Clergy and laity from churches across South Carolina and beyond will gather at Claflin University at the end of January to explore reaching congregants with “different voices.”

The annual Granville Hicks Leadership Academy for Laity and Clergy will be held on the Claflin campus from Thursday, Jan. 31, to Saturday, Feb. 2.

The keynote address for this year’s academy will be delivered by Dr. Michael J. Brown, an Emory University associate professor of New Testament and Christian Origins. The keynote session will be held on Thursday, Jan. 31, at 7:30 p.m. in Elmore Chapel.

The theme for this 2008 leadership academy is “Reading the Bible in Different Voices.”

“This year’s lecture series raises the question, ‘How can we make the Bible speak to the situations of people of varying cultures, races, ethnicities and socio-economic circumstances?’,” said Dr. Jimmy J. Montgomery, associate professor of philosophy and religion.

Workshop leaders will include Dr. Carolyn L. McCrary, Rev. Kenneth Nelson and Rev. Sonia Ortigoza, who will focus on different voices in the areas of pastoral care, worship and social witness. A complete schedule for the lecture series is available on the Claflin University Web site, www.claflin.edu.

Rev. McCrary, an associate professor of pastoral care and counseling at Atlanta’s Interdenominational Theological Center, will also address second-year Claflin students as the speaker at the weekly Sophomore Assembly. The assembly will be held on Thursday, Jan. 31, at 11 a.m. in the W.V. Middleton Fine Arts Center.

For registration and additional information, please contact Dr. Jimmy J. Montgomery at (803) 536-5360 or jmontgomery@claflin.edu.

The 2008 Granville Hicks Leadership Academy for Laity and Clergy is sponsored by the Claflin University Center for Vocational Reflection and the Ethnic Local Church Concerns Committee and the African American Task Force of the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Dr. Carolyn Lynette McCrary is an associate professor of pastoral care and counseling at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Ga. She is also an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

She has contributed to several publications, including The Religious Heritage of the World and The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center. McCrary’s articles include “Stories About Ethiopia: An African Holy Land” and “Intimate Violence Against Black Women and Internalized Shame: A Womanist Pastoral Counseling Perspective.” She also contributed an article, entitled “Interdependence as a Norm for Pastoral Counseling with African Americans,” in the Journal of Pastoral Theology.

McCrary earned a bachelor’s degree from Bennett College; a Master of Divinity from Interdenominational Theological Center; and she was the first African American woman to receive a Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) from Atlanta Theological Association. She has also completed coursework at Brown University and Centro Intercultural de Documentation in Cuervnavaca, Mexico.

Dr. Michael Joseph Brown is an associate professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Candler School of Theology and the Graduate Division of Emory University. He is an ordained itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has pastored several congregations.

Brown is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, where he serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Biblical Literature, as well as on several committees. He is also a member of the Society for the Study of Black Religion, and serves on the editorial board for “Out in Scripture” sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign.

Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Vanderbilt University; a Master of Divinity degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago; and he has completed additional study at Columbia University.

The annual Granville Hicks Leadership Academy for Laity and Clergy is named in honor of the Rev. Dr. Granville A. Hicks, a 1957 Claflin alumnus, in recognition of his leadership as a pastor and district superintendent in the S.C. Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Established in 1992, the purpose of the Granville Hicks Leadership Academy is to equip laity and clergy for ministry and leadership within the church. The Academy empowers individuals with biblical knowledge, intellectual growth and theological reflection, thus enhancing church development, renewal and mission outreach. The Academy intends to unite laity and clergy; establish church leadership; increase awareness of Christian education’s role within the church; offer cross-cultural experiences within the church; and enhance church/university relationships.