Lilly Summer Discernment Institute Speakers 2008

 

The Reverend Becca Stevens is an Episcopal Priest who has served as Chaplain of St. Augustine's at Vanderbilt University since 1995. It is a growing congregation of students, faculty and staff, as well as community members that see ecumenism and service as an integral part of their faith commitment.

Soon after she came, she founded the Magdalene House, residential communities designed to rehabilitate women with a criminal history of drug abuse and prostitution. To date this entrepreneurial model has raised about five million dollars. Magdalene launched a for-profit cottage industry called “Thistle Farms” in 2001. In 2004 Thistle Farms was distributed in over 60 stores in five states and hosted over 100 salons in people's homes. Becca was raised in a home where giving back to the community was a high priority. Her mother, the late Anne Stevens, was the director of St. Luke's Community Center for many years here in Nashville. Becca has served as a volunteer and board member, currently serving on the NCCJ and the Jubilee Ministry Board. In 1998, Becca led a group of eight students and community members to Ecuador. Now in its eighth year, 25 people, including translators and doctors, will make the annual visit to the Anne Stevens School, to continue to build the community, help with construction, and run a clinic for a 1000 people. The school currently serves 80 students. St. Augustine's has just begun to formalize a partnership with Holy Cross Hospice in Botswana and plans their first trip in the Spring of 2005.

Becca has received awards from many community organizations. She was named Nashvillian of the Year in 2000 and received the Academy of Women in Achievement award in 2001. In 2004 she was given the alumnus award from the School of Theology called the “Dubose Award for Service”. In 2004 she wrote a women's bible study for Abington Press and has just finished her second book for Abington, which is called Sanctuary: Unexpected Places Where God Found Me .

More information on Becca can be found at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/staugustines/ & http://www.magdalenehouse.com

Dr. Robert W. Radtke is President of Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD). He joined the organization in July 2005. Under his leadership, ERD began a domestic emergency preparedness and response program and is expanding its work in the areas of hunger and disease prevention to more than 40 countries worldwide.   Under Dr. Radtke’s leadership ERD has launched a major malaria prevention partnership, NetsforLifeSM  that will reach over 1 million people in 16 countries in Africa before the end of 2008.

Dr. Radtke advocates on behalf of people living in poverty. He is a frequent contributor to the media on a broad range of issues, including HIV/AIDS, Codes of Ethics for Faith Based Organizations and U.S. Foreign Policy. Previously, Dr. Radtke served as the Senior Vice President for Programs at the Asia Society, where he worked for 10 years. Prior to joining the Asia Society, Dr. Radtke was Vice President of the Business Council for the United Nations.

Dr. Radtke received his Bachelor's degree from Columbia University where he majored in East Asian Languages and Cultures and his Doctorate in Modern History from Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Radtke serves on the board of Church World Service and InterAction. He and his wife, Mary Abraham, have one daughter.  They attend St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City.

For more information on Episcopal Relief & Development go to http://www.er-d.org/

Martin Smith is well known throughout the Episcopal Church and beyond as writer, retreat leader, and teacher exploring contemporary spirituality. A priest since 1971, he currently serves as the Senior Associate Rector at St Columba’s church in Washington, D.C., the largest parish in the Diocese of Washington.

He was born in the northwest of England in 1947 and trained as a theologian at the University of Oxford. He prepared for the ordained ministry at Cuddesdon College, Oxford. After several years in the parish ministry, he joined the oldest religious order for men in the Anglican Communion, the Society of St John the Evangelist, and served in the community in Oxford before transferring to the North American branch of the community in 1979. After completing three terms as Superior of the community, he left the order in 2002 and now pursues his ministry independently. From 2002-6 he was on the staff of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

Among his best known books are A Season for the Spirit, The Word is Very Near You, and Reconciliation. His most recent work, Compass and Stars, was published in April 2007.

 

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