Author: Crystal Caviness

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The African American Methodist Heritage Center (AAMHC) has a mission: “To establish and provide for the maintenance of an African American Methodist Heritage Center, connected with a historically Black institution, that will preserve and protect artifacts and be accessible for research about African American people in Methodism.” This month we discuss the history of this important institute, the present, as well as where they hope to be in 10 years! More on their website at https://aamhc-umc.org

GUESTS:

Carol Travis was baptized at Asbury UMC and is recorded as having delivered her first prayer at the age of 6 over 60 years ago. After a long career in corporate America, she retired to start another career in church administration, serving on the staff of diverse churches in urban and suburban settings  She currently works in several ministry areas at Asbury UMC and at the Annual Conference level where she helps to advance the UMC ‘s dismantling racism agenda.  She holds degrees from Trinity University and American University in Washington, DC. For 15 years, she was a board member of the African American Methodist Heritage Center and has been the Executive Assistant to the board since 2014.

HOST:

Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, specializing in American Religious History. She has previously worked as staff at the General Commission on Archives and History (2012-2014) and the Connectional Table of The United Methodist Church (2014-2016). She was the Director of United Methodist Studies and Assistant Professor Christian History at Hood Theological Seminary (Salisbury, NC), an AME Zion Seminary, from 2017-2019 and was the Director of Women’s and Gender Studies and Assistant Professor of Religion at High Point University (High Point, NC) from 2019-2020. Dreff is a lay member of the Arkansas Annual Conference and the daughter of two ordained United Methodist ministers. She is the author of Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women’s Rights (2020) and Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (2018).

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Happy 2022! John Wesley often participated in Watch Night Services, also known as Covenant Services, on New Years Eve. Is this the Wesleyan form of New Year Resolutions? Is this tradition still around? How have different communities, particularly African American forms of Methodism, adopted and adapted the Watch Night Service?

GUESTS:

Dr. Martin Wellings serves as Superintendent Minister of the Barnet & Queensbury Circuit, in London, UK. He chairs the Faith and Order Committee of the British Methodist Church and is a Past President of the World Methodist Historical Society. He has recently become editor of the online Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland (https://dmbi.online/ ).

Dr. Sharon Grant is an Associate Professor of the History of Christianity at Hood. She joined the faculty in 2016, and teaches the major required surveys on the History of Christianity and elective courses in the fields of American Religious History,  Wesleyan and Methodist Studies, Black Church History and World Religions. As a former environmental scientist, her research interests have converged to integrate religious studies, theological inquiry and scientific content as the Founder and Director of the International Center of Faith, Science and History.

HOST:

Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, specializing in American Religious History.

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We hear so much about the Christmas Conference as a crucial piece of Methodist History, but what exactly happened there?

GUEST:

Rev. Bonnie McCubbin serves bi-vocationally as the Director of Museums & Pilgrimage/Conference Archivist for the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church where she oversees 33 historic sites and as the pastor of Old Otterbein UMC (Baltimore, MD), the Mother Church of the United Brethren in Christ branch of our denomination. Her research interests includes Cokesbury College, the first Methodist College in the world and Baltimore Methodism; and her most recent publication was as a contributing author to When Kids Ask Hard Questions, volume 2, ed. McCleneghan & Jackson (Chalice Press. 2021).

HOST:

Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She is the author of Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women’s Rights (2020) and Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (2018).

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What were indigenous boarding schools and how were Methodists involved?

GUEST:

Rev. Shirley Montoya is an ordained elder in the UMC serving in the Desert Southwest Annual Conference. She was raised in the valley of Shiprock, New Mexico and attended a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school there. She currently lives on the Navajo reservation and serves her community as Project Manager for the Healing Circle Wellness Center in Shiprock, NM.

HOST:

Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She is the author of Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women’s Rights (2020) and Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (2018).

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How has United Methodism’s racist actions against indigenous nations affected indigenous communities and congregations in 2021? We’ll learn from Ragghi Rain and Cynthia Wilks-Mosley about generational trauma and healing.

GUESTS:

Ragghi Rain is a layperson in the UMC who lives in Delaware on the land of the Nanticoke and Lenape. RagghiRain is a Descent of the Eastern Band of Tsalagi.

Cynthia Wilks-Mosley is a layperson in the UMC who attends St. John Fordville. She is a member of the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape Tribe of Indians.

HOST:

Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She is the author of Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women’s Rights (2020) and Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (2018).

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Many United Methodists do not know the violent tragedies of our past, including our responsibility and agency in a massacre at Sand Creek. This is that story.

GUEST:

Dr. Gary Roberts is Emeritus Professor of History, Abraham Baldwin College, Tifton, Georgia, respected historian of the American West and the Sand Creek massacre in particular, has published on a variety of topics related to frontier violence and Sand Creek in particular. He has consulted with the National Park Service, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma, the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana, and the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church concerning Sand Creek.

HOST:

Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, specializing in American Religious History. She has previously worked as staff at the General Commission on Archives and History (2012-2014) and the Connectional Table of The United Methodist Church (2014-2016). She was the Director of United Methodist Studies and Assistant Professor Christian History at Hood Theological Seminary (Salisbury, NC), an AME Zion Seminary, from 2017-2019 and was the Director of Women’s and Gender Studies and Assistant Professor of Religion at High Point University (High Point, NC) from 2019-2020. Dreff is a lay member of the Arkansas Annual Conference and the daughter of two ordained United Methodist ministers. She is the author of Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women’s Rights (2020) and Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (2018).

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Francis Asbury was tasked with carrying out John Wesley’s vision of Methodism in the colonies and the United States. Part of this vision included a strong stance against the institution of slavery. How did Asbury respond to and embody this stance in a society that was increasingly racist and white supermacist?

GUESTS:

Dr. Gordon Melton is the Distinguished Professor of American religious History at Baylor University, Waco, Texas. He is the author of A Will to Choose: The origins of African American Methodist (2007)

Rev. Dr. Mark Tyler is the 52nd pastor of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia and is a native of Oakland, California. He’s also a documentary filmmaker, radio host, motorcyclist, an adjunct faculty member at Payne Theological Seminary and an affiliated faculty member of Methodist Theological Seminary.

HOST:

Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She is the author of Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women’s Rights (2020) and Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (2018).

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John Wesley’s mission to Georgia included a mandate to convert indigenous nations. How did this trip shape his understanding of indigenous persons and what can United Methodists today learn from this encounter?

Guest:

Rev. Dr. Suzanne Wenonah Duchesne: Dr. Duchesne is a PhD graduate of Drew Theological School whose dissertation was entitled Beloved Speech: Language and Legacies of Methodist Women Leaders of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference with Antiracist/Decolonizing Strategies for Preaching. She is currently faculty at New Brunswick Theological Seminary in NJ.

Host:

Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, specializing in American Religious History.

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It’s no secret that John Wesley and Frances Asbury were quite dictatorial leaders who envisioned quite different futures for the peoples called Methodist….Or maybe it is? Hence, this podcast episode! Today, we’ll look at two (of the many) “founders” of Methodism, John Wesley and Francis Asbury. How did their different leadership styles create different types of Methodist movements? Was Wesley influential after the official formation of the MEC or did Asbury fully take over? What is their legacy in United Methodism today?

GUESTS:

Dr. Laceye Warner serves as the Associate Dean for Wesleyan Engagement at Duke Divinity School where she has taught Methodist Studies for over twenty years.  Laceye lives in Abbott, TX with her husband, daughter, and many of God’s creatures.

Rev. Dr. Steven Manskar served as Director of Wesleyan Leadership with Discipleship Ministries from 1999 until 2018. He continues to direct the annual Wesley Pilgrimage in England. Steve lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his wife, Gina.

HOST: Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She is the author of Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women’s Rights (2020) and Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (2018).

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Celebrating Asbury’s Voyage to the Americas 250 Years Ago

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of Francis Asbury’s crossing from England to America, we will feature a four-part series over the course of the month. More information can be found at here.

IN THIS EPISODE:

What is the Christmas Conference? Why is it important to American Methodism? And what are its positive and negative lasting impacts on the development of American Methodisms?

GUEST:

Dr. Russ Richey is a renowned Methodist historian. He’s held academic and administrative positions at Candler School of Theology, Drew Theological School, and Duke Divinity School. He is a well established author whose most recent work is forthcoming from New Room Books entitled, A Church’s Broken Heart: Mason-Dixon Methodism.

HOST:

Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, specializing in American Religious History. She has previously worked as staff at the General Commission on Archives and History (2012-2014) and the Connectional Table of The United Methodist Church (2014-2016). She was the Director of United Methodist Studies and Assistant Professor Christian History at Hood Theological Seminary (Salisbury, NC), an AME Zion Seminary, from 2017-2019 and was the Director of Women’s and Gender Studies and Assistant Professor of Religion at High Point University (High Point, NC) from 2019-2020. Dreff is a lay member of the Arkansas Annual Conference and the daughter of two ordained United Methodist ministers. She is the author of Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women’s Rights (2020) and Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (2018).