Rev. Landon Whitsitt
The Rev. Landon Whitsitt will discuss the “open source church,” in which the basic functions of mission and ministry are open to all, as part of the 2012 Theologian-in-Residence lecture series at Tusculum College during the month of February.
Rev. Whitsitt, executive and stated clerk of the Synod of Mid-America and author of “Open Source Church: Making Room for the Wisdom of All,” will lead the series, now in its 21st year. The series is co-sponsored by the Holston Presbytery and Tusculum College with funding from Ron Smith.
Lectures will take place each Tuesday of the month – Feb. 7, 14, 21 and 28. Each lecture session will begin at 10 a.m. in the Chalmers Conference Center in the Niswonger Commons. The sessions typically end around 2 p.m., and lunch in the college’s cafeteria is included. There is no admission fee to the lectures.
This year’s speaker is a 2005 graduate of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Rev. Whitsitt has served in campus ministry and as the music director for a post-modern new church development. Before entering the pastorate, he was a member of the Session at First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence, Kan.
Rev. Whitsitt was ordained as the program director for The Center for Interfaith Relations in Louisville, Ky., and has served as a pastor in Kansas City. He has been active with Presbymergent, an ecumenical interfaith network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Rev. Whitsitt has served on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Committee on Theological Education since 2008. In July 2010, he was confirmed as vice-moderator of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for a two-year term.
A trained writer, director, actor and musician, he is working on his next manuscript, “Freedom and Fellowship: An Open Source Theology.”
The opening session of the lecture series on Feb. 7 will explore a world view from the Open Source Church perspective. The lecture will answer the question of what it means to describe one’s world view as open and inclusive rather than closed and exclusive. The Feb. 14 session will focus on the basic principles of an open source church and its different levels of participation and responsibility.
Why and how an open source structure might be a more effective way of organizing the church will be the subject of the third session on Feb. 21. The series concludes Feb. 28 with a session examining the role of leadership in an open source church.
Although the series has no admission fee, reservations are required. For more information or to make a reservation for the series, please call 423.636.7304 or email eestes@tusculum.edu.