The Female Pastor: Is There Room for She in Shepherd?

About The Author

David Kendall

The Reverend David W. Kendall, an ordained elder in the Great Plains Conference, was elected to the office of bishop of the Free Methodist Church in May 2005. He serves as overseer of East Michigan, Gateway, Great Plains, Mid-America, North Central, North Michigan, Ohio, Southern Michigan, Wabash, and African Area Annual Conferences.

Bishop Kendall received a Bachelor of Arts degree (Philosophy and Religion) from Spring Arbor College (Spring Arbor, MI) in 1976 and Master of Divinity degree (Biblical Studies) from Asbury Theological
Seminary (Wilmore, KY) in 1979. In 1984 he graduated from Union Theological Seminary (Richmond, Virginia) with a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies, New Testament.

Dr. Kendall was ordained as deacon in 1975 and elder in 1977. He served as superintendent of the Great Plains Conference from 1999 - 2005, a position he served until elected bishop. Prior to 1999 he pastored churches in the Great Plains Conference and Southern Michigan Conference for sixteen years. In addition to serving as pastor to churches and other pastors, Bishop Kendall has been an adjunct faculty member of Central Christian College (McPherson, KS) and Greenville College (Greenville, IL).

Bishop Kendall’s passion for ministry centers on two primary calls: first, to communicate the Scriptures as God’s Word in faithful and relevant ways to our world today and second, to assist God’s people to be truly the church in the 21st century.

Dr. Kendall also enjoys writing and seeks to build up the church through the printed word as well. He contributes regularly to Christian periodicals and endeavors to maintain an active life in the blogosphere. He is the author of God’s Call to be Like Jesus: Living a Holy Life in an Unholy World, a 1999 publication of Light and Life Communications, and The Female Pastor: Is There Room for She in Shepherd?, also a Light and Life publication in 2005.

Bishop Kendall and his wife, Lavone, have three married daughters who with their husbands have blessed the world with seven of the most wonderful grandchildren ever born.

The Kendalls reside in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Karen Strand Winslow

Karen Strand Winslow is an associate professor of Biblical Studies in the graduate division of the Haggard School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University (CA). She is also the director of the Free Methodist Center there and continues as a consultant to the Jewish-Christian Studies program at Greenville University (IL), where she held the chair of that program from 2001 to 2004, after teaching at Seattle Pacific University (WA) from 1987 to 1999. She is an ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church and has three children and one grandson.