The 2019 Orders and Fellowship meeting took place Wednesday, January 16 to Thursday, January 17 at the Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, KS.
The main speaker was Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell.
Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Global Health at Duke University and Research Director of the Duke Clergy Health Initiative since 2007. As a community psychologist, she studies how systems affect individuals. Rae Jean never would have guessed that she would spend over a decade studying the well-being of United Methodist clergy, but as the granddaughter of Methodists from St. Paul and Lincoln, Nebraska, serving in this way has enriched her life. In her research, Rae Jean designs and tests interventions. Of four interventions designed specifically for clergy, she is currently testing spiritual well-being practices to determine their impact on stress reduction and positive emotions. She and UMC clergy co-author Jason Byassee compiled the first 10 years of Clergy Health Initiative findings into the book Faithful and Fractured: Responding to the Clergy Health Crisis, and devote a third of the book to positive mental health. Rae Jean is married to an epidemiologist, Scott Proeschold-Bell, and together with their two kids they count everything, from blessings to trick-or-treaters (1,525 in 2018).
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