Show Notes for Episode 1: “Proud Past, Promising Future”

Dr. Ashley Boggan D. is the General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History. In this role, she ensures that the UMC understands its past in order to envision a more equitable future for all Methodists. Boggan earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, specializing in American Religious History. She has previously worked as staff at the General Commission on Archives and History (2012-2014) and the Connectional Table of The United Methodist Church (2014-2016). She was the Director of United Methodist Studies and Assistant Professor Christian History at Hood Theological Seminary (Salisbury, NC), an AME Zion Seminary, from 2017-2019 and was the Director of Women’s and Gender Studies and Assistant Professor of Religion at High Point University (High Point, NC) from 2019-2020. Boggan is a lay member of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference and the daughter of two ordained United Methodist ministers. Her Methodist lineage dates beyond this, back to the early 19th century when her great-great-great grandfathers were Methodist circuit-riders. She is the author of Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women’s Rights (2020); Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (2018); and added to the revised American Methodism: A Compact History (2022).

Dr. Paul Chilcote is an award-winning author and retired United Methodist minister and theological educator. A frequent speaker and workshop leader in applied Wesleyan studies, particularly in the areas of spirituality, worship, discipleship, and evangelism, he is the author of nearly thirty books. Currently, Dr. Chilcote serves as Director of the Centre for Global Wesleyan Theology at Wesley House, Cambridge (United Kingdom).

He has been involved in theological education on three Continents, serving as a missionary, with his wife, Janet, in Kenya, at St. Paul’s United Theological College and as a founding faculty member of Africa University in Zimbabwe. He has taught as well at Asbury Theological Seminary, Ashland Theological Seminary, Duke Divinity School, and the Methodist Theological School in Ohio.

He has particular interest in Wesleyan theology and spirituality, Christian discipleship and renewal, and women’s studies. He is past President of The Charles Wesley Society and the Academy for Evangelism. He also enjoys a special relationship with Mt. Angel Abbey in Oregon as a Benedictine Oblate.

With his wife, Janet, he has five daughters (Sandy, Rebekah, Anna, Mary, and Ruth) and six grandchildren (Alyssa, Collin, Levi, Isabella, Oliver, and Theo). Representing various nationalities including El Salvador, Kenya, Korea, and the United States, his family represents four continents.