Nov 22, Rev. Dr. Rick Ward-Harder, Guest Speaker

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Please join us this Sunday at 10:30am, as we welcome back our guest speaker, Rev. Dr. Rick Ward-Harder, better known as “Father Rick.”

He is the Director of Student Life at a Vocational Technical Campus.  He is responsible for Student & Residential Life Services, Student Leadership and Life Enrichment Services, the Campus Welcome Center and Evening Orientation Services.  He is a member of the Senior Leadership Team where he leads the evening, night, and weekend campus operations.

Father Rick has 20+ years in active ministry.  He is an ordained Reformed Catholic Priest within the Progressive Episcopal Conference.  He currently serves as the Canon or Vicar General of the Diocese of the Delta and is a Trustee on the Board of Trustees for Metropolitan Seminary.

Father Rick is an Arkansas Licensed Psychiatric Nurse (1989) with a Masters in Theology and a Doctorate of Philosophy (2000).  In 2010 he completed a Doctorate of Ministry through Sacred Heart Seminary. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity, awarded due to meritorious service to marginalized communities.

Fr. Rick is an avid, tireless, and vocal advocate for minority, marginalized and at risk communities, and he feels strongly that it is our duty to welcome and embrace all persons equally.

He is a native of Little Rock but has resided in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for the last five years with his Husband, Scott Harder, who is also a state employee serving as a corporal with the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

The Wisdom Seekers group meet at 9:00am and will begin discussion of a new book this Sunday:  “The Shack”, by William Paul Young.  “Mackenzie Allen Phillips’s youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever.
“Coffee and social hour is at 10:00am.  We welcome all to share this Sunday with us as we begin a week of Thanksgiving!