6 minute read
Collaboration is Essential
with Pastor Kendall Hughes
Pastor Kendall Hughes is the pastor of Leadwood Church of God, the Western Regional Director, and a Trustee for Winebrenner Theological Seminary’s Board of Trustees. We’ve asked Pastor Kendall about what it means to be a Trustee for the seminary, and how the seminary is collaborating to maximize their kingdom impact.
What does being a WTS Trustee mean to you?
First, it’s an unexpected blessing. When you answer the call to ministry, serving at WTS isn’t on the list of things I thought God would have me do. But it’s a blessing to see what God is doing on an up-close view through the lives of the people there— Staff, faculty, and the students.
Next, it’s an honor. I sit on the board as the representative of the CGGC Ad Council. When I first came on to the Ad Council, they chose me as the representative on the Winebrenner board. That’s a big honor. I was new to the board, but they had enough trust in me to be their voice, their eyes and ears.
Lastly, it’s a tremendous privilege. There are only so many that can serve on the board. To have that opportunity, others may not get that chance. To do this is a privilege.
What’s your role as a trustee?
Part of our role is to make sure that leadership is strong. To make sure leadership is going in the right direction. Dr. Sleasman hires but we get to be the sounding board to him. Next is watching the financials of the institution. There were years when it was a struggle, and we’ve had to be there to make some very tough decisions. Finally, we have to be a positive reinforcement to the staff to keep them encouraged, to know they are appreciated.
How do you see your role as a Pastor, a Regional Director, and a Trustee overlapping?
The real work is connecting the three, from the grass roots church, through the region, and to the seminary. In [the Western] region, we’re 500 miles away from the seminary. For many, in our area, the seminary wouldn’t be their first thought, so there needs to be that connection, a conduit, at all levels to share information with the churches, with the region, from the seminary. That way it can flow in both directions. I have that opportunity to share what is going on, to make all three relevant to each other.
As a pastor, we’re here on the front lines, day to day. I believe Winebrenner has gotten more receptive to this.
As a regional director, it probably gives me more of a voice [to the seminary] than just being a pastor. Because I’m not just concerned with one church, and its needs. I’m concerned with how WTS is equipping and helping the larger body.
As a Trustee of WTS, you’ve led multiple ACTS Teams to the Southwest USA. How did that get started?
About 25 years ago, [Leadwood] church took a team to do a 1-week Bible school, at Tsaile, AZ. It was my first experience out there. My responsibility was to teach the high school students. For the first three days, I got no response out of these students. They were attentive, but no reaction.
I was getting a little depressed. “Well”, I said, “Two more days, and this will be done.” Then the next day, one of the kids asked me what we did the night before. We went into Gallup, and saw a native dance. They didn’t believe us and said, “Show us one of the dances.” I tried to recreate it and they started laughing, talking in Navajo. But at that point, I told them we had two more days, and I’m going home, and we’re done, and you won’t have to put up with me anymore. “Wait a minute, you can’t go home!” They said, “We haven’t got to do anything with you.” The culture was they had to develop trust before they would respond.
Those last two days were absolutely wonderful. As we started home, I told my wife, "We have to come back." Why? Well, because we gave them a Bible school, but we didn’t teach them to do Bible school.
Donna and I just fell in love with that, and now we’re 22 or 23 years into it.
Through these ACTS teams, you’ve developed a close connection to Winebrenner alumni Jacob and Haley Day?
We’ve always had a special relationship with Jacob and Haley Day. Just to see that relationship develop, and to see, not only through the growth and maturity in their lives, to be able to help them in areas that maybe they had some questions on.
Haley came out twice with us on the ACTS Team, two different trips. She developed the same kind of passion that we had. And then the next trip Jacob came with her. We developed a special bond doing those and I ended up doing their wedding. I was realizing that they had a call upon their lives to do something in missions and recognizing the passion they had for the Southwest. I felt like God was going to send them out there. She finished her school at Winebrenner and we were able to get with Pastor John Thumma. Both of them hold a license now through the Western Region.
Do you see collaboration between our different institutions as essential for the future of our denomination?
I do. I really do. The seminary is searching for how we collaborate in all of these areas and stay true to the call of being the seminary. That can be a challenge at times. It’s essential, because in each of these areas, there are things that we can’t do on our own, or one of these other areas can do it better, so why recreate the wheel?
We’ve had pastoral credentialing classes in the Western Region. I went through those regional classes and it is sometimes hard for us, within a region, to keep that continually on pace. But now, collaborating with the seminary, we have our courses set. Instead of being a hinderance to men and women moving further, we are a better help because we’ve collaborated.
It’s cliché, but we can do more together than we can apart.
Biblically, Paul wrote about the body of Christ. We each have this vital part that brings wholeness to the ministry. In our collaboration efforts, that’s just going to make the body of Christ function better, not pulling in different directions and getting nowhere.
