Harbor, Pepperdine Bible Lectures

Teacher: Zac Luben What might ministers learn from the ways poets view the world? This class will explore that question by looking at the work of Charles Taylor, Hartmut Rosa, and Andrew Root.

Teachers: Luke Norsworthy, Suzanne Stabile We haven't met anyone who doesn't want to belong or have meaning. Yet many of us seem to miss out on both. Drawing upon on timeless wisdom from the Living Word, Enneagram Master teacher Suzanne Stabile and Luke Norsworthy will discuss how to find both.

Teacher: Jeff Walling  

Teacher: Taylor Walling Restoration churches have always claimed to model themselves after the New Testament church. The church that started on Pentecost. The church that prayed and walls shook. The church that added to their number daily. Among the many characteristics of the Spirit-filled early church, future generations have to reclaim a counter-cultural unity, unceasing prayer, and a living wi...

Teachers: Luke Norsworthy, Suzanne Stabile We haven't met anyone who doesn't want to belong or have meaning. Yet many of us seem to miss out on both. Drawing upon on timeless wisdom from the Living Word, Enneagram Master teacher Suzanne Stabile and Luke Norsworthy will discuss how to find both.

Teacher: Jeff Walling  

Teacher: Taylor Walling Here's a thought experiment: you ask a teenager in your church what it means to be part of the churches of Christ or the Restoration Movement. How do they respond? The answer depends on the story they've inherited. Too often the story handed to the next generation has been either so narrow it strains against adaptation or so broad it lacks a clear identity. This class will...

Teacher: Mallory Wyckoff What we believe to be true about God informs what we believe to be true about everything and everyone else. When God is conceived solely through masculine language, metaphors, and imagery—whether in sermons, religious art, or in private prayer—we are robbed of countless ways to experience the Divine, to consider ourselves as humans, to order our communities in ways where e...

Teacher: Dewayne Winrow I will provide a candid and personal assessment of the pre-pandemic conditions, pandemic challenges to being the church, and post-pandemic rebuilding based on these challenges.

Teacher: Ken Cukrowski What is going on in Ephesus? Some women are misbehaving ("Eves"), and other women are ministering in diverse ways. We'll do a deep dive into the Pastoral Epistles and explore the various gifts that women bring to ministry.

Teachers: Marian and Tim Parker Created from longing itself, humans are born with a longing to connect. Children are naturally open to a connection to our Creator. Coupling this curiosity to an exploration of the Word through the many facets of who we have been created to be allows for deeper understanding of our place—our connection. We will consider the idea of taking God’s stories and learning...

Teachers: John Mark Hicks, Mac Ice, Jerry Rushford Photographs are windows into our stories. Join us for an interPhotographs are windows into our stories. Join us for an interactive conversation about historic photographs from the Restoration Movement and the stories to which they bear witness. The timeline for the photographs begins in the middle of the 19th century and concludes in the present d...

Teacher: Candace Nicolds Class 1: The Brookline Church of Christ in Massachusetts is a 100-year-old congregation, but communal life looks different than it ever has before. Church members are located all across the country! The worship services are "fusion": some people attend in the building and some via Zoom, yet it is very much a single community as the two groups interact with one another. In...

Teachers: Susan Giboney, Mary Alice Reed This class will focus on how to best serve our growing population of senior citizens in our churches.  Wisely using church funds for our elderly will be discussed as well as understanding the needs of this special age group.  The class will also give suggestions on how to help this population to finish life well. Ministers, families, and seniors will benefi...

Teacher: Gregg Marutzky What was the leadership style of Jesus when he was on earth? Many describe Jesus as a Servant Leader or an Upside Down Leader. Jesus has also been described as a Transformational Leader, Inclusive Leader, or Collaborative Leader. Arguments can be made for all these labels. Unfortunately, when we use organizational terms to describe the leadership of Christ, the descriptions...

Teacher: Tiffany Dahlman Class 1: Preachers, have you been frustrated with your elders over matters of theology or mission? Elders, have you felt anxiety or confusion over your pulpit minister's theology? Very often Churches of Christ hire pulpit ministers with advanced degrees in Bible and ministry while the elders do not have any such formal training. Elders may be rich in faith and love for the...

Teacher: Dee Dee Mayer Pastor burnout is real. Vocational ministry is challenging, particularly in our current cultural climate. The Barna Group released research that communicates that 42% of pastors have considered leaving ministry in the past year. Some factors impacting this rise in pastors questioning their call to ministry are stress, loneliness, and politics. Please join Dee Dee Mayer as sh...

Teachers: Judy and Woody Square We have had an exciting journey these past two years partnering with the City of San Leandro and our immediate neighbors to develop our church into a Resilience Hub for the community. A resilience hub is a neighborhood center that integrates disaster preparedness, community care and belonging, and sustainability to be "ready for anything." We have a steering committ...

Teachers: Jacob Parnell, Bryan Schackmann Bryan and Jacob are Church of Christ preachers who also do stand-up comedy on the side. (Think of it as a mid-life crisis people are forced to watch!) In this session, they will share stories about their time in the bars and comedy clubs of Los Angeles and the California Bay Area trying to share the light and hope of Jesus in a pretty dark world. They’ll a...

Teacher: Jack Williamson This famous chapter, where the Apostle Paul describes love in so many facets and virtues, is a staple of Christian ceremonies. It is used over and over at gatherings, from weddings to memorial services and everything in between. There is nothing wrong with this, but so many of the references to this great treatise miss the context and meaning that it seems Paul intended to...

Teacher: Kyle Sapp With the rise of popular hits like Stranger Things on Netflix and the amazing success of podcasts such as Critical Role and the Adventure Zone, Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) has carved a hard to ignore chunk in the cultural zeitgeist. However, the Church has not had such a friendly history with this game, at worst calling it a gateway to Satanism and at best looking at it’s players...

Teachers: Alex and Eleni Melirrytos "... preparing a feast of rich food..." Theme verse: (Isaiah 25:6) "... the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine - the best of meats and the finest of wines." Please feel free to "arrange" as you see fit.

Teacher: Dyron Daugherty Your neighborhood probably has Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus. Your kids and grandkids probably go to school with Jews, Sikhs, and Taoists. You may have members of other religions working in the office down the hall from you. Let's get real: the world's religions are all around us. So now what? What should you do, as a Christian, about that fact? In this class, we explore...

Teacher: Dusty Rush Exploring some subtle shifts in the ways we measure good preaching.

Teacher: Stanley Talbert This class explores theological perspectives on love, justice, and hope. If "God Loves Forever," what are the implications of human love for God, the neighbor, and the self in the 21st century?