As part of our Humility Deep Dive during the 2021 Lenten season, it was our privilege and pleasure to host a lineup of outstanding speakers—practitioners, pastors, and experts in the psychological study of humility—who gave presentations on humility. Below you’ll find audio and video recordings of the talks, along with slides from the presentations.
Also, here is a summary and analysis of each presentation, prepared by Ev Worthington. It might be a good place to start:
Enjoy!
WHAT CAN AN ANCIENT VIRTUE TEACH US ABOUT LIFE TODAY?
Daryl Van Tongeren - Wednesday, February 24
Why is the ancient virtue of humility important in modern society? Scientific research reveals how humility can help your relationships, your work, and our society. Come learn why we may need humility more now than ever before.
Daryl Van Tongeren is Associate Professor of Psychology at Hope College. Daryl is an expert on the psychology of forgiveness and is currently writing a book on humility. He is was a regular attendee at Christ Pres when he was in Richmond.
THE UNCERTAINTY OF NOW
Micah McCreary - Wednesday, March 3
There is a lot going on in our world, and there was a lot going on in Haggai’s world, too. It could be defined as a liminal season for us both. As the Prophet grapples with this liminality and his community, comparing the old temple to the restorative work he and his community are doing on the temple, he has to have the humility to ask difficult questions about their uncertainty.
Update: Here’s a blog by Dr. McCreary, adapted from his presentation.
Micah McCreary is President of New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Micah is a former Pastor (of Spring Creek Baptist Church of Moseby, VVA), Associate Professor of Psychology at VCU for 21 years, and at VCU he served as Assistant Vice-Provost for Diversity, Quality Enhancement Plan Coordinator, and Co-Director of the Counseling Psychology Program.
THE WHOLE CAUSE OF MISERY: MOVING FROM THE VICE OF PRIDE TO THE VIRTUE OF HUMILITY
Corey Widmer - Wednesday, March 10
St. Augustine called the vice of pride “the whole cause of misery of the human race.” The ancient church fathers and mothers saw pride as the root of all the other “deadly sins,” and the heart of humanity’s rebellion. It’s vital we see how pride operates in our own hearts, and how we might cooperate with God in seeing the vice of pride rooted out and replaced with the virtue of humility.
Corey Widmer is Lead Pastor at Third Church Richmond. Corey has his M.Div. from Princeton and a PhD from VU Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) in Theology and Missiology. He served earlier as a Study Assistant to Rev John Stott (1999-2003). He has been Lead Pastor at Third since 2015 (and Associate Pastor from 2005-2014).
WALKING HUMBLY WITH OUR GOD
Karen Carr and Darlene Jerome - Wednesday, March 17
What a relief that humility is a walk with God. Karen and Darlene, Barnabas International missionaries, have lived and worked cross-culturally for years. They will share stories and encounters with people that have shaped their understanding of humility. Believing that humility is a gift of the Spirit that God loves to share with His beloved, we’ll look together at barriers we might have to embracing humility.
Karen Carr - During a short term mission trip in Guatemala as a college student, Karen saw the emotional and spiritual needs of missionaries serving in highly stressful environments and felt God calling her to serve missionaries as a psychologist. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University and worked for 8 years at Henrico Mental Health as program manager of emergency services. The next 15 years of her life, she worked with a multi-disciplinary team in West Africa called Mobile Member Care Team. Their team cared for missionaries from many different organizations and cultures through short-term counseling, crisis debriefing and by training peer crisis responders to care for fellow missionaries.
Now, as a staff member of Barnabas International, Karen resources member care providers through training, coaching, and mentoring. Most recently she has been involved in revising and updating a 5 day Crisis Response Training (CRT) which has been translated into Korean and is being contextualized for an Asian context.
Karen lives in Midlothian, Virginia with her friend and teammate, Darlene Jerome. She serves as an elder of Christ Presbyterian Church. She enjoys kayaking, walking, playing with her dog Hope, and playing the Irish tin whistle.
Darlene Jerome is a missionary with Barnabas International, and she loves to design and facilitate trainings for missionaries. Though she did a Masters in Inter-cultural Training and Management, a lot of her learning came while serving for 10 years as the Personnel Director for the Wycliffe Bible Translators group in Cameroon, Africa during the 1990’s. The needs of missionaries and their families have been her concern ever since. In 1999 Darlene and Karen Carr started the inter-mission Mobile Member Care Team which you can read about in Karen’s bio! Ghana was their home until late 2014 at which time Darlene (formerly from PA) became a resident of Virginia, sharing a home with Karen in Midlothian.
She now serves with Barnabas International and enjoys traveling internationally to do workshops for missionaries, especially when the group is multi-cultural and includes host country participants. She also works on the www.mmct.org website and coaches/networks missionary care workers, usually virtually. Her current focus is coordinating the development and piloting of a new (virtual, for now) training for missionary caregivers called Shepherd’s Apprentice.
She’s glad to be part of the Christ Presbyterian Church community and enjoys gardening, kayaking, walking/biking with friends, and cooking while listening to podcasts.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO PRACTICE HUMILITY IN DAILY LIFE?
Donnie Davis - Wednesday, March 24
Some Christians might think that trying to practice humility is doomed. The more we focus on our humility, the more we focus on ourselves in a vicious cycle of self-focus. (Mic drop after inserting a C.S. Lewis quote.) But is that right? Do people seem to grow in humility passively or accidentally or without really noticing? The person in your life that needs to hear this conversation the most probably won't come, so it is important that you come and take careful notes to pass along.
Don E. Davis is Associate Professor of Psychology, Georgia State University. Donnie is a leading expert on the scientific study of humility, and he is organizing a research study that reviews over 200 articles on humility. Donnie formerly attended Christ Pres when he was in Richmond.