DALLAS (SMU) – New York Times best-selling author Anne Lamott, seminary president Rev. Dr. Marvin McMickle and noted biblical scholar Rev. Dr. N.T. Wright will headline The Power of the Story: 2017 Fall Convocation on Creative Communication, scheduled for Nov. 13-14 at Perkins School of Theology.

The Nov. 13 lecture featuring Lamott in SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium will be free and open to the public. Other lectures and corresponding workshops, available to full-conference registrants, will take place both at Perkins and Highland Park United Methodist Church and will focus on creative communication as it applies to preaching, writing, storytelling and sharing the gospel in this age of soundbites.

Lamott is the author of seven novels and several best-selling books of nonfiction, including Operating Instructions, an account of life as a single mother during her son’s first year. She also has authored three collections of autobiographical essays on faith. Her newest book is Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy. Lamott has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship and has taught at the University of California at Davis as well as at writing conferences across the country.

Dr. McMickle was elected as the 12th president of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y., by the school’s Board of Trustees in May 2011. He previously was pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland and was the Professor of Homiletics at Ashland Theological Seminary. He is the author of 15 books, and his writings also appear in Feasting on the Word and Preaching God’s Transforming Justice, two recent preaching commentaries.

Dr. Wright is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews and has served in multiple positions within the Church of England as well as at Oxford University, McGill University and Cambridge University. His published books number nearly 80 and range from biblical commentaries for “everyone” to academic works including the multi-volume Christian Origins and the Question of God Series.

Joining these authors in delivering plenary presentations are Dr. Alyce McKenzie, the Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship at Perkins and director of the school’s Center for Preaching Excellence, and Will Power, an award-winning playwright and performer and Artist-In-Residence at SMU Meadows School of the Arts.

The two-day event will also include workshops designed to expand on “the power of story.”  Registered participants will choose one workshop from the following:

• Are Only Five People Reached By Your Social Media? Make Google Work For God
  Workshop Leader: Michele Houston, Journalism Division faculty member, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University.
  
  • “The Liberation that Liberates: Preaching the Gospel that Transforms Us Inside and Out”
  Workshop Leader: George Mason, Senior Pastor, Wilshire Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas and Maria Dixon Hall, Associate Professor in the Corporate Communication and Public Affairs Division, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University
  
  • Preaching the Parables
  Workshop Leader:  Wes Allen, Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology
  
  • Video Gaming the Gospel
  Workshop Leader:  Gary Brubaker, Director of SMU Guildhall
  
  • Novel Preaching! Fiction Writing Strategies for Sermons
  Workshop Leader:  Alyce McKenzie, Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship and Director of the Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence, Perkins School of Theology
  
  • S.L.A.M.  (Spoken Language Arts Methods)
  Workshop Leader:  Michael Guinn, Performance Artist
  
  • Prophetic preaching in the 21st century: How do ancient texts speak to issues of economic justice
  Workshop Leader:  Marvin McMickle, President of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, Rochester, New York