Florida Pastor to Lead SPE Grant Coordination
The Rev. William H. (Bill) Lamar IV of Jacksonville, Fla., has been appointed to a new position, directing the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Grant Coordination Office at Duke Divinity School.
“We welcome Bill to this important post, working with SPE programs across the country,” said Janice A. Virtue, executive director of LE@DD, Leadership Education at Duke Divinity School. “As a talented and gifted pastor, he will have much to contribute, both to the SPE community and to our new programs in leadership education.”
The creation of the new post and Lamar’s appointment are part of a broader restructuring of lifelong learning and other programs at the divinity school, prompted by the creation of the new LE@DD program. Announced earlier this year, LE@DD is a Lilly-funded initiative that will bring together several existing divinity school programs in pastoral leadership with an extensive new program to provide support for leaders of key Christian institutions such as seminaries, colleges, and denominational offices.
In his new position, Lamar will serve as a managing director for LE@DD, with primary responsibility for directing the SPE grant coordination effort.
Previously, the SPE grant coordination program was overseen by a team of staff members, including Virtue and Bishop Kenneth L. Carder. As part of her new duties at LE@DD, Virtue will work with Lamar in overseeing the SPE grant coordination effort. Carder, however, is relinquishing his role in day-to-day supervision of the project. A regular contributor to the SPE newsletter and website, Carder has been transitioning into teaching full-time since last May, when he was named as the divinity school’s Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry.
Born in Macon, Ga., Lamar comes to Duke from New Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jacksonville and previously served parishes in Monticello and Orlando. He has served on boards for various organizations, including the Interfaith Coalition for Action, Reconciliation and Empowerment; Learn to Read; the New Town Learning Center, Inc.; and the board of examiners for the East Conference, 11th District of the AME Church. He is an elected delegate to the AME Church General Conference, to be held this summer in Saint Louis, Mo. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University and Duke Divinity School.
Lamar can be reached at blamar@div.duke.edu
