NURTURING COMMUNITY. EMBODYING GOOD NEWS. CULTIVATING SHALOM.
FACULTY
LYNNE CALDWELL
Neighborhood Exegesis I, Year 1
Neighborhood Leaders II, Year 2
Neighborhood Discernment II, Year 2
Lynne is the Vice President and Dean of Programs for Neighborhood Seminary and pastor at Bethel UMC in Winston-Salem. An Elder in the Western North Carolina Conference and former District Superintendent, she taught for 10 years at the Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University in Richmond.
ELAINE HEATH
Neighborhood Theology I, Year 1
Neighborhood Discernment II, Year 2
Neighborhood Resurrection II
Elaine is an ordained Elder in the Western North Carolina Conference and is the co-founder of the Missional Wisdom Foundation (2010) and of Neighborhood Seminary. Elaine served as Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology and Dean of Duke Divinity School and is the author of numerous books and articles. She lives at Spring Forest, an intentional Christian Community and farm near Hillsborough.
CHERYL SKINNER
Regional Spiritual Director
Cheryl is an Elder in the Western North Carolina Conference currently serving Trinity UMC in Kannapolis. holds a B.A. from the University of Maine and an M.Div. from Duke Divinity School. Her spiritual formation work with children, youth and adults led to her interest in missional spiritual formation, connecting the people of the church with God's activity in the wider community.
KIMBERLY CLARKE
Neighborhood Leaders I, Year 2
Kimberly is currently working toward her M.Div. at Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury. She is the Interim Director for the Institute for Early Career Clergy Development at Hood and newly appointed pastor of Triad Native American UMC in Northern Piedmont District of the Western North Carolina Conference.
JACK LAWSON
Neighborhood Resurrection I, Year 1
Neighborhood Shalom I, Year 2
Jack was ordained in the Reformed Tradition but has worked for the Methodist Church in Great Britain and the U.S. since 2004. He holds a PhD in Hebrew Bible & the Ancient Near East. He works as the Mission Implementation Coordinator for the Yadkin Valley District and has two great passions: helping churches to reach out and serve their local communities, and bringing the Bible to life for local congregations.
BRANDON WRENCHER
Neighborhood Theology II, Year 1
Neighborhood Shalom II, Year 2
Brandon is a minister, organizer, writer, and facilitator working across the U.S. within faith, education, and non-profit sectors at the intersections of decolonizing church, contemplative activism and local presence to build beloved communities. He is an innovator and church planter whose latest venture is starting The Good Neighbor Movement with a team of friends and neighbors in the Greensboro area.
BRIAN COMBS
Neighborhood Exegesis II, Year 1
Brian felt a calling to urban ministry after encountering the living Christ among the most cast-aside and dismissed. He helped found Haywood Street, a United Methodist mission congregation located in the homeless corridor of Asheville.
ALMA RUIZ
Neighborhood Discernment I, Year 2
Alma is a provisional elder in the United Methodist Church and a Th.D. student at Duke Divinity School. She believes that all God’s children are ministers and have been given divine gifts to put to the service of God and all God’s creation. Alma’s passion is to help pastors and lay people identify those God-given gifts and use them faithfully.
Northern Virginia Cohort
BRIAN BROWN
Neighborhood Resurrection I, Year 1
Brian is the pastor of Woodlawn-Faith UMC in Alexandria, Virginia. His passion to engage laity in ministry has led to the launching of a new church start led by four young adult laypersons. He has earned degrees from Virginia Union University, Howard University and United Theological Seminary, the latter with a focus on missional growth empowered by the Holy Spirit.
ELAINE HEATH
Neighborhood Theology I, Year 1
Neighborhood Shalom I, Year 2
Elaine is an ordained Elder in the Western North Carolina Conference and is the co-founder of the Missional Wisdom Foundation (2010) and of Neighborhood Seminary. Elaine served as Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology and Dean of Duke Divinity School and is the author of numerous books and articles. She lives at Spring Forest, an intentional Christian Community and farm near Hillsborough.
KIMBERLY YOUNG
Neighborhood Exegesis II, Year 1
Kimberly is a life-long United Methodist and serves on various district committees and Is the Lay Leader of Roberts Memorial UMC in Alexandria. She also serves as the Director of Church and Community Engagement at Washington Street UMC in Alexandria. Kim is most passionate about helping all God’s people realize the many ways God has gifted them to serve in this world together and independently.
LYNNE CALDWELL
Neighborhood Leaders II, Year 2
Lynne is the Dean of Neighborhood Seminary and pastor at Bethel UMC in Winston-Salem. An Elder in the Western North Carolina Conference and former District Superintendent, she taught for 10 years at the Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University in Richmond.
KEARY KINCANNON
Neighborhood Theology II, Year 1
Keary began his ministry offering the homeless food and clothing out of the back of his station wagon. Twenty-three years and six locations later, Rising Hope Mission Church continues to serve the homeless of Northern Virginia. The church off Route 1 in Alexandria has a chapel, kitchen and dining hall, food pantry, clothing closet and children’s wing. Keary received his M.Div. and D.Min. from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington.
CYNTHIA LOPYNSKI
Administrative Coordinator
Cynthia is the Program Coordinator for the Alexandria and Arlington Districts of the United Methodist Church in Northern Virginia. She worked for 16 years at Floris UMC as Director of Communications, of Connections and of Lay Ministries. Cynthia is skilled in church communications, volunteer engagement and stewardship strategies. She is a graduate of James Madison University and was certified in Evangelism at Wesley Seminary.
LARRY DUGGINS
Neighborhood Exegesis I, Year 1
Larry is the Executive Director of the Missional Wisdom Foundation, which he co-founded with Dr. Heath in 2010. The foundation experiments with and teaches about alternative Christian communities formed around work, food, kids and affinity groups. He is an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church.
MICHAEL SLAUGHTER
Neighborhood Resurrection II, Year 1
Neighborhood Leaders I, Year 2
Mike is pastor emeritus for Ginghamsburg Church, where he served for nearly four decades as the lead pastor and chief dreamer. He is also the founder and chief strategist of Passionate Churches, which specializes in developing pastors, church staff and church lay leaders through coaching, training, consulting and facilitation services. Mike’s life-long passion to reach the lost and set the oppressed free has now made him a tireless and leading advocate for the children, women and men of Darfur, Sudan.
JANET SALBERT
Regional Spiritual Director
Janet has served churches in the Virginia Conference since 2002, joining in ministry at Grace UMC in Manassas in 2014. She is a registered nurse and served in the U.S. Air Force before entering the ministry. She graduated from Wesley Theological Seminary and is a graduate of the Shalem Spiritual Guidance Program.