Hosted by Professional Schools Ministries
Coordinator: John Terrill

Christ-followers in culture-making professions such as medicine, law, journalism, business, and the arts face unprecedented opportunities as God’s instruments, situated as they are in positions of influence and power. Yet these Christian professionals face conflicting visions of power and leadership from their professions, the media, and even the church. Professionals are immersed in and shaped by specialized training and professional custom. While much of this is rooted in virtue and ethics, some modern features of embedded “professional identity” tend to hinder true vocation.

Our summit highlights the critical questions professionals must ask as they seek God’s perspective on power, privilege, and leadership: How can we become a transforming influence on the structures and institutions in which we lead and serve? With Jesus as our perfect example, what would it mean for Christian professionals to rightly exercise power even as they seek to embrace a posture of weakness and servitude? How do these opportunities and temptations vary across professional, gender, ethnic, and socio-economic lines? Join us as we tackle these questions of power and privilege honestly and faithfully.

Leaders and Presenters

John Terrill, coordinator

Andy Crouch, presenter

Andy Crouch (M.Div., Boston University School of Theology) is editorial director of the Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today International. He served as executive producer for the documentary films Where Faith and Culture Meet and Round Trip. He also sits on the editorial board for Books & Culture and has been a columnist for Christianity Today. His writing has appeared in several editions of The Best Christian Writing and The Best Spiritual Writing. He was editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly and for ten years served as a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, Crouch has also led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000.

Katherine Leary, presenter

Katherine Leary is founder and executive director of The Center for Faith and Work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. Prior to this role at Redeemer, Katherine worked for 20 years in the technology industry both in New York and California. She served as president and CEO of Pensare, Inc., in Los Altos, CA, an online management education startup. Prior to that she was President and CEO of One Touch Systems, Inc., a corporate communications hardware/software company, in San Jose, CA. In the early 1990s she was president of Private Satellite Network in New York and started a European subsidiary of Satellite Network Systems in Luxembourg. She has also worked in numerous consulting, sales, and marketing roles primarily in the technology sector. She received an MBA from the Darden School, University of Virginia, and a BA in Psychology and Education from Wittenberg University. She became a Christian mid-career in NYC through the ministries of Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

D. Michael Lindsay, presenter

D. Michael Lindsay is a sociologist whose work focuses on leadership, religion, and culture. In 2006, he joined the faculty of Rice University where he is also the faculty associate of Leadership Rice and associate director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life. He is also a Rice Scholar at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. Dr. Lindsay is the author of the Pulitzer-nominated book, Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite. Dr. Lindsay earned his doctorate in sociology from Princeton University and previously served as the consultant for religion and culture at The George H. Gallup International Institute. He and his wife, Rebecca, were both Phi Beta Kappa graduates of Baylor University. They are the proud parents of Elizabeth, and they presently reside in Houston, Texas.

Bob Lynn, presenter

Bob Lynn, a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary and the Johns Hopkins University, is associate pastor for missions, adult education and university ministry at Knox Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has been married for 31 years to Ilene Lynn (who is a CPA), and they have a daughter, Rachel, an urban-policy analyst. Bob is also a fellow of the Wilberforce Forum of Prison Fellowship and a lecturer at the Istanbul Reformed Seminary in Istanbul, Turkey.

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