Brenda
Norwood Henson, Janice & Byron Mann, Carissa
Tarkington to be honored at March 6 banquet; Rev. Matt Rawle follows with March
6 evening lecture and March 7 workshop
CONWAY,
Arkansas (November 18, 2022) – Hendrix College will recognize four persons for
their exemplary faith-based service and provide opportunities for spiritual
growth and continuing education through a trio of events set for March 6 and 7,
2023: The Steel-Hendrix Awards, the Willson Lecture, and the John and Marjem
Gill Preaching Workshop.
The 38th annual Steel-Hendrix
Awards will honor four extraordinary church and community leaders on Monday,
March 6 at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Life and Technology Center’s Worsham
Student Performance Hall:
- Brenda
Norwood Henson will receive the Mary and Ira Brumley Award for
Religious Education;
- Janice
and Byron Mann will receive the Ethel K. Millar Award for Religion
and Social Awareness; and
- Carissa
Tarkington will be recognized as Hendrix College Youth Minister
of the Year.
View
detailed information about this year’s Steel-Hendrix Award recipients and
reserve banquet tickets here.
Following the Steel-Hendrix
Awards Banquet, the Hendrix College Office of Religious Life welcomes the Rev.
Matt Rawle to campus to deliver the 2023 Willson Lecture and to lead
the 2023 John and Marjem Gill Preaching Workshop.
The
Willson Lecture is free and open to the public. Rawle, an author and current
lead pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church of Bossier City, Louisiana, will preach
March 6, 2023, at 7 p.m., as part of the regular Monday night worship service in
Greene Chapel on the Hendrix campus.
On Tuesday, March 7, 2023,
Gill Preaching Workshop participants will gather in the Student Life and
Technology Center’s Worsham Hall North. Rawle’s theme for the day-long workshop
is “Jesus Revealed in an Augmented Age.”
- 8:30 to 9
a.m. – registration and check-in
- 9 a.m. to
3 p.m. – workshop sessions
The cost
for the workshop is $35 per person, which includes lunch prepared by the
award-winning Hendrix Dining Services. To learn more or register, visit www.hendrix.edu/gillworkshop by Wednesday,
March 1, 2023.
About the Presenter and the
Gill Preaching Workshop
The Rev.
Matt Rawle was ordained in 2010 as an Elder in the Louisiana Conference of the
United Methodist Church. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University and
Duke Divinity School, where he was named a Divinity Fellow and received the Fellowship
of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts Award. He has written or
co-written 11 books, including his most recent, Jesus Revealed: The I Am
Statements of John, which will be available at the workshop.
Details on
Rawle’s theme for the Gill Preaching Workshop: United Methodist practical
theology is currently being lived out within cultural expressions associated
with three distinct periods: the Industrial Age, the Information Age, and the
emerging Augmented Age. Most of our churches commune within Industrial Age
thinking – putting money in offering plates, registering worship attendance on
a pew pad or registration card, and phone tree reminders for upcoming events.
Fewer of our churches are living into Information Age thinking – online giving,
QR codes for worship attendance, and texting or email services to share
programmatic information. Fewer still are adopting the current cultural reality
of the Augmented Age – auto draft from digital currency gains, geofencing
campuses, or intuitive devotion technology. In this fun, interactive, and
informative workshop, Matt Rawle will both detail why living into the Augmented
Age is important for our communities of faith and offer practical and
innovative steps for sharing Jesus from behind the pulpit and beyond.
The John and
Marjem Gill Preaching Workshop aims to strengthen the United Methodist Church
by enhancing clergy’s ability to proclaim the gospel in ways that are relevant
to the needs of our time, and to enhance dialogue and fellowship among clergy
colleagues. Since 1984, Hendrix College has helped facilitate this annual
gathering, providing clergy throughout Arkansas—United Methodists and others—with
continuing education and training toward becoming more effective preachers.
About
the Steel-Hendrix Awards
In 1984,
Hendrix College inaugurated the annual Steel-Hendrix Awards to celebrate 100
years of its official relationship with the United Methodist Church. The awards
were named in honor of Marshall T. Steel, a prominent minister and former
president of the College.
About the Willson Lectures
The
Willson Lectures were established at Hendrix College in 1956 for the purpose of
bringing outstanding speakers to discuss spiritual values, sound family
relations, and vital issues confronting the world today. The Willson Lectures
are made possible through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Jim Willson, who have established
lectureships at 23 United Methodist colleges nationwide.
About
Hendrix College
A private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College
consistently earns recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal arts
institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools
That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and
rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous
college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been
affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more,
visit www.hendrix.edu.