Perkins Lectures


perkinsPerkins Lecture Series have been one of the most significant events at FUMC since 1943. Paul E. Martin, beloved former pastor of FUMC, conceived the idea for the Perkins Lectures. Mr. and Mrs. J. J. (Lois) Perkins founded the Lectureship in 1943. Research indicates that this is the first lecture series of its kind nationwide, established in a local church. The Lectureship’s purpose is stated in its original charter, drafted in 1943: “To bring consecrated, capable speakers of note to deliver in said First Methodist Church, talks or lectures pertaining to and in furtherance of the Christian Religion . . . for the benefit of the members of said Church, for the benefit of Methodism generally, and for the benefit of the public at large.”


List of Former Lecturers

1943 Dr. Roy L. Smith* 1944 Bishop Edwin Holt Hughes*
1945 Dr. Norman Vincent Peal* 1946 [no lectures]
1947 Dr. G. Ray Jordan* 1948 Dr. Richard C. Raines*
1949 Bishop Paul E. Martin* 1950 Dr. John Sutherland Bonnell*
1951 Dr. George A. Buttrick 1952 Dr. Elton Trueblood*
1953 Dr. Charles Ray Goff* 1954 Dr. Leslie D. Weatherhead
1955 Dr. Paul Scherer* 1956 Dr. James S. Stewart
1957 Bishop Gerald Kennedy 1958 Dr. Robert J. McCracken
1959 Dr. Perry E. Gresham 1960 Dr. Ralph W. Sockman*
1961 Dr. James T. Cleland 1962 Dr. Theodore A. Gill*
1963 Dr. Maldwyn Edwards 1964 The Rev. A. P. Tremlett
1965 [no lectures] 1966 Dr. Carlyle Marney*
1967 Dr. Harold Roberts 1968 Dr. Albert C. Outler
1969 Bishop Paul E. Martin 1970 Dr. Browne Barr
1971 Dr. Arthur M. Jackson 1972 Dr. David H. C. Read
1973 Dr. Earnest T. Campbell 1974 Dr. Edmund A. Steimle
1975 Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens 1976 Dr. Gabriel Fackre
1977 Dr. Martin E. Marty 1978 Bishop Roy C. Nichols
1979 Dr. John B. Cobb, Jr. 1980 Dr. Donald Coggan
1981 Bishop William R. Cannon 1982 Dr. Brevard S. Childs
1983 Dr. Fred B. Craddock 1984 Dr. Russell T. Montfort
1985 Father Raymond E. Brown 1986 Dr. Leander E. Keck
1987 Dr. William H. Willimon 1988 Dr. Walter Brueggemann
1989 Bishop Michael E. Marshall 1990 Dr. Morna D. Hooker
1991 Dr. J. Pittman McGehee 1992 Dr. Tex S. Sample
1993 Dr. Thomas G. Long 1994 Dean Alan W. Jones
1995 Father John R. Claypool, IV 1996 Madeleine L’Engle
1997 Dr. R. Maurice Boyd 1998 Dr. David Bartlett
1999 Dr. Zan Holmes 2000 Dr. George Carey
2001 Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor 2002 [no lectures]
2003 Dr. Harold S. Kushner 2004 Dr. Arthur Caliandro
2005 Rev. John M. Buchanan 2006 Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr.
2007 Dr. Fred B. Craddock 2008 Dr. R. Maurice Boyd
2009 Dr. Tex Sample 2010 Amy-Jill Levine

Audio tapes are available for all lecture series, except the ones with asterisk (*). CD, VHS, and DVD are available for more recent lecture series:
Audio CDs: $30 / set
VHS Video: $30 / set
DVD Video: $45 / set
If you would like to order by postal mail, click HERE for the Order Form.

For more information, contact
Rev. John Dillard, Associate Pastor: 940-766-4231, x227.

Dr. Amy-Jill Levine – 2010 Perkins Lecturer

Posted on February 24th, 2010 by tsims

levineOur 2010 Perkins Lecturer will be Amy-Jill Levine the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Graduate Department of Religion, and Program in Jewish Studies.

Holding a B.A. from Smith College, M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University, and honorary doctorates from the University of Richmond, the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, and the University of South Carolina- Upstate, Professor Levine has been awarded grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies.  She has held office in the Society of Biblical Literature, the Catholic Biblical Association (she is presently the New Testament book review editor for the Catholic Biblical Quarterly), and the Association for Jewish Studies.

Her most recent books include:

In addition, she has recorded “Introduction to the Old Testament,” “Great Figures of the Old Testament,” and “Great Figures of the New Testament” for the Teaching Company.

A self-described “Yankee Jewish feminist who teaches in a predominantly Christian divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt,” Professor Levine combines history and literary insight with a frequent dash of humor to bring aspects of the Scriptures down-to-earth.  In all of this, she maintains a commitment to eliminating anti-Jewish, sexist, and homophobic theologies.

This year, the lectures will be:

  • Sunday, March 7, 2010 – 10:30am
    The Good Samaritan
  • Sunday, March 7, 2010 – 7:00pm
    Hearing the Parables Anew
  • Monday, March 8, 2010 – 12:00noon
    The Prodigal Son
  • Monday, March 8, 2010 – 7:00pm
    The Laborers in the Vineyard
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Dr. Tex Sample – 1992 & 2009 Perkins Lecturer

Posted on March 18th, 2009 by tsims

Our 1992 & 2009 Perkins Lecturer is Dr. Tex Sample, the Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society at Saint Paul School of Theology where he also served as the Acting Academic Dean during 1987-88.

A native of Brookhaven, Mississippi, he attended public schools in Brookhaven and went on to receive his B.A. from Millsaps College with a major in psychology. He received his M.Div. from the Boston University School of Theology and his Ph.D. from the Boston University Graduate School. While a graduate student, Sample was a Fellow in the Boston University Human Relations Center. In 1999 he was named Distinguish Alumnus of the Boston University School of Theology. He received the D.D. degree from Coe College in 2003.

Over the course of his life Sample has worked as a cab driver, as a laborer, and as a roust-about in the oil fields. In addition, he pastored churches for eight years and served three years as the Director of Social Relations of the Massachusetts Council of Churches. In this last capacity he was the lobbyist for the Council and worked actively in the civil rights and peace movements. An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church (UMC), he is a member of the Missouri Conference. He served as a delegate to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church on four occasions and to the South Central Jurisdictional Conference five times.

Academically, Sample works and teaches in the areas of U.S. lifestyles, U.S. culture, social theory and social change, power, social class and theological ethics. He is a specialist in the study of blue collar and poor people. Sample is a member of the Society of Christian Ethics and a member and Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. In Phoenix, Arizona, where the Samples currently live, he is active in The Valley Interfaith Project (an IAF community organizing effort), Interfaith Worker Justice, and The Arizona Interfaith Movement, an organization with twenty-four participating faith traditions. The Sample are also active in the Asbury United Methodist Church in the city.

Sample has authored nine books and co-edited another: Blue Collar Ministry: Facing Economic and Social Realities of Working People (Judson Press, 1984); U.S. Lifestyles and Mainline Churches: A Key to Reaching People in the 90’s (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990); Hard Living People and Mainstream Christians (Abingdon, 1993); Ministry in an Oral Culture-Living With Will Rogers, Uncle Remus, and Minnie Pearl (Westminster/John Knox, 1994); White Soul: Country Music, the Church and Working Americans (Abingdon Press, 1996); The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World (Abingdon Press, 1998); a book edited with Amy DeLong: The Loyal Opposition: Struggling With the Church on Homosexuality (Abingdon, 2000); Powerful Persuasion: Multimedia Witness In Christian Worship (Abingdon, 2005); Blue Collar Resistance And the Politics of Jesus: Doing Ministry With Working Class Whites (Abingdon, 2006); and Earthy Mysticism: Spirituality for Unspiritual People (Abingdon, January, 2008).

In 1957 Sample married Peggy Jo Sanford. Ms. Sample is a landscape artist and works in acrylics and watercolor. A retired soprano she sang professionally in churches in Kansas City and Boston. She worked for many years in community theater. The Samples have three children: Steven (deceased), Shawn, and Jennifer. They have four grandchildren.

His real name is Tex. It is not a nickname. His father named him after Texanna Gillham, an African-American woman who was born in slavery and helped raise his father near Center, Texas.

(Majority of information above gleaned from www.texsample.com)

1992 Lecture Topics:

  • To Believe the Mystery and Hear the Music
  • Fulfillment, Achievement and Tradition: The Shapes of American Life
  • The Middle Aging of the Baby Boomers
  • Will Rogers, Uncle Remus and Minnie Pearl: Oral People and Literate Clergy
  • Loving Jesus and Justice: Doing Ethics With Real People
  • A Gospel of Grace in an Achievement Culture

2009 Lecture Topics:

  • Sunday, March 1, 10:30am – The Practices of Transformation
  • Sunday, March 1, 7:00pm – Getting the Story Right
  • Monday, March 2, 11:00am – Reading the Bible as the Church
  • Monday, March 2, 7:00pm – Living the Tradition
  • Tuesday, March 3, 11:00am – The Practice of Justice
  • Tuesday, March 3, 7:00pm – The Craft of Witness
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Dr. Maurice Boyd – 1997 & 2008 Perkins Lecturer

Posted on March 18th, 2008 by tsims

boyd_2008boyd_1997Our 1997& 2008 Perkins Lecturer was and will be Dr. R. Maurice Boyd, whose ministry has included preaching and teaching in the major pulpits and universities of the Nation and abroad and he has been the Theme Speaker at many conferences. For instance, he delivered the Hickman Lectures on preaching at Duke University in 1980.

Dr. Boyd served churches in Ireland and Canada before coming to New York City. Dr. Boyd was Minister of The City Church, New York (1993-2007), of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York (1988-1992) and of Metropolitan United Church, London, Ontario, the largest congregation of the United Church of Canada (1975-1988).

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and ordained in the Methodist Church there in 1956, Boyd is a graduate in Theology from Edgehill Theological College, Belfast and McMaster Univerisity, Hamilton, where he majored in Philosophy and English. He holds the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Victoria College and the degree of Licentiate of Music from the University of Western Ontario. In May, 1992, he was awarded the Doctor of Sacred Theology degree by Hastings College.

Four books of Dr. Boyd’s sermons have been published: A Lover’s Quarrel With the World (1985); Permit Me Voyage (1989); Running To Paradise (1990), and Corridors of Light (1991). Also published are The Fine Art Of Being Imperfect: And Other Broadcast Talks (1998), and Why oesn’t God Do Things Perfectly? (1999) a defense of the goodness of God in the face of evil and suffering.

1997 Lecture Topics

  • On Not Being Taken In
  • How to Have Faith
  • Wishfulness and Wishes
  • Prevenient Grace
  • The Slant of Truth
  • The Summing Up

2008 Lecture Topics

  • Knowing Our Place
  • Buying Our Dream
  • Gathering Our Harvest
  • Reading the Signs
  • Remembering to Forget
  • Stringing Our Instrument
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Dr. Fred Craddock – 1983 & 2007 Perkins Lecturer

Posted on March 18th, 2007 by tsims

craddock-2007craddockOur 1983 & 2007 Perkins Lecturer was Dr. Fred B. Craddock, who is minister emeritus of Cherry Log Christian Church in Cherry Log, Georgia and Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching and New Testament, Emeritus, in the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. An ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Dr. Craddock has also served pastorates in Tennessee and Oklahoma. Much sought after as a lecturer, he has delivered the Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale, the Scott Lectures at Claremont School of Theology, the Adams Lectures at Southeastern Baptist Seminary, the Schaff Lectures at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, the Cole Lectures at Vanderbilt, the Westervelt Lectures at Austin Presbyterian Seminary, the Mullins Lectures at Southern Seminary, Earl Lectures at Pacific School of Religion, and even the Perkins Lectures here at FUMC in 1983.

Reported in Newsweek as one of America’s top preachers, Mr. Craddock, reared in rural Tennessee, speaks the folk idiom with prophetic authenticity.

Dr. Craddock has written a number of books, including The Pre-Existence of Christ in the New Testament (1968), As One Without Authority (1971, rev. 1974, 1979, 2001), Overhearing the Gospel (1978, rev. 2002), The Gospels: Interpreting Biblical Texts (1981), Preaching (1985, rev. 1990), Craddock Stories (2001), and The Cherry Log Sermons (2001). In addition, he has written Bible commentaries on John (Knox Preaching Guides) (1982), Philippians (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching) (1985), Luke (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching) (1991), and First and Second Peter and Jude (Westminster Bible Companion) (1995). In 2004, he also co-authored The People’s New Testament Commentary with M. Eugene Boring. Dr. Craddock has also contributed articles to various journals. (To order any of the above mentioned books, just click the title of the book).

A native of Humbolt, Tennessee, Dr. Craddock is married to the former Nettie Dungan. They have a daughter and a son.

1983 Lecture Topics

  • The Moment of Truth (Luke 3:1-17)
  • Jesus Tempted by the Devil (Luke 4:1-15)
  • A Word to the Wise (Luke 4:16-30)
  • Learning What We Already Know (Luke 4:16-30)
  • Offended by Generosity (Luke 15:11-32)
  • While They Were Eating (Luke 24:13-35)

2007 Lecture Topics (based in the book of Philippians)

  • Free From Regret
  • Free From Excessive Inwardness
  • Free From Anxiety About Death
  • Free From Being Determined By Others
  • Free From Pre-Occupation With Status
  • Free From Obsession With Things
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