An Introduction
Life calling. Personal and spiritual growth. Women in leadership and ministry. Strengths.
Those are some of the things I am most passionate about, most educated in, and most practiced at. And, those are the things I am excited to write about in this blog.
Your time is valuable, so each post will be relevant, interesting, and well-founded. My hope is that you will gain insight, resources, ideas, and tools. You may even leave with some new questions, and if we hit the right topic, those questions may keep you awake for a few minutes as you consider God’s work in the world from a different or new perspective.
Although about half the posts on this blog will come from my desk, I am inviting other Northwest University Oregon faculty and staff to contribute from their hearts and expertise as well. What a combination—passion and skill! The amazing people I get to work with are overflowing with both.
We will be sharing a new post twice a month. We hope you’ll follow along and share the articles that resonate with you the most.
About Debbie:
Rev. Debbie Lamm Bray, PhD
Leader. Teacher. Learner. Coach. Researcher. Follower of Jesus.
Debbie leads the Oregon extension of Northwest University, a private, Christian university headquartered in Kirkland, Washington. Northwest University Oregon (NUO) is a campus for commuting students who need a non-traditional class schedule while working toward a certificate, associate degree, or bachelor’s degree in Ministry Leadership, Psychology, Business, or Organizational Leadership. Debbie leads the faculty, staff, and students of NUO in focusing on the campus values of collaboration, innovation, honor, hope, and service. She also works to fulfill the campus vision of “developing leaders of conviction, courage, and capacity to serve in the redemptive work of God in the world.”
Debbie’s top five CliftonStrengths© are Achiever, Learner, Relator, Responsibility, and Connectedness. She uses these in her work and helps students and her teams on campus understand their own Strength themes and how to utilize them most effectively in school, work, relationships, and life. She conducts workshops for small and large groups seeking to understand their own Strengths and how to leverage them for more effective teamwork.
Debbie holds a bachelor’s degree in Youth Ministry from Northwest University, a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from George Fox Evangelical Seminary, and a PhD in Higher Education with an emphasis on Organizational Leadership from Azusa Pacific University. She has studied women in ministry for many years, and in her doctoral work she served on a team that studied, published, and presented research on women in leadership in Christian higher education. In addition, Debbie’s dissertation research explored the experiences of women undergraduate students in Christian colleges, and what occurred in that setting that helped the women develop their understanding of their calling. Her research on calling has led to publications and presentations on calling and on application of that material to women in leadership.
CliftonStrengths© from Gallup is referenced in this post. For more information, visit www.gallupstrengthscenter.com.