Simon-Peter To Give Annual Fleer Lecture

Filed under CMU News on Thursday, February 07, 2013.

The annual Fleer Lecture at Central Methodist University will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 19 and this year features Rev. Rebekah Simon-Peter of Casper, Wyo.

Her presentation marks CMU's fifth annual Gilbert and Ruth Fleer Lecture for Excellence in Values-Based Education. It begins at 7 p.m. in the Courtney-Spalding Room of the CMU Student and Community Center, and there is no admission fee.

Rev. Simon-Peter's lecture topic is "Global Weirding, Wacky Weather, and the Christian Call to Discipleship in a Changing Climate."

Since 2007 she has directed BridgeWorks, an extension ministry of the United Methodist Church. BridgeWorks provides innovative coaching, consulting, workshops, seminars, and classes, promoted as being "grounded in authentic spirituality and intellectual integrity."

An ordained Elder in the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Methodist Church, Rev. Simon-Peter was raised in an interfaith home, and her interactions with the Jewish community has interested her deeply in the Jewish roots of Christianity.

Rev. Simon-Peter earned a degree in environmental studies at the University of Vermont and worked on the State of Vermont's water quality and acid rain studies before answering the call to ministry. She is the author of Green Church: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rejoice!, 7 Simple Steps to Green Your Church and The Jew Named Jesus (September 2013).

A longtime board member of the Wyoming Association of Churches, she makes her home in Casper, Wyo. with her husband Jerry Gonzales.

If you are unable to attend the lecture on campus, it will be live-streamed at www.ustream.tv/channel/centralmethodist.

Founders of the Fleer Lecture Series at CMU, Gilbert and Ruth Fleer live in Bentonville, Ark. Both are alumni of Central Methodist, and Gilbert was assistant professor of religion at Central from 1959 to 1965.

Fleer is now retired as a social science professor from Western Texas College and as a United Methodist counselor. The couple's strong support of leadership training led them to establish the Gil and Ruth Fleer Fund for Excellence in Values-Based Education at CMU, and this program is made possible by their benevolence.

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