SPEAKERS
Names are arranged according to the order in which they appear on the schedule.
Gregory V. Palmer
Bishop Gregory V. Palmer is resident bishop of the Ohio West Area since 2012. He was elected to the episcopacy in 2000. He was assigned to the Iowa Area where he served until assuming responsibilities in the Illinois Area in 2008. Bishop Palmer served as president of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry from 2004 to 2008 and president of the Council of Bishops from April 2008 to May 2010.
J. Steven O'Malley
Dr. J. Steven O’Malley is the John T. Seamands Professor of Methodist Holiness History at Asbury Theological Seminary. An ordained minister in The United Methodist Church, Dr. O’Malley has earned recognition for his research and publications in post-Reformation and modern Church history, with special emphasis upon Pietism, German-American evangelicalism and the Holiness movement. He is the author of numerous works and is noted for Pilgrimage of Faith: The Legacy of the Otterbeins (1973).
Scott Kisker
Dr. Scott Kisker is an elder in the Iowa Annual Conference. He is also Professor of Church History and Associate Dean for Masters Programs at United Theological Seminary. Dr. Kisker earned a B.A. from Swarthmore College, an M.Div. from Duke Divinity School, and a Ph.D. from Drew University. His books include The Band Meeting (with Kevin Watson), Longing for Spring (with Elaine Heath), Mainline or Methodist?, and Foundation for Revival.
Jennifer Woodruff-Tait
Dr. Jennifer Woodruff-Tait is the managing editor of Christian History magazine and the editor-in-chief of Theological Librarianship. She is the author of The Poisoned Chalice: Eucharistic Grape Juice and Common-Sense Realism in Victorian Methodism, which won awards from both the Wesleyan Theological Society and the United Methodist Historical Society. Formerly a United Methodist clergyperson, she is now a supply priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington.
Sarah Blair
Dr. Sarah Blair is Director of the Library and Assistant Professor of Church History at United Theological Seminary. She has a B.A. from Bethel College, an M.S. from Simmons College School of Library Science, an M.A. from the University of Massachusetts, an M.T.S. and a Ph.D. from Drew University. Her expertise is in 19th century American religious history with a focus on Methodism. She is a member of the West Ohio Commission on Archives and History.
Wendy Deichmann
Dr. Wendy Deichmann is Professor of History and Theology at United Theological Seminary and an elder in the Upper New York Conference of The United Methodist Church. She has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary and Colgate Rochester Crozer Theological Seminary. She is co-editor of Gender and the Social Gospel, and has published numerous chapters and articles on the history of Christianity in the United States, including several on the history of American Methodism.
Patricia Thompson
Rev. Patricia Thompson is a retired elder in the New England Conference. She has served churches in the former Maine Annual Conference and the former Troy Annual Conference until her retirement in 2008. She is the author of The History of Maine Methodism Through the Women's Sphere (1984) and Courageous Past, Bold Future The Journey Toward Full Clergy Rights for Women in the United Methodist Church (2006). She is also the editor of Historian's Digest.
Morris Davis
Dr. Morris L. Davis is Associate Professor of the History of Christianity and Wesleyan/Methodist Studies at Drew University Theological School, where he is Director of Methodist Studies. The author of The Methodist Unification: Christianity and the Politics of Race in the Jim Crow Era (2008), his research and writing continues to probe the ways conceptions of race were formed within Christianity in the U.S., and how missionary movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries shaped racial dynamics in American religion.
William Davis
Rev. William C. Davis is a retired elder in the West Ohio Conference. He has served churches in the Cincinnati area for sixteen years, including Calvary UMC, his last church appointment. Originally from Luka, Mississippi, Rev. Davis has done extensive research on the history of African-American United Methodist churches in Ohio, particularly their experience of the Central Jurisdiction.
Ian Straker
Dr. Ian Straker is a gifted preacher and author. He has served as Assistant Professor of Church History at Howard University School of Divinity. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he has been a clergy member of the New York Annual Conference since 1986. Dr. Straker has done extensive research on the African-American experience in United Methodist history. He is also a member of the editorial board of Methodist History.
James M. Shopshire, Sr.
Dr. James M. Shopshire, Sr. served as pastor of local churches in Georgia, Iowa and Illinois for 10 years and Professor of Sociology of Religion for 40 years at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA and Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. A retired member of the Iowa Annual Conference, residing in the Washington DC area, he is working now to research the little known history and heritage of the “Colored Mission Conferences of the Methodist Protestant Church.”
Ted Campbell
Dr. Ted Campbell has served as pastor of United Methodist congregations and has taught at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Duke Divinity School, and Wesley Theological Seminary. He served as president of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary from 2001 through 2005 and now serves as Professor of Church History at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. His most recent book is Encoding Methodism: Telling and Retelling Narratives of Wesleyan Origins (2017).
Russell Richey
L. Dale Patterson
Dr. L. Dale Patterson is the Archivist - Records Administrator at the General Commission on Archives and History. He has worked on the Commission Staff since 1994. Prior to that time, he was Associate Archivist and Co-Director of the Oral History Center at the University of Louisville. Dale is involved in his local church and is an adjunct professor at the Drew University Theological School.
Alfred T. Day, III
Rev. Alfred T. Day is the General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History. He is a clergy member of the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference. He also serves as editor of Methodist History. Prior to joining the general commission, he served local churches in the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference including a term as District Superintendent and most recently as Pastor of Historic St. George's Church in Philadelphia.
Dr. Russell Richey is dean emeritus of Candler School of Theology and William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Church History Emeritus, Emory University. He served from 2000-06 as Candler’s dean. He previously held academic and administrative posts at Duke Divinity School, 1986-2000, and Drew University, 1969-86. One of the two editors of the Methodist Review, he writes on denominationalism, civil religion, and American Methodism, most recently Formation for Ministry in American Methodism (GBHEM) and Methodism in the American Forest (OUP).