RÉSUMÉ
Speed B. Leas,
Consultant, The Alban Institute
P.O. Box 2250,
Boulder Creek, California, 95006, (831) 338-1024
Education (degree)
1960 Graduate of University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English.
1963 Graduate of Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Connecticut, with a Master of Divinity Degree.
1964 Graduate of the Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Connecticut, with a Master of Sacred Theology Degree in Social Ethics.
Professional Designation in Training and Development awarded in June, 1973 by UCLA Extension School of Management. This represents the completion of nine four-unit Training and Development courses.
Full Time Employment
Present retired, working part-time as a consultant, The Alban Institute.
1999-2004 I worked as a half-time consultant--as an employee of the Alban Institute--with local churches and judicatories in church planning, the placement of clergy, organization analysis, mediation and conflict management. I also trained church professionals in conflict management, church management, and systems theory and did research in the area of conflict in local churches, and I worked half-time as the Visiting Professor of Congregational Leadership at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.
1992-1999 I was a Senior Consultant with the Alban Institute, working with local churches and judicatories in church planning, the placement of clergy, organization analysis, mediation and conflict management. I also trained church professionals in conflict management, church management, and systems theory and did research in the area of conflict in local churches
1977-1992 Director of Consulting, The Alban Institute. In this position I managed a staff of consultants (thirty-five part-time and four full-time) who worked with local churches on planning, placement of clergy, organization analysis, and conflict management. I also consulted with local churches and judicatories in these areas, trained church professionals in conflict management and did research in the area of conflict in local churches.
1973-1977 Director of Training, Institute for Advanced Pastoral Studies.
1967-1973 Director of COMMIT, Center of Metropolitan Mission In-Service Training, a regional (Southern California) Urban Training Center.
1969-1970 Interim Director of Joint Metropolitan Strategy and Action Coalition in Los Angeles (a coalition of the urban departments of eleven Protestant denominations).
1964-1967 Senior Minister, Immanuel United Church of Christ in Watts.
1960 Campus Minister, University of California, Berkeley, Plymouth House.
Lecturer in Social Change, Conflict Management, and Organization Development
(Listed here are only schools at which I have taught courses of 30 contact hours or longer. I have taught semester-long courses at the seminaries marked with an asterisk.)
American Baptist Seminary of the West *
Fuller Theological Seminary *
The School of Theology at Claremont *
San Francisco Theological Seminary
Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Vancouver School of Theology
Oakland University *
Mid-Atlantic Association for Training and Consulting
McCormick Seminary
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
Chicago Theological Seminary
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary
Pittsburgh Seminary
Columbia Seminary
Yale Divinity School
Hartford Seminary
Articles and Publications
"The Missionary and the Black Man," chapter in Malcolm Boyd's book, The Underground Church, Sheed and Ward, 1966.
"The Uniqueness of the Church as a Management System," The Christian Ministry, May, 1972.
"Conflict in Churches," The Ministers Cassette Service, January 1973.
Church Fights: Managing Conflict in the Local Church, (with Paul Kittlaus), Westminster Press, 1973.
"Managing by Objectives in the Church," The Christian Ministry, November, 1973.
"Continuing Theological Education," Catalyst, August, 1974.
"Fighting Fair," Parish Development Series Volume II, Catacomb Cassettes, 1975.
"Conflict Management," Ministers Life Resources, set of two tapes, 1976.
"Strategies for Social Change in the Seventies," chapter in Creating an Intentional Ministry, John Biersdorf, Ed., Abingdon, 1976.
"MBO, PBE and the Church Executive," The Church Executive, Summer, 1976.
"Be Angry and Sin Not," CrossRoads, Spring, 1978.
"Managing Conflict," CrossRoads, Spring, 1978.
"Conflict in the Church," Adult Creative Teaching Aid, David C. Cook, Fall, 1977.
Time Management: A Working Guide for Church Leaders, Abingdon, 1978.
"A Bill of Rights for Clergy," Action Information, March 1978.
"How to Handle Complaints About Fellow Staff Members," Action Information, 1979.
"Detractors and the Multiple Staff," Action Information, March, 1979.
A Layperson's Guide to Conflict Management, The Alban Institute, 1979.
A Study of Involuntary Terminations in Some Presbyterian, Episcopal, and United Church of Christ Congregation, The Alban Institute, 1980.
Should the Pastor Be Fired? The Alban Institute, 1980.
"Who's at Fault When the Pastor Gets Fired?" Action Information, 1980.
The Pastoral Counselor in Social Action, (with Paul Kittlaus), Fortress Press, 1981.
"Criteria for Evaluating a Pastor's Tenure in a Conflict Setting," Journal of Religion and the Applied Behavioral Sciences, Fall, 1982.
"Use Your Head," Church School Today, Fall, 1982.
Leadership and Conflict, Abingdon Press, 1982.
Discover Your Conflict Management Style, The Alban Institute, 1983.
Moving Your Church Through Conflict, The Alban Institute, 1984.
"Conflict in the Parish: How Bad is It?" Word and World, Vol. IV, Number 2, 1984, pp. 182-191.
"Levels of Marital Conflict Model: Guide to Assessment and Intervention in Troubled Marriages,"American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, (with Helen Weingarten), July 1987.
The Inviting Church, (with Roy Oswald), The Alban Institute, 1987.
"Preaching in Conflict," Pulpit Digest, Volume LXXII, Number 508, March/April 1991.
"The Pastor's Bookshelf: Books on Church Conflict," Pulpit Digest, Volume LXXII, Number 508, March/April 1991.
Mastering Conflict and Controversy, (with Edward Dobson and Marshall Shelley), Multnomah Press, 1992.
Understanding Your Congregation as a System, (with George Parsons), The Alban Institute, 1993.
Two chapters in Leading Your Church Through Conflict and Reconciliation, Marshall Shelley, General Editor, Bethany House Publishers, 1997
Two chapters in Congregations Talking about Homosexuality, by Gaede, Beth Ann, The Alban Institute, 1998
Several chapters and introductory article in Harvesting the Learning: Conflict, Lott, David, Editor, The Alban Institute, 2001