Getting to know Dennis Edwards, Michelle Dodson, and David Bjorlin, who will be sharing the stage Friday morning at Midwinter. This is part of an ongoing series featuring speakers at the January conference.
Dennis Edwards
Dennis Edwards is the dean and vice president of church relations at North Park Theological Seminary.
Hometown
Originally New York City (borough of Queens), currently Lisle, Illinois.
What are you reading?
Moonflower Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (audiobook) and Interpreting 2 Peter Through African American Women’s Moral Writings, by Shively Smith
What do you hope pastors and ministry leaders who attend Midwinter will take away from your talk?
Jesus can do much with our little—like he did with the loaves and fish.
What does the Midwinter theme, “Immeasurably More,” mean to you in your life and ministry by context?
I often feel limited in the face of challenges, especially when I think about my own abilities. I have grown in faith to believe God will handle the things I worry about. Bottom line: I try to cast my cares on him because he cares for me.
What would Midwinter attendees be surprised to learn about you?
I played my saxophone twice at Carnegie Hall (because my high school used to hold its graduations there).
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A professional baseball player
What was your first job?
Running a laundry machine and doing odd jobs at a dry cleaner.
What was the last song you sang along to?
It was a song in campus worship, but I honestly can’t remember what it was!
Michelle S. Dodson
Michelle Dodson is the assistant professor of ministry and the Milton B. Engebretson Chair in Evangelism and Justice at North Park Theological Seminary. She also serves as associate pastor at New Community Covenant Church, Bronzeville.
Hometown
Originally East Palo Alto, California, currently Chicago.
What are you reading?
Belonging, A Culture of Place, by Bell Hooks and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling.
What do you hope pastors and ministry leaders who attend Midwinter will take away from your talk?
That God can do immeasurably more with the particularities of each of our lives for the good of all our lives.
What does the Midwinter theme, “Immeasurably More,” mean to you in your life and ministry by context?
I am in a season where there is lots to hold on many different fronts. This theme is a reminder to me that God’s power, creativity, wisdom, and ability to provide are immeasurably more than mine AND freely available for me to draw on.
What would Midwinter attendees be surprised to learn about you?
That for a brief period in the early 2000s I was reasonably certain the Covenant was a cult because all my classmates at North Park seemed to all know each other from camp.
What was your first job?
Cashier at a pizza place in one of the student centers at Stanford University.
David Bjorlin
David Bjorlin is the assistant professor of worship at North Park Theological Seminary and pastor of worship and creative arts at Resurrection Covenant Church in Chicago.
Hometown
Hermantown (near Duluth), Minnesota, currently, Chicago.
What are you reading?
Oh man, don’t ask academics! But I’ll put what I’m reading that’s not work related: Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate, Anna Badkhen’s Bright Unbearable Reality, Kaveh Akbar’s Pilgrim Bell, Thomas Merton’s No Man Is an Island…that’s enough.
What do you hope pastors and ministry leaders who attend Midwinter will take away from your talk?
That “abundantly more” isn’t about more stuff/things—but living in God’s abundance allows us to live more simply for the sake of ourselves, our neighbors, and God’s earth.
What does the Midwinter theme, “Immeasurably More,” mean to you in your life and ministry by context?
As above, I think it’s recognizing God’s abundance—which is more lavish than we can imagine (but, as noted, not about more stuff).
What would Midwinter attendees be surprised to learn about you?
I’m still a loyal Minnesota Twins fan (watching them lose to the Astros in Game 3 of the ALDS as I type…) and watch most games when I’m home.
What was your first job?
Busboy/dishwasher at an ice cream parlor (Bridgeman’s!)
