Christian Worship
Guest Preachers in Celebration of Duke Centennial The Rev. Dr. Marc Lavarin preaches at the Chapel's Maundy Thursday service.
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n his Indenture of Trust in 1924, James B. Duke gave this direction: “I advise that the courses at this institution be arranged, first, with special reference to the training of preachers, teachers, lawyers and physicians, because these are most in the public eye, and by precept and example can do most to uplift mankind.” One hundred years later in this Centennial Year for Duke University, Duke Chapel is celebrating J. B. Duke’s investment in the training of preachers by welcoming to the pulpit Duke alumni who have become dedicated and faithful proclaimers of the Gospel. “Ministers of the Gospel don’t just appear fully formed— they are shaped by elders, professors, congregants, peers, and so many others,” says the Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery, who is a professor of homiletics at Duke Divinity School in addition to being dean of Duke Chapel. “This year at Duke Chapel, we celebrate the formation they have received at Duke and elsewhere—and also receive the benefit of their wisdom.” Three alumni who returned to the Chapel to preach this year were asked to reflect on how their Duke educations prepared them as preachers. The Rev. Shaquisha (Kiki) F. Barnes, T ’96, D ’12, returned to the Chapel to preach during a Holy Week Midday service on March 27. A graduate of Duke’s Trinity College and Divinity School, Rev. Barnes is now a senior clinical administrative chaplain with Chaplain Services at Duke
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Regional Hospital. As an undergraduate, she regularly attended services in the Chapel organized by the InterVarsity campus ministry and also the Chapel’s Black Campus Minister. “The first education taught me grace, and the second time around taught me the power of redemption,” she says about her two Duke degrees. “Both are necessary for the preaching moment.” “I have received this wonderful training in how to get out of my own way in order to walk with The Rev. Shaquisha Barnes those in my care,” Rev. Barnes says. “I have to use the preaching moment to encourage others to do the same.” The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland, T ’85, D ’88, G ’08, preached a sermon titled Antidote to Death based on the third chapter of the Gospel of John during the Sunday morning service on March 10. Currently the executive director of the North Carolina Council of Churches, she earned three degrees from Duke and served as the Methodist campus chaplain and executive director of the Duke Wesley Fellowship from 1999 to 2015. As an undergraduate at Duke participating in the United Methodist Wesley Fellowship, she says: “I hit my stride