Oscar Garcia-Johnson (left) and Leonard SweetThe 2017 Whitworth Institute of Ministry will welcome keynote speakers Oscar Garcia-Johnson, associate professor of theology and Latino/a studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, and theologian and best-selling author Leonard Sweet, to its 42nd conference, to be held July 24-28 at Whitworth University. The featured guests and other speakers will focus on the theme “Reformation and Re-Formation: The Church as Witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” and will offer participants five days of fellowship, worship and scriptural teaching.
The public is invited to attend evening worship on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights at 7 p.m. in the university’s Seeley Mudd Chapel. Admission is free. For further details on this year’s WIM conference, including program costs and to register, please visit www.whitworth.edu/wim.
Oscar Garcia-Johnson, WIM’s plenary-hour speaker, is an associate professor of theology and Latino/a studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, and he is the current associate dean for the seminary’s Center for the Study of Hispanic Church and Community. Garcia-Johnson has published four books and is the co-author of Theology without Borders: Introduction to Global Conversations (Baker Academic, 2015). He is a gifted communicator who integrates scripture, systematic theology and sociology with the practice of ministry in a variety of multicultural contexts in Asia, Africa and the U.S.
Leonard Sweet will lead evening worship for WIM. He is a theologian, semiotician, church historian and pastor. He is also a best-selling author who communicates the gospel with a signature bridging of the worlds of faith, academe and popular culture. He currently hosts a preaching website, PreachTheStory.com, and in 2005 he introduced the first open-source preaching resource on the web, wikiletics.com. He is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University, in Madison, N.J., and a visiting distinguished professor at George Fox University, in Portland, Ore.
Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private, liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The university, which has an enrollment of nearly 3,000 students, offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Contacts:
Chase Weholt, WIM events coordinator, Office of Church Engagement, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4439 or oce@whitworth.edu.
Nancy Hines, director of communications, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4638 or nhines@whitworth.edu.
