While financial control often seems like the key to influence, it’s storytelling that holds power. Boards of theological schools must pay close attention to the narratives shaping their institutions—especially in the boardroom.

If your board is not holding an executive session during every board meeting, maybe it should.

Governing boards can follow these steps to enhance their Wise Stewards journey for institutional change through one-on-one coaching, board self-assessment, peer learning, and immersion into governance habits for long-term effectiveness.

Participation in the Wise Stewards Initiative empowers governing boards of theological schools to serve as agents of institutional change. Learn about the specific steps to enhance your journey.

The board chair plays a pivotal role in guiding the board and serving as a trusted liaison for the executive leader. Given the significance of this role, it is imperative that the president and board members invest time in understanding the practices, relationships, and processes that define the position and articulate the role’s expectations.

This is "the" guide for people governing theological schools. As the introduction says, "How well a theological school is governed is key to the institution’s overall effectiveness and its fidelity to its mission. In the midst of change and discontinuity, the governing board is the steward that nurtures the purpose and vision of a theological school across the span of time." Download the guide and get started!

Top 3 on-demand webinars, shared governance, and much more.

Supporting student financial well-being, economic challenges facing clergy, and institutional debt.

Discover how a Lilly Endowment Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative grant helped Kairos University cement a legacy of competency-based education and much more.

In Trust Center President Amy Kardash reflects understanding our shared mission.

Governance Initiative, Summer 2024 In Trust magazine, consulting, and much more.

In this issue, read about the Governance Initiative, Simulation Labs, the Art of the Seminary, and much more.

In Trust Center President Amy Kardash reflects on leadership and the future.

The future of learning and libraries, the religious mosaic, new podcasts and much more.

In Trust Center President Amy Kardash reflects on finding better ways to engage an institution's board.

Your board's participation is essential to assisting us in providing a fuller understanding of our work in support of theological education.

In Trust Center President Amy Kardash reflects on taking care of one another and the rise of individualization.

New educational paths, Wise Stewards initiative, handling change in leadership, and much more.

Board members are typically recruited for their leadership, business acumen, and networks. Dr. Rebekah Basinger, project director of the In Trust Center’s Wise Stewards Initiative, will discuss how strategic questioning and interrogation skills are essential for effective board stewardship.

Seminaries are People Too: Mindsets that make or break institutional change

Planning for board officers vacancies should start well in advance with an intentional, smooth, and carefully designed transition plan.

Dr. Rebekah Basinger addresses the opportunities and challenges that come with chairing the board of a theological school, which include how to design effective board meetings, enhance board member engagement, and develop the board for long-term effectiveness while giving attention to the board chair and president partnership and the critical importance of call in both roles.

With any organizational plan, certain pivotal individuals – both internal and external – hold significant influence over our goals. To ensure the success of a program, initiative, or on-going strategy, we must prioritize these “Audiences of One” differently from larger audiences. Learn how the “Stakeholder Management Plan” tracks the status of these relationships to help boost overall success.

Webinar 1 of a two-part series provides a change management framework to include best practice for leading change initiatives and common pitfalls to avoid. This session includes a consideration of institutional readiness for change, especially around the use of a strategic finance lens.

The In Trust Center is pleased to announce a new webinar series focused on change management models. These webinars are presented by rpk GROUP, a national leader in helping institutions create sustainable business models that reflect both mission and market. This series includes two webinars. Webinar 1 provides a change management framework to include best practice for leading change initiatives and common pitfalls to avoid. This session will include a consideration of institutional readiness for change, especially around the use of a strategic finance lens.

This webinar series addresses the basics of change management and adaptive leadership needed to navigate change.

In this session, we consider the policies, practices, and key performance indicators most helpful to supporting the essential partnership between the president and the governing board.

Dr. David Rowe, creator of TransformingCollege.com and former interim president of Lancaster Theological Seminary, will lead this series, helping participants turn mental models that explain how theological education is being disrupted into frameworks for overcoming that disruption.

Dr. David Rowe of AGB Consulting will introduce a new area of sustainability each week, leading discussions on strategic transformation and financial sustainability in theological schools.

Learn the value of having a trusted advisor and how to select one to meet your needs as a leader.

Can the work of governance - even board meetings - be holy? Award-winning writer and author Karen Stiller, herself a board member, thinks so. Her new book even addresses it.

Dr. David Gyertson has seen a variety of leadership transitions both in his own career and in his work as a consultant coaching boards and leaders in transition. As a leadership coach, he provides insights into what boards should do and how they should handle leadership transitions.

Upon assuming the presidency at Hartford Seminary, Joel Lohr, Ph.D., implemented a seemingly routine strategic plan. However, after bringing in Rick Staisloff of rpk GROUP, he recognized an opportunity and charted a course that ended with a revitalized mission and a new name: Hartford International University of Religion and Peace.

During his tenure as interim president of Lancaster Theological Seminary, Dr. David Rowe was challenged with merging the school while preserving its mission. Rowe and Elizabeth Palmer Bennett, former CFO at Lancaster, discuss the genesis of the merger, share their insights, and reflect on the lessons they learned in the process.

There has been considerable concern about AI and its use in theological higher education, particularly as it relates to cheating. But Greg Henson, president of Kairos University, and Ruth McGillivray, executive vice president of Northwest Seminary and College, believe there's more to it than that. In this episode, they discuss the opportunities for theological schools to explore with AI.

Helen Blier, Ph.D., director of continuing education at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and president of ALLLM, presents compelling reasons why theological schools should consider lifelong learning and continuing education programs as viable entry points into theological schools and essential bridges for ministers actively engaged in the field.

Is there a way to help theological schools cut overhead costs and free up resources to focus on mission? That’s the goal of the CHANGE (Configuring Higher Education Administration for Next Generation Excellence) Initiative, one of the projects funded in Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. Listen how Dr. David Boshart, president of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, and Dr. Jeff Williams, the project director of the CHANGE Initiative, provide an overview of how a nonprofit organization can provide business offerings to schools, increasing quality of services while allowing schools the space to innovate.

Rev. Dr. Frank Yamada, ATS executive director, discusses what leadership turnover means for theological education, and the skills boards and leaders need to navigate these times.

For Dr. Karen Sawyer, the sense of calling has kept her at Missio Seminary for more than 30 years.

Dr. Jason Allen discusses the core principles behind a remarkable institutional turnaround as outlined in his book, "Turnaround: The Remarkable Story of an Institutional Transformation and the 10 Essential Principles and Practices that Made it Happen."

As the first episode of the Consultant Series, Carol Marturano-Becker, founder of IMPACT Learning Inc., shares best practices and tips for consultant engagement and presidential evaluation.

In this episode of the Women in Leadership series, Amy Kardash speaks with Donna Alexander, president and CEO of Advoxum Global Strategies and board chair at the John Leland Center for Theological Studies, about her experience in guiding a board through a period of transition and the effective methods for boards to nurture and empower emerging leaders.