Siburt Institute 2025-26 Year in Review

Equipping and serving church

leaders and other Christ-followers for God’s mission in the world

SIBURT INSTITUTE

Year in Review 2025-26

A Word From the Executive Director

Dear Friends,

Once again, with the completion of another academic year, we invite you to reflect with us on how God is working through the Siburt Institute. Since its beginning in 2012, the Siburt Institute for Church Ministry has served hundreds of leaders and their congregations through a broad array of programs and initiatives. Over the past year that work has included ongoing growth with the Selah Certificate in Spiritual Direction, the Contemplative Ministers’ Initiative, and the rollout of the Empower and Equip Initiative that is connecting us with dozens of congregations in small towns and rural settings across the country.

Of course, members of the Looking Team have been busy this past year seeking to connect congregations with prospective ministers. At any given moment, through the Looking Team or our MinistryLink job board, we are in conversations with over 200 congregations who are actively looking for ministers. Additionally, nearly 20 congregations have sought the transformative engagement of the Siburt Institute for formal consultative work.

At every turn, God is using the resources at Siburt and at ACU to participate in kingdom work throughout the country. Your financial partnership and fervent prayers make a difference in leaders’ lives and in congregations.

So I invite you to reflect, with gratitude and prayer, on the ways in which the Siburt Institute is equipping leaders so churches thrive. Enjoy the stories and narratives reflected in this Year in Review.

Thanks again for your part in this past year!

Dr. Carson E. Reed (’95 D.Min.) Executive Director, Siburt Institute for Church Ministry Dean, College of Biblical Studies

A New Season for the Siburt Institute

When ACU launched the Siburt Institute for Church Ministry in 2012 with Dr. Royce Money (’64) as the Founding Director, much of what Siburt has become was mostly a dream.

With a generous initial gift, a talented student (Dr. Curtis King [’23 D.Min.]), and a great desire to serve church leaders, the Institute went to work. Dr. Carson Reed was named Executive Director in 2013, and over time, an array of programs, initiatives, and services has become a part of the Siburt Institute.

This booklet tells you about a number of those aspects of our common work, but no list can adequately name the many other ways the Institute’s staff, associated faculty, and various consultants invest in church leaders and congregations. It happens through informal phone calls, visits, and correspondence; it occurs in the ad hoc opportunities that emerge each year for Siburt to support special gatherings on campus; it arises when we encourage various gatherings of ministers and church leaders across the country. Our programs and initiatives are growing, as is our staff (see the photos on the back cover). That growth is wonderful, and Siburt has much God-focused work yet to do. Of course, with that growth and work comes more transition.

Recently, Carson was appointed as the Dean of the College of Biblical Studies at

ACU. However, he will continue to serve as Siburt’s Executive Director. This dual role is a challenging one, and in order to help facilitate these multiple roles, we are initiating conversations around supporting Siburt programs and initiatives:

• As always, we want to make sure we are deploying our excellent and capable staff effectively; as a result, we are examining our organizational structure and the division of responsibilities among our staff members.

• Some of Siburt’s longstanding programs are also being reviewed; are there ways in which we can do our work more efficiently? Answers to these questions will give rise to some restructuring as we move toward the start of a new academic year in August.

• We are actively pursuing funding (endowment gifts) that would support the hiring of a new Director sometime in the next year or two. If you or someone you know might have interest in helping underwrite a gift that could make a great deal of difference in God’s kingdom, please let us know!

In the meantime, Carson will continue to lead the Institute as we transition to this next season.

The mission of the Siburt Institute is to equip leaders for churches that thrive.

Looking Back

Each year, Summit offers the opportunity for congregational leaders, ministers, and church members to gather together on the campus of ACU. We enjoy a time of worship, renewal, and support as we imagine what it means to join the work that God is doing in the world, and in October 2025, we were grateful to be able to do just that.

Over the course of those days, we spent time exploring adult formation, Hispanic ministry, intergenerational ministry, preaching, and rural and small church work, all through the theme of Encounter: Spirit of the Living God. We came away from the event feeling uplifted and refreshed. For ministry leaders seeking focused engagement with ministry content, it was an especially meaningful and encouraging experience.

For those desiring a deeper dive into the biblical text, we offered an Old Testament general interest community centered on Isaiah 40–66, which fostered rich conversation and reflection. We also explored Scripture through an interdisciplinary lens with a general interest community focused on the worldwide phenomenon The Chosen, enjoying the opportunity to consider the creativity and impact of film as a storytelling medium.

Not only did we have the opportunity to meet together in smaller gatherings through our ministry communities, but we enjoyed many vibrant times of praise led by United Voice Worship. Their energy and love for worship was contagious and helped frame our keynote sessions in meaningful ways. Our keynote speakers this past year included Dr. Nathan Burrow (’25 D.Min.), Dr. Jerry Taylor, and Dr. Naomi Walters (’10 M.Div.), and our Anchor Point plenary session featured author and theologian Dr. Nijay Gupta. It was truly a memorable few days for all who were able to attend.

Looking Forward

As we look forward to the coming year, we are excited to announce that the 2026 Summit theme will be Romans 12: A Call to Genuine Love. In Romans 12, Paul challenges us by looking not to the big moments but to the everyday through the example of a life lived in love. Indeed, the Christian life not only shapes how we think about love but also calls us to embody it with our whole selves, forming our identity as God’s people.

We are excited to welcome Dr. Sara Barton, Dr. Josh Graves, and Mitch Wilburn (’92) as keynote speakers for this year’s Summit. On Thursday evening of Summit, Dr. Heather Gorman (’09 M.A.) will deliver our Anchor Point plenary address, and Nic Dunbar will lead us in worship throughout our time together. As we seek to foster greater connection amongst participants, this year’s areas of focus will include adult formation, emerging adulthood, Hispanic ministry, preaching, and rural and small-town churches. Alongside these ministry areas, we will also host both New Testament and Old Testament general interest communities, providing space for deeper engagement with Scripture.

There are two new offerings this year as well. The first is a pre-Summit workshop led by Dr. Willie James Jennings, noted scholar and author. He will spend time with church leaders examining what it means to pastor across differences. Also, we are pleased to present a ministry community for spiritual directors led by Jackie Halstead (M.M.F.T. ’87, M.Div. ’20) and featuring Randy Harris. We invite those who serve in spiritual direction to participate in this opportunity for continuing education as they seek to minister to others. Planning is well underway, and we look forward to our gathering, to be held Oct. 7-9, 2026.

Additional Gatherings

Each year, Summit hosts additional gatherings focused on specific areas of ministry, offering attendees valuable opportunities to connect with one another. In 2025, three such gatherings enriched the Summit experience. On Wednesday evening, Summit began with a dinner for the Community of Women Ministers. As women serving in ministry gathered together, we also had the privilege of honoring Dr. Jeanene Reese (’01 D.Min.) through the naming of ACU’s Dr. Jeanene Reese Center for Women in Christian Ministry. It was a meaningful time not only to connect as women in ministry but also to celebrate the lasting impact of her work and leadership.

On Thursday, the Siburt Institute Chaplains Fellowship met for a lunch and informational session on chaplaincy, creating space for learning and shared experience. Then, on Friday morning, we hosted a breakfast for those interested in exploring the important ministry of spiritual direction. These additional gatherings provided important opportunities for participants to come together across a variety of ministerial roles. We are excited to share that each of these gatherings will return at Summit 2026.

The Siburt Institute is grateful to continue its collaboration with Pepperdine University’s Empower and Equip program, generously funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. as part of its Ministry in Rural Areas and Small Towns Initiative. This program is dedicated to conducting meaningful research, offering accessible resources, and providing ongoing learning and support for leaders and congregations in rural and small-town contexts.

As we wrapped up the first year of this five-year program, Empower and Equip partners gathered in November for a national workshop to share updates, discuss regional projects, and learn from one another. We are encouraged by the ways our partner institutions and organizations are serving leaders and congregations across the country in contextually relevant ways.

Throughout fall 2025, the Siburt Institute’s Research Director, Dr. Suzie Macaluso, produced several research articles focused on rural and small-town churches, drawing on findings from the Church Research Council’s National Survey of

Churches of Christ and our Ministers’ Salary Survey. Building on this work, we launched the Empower and Equip survey in November to assess current pastoral needs within congregations. The survey explores congregational demographics, leadership dynamics, ministry programs, volunteer engagement, financial resources, and community partnerships.

Throughout the remainder of 2026, Dr. Macaluso will conduct interviews with church members and leaders across the country to provide deeper insight. These interviews will explore congregational life, community

thoughtful perspectives of faithful ministers across the country!

The initiative also prioritizes developing and distributing accessible resources. The Empower and Equip Resource Library was launched in partnership with the ACU Brown Library and will continue to expand in the coming years. Its goal is to provide congregations with accessible sermons, Bible-class materials, and leadership resources that strengthen congregational life and community outreach. The scope of these offerings is captured in the acronym SERVE: spiritual formation,

engagement, openness to innovation, and other key dynamics shaping ministry in rural and small-town settings. All findings will be made accessible through the Empower and Equip website.

Additionally, the Empower and Equip podcast has launched, releasing 20 episodes to date. These episodes feature interviews with ministers serving in rural and small-town communities across the country, highlighting hope-filled experiences, challenges, community flourishing, and offering encouragement for fellow leaders. What a joy to hear the

equipping leaders, reclaiming theological identity, visionary community engagement, and empowering stewardship.

In fall 2025, we hired Brock Paulk (’02) to lead resource development and oversee regional engagement across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Colorado. Since then, his leadership has significantly advanced the launch of the Resource Library and the development of regional initiatives, including hosting multiple gatherings throughout Texas and Oklahoma in spring 2026, with more planned.

The staff transitions you have read about elsewhere in this booklet have meant that our year has “felt” different in the office. However, that does not mean that we have been inactive –quite the contrary!

Equipping for Ministry

In addition to Summit and our Empower and Equip events described previously, we held two of our Equipping for Ministry lunches this year. One was in the Oklahoma City area at the Heritage Church of Christ, and the other in San Antonio at the MacArthur Park Church of Christ. For both of these gatherings, Dr. Houston Heflin (’95) from ACU’s Department of Bible, Missions and Ministry was the featured speaker. As always, we were grateful to be able to serve and equip local church leaders, establish new relationships, and encourage ministers in the kingdom work that they do.

The Saunders Center for Joy and Human Flourishing

Then, in spring 2026, we partnered with a new office at ACU, the Saunders Center for Joy and Human Flourishing, to help bring Dr. Miroslav Volf to ACU’s campus. The Saunders Center was established in 2024 and named for Dr. Landon Saunders (’23 L.H.D.), the longtime minister and Christian broadcaster who was a keynote speaker at Summit seven different times – first in 1972 and finally in 2017. Dr. Volf is a world-famous theologian and author, and we co-sponsored a lunch for local ministers to be able to hear from him and connect with one another. We look forward to more such partnerships in the future!

Intersection Webinar

As has been the case for many years, we also conducted a variety of online events in the 2025-26 year. We began our Intersection webinar series at the height of the COVID pandemic, when we were not able to lead face-to-face events, and we continued those webinars with three in fall 2025. The first two featured guests from Church-ofChrist universities: Dr. Wes Crawford (’02 M.Div.) from ACU and Dr. Dudley Chancey (’92 M.S.) from Oklahoma Christian University. Then, in November, we welcomed Jess Lowry and Smith Hopkins, church planters in San Antonio and Memphis, respectively. Since 2020, we have hosted over 50 of these webinars, and they are all available on our website.

Chaplains Fellowship

Additionally, in 2022 we began hosting another group of webinars for our Chaplains Fellowship, and this has developed into a quarterly series. Over the past 12 months, therefore, we have hosted four more of these webinars, featuring individuals who minister in a variety of pastoral contexts: palliative care, a retirement community, holistic community ministry, and support for families of organ and tissue donors. These webinars, and our ability to archive them on our website, are an important part of our ongoing efforts to support ministers in the arena of chaplaincy.

We eagerly anticipate the new and ongoing opportunities for various kinds of events that await us in the 2026-27 academic year, and we hope you will join us.

This past year we celebrated the graduation of our tenth cohort of ministers from our Contemplative Ministers’ Initiative. All told, over 100 ministers have spent time in our CMI program, with the vast majority completing it.

This initiative, begun in 2015 by our now retired colleague Randy Harris, and funded through the generosity of Siburt Institute donors, seeks to deepen ministers’ engagement with the long Christian tradition of contemplative prayer. As you likely know, the life of ministry can be incredibly busy, and yet sustaining that life requires that we continue to “abide in the vine,” as Jesus tells us in John 15. Our current director, Dr. Houston Heflin, has studied and taught spiritual practices for many years, and through CMI he shares his wisdom and learning beyond the ACU classroom by pouring into ministers in local churches.

So, twice per year, we gather with two cohorts of 10-12 ministers at a retreat center in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The ministers who attend learn different prayer practices, discuss classic spiritual texts, interact with a variety of excellent teachers, spend time in worship and prayer both alone and in community, and enjoy the hospitality of our retreat center hosts. Our constant hope is that they leave refreshed, strengthened, and equipped more deeply for the ministry work to which God has called them.

As the years have gone on, the impact of CMI has grown. Ministers come from all over the country to join us, and in the past two cohorts we have welcomed our first international participants by means of two ministers from Canada. Additionally, our CMI work has opened up a door to partner with Dr. Jackie Halstead on the Selah Certificate in Spiritual Direction program, which

actually predates CMI but meets at the same retreat center. Since our partnership with Dr. Halstead began, we have graduated 35 individuals with their certificates in spiritual direction –including one of our CMI alumni! And in 2027, we will begin welcoming Selah alumni to join us for refresher courses as part of the residencies we host every February.

CMI participants have come from 28 states.

“I want to express my deepest gratitude and sincere appreciation for the incredible work you are doing through CMI. My experience has been nothing short of amazing, and I am truly thankful for the opportunity to be part of such a meaningful and impactful community. Through my time at CMI, I have grown and developed personally, spiritually, and professionally in ways I did not fully anticipate.”

– Keith Walmsley

, Highlands Church of Christ, Lakeland, Fla.

The influence of these ministries is also moving beyond just our retreats. This year, for the first time, our Summit event in October will include a special gathering of spiritual directors and those interested in learning more about spiritual direction. This ministry community will serve as continuing education for those serving in the ministry of spiritual direction, and we hope it will introduce this important ministry to even more individuals. We are so grateful for the generous donations that have sustained this ministry over the years.

To learn more about these programs, you can visit siburtinstitute.org/cmi and siburtinstitute.org/selah

To join our group of generous donors, you can use this QR code.

Participants from two cohorts of the Selah Certificate in Spiritual Direction program gathered in spring 2026

Access publications by scanning QR codes:

Discernment

2025-26 was another banner year for Siburt Institute publications! All of our publication arms continued to grow, and our digital libraries continue to enable visitors to access our resources from around the world.

In fall 2025, we hosted our 50th Intersection webinar, and, as always, we posted it on YouTube with the other Intersection archives. Since we began publishing these webinars on YouTube, they have been viewed over 12,000 times – and that does not include the number of people who watched them live while they were being recorded! These numbers will only grow as more individuals find our videos online.

The same has been true for our Mosaic blog, which continues to grow in its volume and readership. Last year’s milestone was Mosaic’s 10th anniversary, and this year, in summer 2026, we will post our 2,000th article on our Mosaic site. We are so thankful for the many writers over the years who have contributed to the blog.

where Christians are in the minority, religiously pluralistic nations like Singapore, and highly secularized countries like Canada and Australia.

The same can be said about our journal Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry. Our editor, Dr. Ron Bruner (’10 D.Min.), reports that the journal already has been enjoying readership in Europe and Africa. Additionally, in recent months, we have been seeing a higher number of downloads from South America (especially Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador) and the Pacific Rim (China, Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, and Indonesia, among others). In all, we have published 75 articles and book reviews at the time of writing, and over the past year, readers have downloaded our material 12,900 times – more than double the number of the previous 12 months. In upcoming issues, the journal will mirror this international readership by publishing articles about ministries outside of the United States and work written by authors from other countries.

Siburt Institute podcast

Empower and Equip podcast

We are also thankful for our readers, since they are the ones we seek to serve. Compared with just two years ago, our number of “clicks” has tripled to over 72,000, and visitors now arrive from over 190 countries and territories. Perhaps most encouraging for the global reach of Mosaic is the fact that, just one year ago, only 25% of our readership came from outside the United States, whereas this year, that number is up to 48% –nearly half of our total audience. Further, the “top 10” countries where our readers live are quite diverse, including countries like China and India

Finally, the past year has witnessed the emergence of a second podcast from the Siburt Institute. In addition to the more than 60 episodes of our original podcast, Live from the Siburt Institute, we have now launched a podcast as part of the Empower and Equip Initiative as well! Twenty episodes have been released, featuring conversations with leaders in rural and small-town churches, and the episodes have been downloaded nearly 1,000 times already! We are excited about this new opportunity to listen, learn, and share with other leaders.

PODCAST LISTENERS ACROSS THE GLOBE

The 2025-26 year has been a busy one for research at the Siburt Institute. Our collaboration with the Church Research Council continues as we work to update the directory of Churches of Christ.

Research Director Dr. Suzie Macaluso, together with Dr. Stan Granberg, presented the data collection process and preliminary findings at the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. Their presentation included a discussion of the unique challenges of gathering data from a network of independent churches rather than a single denomination.

We continued to collect data from Churches of Christ as part of our partnership with Faith Communities Today (FACT) through a fall 2025 survey.

In addition, we launched the 2026 Ministers’ Salary Survey in January, and the report has recently been posted to the Siburt website.

Siburt Fellow Dr. Trey Shirley (’03) designed a survey of church creatives to help identify trends and best practices in church communications. The results of Dr. Shirley’s work will inform the development of tools and resources for churches without a full-time creative director.

As we move into 2026-27, we will continue our collaboration with FACT by publishing reports based on the data collected in 2025. We will continue to refine and deploy our Ministers’ Salary Survey, and we will sustain our research efforts under the Empower & Equip program, including a series of in-depth interviews. Our goal remains to provide churches with the data they need to make informed decisions.

Staff Transitions

Each year, this booklet includes transitions involving our staff. With a group the size of ours, it’s inevitable that there will be some ins and outs among our team members.

As noted on page 1, Dr. Carson Reed’s role has shifted to include his work as Dean of the College of Biblical Studies. As a result, Gina Hack’s title has shifted to Executive Assistant to the Dean of CBS. Like Carson, Gina continues to work with Siburt Institute matters.

During the 2025-26 academic year, two of our excellent staff members departed from ACU. First, in early fall 2025, our Programs Manager Renee Paul (’19 M.S.S.W.), who was our longest-serving staff member besides Carson, moved back to Michigan to be closer to family. She continued serving in a remote capacity until December 2025, and we are so thankful for Renee’s selfless and dedicated service to us and to so many of our partners. Additionally, in May 2026, our Online Content Manager Emily Yerge took a job as a connections minister with a church in Pennsylvania after three years of tireless, creative work in our online spaces. We know she will be a blessing in this new ministry context!

With Renee’s departure, we were excited to welcome our newest team member, Becca Steele (’09), who joined us in January as our new Operations Coordinator. In this role, she will support our event initiatives, coordinate internal communications, and manage our financial and budgeting activities, among other duties. She has already hit the ground running, especially with financial matters and our chaplaincy work. At the time of writing, we have not yet replaced Emily, but our search is ongoing.

We also welcomed Brock Paulk to the Siburt team this year. As noted on page 5, Brock joined us in fall 2025 to support the Empower & Equip Initiative as the Resource Development and Event Director. Brock had been serving in ministry in the DFW area for the last 20 years, and his work with Empower and Equip will focus in two areas. First, he will serve the national project by leading the development of a library of resources for small-town and rural churches. Second, he will partner with congregations in our region, connecting church leaders to supportive communities and providing access to resources from the Siburt Institute and other partners.

We are grateful to all of our staff for their work, but especially for new faces and new roles!

WEBINARS AND PODCASTS

12,000+

views of our Intersection webinars over the life of the ministry

5,000+

downloads of our Live from the Siburt Institute podcast

MOSAIC BLOG siburtinstitute.org/mosaic

Top

3

Mosaic Articles

Based on clicks over the previous 12 months

1 2 3

7,000

views over the past 12 months (Apr. ’25Mar. ’26), for a total of 923 hours of viewing

67 total podcast episodes

Hiding from God, Hidden in God

By Phil McKinney

This piece comes from a leader in Virginia, who invites us to step out of the ways that we hide from God, whether in secret or “in plain sight,” and to embrace the good news that we can live in the safety of being hidden in God.

Addressing Charlie Kirk’s Death from the Pulpit

By Jason Locke

One of the many challenges preachers face concerns how to handle tragic or sensitive current events, and a minister in California offers great wisdom on navigating these difficult waters.

Re-Centering Our Faith

By Carson Reed

Our executive director writes about the principles that launched the StoneCampbell movement and helps us think about those principles in our congregational life today.