lucy is the Pastor of Biltmore UMC in Asheville. She always had a passion for getting out of the church building and connecting with the marginalized in her community. As she began the D.Min. program, her congregation faced a dilemma of whether to sell their church property. Her church community decided to sell the church building in order to better serve her neighborhood and those in need. While in the class, she helped lead her congregation towards a mindset of abundance in the resources they held—the abundance of seeing the possibility that selling the church property could create for the community. She hopes the story of Biltmore provides light to other pastors and congregations that are struggling to maintain their church property with their desire to serve their communities. 

 

Vitality through Storytelling

For Nicole, creativity, innovation, and collaborative ministry are at the heart of rural church communities. Nicole is the District Vitality Associate of the Smoky Mountain District of the Western NC Conference UMC. As a D.Min. Fellow, Nicole learned the importance of connection—of connecting with God, one another, and community. For Nicole, a key way to steward these connections was through storytelling. Her capstone project, Vitality through Storytelling, helped narrate the stories of local churches and communities. At the same time, she rooted these stories in the larger narrative of God’s story and showed why the local stories of churches matter, while empowering local congregations to be faithful storytellers within their context.

 

Pilgrimage of Hope

As co-ministers, Kevin Bates and Kevin Miller desire to help people encounter God by falling deeper in love with creation. They believe in the importance of bodies to experience God and the holy, and that pilgrimage and walking move people to a deeper connection with God that goes beyond the head. Their project, a Pilgrimage of Hope, brings pilgrims through the Upper Swannanoa Watershed in Black Mountain. As people journey through the local watershed, they become grounded in a sense of place, awaken to the holy, and learn to care for creation. 

 

Equipping rural pastors to meaningfully engage with the challenges of parish leadership in rural North Carolina communities through a cross-sector, community impact capstone project.

 

Course Design

The capstone is set up as a learning laboratory where students expand their content knowledge through experiential learning. The Ormond Center team and our extended network of content experts will come alongside students as they further refine project ideas through implementation and rapid iteration. Our curated group of advisors will provide input, feedback and resources over the course of the semester. The entire semester intends to provide a directly applicable and replicable project design experience for meaningful impact in rural areas, help students build their professional network and do all of this in the context of a peer learning community. This is simultaneously a learning laboratory for the Ormond Center team as we discern how to better fulfill our mission of fostering the imagination, will, and ability of congregations and communities to pursue thriving together under conditions of enormous challenge and transformation.

 

Course Outcomes

1) Students develop a clearly defined and implementable project that is a student-led cross-sector initiative addressing a specific issue facing a student’s local ministry context. 2) Students are equipped with the skills, resources and network to execute their projects into perpetuity. A key element of this course is building and nurturing a vibrant network of support. 3) Students successfully submit a proposal and deliver a pitch for $5,000 of seed funding for their venture. Pitches delivered to a panel of advisors including leaders in the denomination, the church, community developers, entrepreneurs and philanthropists, who will provide feedback and evaluation. This course is designed to help students develop “tools for a lifetime” of ministry and practice. 

D.Min. Rural Fellows

  • Ken Spencer

    DURHAM, DUKE DIVINITY SCHOOL

    Project—ESL: Empathy as a Second Language
    Description—My project is centered on building cross-sector collaborations in Lincoln County, North Carolina that are diverse and equitable. The goal is to create an atmosphere where those who typically find themselves receiving community services are recognized as community stakeholders.

  • Kennetra Irby Brackett

    ZEBULON, LEBANON AME/TRANSITIONS KIDS

    Project—Real Talk
    Description—An Approach to End-of-Life Conversations with Christians of African Ancestry.

  • Jason Villegas

    MURFREESBORO, MURFREESBORO UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

    Project—Co-Laboring in Church
    Description—We are working to better co-labor and connect ourselves as a small, rural United Methodist Church that has recently gone from being all white, English-speaking to being roughly half migrant, Spanish-speaking. This process is in two steps: (1) "In-reach," which is bolstering structures that provide sovereign space in English and Spanish and also bilingual space and (2) "Outreach," which is bolstering structures that help build social capital for migrant/immigrant people both inside and outside of the congregation.

  • Darren Crotts

    MOCKSVILLE, SMITH GROVE UMC

    Project—Cooleemee Community Initiative - Building Health and Wholeness
    Description—To provide upstream solutions by fostering the creation of empathetic conversation focused on food insecurity, transportation, and mental health in our community. By leveraging the collective assets of every voice in community through an Asset Based Community Development approach, intentional listening to EVERY voice is then possible.

  • Kevin Bates & Kevin Miller

    BLACK MOUNTAIN, WAY IN THE WILDERNESS

    Project—A Pilgrimage of Hope
    Description—A pilgrimage of hope through the Upper Swannanoa Watershed. We believe that a pilgrimage, complete with stops for prayers, blessings, lament, and liturgy along with way, can help people fall in love with the Creation through learning the watershed and grounding them in a sense of place. It will help to connect people to God, one another and to the creation, creating space to allow people to better see and experience God’s hope, their own larger purpose, and their important place within a larger community and larger Story.

  • Debbie Matthis

    STEDMAN, COKESBURY UMC

    Project—Thriving Stedman: A Community Experience
    Description—A a once a month series of outdoor festivals that promotes community thriving and includes a farmers market, a Thrift Store, various vendors, food trucks, arts, music, fun, games etc.

  • David Blankenberg

    EAST BEND, STONY KNOLL UMC

    Project—Appreciating God's Gifts
    Description—Appreciating God's Gifts is a practical field guide for clergy and laity to assist in developing a vision mindset for faith communities. Appreciating God's Gifts is a blend or hybrid of Appreciative Inquiry and Asset Based Community Development.

  • Brad Hinton

    DAVIDSON, DAVIDSON UMC

    Project—A Broader View of Mission and Ministry
    Description—My project is exploring a broader view of mission and ministry. In a world emerging from the coronavirus pandemic, my project seeks to help Christians look more broadly at the places we live, work, and play as places for us to be in mission and ministry.

  • Rebekah Ralph

    BOONVILLE, MITCHELL’S CHAPEL UMC

    Project—Celebration of Foster Families and Resource Fair
    Description—One-day event celebration event with guest speaker, Ms. Donna Foster, gifts, refreshments, and showcase of available resources that are provided to help build stronger and healthier families.

  • Nicole Jones

    WAYNESVILLE, SMOKY MOUNTAIN DISTRICT WNCC-UMC

    Project—Smoky Mountain District Vitality Through Storytelling Project
    Description—The SMD Vitality Through Storytelling project seeks to help narrate the local church and community story, shifting the narrative to one of hope and empowerment and amplifying that story so that these communities can regain a sense of connection and purpose. This will be attained by coming alongside churches and guiding them toward a finished film project as they reframe their story within God’s greater narrative– connecting them more deeply with God, one another, and their community.

  • Lucy Robbins

    ASHEVILLE, BILTMORE UMC

    Project—Assets of Abundance: Navigating a Ministry Mindset of Scarcity toward a Creative, Sustainable Future
    Description—My project plan is to offer a resource guide for churches as they discern creative, sustainable ministry solutions rooted in the abundance of their fixed assets. More specifically, this research and its subsequent recommendations will be used with a pilot group of United Methodist congregations in the Asheville area of the Western NC Conference.

  • Jim Bolyard

    CARTHAGE, CARTHAGE UMC

    Project—Moving Moore
    Description—Adequate transportation is a necessity for individuals to get the proper healthcare they need. Currently, such transportation is not available on a consistent and reliable basis for all people in Moore County. My project seeks to increase the availability, affordability, and reliability of transportation for healthcare.

  • Richard Booker

    NORLINA, ZION UMC NORLINA

    Project—Hope N.O.W. Youth Coalition
    Description—I propose to build a coalition of government agencies, local businesses, and nonprofit organizations to partner with at-risk youth and their families. The coalition will form through a common vision and coalesce around the launch of a youth-run thrift store.

  • David Joyner

    ROCKY MOUNT, FIRST UMC ROCKY MOUNT

    Project—Who are we?
    Description—This project seeks to assist the local church in identifying who they are in relationship to the community and neighborhoods around them. The local church will experiment with and identify the needs alongside relationship building that will grow organically from strategically organized gatherings, meals, and book studies.

  • Cathy Alston-Kearney

    WARRENTON, OAK CHAPEL

    Project—Hope for Healing
    Description—Exploring the potential for ecumenical and intergenerational dialogue around racial memory through storytelling and creative writing. The hope is to create closer bonds in the Christian community and for that visible witness to model reconciliation to the wider community.

Panelists


  • Community Development Practitioner, Minister

    Rev. Dr. M. Keith Daniel, owner of Madison Consulting Group, LLC. (MCG) and Co-founder/Managing Director for Resilient Ventures, LLC. Resilient launched in 2019, invests in African American entrepreneurs. Resilient Fund I closed at $3.475M. In 2021 invested $825K in six companies. MCG is devoted to community flourishing through consulting that leads to transforming outcomes for individuals and institutions striving for the greatest common good.

    Daniel served in Executive Director roles for StepUp NC and DurhamCares, Inc. He is the Board Chair for The School for Conversion and serves on the boards of Justice Matters, Duke Health Chaplain Services and Education, and Duke University Chapel. Dr. Daniel has over 3 decades of management, servant-leadership, and teaching in higher education administration including graduate and undergraduate student affairs, human resources, and religious life. He served as the Director of the PathWays Program and Director of Community and Campus Engagement at Duke Chapel. Daniel is an ordained clergy member in the American Baptist tradition.

    He earned a B.A. in Comparative Area Studies, Duke University; the Master of Higher Education, North Carolina State University; Master of Divinity and Doctor of Divinity, Duke University


  • Equitable Community Engagement, Capacity Building, Rural North Carolina, Local and Regional Food Systems

    Justine serves alongside the Come to the Table team as the Program Director. Prior to her time at RAFI-USA, Justine worked at the intersection of social justice, food ministries, and local agriculture for over five years for Resourceful Communities, a program of the Conservation Fund. She seeks to serve faith communities and non-profits throughout rural North Carolina by providing resources, tools, and peer connections to increase their capacity. Justine holds a Master of Social Work from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School. She lives in southern Alamance County with her husband Andrew, their daughters Dorothy and Edith, and their dog Bowie. When she’s not working, she’s usually making pies or spending time with her family outside.


  • Entrepreneur, Nonprofit Executive, Connector

    Steve Swayne is currently Director of St. Francis Springs Prayer Center, a role he started in October 2019. Over the course of life, he has traversed the for-profit and non-profit sectors. He currently owns 3 businesses - a social media marketing company (Yip Yip), a landscape company (Wright Property Services) and a construction cleaning company (DKA Cleaning Services). Before these ventures, Steve was Director of StepUp Ministry for 9 years. StepUp teaches job and life skills to unemployed adults in Raleigh, Greensboro, Wilmington and Durham, NC. It places over 700 adults annually in employment. In those 9 years he helped StepUp grow from a $300,000 non-profit in one city to a $4M non-profit in four cities. Before StepUp, he ran and sold a publishing company called By Design Publishing from 2004-2008. From 2000-2004, he operated a Young Life camp in Central Oregon and from 1992-1999 he worked in the NBA as a Marketing/Community Relations Director for 2 NBA basketball teams. Steve graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 1992. Steve resides in Raleigh with his wife, Laura, and their 4 children.

 


  • Entrepreneur, Consultant, Author

    LaKesha is the Owner and Lead Consultant with Womack Consulting Group. The firm provides Brand Management, Leadership Training, Strategic Planning, and Political Consulting to clients worldwide through seminars and one-on-one consultations with professionals, not-for-profit organizations, churches, colleges/universities, and businesses. She has served as a business development presenter for numerous Chambers of Commerce and professional groups and as an Executive Coach for the Black Enterprise Entrepreneur Conference and the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit. In addition to working with small business owners to start and grow their business, LaKesha specializes in working with newly formed teams, fractured teams, and boards of directors to teach leadership and professional development strategies to enhance communication, increase emotional intelligence, and improve organizational effectiveness.

    LaKesha has a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and is a graduate of the Campaign School at Yale University. As a Forbes Coaches Council member, LaKesha contributed more than forty business tips to the Forbes.com Expert Panel forum. Currently, LaKesha serves as a Founding Member of the Newsweek Expert Forum as a pioneering thinker sharing resources on leadership and digital media. LaKesha is the published author of 18 books and has been featured in numerous publications and interviews providing financial literacy tips, business advice, and community engagement strategies. She hosts quarterly retreats for busy professionals to reset and refocus on their personal, professional, and leadership goals.

    LaKesha is also the founder of #RethinkingChurch Strategies, LLC, a social impact organization working with churches to increase engagement among their congregations and communities and the Executive Director of the Rethinking Church Foundation that supports innovative ministry projects.


  • Nonprofit Executive, United Methodist Clergy, Civic Leader

    Rev. Bruce Stanley joined Methodist Home for Children as President/CEO in 2006. He serves on the Governor’s Crime Commission as chair of the Juvenile Justice Planning Committee and member of the Special Committee on School Safety.

    Before joining MHC, Stanley was pastor at six North Carolina churches, serving most recently as senior pastor for Millbrook United Methodist Church in Raleigh. He served also as field education director for Duke Divinity School, responsible for developing leaders for the local and global church and communities. Stanley was ordained in the United Presbyterian Church USA in 1982 and transferred to the United Methodist Church in 1985. He spent several years as associate director for the N.C. Conference Council of Ministries for Mission and Evangelism.

    Stanley is a native of West Virginia. He holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard and a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, from West Virginia University.


  • Educator, Civic Leader, Community Organizer

    Dr. Terrance Ruth received his PhD in Public Affairs from the University of Central Florida. He received his Master in Education from Nova Southeastern University and his BA from Oglethorpe University. Dr. Ruth completed a national fellowship through Boston College with a certification in nonprofit leadership.

    Dr. Ruth has been an advocate for public education, serving as a teacher, principal and the parent of a son who attends public schools in Wake County. As a former Administrator for Wake county Public Schools who now serves as an Education Consultant to numerous nonprofits. Dr. Ruth sits on several state wide boards.

    Dr. Ruth has led social justice organizations at the national, state and local levels with a reputation for being the implementation expert. He served as the NC NAACP Executive Director under Dr. Barber and Dr. Spearman and has served as National Director of Programming for the Repairers of the Breach. Recently he partnered with United Way of the Triangle to launch a community investment fund for local community organizers.

    Dr. Ruth has worked in K-12 schools across Florida and in Wake County. Currently, Terrance is a Professor at NCSU and served as President of the Justice Love Foundation. He is deeply engaged in diversity, equity and inclusion work across the city of Raleigh and the Triangle. You can find more information at TruthforRaleigh.com. Dr. Ruth is a Raleigh Mayoral Candidate for November 2022.

    Dr. Ruth is leading a coalition of leaders to engage in local solutions through impact investing, design thinking and creative collaborations. Right now he is facilitating a process to increase the use of faith-based assets in improving the affordable housing stock. He is also working with United Way of the Triangle to offer a human centered design lens to the philanthropic network in the Triangle.