The Rev. David Wood

Denomination: American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA)
Organization: Glencoe Union Church, Glencoe, IL

The Rev. David Wood is senior minister of Glencoe Union Church in Glencoe, IL. An ordained American Baptist pastor, David has for the past 25 years served churches in Paris, France; Kentucky; Maine; and Connecticut. He studied theology and ministry at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and Yale Divinity School. David has also served as a consultant to the John Templeton Foundation.

Education

1996        

Harvard Divinity School, Boston, Mass.

Merrill Fellow, Spring Term

1988-1989        

Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Connecticut

Master of Sacred Theology with a concentration in Christian Ethics

1978-1982        

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Mass.

Master of Divinity degree with a concentration in Biblical Studies. (Cum Laude)

1974-1978        

Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Biblical Literature and Theological Studies.

Ordination                  

American Baptist Churches, USA;

June 10, 1984 by the First Baptist Church of West Hartford, Connecticut.

Current & Recent Positions

2009-present        

Senior Pastor, Glencoe Union Church, Glencoe, Illinois

Glencoe Union Church is a mainline Protestant non-denominational congregation.

2007-present        

Consultant to The John Templeton Foundation on Programs for Science in Congregations   

In this capacity I have helped to develop grant programs that are designed to encourage pastors and the congregations they lead into a deeper integration of science and faith.   Served on the Board of International Advisors (2010-2013), Co-Project Leader on the "Scientists in Congregations Project" (2011-2013).

2002-2009        

Coordinator of the Transition-into-Ministry Grant Program  (a national program funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.).

In my capacity as Coordinator I served as a liaison between twenty-four projects which are working on the experience of young pastors in who area making the transition from seminary to congregational life.  In this role I also served on the staff of the Fund for Theological Education in Atlanta, Georgia.  When I began this work, I took a position at a smaller congregation in order to be able to do this work with Lilly Endowment out of a congregational context.  The dual roles combined well-my work as a pastor enriched my work as a Coordinator and vice versa.   Beginning in the Fall of 2006, I worked full-time on projects related to Transition into Ministry.

2002-2006                

Pastor, The First Baptist Church of Gardiner, Maine

Previous Positions

1998-2001         Associate Director , The Louisville Institute; a Lilly Endowment program for the study of American Religion based at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Responsibilities:  In close collaboration with the Religion Division of The Lilly Endowment Inc., I have developed a national network of gifted pastors using the primary methods of grant-making and convening. The goal of these efforts has been to extend and refine the Endowment's mission to strengthen church life in the USA through pastoral leadership. 

Based at Louisville Seminary, I also serve as an adjunct faculty member in the Doctor of Ministry program. 

2000-2001         Interim Pastor, Buechel Presbyterian Church, Louisville, Kentucky

Experience:  While serving in my capacity as Associate Director of the Louisville Institute, I was freed to serve, part time, as an Interim Pastor.  This experience helped to keep me grounded in the pastoral life and congregational ministry.

1997-1998         Associate Pastor, The American Church in Paris, Paris, France

Experience: Worship leadership and planning (preaching at least monthly), membership development, Christian education (children through adults), pastoral care, and outreach to college students and young adults.

1989-1997         Pastor , United Baptist Church, Lewiston, Maine

Experience: Central to my first experience as a full-time, solo pastor was the movement of the congregation from maintenance to mission. During these three years, I learned how deeply related the material life (facilities and fiscal realities) of a congregation is to its spiritual formation and identity (Worship and discipleship).

1996-1997         Interim College Chaplain , Bates College, Lewiston, Maine

Experience: As pastor of United Baptist Church, I sought to reclaim the congregation's historic relationship with the college. The culmination of this effort was the invitation by the college's president to serve, part-time, as the interim chaplain during the search to fill the position full-time.                 

1982 - 1988         Associate Minister, First Baptist Church, West Hartford, Connecticut

Experience: In addition to my first full-time experience in the full range of pastoral tasks and responsibilities, I developed a young adult ministry that grew to a weekly attendance between 50 and 75 in a congregation in which the average worship attendance was 150.

1975-1982         Youth Minister , Assistant Minister to Students and Singles, and Pastoral Ministry Intern-in several contexts. 

Experience:  Throughout my undergraduate and graduate years I served as an intern in various ministry situations in Kansas, Massachusetts, and Canada

Denominational Experience

I have served as a Senator to the national Ministers Council of the American Baptist Churches, USA, and as a member of the National Ministerial Leadership Commission of the American Baptist Churches, USA

Presentations

• Asceticism as Cultural Critique at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Scientific Affiliation and the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation; July 27, 1996, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• The Religious Perspective on the American Malaise as part of a lecture series entitled, "Is There an American Malaise?" sponsored by the Muskie Archives of Bates College, November 3, 1995.
• Respondent to scholarly presentations on A Dialogue on Biblical Authority at the Pre-Biennial event on the occasion of the 1995 Biennial Meeting of the American Baptist Churches, U.S.A. in Syracuse, New York, June 20, 1995.
• Religion and the Shaping of Public Policy as part of a lecture series entitled, Benjamin Mays:  The Relevance of Values, Traditions, and Institutions in the Making of Public Policy, Bates College, October 28, 1994.
• To Fight or Not to Fight: A Christian View of War as part of a lecture series entitled, Can We Talk?, sponsored by the Bates  Christian Fellowship, Bates College, March 26, 1992.
• The Practice of Collegial Friendship.  A presentation to the Ministers Council Senate of the American Baptist Churches, USA in Green Lake, Wisconsin.   August 18, 2003.
• The Practice of Friendship in Spiritual Formation. A lecture at Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey.   November 17, 2003.
• The Practice of Vocational Friendship.  Two keynote lectures delivered at a National Gathering of American Baptist Clergy, Orlando, Florida.  (January 24-26, 2004.)
  

• The Use of Technology in Worship in a Culture that Worships Technology.  A lecture to be delivered at the Annual Symposium of the Institute for Christian Worship, Calvin, College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.  (January 29-31, 2004.)
  
  Friendship and the Pastoral Life.   Retreat Leader for the Ministers' Council retreat of the American Baptist Churches of Pennsylvania & Delaware,.  (April 11-13, 2005.)

• Where There is No Friendship the Fellowship will Perish, Lecturer at the Princeton Forum on Youth Ministry, Princeton Theological Seminary. (April 25-28, 2005).

• Iron Sharpening Iron: The Practice of Friendship and Pastoral Leadership. Graduate Seminar at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, Texas. (May 4-6, 2005.)

• Friendship and the Pastoral Life. Retreat Leader for the Ministers' Council retreat of the American Baptist Churches of Indiana & Kentucky. (May 12-14, 2005.)

• Preaching in a Secular Age, at Wilshire Baptist Church, Dallas Texas. Three lectures as part of an Annual Preaching Practicum. (October 5-8, 2014)

Publications

• Take Time to be Holy. Ockenga Connections (Vol. I, No. 4, Winter, 1996): pp. 1-2. (Publication of the Okenga Institute of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.)
• Book Review:  Christian Century (Vol.114, No.31, November 5, 1997): pp. 1018-19.  Preaching the Hard Sayings of Jesus by John T. Carroll and James R. Carroll.
• The Conditions of Call, Congregations (March/April, 2001): pp. 16-19. (Bi-monthly publication of The Alban Institute.)
• Where are the Younger Clergy?, Christian Century (Vol. 118, No. 12, April 11, 2001): pp. 18-19. (This article is a slightly revised version of the one that appeared in Congregations.)

• Changing the Rules of Engagement:  Questioning How Technology Patterns Our Lives, Congregations (May/June, 2001).

• Choosing the Pastoral Life, Congregations (January/February, 2002): pp. 16-17.

• Making Sense of the Pastoral Life: An Interview with Eugene Peterson, Christian Century (Vol. 119, No. 6, March 13-20, 2002), pp. 18-25.

• Committing to Mutuality, Congregations (May/June, 2002): pp. 4-7. (Bi-monthly publication of The Alban Institute.)

• Sentencing Death-a Sermon for the 5^th Sunday in Lent, Biblical Preaching Journal (Vol. 15, No. 1, Winter, 2002), pp. 30-33.

• Prophetic Acoustics, Biblical Preaching Journal (Vol. 16, No. 1, Winter, 2003), pp. 8-10.

• Book Review: Christian Century (Vol.119, No.12, May 22-29, 2002): pp. 35-38. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading,  by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky.

• Questions about Neighbor, The Living Pulpit (Vol. 11, No. 3, July/September, 2002), p. 37.

• Engaging the Phenomenon of Borrowed Wealth, The Living Pulpit (Vol. 12, No. 2, April/June, 2003), pp. 36-37.

• Book Review: The Conrad Grebel Review, Vol. 21, No.3, Fall, 2003): pp. 115-17, Jesus in Disneyland: Religion in Postmodern Times, by David Lyon.

• Book Review: Christian Century (September 20, 2003)The Last Long Pastorate: A Journey of Grace, by Dean F. Lueking; & Ministry Loves Company: A Survival Guide for Pastors, by John Galloway, Jr.

• Let's Meet: Rebuilding Community (An Interview with Robert D. Putnam), Christian Century (September 30, 2003).

• Book Review: Family Ministry, (Vol. 19, No. 1, Spring, 2005): pp. 63-65, Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology, by John T. Carroll and James R. Carroll.

• Book Review: Christian Century (Vol.22, No.25, December 13, 2005): pp. 33-35. Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy Leave Local Church Ministry, by Dean R. Hoge and Jacqueline E. Wenger.

• "The Recovery and Promise of Friendship," The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, (Vol. XXVII, No. 2, 2007), pp. 165-180.

• Book Review: Theology Today, (Vol. 63, No. 4, January, 2007): pp. 538-42, Loving God with Our Minds: The Pastor as Theologian, edited by Michael Welker and Cynthia Jarvis.

• "Transition into Ministry: Reconceiving the Boundaries Between Seminaries and Congregations," in For Life Abundant: Practical Theology, Theological Education, and Christian Ministry, edited by Dorothy C. Bass & Craig Dykstra, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2008), pp. 289-304.

• Becoming a Pastor: Reflections on the Transition into Ministry, and Alban Institute Special Report, co-authored with James P. Wind. (August, 2008)

• Contributed six essays to the twelve volume series, Preaching the Revised Common Leactionary: Feasting on the Word, edited by David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2008 and subsequent years).

• Book Review: Book Review: Christian Century (Vol. 126, No.22, November 3, 2008): pp. 41-42. From Midterms to Ministry: Practical Theologians on Pastoral Beginnings, ed. by Allan Hugh Cole, Jr.

• Book Review: Christian Century (Vol.126, No.2, January 27, 2009): pp. 41-42. The Way is Made by Walking: A Pilgrimage Along the Camino de Santiago, by Arthur Boers.

• "The Pastor and Other Sinners," Christian Century (Vol. 131, No.9, April 30, 2014): pp. 22-25.