Liz Duston Reed (BA IN FILM AND DIGITAL MEDIA 2003; MA IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES 2006) >> THE SCIENCE CHANNEL Question everything. That’s the motto of Discovery Communications’ Science Channel, where Liz Duston Reed is a production coordinator. “Our content really does dig deep. We’re innovators. We seek to expose the latest in science and to share that with the world,” said Duston Reed, who enjoys sharing her love for storytelling. Duston Reed began working at the Science Channel after a Baylor connection helped her get her foot in the door. In her current role, she provides support for producers of the channel’s various programs. One day she may rewrite a script, the next she might develop the title for a new program. One of her specific assignments is to work on “How Do They Do It,” a show that originated in Britain. Duston Reed’s responsibility is to Americanize it. “The best part of my job is getting to work with so many creative people. That was my goal coming out of school,” Duston Reed said. “To be here accomplishing that, I pinch myself every day.” While the Science Channel’s motto is question everything, Duston Reed has found some of her own answers to life along the way. “One of my favorite quotes of all times is, ‘It takes courage to be creative.’ I see that every day here, coming up with an idea and believing in it,” she said. Duston Reed applies that philosophy to her life away from work, where she and her husband run a mixed media Web comic, Cuddles and Rage, which has taken them from New York to Los Angeles. Asked for a tip she’d have for Baylor students, Duston Reed said that social media sites like YouTube now make it possible for young producers to succeed. “Anything is possible,” she said. “The best way to learn is to share your work.”
8 / BAYLOR ARTS & SCIENCES
Amy Butler (BA IN RELIGION AND POLITICAL SCIENCES 1991; MA IN CHURCH HISTORY 1996) >> CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH Dr. Amy Butler pastors a historic church just 10 blocks from the White House. Calvary Baptist has a long history of social justice that includes being the first white Baptist church in Washington, D.C., to admit an African-American member in the 1950s, and the first to open a homeless shelter for women in the District of Columbia. The church called Rev. Butler as its first female pastor in 2003. Butler said that when she was growing up, she learned that the best way for a girl to serve Jesus was to marry a pastor. She held that view until she attended Baylor, where a History of Baptists class with Dr. Rosalie Beck changed her life. “That was the foundation of my whole theological framework,” Butler said, explaining that in the class she began to understand the impact that women could have in the church. At the same time, she believed deeply in the Baptist distinctives about which she was learning. It was during a visit to Waco’s Lakeshore Baptist Church that Butler first heard a woman deliver a sermon. “I thought maybe I could do this, too,” she said. Lakeshore later licensed Butler to the ministry. A summer internship working for Senator Daniel Akaka (D - Hawaii) further prepared her to one day live in Washington and pastor Calvary Baptist Church. Butler said the DNA of her church encourages the congregation to be welcoming and inclusive. “I think that from a theological standpoint that’s what the body of Christ looks like –– all different people gathered around the table,” she said. While her conversations often include talk of being a woman serving in a pastoral role, Butler prefers to focus on the impact she desires to have. “What drives me in my work and in my calling is this passionate belief that God is in the midst of transforming our world,” she said. “I want to be about the gospel.”