Annual Meeting speakers focus on local and small churches

The Rev. Elizabeth Dilley of First Congregational UCC in Red Oak, Iowa, and the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, executive minister of Local Church Ministries, are the keynote speakers for the 2012 Pacific Northwest Conference Annual Meeting April 27 to 29 at the Red Lion Hotel and Conference Center in Pasco.

“Come and Worship, Come and Grow, Come and Connect,” carries on the theme “Connect” from the 2011 Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Dilley, a student of smaller congregations and pastor of a small, thriving, progressive church, promotes the “world-changing power of small churches.”  In 2011, she was a summer session instructor at Pacific School of Religion, where she earned her master of divinity in 2003.  She earned a bachelor’s in educational theatre from New York University.

Dilley is also a part-time health educator with Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, where she works with people of all ages to promote healthy life and sexual choices.  She is active in local ministries, serves on the Red Oak School Board, and participates in wider settings of the United Church of Christ.

Guess, who was elected executive minister of Local Church Ministries by General Synod, has served at the national office in Cleveland since 2000, as communications director for Justice and Witness Ministries, as news director and editor of United Church News, and since 2007 as the director of the UCC’s Publishing, Identity and Communication Ministry.

Previously, he served 12 years as a local church pastor in Kentucky. He earned a bachelor’s in journalism from University of Kentucky, a master of divinity from Vanderbilt University Divinity School, and a doctor of ministries degree in preaching from Chicago Theological Seminary. He also studied public administration at Murray (Ky.) State University.

For information, call 206-725-8383.

 

Copyright Pacific Northwest Conference News © December 2011