The annual Convocation & Pastors’ School is an intensive multi-day conference that offers lectures, worship, alumni gatherings, and seminars for clergy and laity of all traditions. Led by scholars and practitioners from Duke University and beyond, this event is a cooperative endeavor with the North Carolina and Western North Carolina Conferences of the United Methodist Church, The Duke Endowment, The Parish Ministry Fund, and Duke Divinity School.
In-person
For Alumni
For Clergy
For Laity
For UMC Clergy
General Audience
This year’s theme is “Pulpits in Many Places: Embodying Christ in the World” inspired by Acts 1:8.
Our plenary speakers are Bishop Gregory V. Palmer, resident Bishop of the West Ohio Annual Conference and member of Duke University’s Board of Trustees, Lanecia Rouse, artist and Duke Divinity alumna, and Bishop Will Willimon, professor of the practice of Christian ministry at Duke Divinity School.
The evening of October 14, Kate Bowler will host a live session of her Everything Happens podcast. Her guest this year will be Coach Mike Krzyzewski. In addition, we will have an inspiring selection of seminars.
Plenary Speakers
Bishop Gregory V. Palmer
Resident Bishop, West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church
Bishop Gregory V. Palmer serves as the episcopal leader of the Ohio West Area of The United Methodist Church. He was elected to the episcopacy by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference in 2000. Palmer served the Iowa Area until assuming responsibilities in the Illinois Area in 2008. Palmer served as president of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry from 2004 to 2008 and president of the Council of Bishops from April 2008 to May 2010.
Bishop Palmer received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Master of Divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina.
He was ordained a deacon and elected a probationary member in the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference in 1977. In 1981, he was elected into full membership and ordained an elder in the East Ohio Annual Conference
Palmer served on the Commission on a Way Forward. Currently, he is a member of the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters and chair of the Comprehensive Africa Plan. He also is a board member of several organizations.
Lanecia Rouse
Multidisiplinary Artist
Lanecia A. Rouse is a 2003 graduate of Duke Divinity School and is a multidisciplinary artist who divides her time between Houston, T.X., and Richmond, V.A. Her diverse portfolio spans collage, abstract painting, photography, teaching, writing, speaking, and curatorial projects for local non-profit organizations.
Recently concluding a month-long residency in Charleston, SC with the Foundation for Spirituality and the Arts, Rouse has also been an Artists on Site: Series 3 Artist-in-Resident at the Asia Society HTX in 2022, and the 2020-2021 Artist-in-Resident for the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning (CERCL) at Rice University.
She holds the position of Visual Arts Editor for EcoTheo Review and Artist-in-Resident partner at Holy Family HTX Episcopal Church in Houston, T.X. where she leads the Curation Team for the Lanecia Rouse Tinsley Gallery. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Image Journal. Her work is currently featured in Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage that debuted at the First Museum in Nashville, TN before traveling to the Museum of Fine Artists Houston in Houston, TX. It will be traveling to The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, later this year.
Bishop Will Willimon
Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry, Duke Divinity School
A bishop in the United Methodist Church, Professor Willimon served as the dean of Duke Chapel and professor of Christian ministry at Duke University for 20 years. He returned to Duke after serving as the bishop of the North Alabama Conference from 2004 to 2012. He has taught in Germany, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia in various seminaries. He is a trustee of Wofford College, Emory University, and serves on the Dean’s Committee of Yale Divinity School.
Willimon is the author of over 70 books. His Worship as Pastoral Care was selected as one of the 10 most useful books for pastors in 1979 by the Academy of Parish Clergy. More than a million copies of his books have been sold. His articles have appeared in many publications including Theology Today, Interpretation, Liturgy, and Christianity Today. He is editor-at-large for The Christian Century. His book Pastor: the Theology and Practice of Ordained Leadership is used in dozens of seminaries in the United States and Asia.
Kate Bowler
Associate Professor of American Religious History, Duke Divinity School
Kate Bowler, Ph.D., is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, award-winning podcast host, and an associate professor of American religious history at Duke University. She studies the cultural stories we tell ourselves about success, suffering, and whether (or not) we’re capable of change.
After being unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35, she penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear). She has also co-written with Jessica Richie, spiritual reflections: Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection and The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days.
Bowler hosts the award-winning Everything Happens podcast where, in warm, insightful, often funny conversations, she talks with people like Malcolm Gladwell and Beth Moore about what they’ve learned in difficult times. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her family and continues to teach do-gooders at Duke Divinity School.
Mike Krzyzewski
Passionate, dynamic, inspiring, and coach of Duke University men's basketball team who led Team USA to three Olympic gold medals, Mike Krzyzewski (known by fans as Coach K) is a master motivator - not only of teams, but of individuals and organizations, spurring them on to succeed beyond even their own expectations.
A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball and the National Collegiate Basketball Halls of Fame, Coach K shows audiences how they, too, can compile winning numbers in both their professional and personal lives.
Coach K maps out a clear game plan for achieving success-motivating, leading, and providing powerful strategies for building confidence, trust, communication and teamwork. He is the author of two New York Times best-sellers including Beyond Basketball: Coach K's Keywords for Success. His most recent book is The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team.
A 12-time National Coach of the Year, Sports Illustrated named Krzyzewski its Sportsman of the Year in 2011. Krzyzewski has been honored by USA Basketball seven times as the recipient or co-recipient of the USA Basketball National Coach of the Year Award. He is the only men's coach to have won gold medals at the Olympics and the FIBA World Cup, while also possessing at least one NCAA Championship (he has five).
In addition to being a Co-Founder of the Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics, Krzyzewski serves as a Professor of the Practice of Leadership at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke. The Coach K Center at Duke has directly influenced the leadership development of more than 6,500 MBA students and executives since 2004. The Board Chair of the Emily Krzyzewski Center in Durham, N.C., Krzyzewski founded the center that has served more than 7,500 students since its inception in 2006. Coach K has been on the Board of Directors at the V Foundation since the beginning in 1993. Annually in Napa Valley, he and his wife Mickie host the V Foundation Wine Celebration, an event that has raised tens of millions of dollars in the fight against cancer.
