History of GPC’s Annual Preaching Series

Inaugurated in 2013, The Georgetown Presbyterian Church’s Guest Preacher Weekend seeks to offer spiritual and intellectual enrichment, hospitality and fellowship to our church community and our friends and neighbors in the Washington, DC area.

In September 2013, we proudly welcomed the Rev. Dr. John M. Buchanan, editor of The Christian Century and a respected leader of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), as our inaugural speaker. Dr. Buchanan offered reflections on the continuing role of the church in the world and on recent developments in the Mainline Protestant movement.

In February 2015, we welcomed our second preacher, Rev. Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean, who spoke to us about the importance of telling our faith stories and making intergenerational connections in our congregations. She highlighted the risk that many of our young people in churches believe less in Christianity than they do in a Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

In February 2016, we welcomed our third speaker, Dr. Miroslav Volf, the Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology, and Founding Director, Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School. A native of Osikek, Croatia, Dr. Volf studied under the renowned German theologian Jürgen Moltmann. Dr. Volf’s career has been animated by his work on the Trinity, applying Trinitarian theology to help resolve entrenched conflicts between communities, including between Serbs and Croats, Muslims and Christians, among denominations and between the realms of the sacred and secular.

In March 2017, we welcomed our fourth speaker, Rev. Dr. Brian Blount, President of Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA. Specializing in Luke, Mark, and Revelations, Dr. Blount served in the New Testament department at Princeton Theological Seminary before becoming the President of Union Seminary in Richmond, VA.  An ordained Presbyterian minister, he has published multiple biblical studies and homiletic books. He gave a sermon on “Resurrection and the Walking Dead.”