BISHOP LATRELLE EASTERLING / April 20 & 21

     Our first guest preacher is Bishop LaTrelle Easterling of the Baltimore – Washington Annual Conference. Before being appointed as District Superintendent of the former Boston Metro Hope District, and prior to her election as Bishop in  2016, she served as pastor at Pearl Street UMC, Brockton MA / Old West Church UM, Boston MA / Union UMC in Boston’s historic South End.

REV. DR. JAMES A. HARNISH / May 11 & 12

     The Rev. Dr. James A. (Jim) Harnish retired after 43 years of pastoral ministry in rural, small town, suburban and urban congregations in the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He was the founding pastor of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Orlando and served for 22 years as the Senior Pastor of Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa. 

Widely recognized as a preacher and writer, Jim is a facilitator for the Institute of Preaching at Duke Divinity School and the author of more than 15 books including “You Only Have to Die: Leading Your Congregation to New Life,” “A Disciple’s Path,” “Strength for the Broken Places” and “Earn. Save. Give. Wesley’s Simple Rules for Money.” He was a Consulting Editor for “The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible” and a contributor to "The Wesley Study Bible." 

He served on the General Board of Discipleship and the General Commission on General Conference, as a delegate to General and Jurisdictional Conferences and to the World Methodist Conferences in England, Brazil, Kenya and South Africa. He is a member of the Board of Visitors at Duke Divinity School. 

He and his wife, Martha, have two married daughters and five grandchildren in Florida and South Carolina. He enjoys reading, travel, playing with his grandchildren and cheering for the University of Florida Gator football team.              

REV. DR. ROBERT ALLAN HILL / June 1 & 2

     Bob Hill is Dean of Marsh Chapel and Professor of New Testament and Pastoral Theology, Boston University.  As such he preaches most Sundays (NPR, 11am, WBUR 90.9FM) for a global, regional and local listenership; he also holds a tenured appointment in the School of Theology and there teaches courses in New Testament and Pastoral Theology; and he is the author of seventeen books, including, Toward a Common Hope: Chautauqua Lake Sermons (2018) and An Addressable Community (2020). Hill is a United Methodist minister, born in Syracuse, NY.  He has served in ten local churches, one district, five annual conferences, multiple annual conference board assignments, United Methodist General and Jurisdictional Conferences, and General Board membership (GBHEM). His main denominational interests have been in large church ministry and theological education. Bob and Jan (a pianist and elementary music teacher) grew up in the snows of northern New York State, met in the MYF, have been married 44 years, and have three children and eight grandchildren. 

The Rev. Dr. Robert Allan Hill / Dean, Marsh Chapel / Professor, New Testament and Pastoral Theology / Chaplain to the University, Office of Religious Life /  Boston University    

REV. NIKKI YOUNG / July 6 & 7

     Hailing from the suburbs of Chicago, Pastor Nikki Young is overjoyed to now call Boston “home”. Guided by her love of word and justice, Nikki left Northern Illinois after studying English Writing, Sociology, and Public Advocacy in order to earn her Masters of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology. Now a fifth year PhD student of Homiletics at the same school, she teaches and researches in the areas of trauma-informed preaching, feminist/womanist theologies, critical race theory, and liberationist theologies. Her current work focuses on reconceptualizing the practice of Christian preaching in light of white supremacy in the U.S. As an expression of this work, she visits churches, classrooms, and clergy gatherings alike to offer diverse preaching workshops designed to empower preachers to find their prophetic voice and cultivate liberative approaches to homiletical formation. Through both her pastoral and academic work, Nikki hopes to encourage individuals and communities to pursue and embody a gospel of love and liberation for all of God’s people. 

Nikki currently serves as the Assistant Pastor at Union Church Boston, a vibrant and growing faith community in the South End of Boston, and will be commissioned as a provisional elder in the New England Annual Conference June of 2022.