Dr. David L. Weaver-Zercher
David L. Weaver-Zercher is associate professor of American religious history and chair of the Department of Biblical and Religious Studies at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in religion from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1997.
Professor Weaver-Zercher’s writing has focused on outsiders’ perspectives and portrayals of the Amish. His books in that area include The Amish in the American Imagination (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001); Writing the Amish: The Worlds of John A. Hostetler (Penn State University Press, 2005); and a co-edited volume with Diane Zimmerman Umble, The Amish and the Media (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008).
Weaver-Zercher’s publications also include Vital Christianity: Spirituality, Justice, and Christian Practice, co-edited with William H. Willimon (T & T Clark, 2005). His writing has appeared in numerous journals, including Church History, Mennonite Quarterly Review, and North Carolina Historical Review.He is married to Valerie Weaver-Zercher and is the father of three young sons.
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Dr. Stacy L. Spencer
ANOINTED, BOLD, GOD-CENTERED, VISIONARY are all terms used to describe Dr. Stacy L. Spencer, Senior Pastor of New Direction Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee. The man of humble beginnings now leads one of the area’s fastest growing congregations with member numbers reflected in the thousands in only 5 years.
With the vision of empowering all people to know God through life changing experiences from the inside out, Spencer strives to minister to the “unreached”. In other words, those people who have either been overlooked by, who’ve had little or no experience with or those who are disillusioned by traditional churches. His God-given vision, considered a radical move by many, has proven successful in reaching a core audience of “Generation X-ers”, with the median age of the congregation ranging in the mid-30s or younger.
Dr. Spencer started New Direction as a church plant of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in 2001 with roughly 60 members. Within a matter of months, God blessed the ministry with overflowing crowds forcing the church out of its original church into nearby school auditorium temporarily until the completion of its own 14,000 square-feet Sprung structure was complete. The Sprung structure yet proved to be too small to contain God’s blessing. In the summer of 2004, Dr. Spencer and New Direction family moved into its 74,000 square-feet Power Center facility. In turn, Dr. Spencer donated its original facility including the Sprung structure to a Hispanic congregation, Nueva Direccion. In March 2005, New Direction opened its second location, New Direction Collierville, to service the emerging diverse community beyond Memphis.
Dr. Spencer received his Doctorate of Ministry from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. He is married to Rhonda F. Spencer and they are the proud parents of 4 sons; Calvin, Omari, Jordan and Jaden Lynn.
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