Gone for Good?: Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition (Book Launch)

Stephen & Laurel Brown Foundation

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Gone for Good?: Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition (Book Launch)

January 17, 2024 • Kurt Paulsen, Joseph Daniels, Jr., Mark Elsdon

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By 2030, as many as 100,000 church buildings and billions of dollars of church-owned property are expected to be sold or repurposed throughout the U.S. — representing the loss of gathering places and even social services in communities nationwide. According to Mark Elsdon, author and editor of Gone for Good: Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition (Eerdmans, 2024), the transfer of church property is both a critical issue and opportunity for church and community leaders seeking to serve the common good. How do we face the issues and opportunities head-on and mission-minded?

Join us for a book launch and conversation at Upper House with Mark Elsdon, Executive Director of Pres House and Co-Founder and Lead Builder of Rooted Good, who will address the various ways that church properties have been creatively redeployed to serve the common good. Also joining us will be book contributors—

Kurt Paulsen (appearing in person), professor of urban planning in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture at UW-Madison

Joseph Daniels, Jr. (live via Zoom), lead pastor of the Emory Fellowship in Washington D.C.

Coté Soerens (live via Zoom), social innovator at the Center for Transformative Neighborhoods at Trinity Christian College

If you are a Senior Pastor, Executive Pastor, Facilities Manager for a church, a CFO/Treasurer, or city planning staff, you might be especially interested in this event.

SPEAKERS

MARK ELSDON lives and works at the intersection of money and meaning as an entrepreneur, nonprofit executive, author, and speaker. He is the author of We Aren’t Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry. Mark is cofounder of Rooted Good, which supports catalytic and innovative church leaders working on property development, money and mission alignment, and social enterprise; he is also executive director at Pres House and Pres House Apartments on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Mark has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of California–Berkeley, a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

JOSEPH W. DANIELS JR. is the lead pastor of the Emory Fellowship in Washington, DC. He is a nationally sought-after preacher, teacher, and speaker on the topics of congregational, community, and economic development. He and the Emory congregation recently facilitated the construction of a $59 million, ninety-nine-unit affordable rental housing, commercial, and community development project called the Beacon Center. Joseph coaches and consults leaders and nonprofit organizations desirous of revitalizing congregations and communities through his company, the Ananias Consulting Group, LLC.

KURT PAULSEN is a professor of urban planning in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His teaching and research focus on housing, affordable housing finance and policy, land use, and municipal finance. In addition to his published academic research, he has authored two Dane County housing needs assessments, has chaired the City of Middleton Workforce Housing Committee, and does economic impact analysis research for WHEDA (Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority). Kurt is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).

COTÉ SOERENS, is an ecosystemic designer and social innovator who has worked to foster transformative local ecosystems through place-making and community visioning. She led a number of place-based initiatives aimed at fostering equitable development in South Park, Seattle, such as Resistencia Coffee, the Barrio Building, and Reconnect South Park, an initiative that helped to decommission a highway that cuts South Park in two, to reclaim public land for Equitable Development. Currently, Coté is the Director of Tuition Transparency and Access at Trinity College, where she builds external partnerships, philanthropic relationships, and network connections to solve the challenges of student debt.

Midwest Gospel Preaching Summit 2024 | Preaching Class - Rev. Dr. Danielle L. Brown

October 10, 2024 • Danielle Brown

Rev. Dr. Danielle L. Brown is the 10th Senior Pastor of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Plainfield, New Jersey, the first woman to hold this position since the church’s founding in 1908. An increasingly sought-after preacher and workshop leader with the ability to communicate across generations, Dr. Brown has shared the Gospel throughout the U.S. and in South Africa. She holds a Master of Education and Bachelor of Science Degrees from Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia, and both a Master of Divinity Degree and Master of Arts Degree from New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey. She earned a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Palmer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, where she studied Leadership and Church Renewal. She has a passion for mentoring and assisting in the development of faith and community leaders and is a site supervisor in the Princeton Theological Seminary, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and Pillar College Field Education Programs, has taught on the adjunct faculty of New York Theological Seminary, and served two terms on the Board of Trustees of New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Through the years, Dr. Brown has received multiple awards and recognition for her work in the church and community. In 2022, she was inducted into the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Midwest Gospel Preaching Summit 2024 | Preaching Class - Rev. Dr. Phillip Pointer, Sr.

October 10, 2024 • Phillip Pointer

Rev. Dr. Phillip Pointer, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Saint Mark Baptist Church, one of the largest Baptist churches in the state of Arkansas. Raised in the Greater Washington D.C. area, Pastor Pointer is a fourth-generation Baptist pastor from lines of Baptist pastors that run on both sides of his family. Over the years, Pastor Pointer has worked to inspire and empower God’s people to grow in contextual understanding of God’s Word, to apply it, and to spiritually mature in Jesus Christ. Under Pastor Pointer’s leadership, Saint Mark’s ministry has grown by leaps and bounds, achieving major installments of community outreach offerings such as job fairs, financial stewardship classes, record expungement seminars, and food drives. He also led a campaign for a Children & Youth Center and led the formation of the Tendaji Community Development Corporation, which provides outreach programs and initiatives that support the entire Little Rock community. Pastor Pointer earned a Master of Divinity degree with honors from The Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. His doctoral study emphasis was “Preaching Prophetically in a Postmodern Culture: Communicating with Contemporary Audiences.”

Midwest Gospel Preaching Summit 2024 | Preaching Class - Reverend Dr. Charles E. Goodman, Jr.

October 9, 2024 • Charles Goodman

Reverend Dr. Charles E. Goodman, Jr. is the Senior Pastor/Teacher of The Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church of Augusta, Georgia. In his role, he established “one church in multiple locations” that serves a TAB Global audience with multiple weekly services, virtually and in-person. Pastor Goodman is also the author of four books: You Can’t Run from Purpose, Road to Recovery, The Flip Side of Favor, and It’s Complicated. In 2023 Dr. Goodman was selected as a Preaching Exemplar in the inaugural cohort for the Compelling Preaching Initiative, which is advancing the sacred tradition of African American Preaching through scholarship and mentorship. He serves on many community boards and as an adjunct professor/mentor at institutions of higher learning. He is also a content contributor to publications concerning ministry methodologies and contemporary preaching. Dr. Goodman earned a Master of Divinity degree from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and his Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. An avid learner, he also earned a Master of Management with a concentration in Organizational Leadership from Cambridge College and was a practitioner of the Clergy Scholars Program hosted by Yale University. In 2023, he successfully defended his research on the Black Church and Leadership in Times of Crisis, earning a Ph.D. in Leadership from Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina.