Jimmy Dorrell to Discuss 'Leadership in the Church'

by Rebekah Hardage, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805

Baylor University's Academy for Leader Development and Civic Engagement will host Jimmy Dorrell, pastor of The Church Under the Bridge and executive director of Mission Waco, from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, in the Blume Conference Center located on the 5th floor of Cashion Academic Center in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business.

As the final speaker in the Leadership Lecture Series for the fall semester, Dorrell will discuss "Leadership in the Church."

"I want [students] to understand the joy, challenges and impact that the poor can have on shaping our own values. Understanding incarnational and "bottom up" leadership helps break a lot of the old colonial models," Dorrell said.

Dorrell will speak about leadership in the church environment, particularly in regards to the poor, marginalized and unchurched. The lecture will be followed by an audience-engaging Q&A session.

Dorrell is the co-founder and executive director of Mission Waco. He graduated from Baylor in 1972 with a bachelor of arts degree in religion and received his master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1978. In 1993, he received his master's degree in environmental studies from Baylor, followed by a doctorate of ministry degree from Eastern Baptist Theological in Philadelphia in 2001.

He currently teaches classes at Baylor and George W. Truett Theological Seminary. Dorrell has been honored with the Citizen of the Year Award by the National Association of Social Workers and the Baylor Alumni's Abner V. McCall Humanitarian Award by the Baylor Alumni Association.

In 2006, he was honored with the Brook Hays Christian Citizenship Award from Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark. as well as the George W. Truett Ministry Award for Ministerial Excellence from the Baptist Standard and Baylor.

Dorrell has written Trolls and Truth: 14 Truths About the Church We Don't Want to See and Plunge 2 Poverty.

The Academy for Leader Development and Civic Engagement features speakers covering leadership in the church, leadership in social contemporary issues and leadership in public life, said Ramona Curtis, the University's director for Leader Development and Civic Engagement.

"This is a great opportunity for students to engage a public leader," Curtis said about Dorrell's lecture.

The lecture is free and open to the public. 

For more information, contact Curtis at Ramona_Curtis@baylor.edu.