David Fleer

Fleer created, directs, and hosts the Rochester Sermon Seminar which annually draws over 200 attendees from more than 30 states and provinces and 20 Christian fellowships.

He created the committee and crafted the vision to stimulated essential dialogue and cooperative ministry programs for Racial Diversity amongst African American and White Christians in the most racially segregated metropolitan area in the united States: Detroit.

David and Mae have been married for 30 years and have three sons: Josh (27) who is completing two MAs in Journalism and Religion from Pepperdine University, Luke (25) who earned a BA in Psychology from Rochester College and now works as recruiter for the college, and Nate (15) a high school sophomore who is active in theatre.

The family shares common hobbies, including collecting license plates, visiting major league baseball stadiums, enjoying North American cities, and recreational exercise.

Teaching, Preaching and Academic Record

Since 1995 he has been Professor of Religion and Communication at Rochester College and was named Teacher of the Year (1996-1997) and Most Influential Professor (2003-2004) by his peers and students.

He preaches and teaches in congregations in Michigan and across the country. During the 2005 calendar year he preached for Churches of Christ, Christian Churches and Presbyterian Churches (USA) in 30 different communities in Michigan, Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee, California, Ontario, and Manitoba. He regularly presents at conferences, seminars, and lectureships in the Churches of Christ.

He is adjunct Professor for the DMin program at Abilene Christian University (annual summer cycle courses) and teaches in a similar program at Harding Graduate School of Religion. He has published articles in juried scholarly and popular journals (see addendum) and initiated extensive collaborative editing projects resulting in nine books and four journal issues (see addendum). Since its 1990 inception, he has been an active on Leaven’s Editorial Board.

Fleer earned an MDiv from ACU, DMin from Fuller Seminary, and PhD, in Communication, from the University of Washington (1995).

Addendum

Fleer has published articles or major book reviews in Journal of Communication and Religion, Leaven, Quarterly Journal of Speech, Restoration Quarterly, Wineskins, and Theology Today. Specific academic publications include:

Articles

“Exegesis of Joel 2:1-11,” Restoration Quarterly 26 (Third Quarter, 1983): 149-160.

“Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine, the Homiletic Work of Tom Long and the Matter of Persuasion,” Restoration Quarterly 33 (Third Quarter, 1991): 141-155.

Co-author, “Preaching as the Creation of Experience: The Not-So-Rational Revolution of the New Homiletic,” Journal of Communication and Religion 18 (1995): 1-9.

“Toward a Recovery of the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Leaven 6 (1998): 93-95.

“A Call to Preachers to Stay in the Text,” Leaven 8 (2000): 60-65.

Co-author, “Tension in Preaching,” Preaching From Luke/Acts, Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2000, 21-37.

“Shaped by Story: Finding God’s Limits and Outlets for our Passion,” Preaching Autobiography: Connecting the World of the Preacher and the World of the Text, Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2001, 23-45.

“Preaching as Conformity to Scripture’s Language: The Case of the Elder Brother and the Party,” Restoration Quarterly 43 (Fourth Quarter, 2001): 253-266.

“Preaching in Churches of Christ: Moving Toward a Theology” Leaven, Volume 11, Number 4, Fourth Quarter, 2003, 168-176. Three other scholars respond to the article: Richard Hughes “Churches of Christ and the Evangelical World: Why Our Preaching Must Take History Seriously” 177-179, Bruce Shields, “Response to David Fleer’s Preaching in Churches of Christ” 180-181, and Thomas G. Long, “Response to David Fleer’s Preaching in Churches of Christ” 182-184.

“Schools of Preaching” The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement, Edited by Douglas A. Foster, Paul M. Blowers, Anthony L. Dunnavant, and D. Newell Williams, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004, 672-673.

“Preaching and Spirituality: The Big Imagination,” Leaven 12 (2004): 240-248.

Published Sermons

“Let Us Pray the Lord’s Prayer,” Restoration Quarterly 32 (Third Quarter, 1990): 179-185.

“The Cross,” in Bill Love, The Core Gospel, Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 1992, 299-302.

“A View From the Ditch,” in Mark Barger Elliot, Creative Styles of Preaching, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000, 99-102.

“All Israel will be Saved,” Leaven 8 (2000): 191-196, 171.

Six sermons from Acts are in Preaching From Luke/Acts, Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2000, 144-182.

“In Micah’s Courtroom (Micah 6:1-8),” Preaching the Eighth Century Prophets, Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2004, 237-246.

“Sing to the Lord a New Song? Trouble Leaving the Lament: Psalm 146,” Performing the Psalms, St. Louis: Chalice, 2005, 175-183.

“Lifted Up” (John 12:20-36) Leaven 14 (forthcoming, 2006).

“Who is Jesus?” Preaching Mark’s Unsettling Messiah, St. Louis: Chalice, (forthcoming, March, 2006).

Editor of Journals (4 Issues)

“Wisdom and Ministry,” Leaven 8 (Fourth Quarter, 2000).

Co-editor of the Festschrift for Stephen Eckstein, “The Academy in Service of the Church,” Restoration Quarterly 43 (Fourth Quarter, 2001).

“Preaching,” Leaven 11 (Fourth Quarter, 2003).

“The Future of the Restoration Movement,” Leaven, 14 (forthcoming, 2006).

Book Editor (9 volumes)

Preaching From Luke/Acts, Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2000. (The ACU Press and Chalice series are co-edited with Dave Bland).

Preaching Autobiography: Connecting the World of the Preacher and the World of the Text, Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2001.

Preaching Romans, Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2002

Preaching Hebrews, Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2003.

Preaching the Eighth Century Prophets, Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2004.

Performing the Psalms, St. Louis: Chalice, 2005

Co-Editor, Like a Shepherd Lead Us: Guidance for the Gentle Art of Pastoring, Siloam Springs, AR: Leafwood Press, 2006.

Preaching Mark’s Unsettling Messiah, St. Louis: Chalice, (forthcoming 2006).

Dare We Live in the World imagined in the Sermon on the Mount?, St. Louis: Chalice (proposal accepted for publication, 2007).