Our Dill Lecture Series

about the Stephen & Ruth

Dill Lecture Series

The Dill Lecture Series (DLS) was established in 2013 as a legacy project of the Dauphin Way United Methodist Church Centennial Celebration to honor the Rev. Dr. Stephen F. Dill and his wife Ruth for their 40 years of extraordinary service to our church and to our community. Dr. Dill served as senior minister of Dauphin Way from 1972 until his retirement in 1990 and continued to enrich the lives of the Dauphin Way community of faith and the greater Mobile community until his death in January 2022. Throughout Steve’s long career, Ruth also served ably as partner to Steve in ministry and teaching. The DLS Committee mourns the loss of Dr. Stephen Dill in January 2022 and is grateful for his legacy.

This lecture series is made possible by generous contributions to the Dill Lecture Fund set up within the Dauphin Way UMC Foundation. It brings to Mobile esteemed speakers to offer their insights and inspiration to the Dauphin Way congregation and to the community at large. The speakers may be chosen from the ranks of theologians, philosophers, academicians, authors, or others who can offer education, enlightenment and inspiration to the Dauphin Way congregation and the wider community by challenging them to think critically and act ethically and by exploring what it means to be a person of faith in the 21st century. The events are promoted to attract wide audiences from not only Dauphin Way and other religious institutions but also area colleges and universities and the community at large and are offered at no charge. The Dill Lecture Fund provides for the speaker stipend and travel and other expenses associated with the presentations.

Past Dill Lecture Speakers Have Included:

Thomas Cahill
American scholar and writer who is best known for his acclaimed Hinges of History series
2015
Rachel Held Evans
Best-selling author and nationally-popular blogger
2017
Jim Wallis
Founder and editor-in-chief of Sojourners and renowned preacher and theologian
2019
Rev. Adam Hamilton
Founder and senior pastor of the 25,000-member United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas
2021
Rev. Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor
Episcopal priest, teacher, speaker, theologian, and best-selling author
2022
Dr. Amy-Jill Levine
Internationally renowned scholar, teacher, and author
2024
Bishop Jonathan Holston
Bishop in Residence of the Alabama Panhandle Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church
2014
Dr. Walter Brueggemann
The preeminent contemporary scholar of the Old Testament
2016
Dr. Wayne Flynt
Auburn University professor emeritus and distinguished scholar of Southern history, politics, religion, and culture
2018
Krista Tippett
Creator and host of NPR programs Speaking of Faith and On Being
2021
Rev. Dr. Thomas G. Long
Bandy Professor of Preaching Emeritus at Candler School of Theology at Emory University
2022
Philip Yancey
Best-selling contemporary Christian author and spiritual inspiration to millions of followers worldwide
2023
Rev. Dr. Paul Chilcote
Research fellow at Wesley House, Cambridge, England, and featured seminarian at Duke University and other theological seminaries
2026

Meet our 2027 dls speaker

Rev. Dr. Jeremy Begbie

World-renowned theologian, teacher, speaker, & musician

Jeremy Begbie is Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Research Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School, and the McDonald Agape Director and founder of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts. He is also a Senior Member at Wolfson College, Cambridge, and an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Music at the University of Cambridge. His books include A Peculiar Orthodoxy: Reflections on Theology and the Arts (Baker Academic), Redeeming Transcendence in the Arts: Bearing Witness to the Triune God (Eerdmans), Theology, Music and Time (CUP), Resounding Tr­­uth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music (Baker), and Music, Modernity, and God (OUP). 

Begbie is also an ordained minister of the Church of England and a professionally trained musician who has performed extensively as a pianist and conductor.  He tours widely as a speaker, specializing in multimedia performance-lectures. Recent engagements have included preaching, speaking and performing in universities and churches in North America, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia.

Dauphin Way’s next Dill Lecture event will be held on Sunday, January 31, 2027, featuring Rev. Dr. Jeremy Begbie. To learn more about Rev. Begbie, please click here to visit his website.

Dauphin Way United Methodist Church

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