The Rev. Sky McCracken is district superintendent for the Paducah district of the Memphis Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He wrote a July 2011 essay for The United Methodist Reporter in which he questioned the value of seminary education in training pastors to successfully lead congregations.

Joseph A. Bessler is an associate professor of theology at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Okla. He wrote a chapter on the endangered seminary for the book Revitalizing Practice: Collaborative Models for Theological Faculties.

Gary Peluso-Verdend is president of Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Okla., a multidenominational Protestant school. He is also an associate professor of practical theology and is an expert on congregational cultures and training for church leadership.

Bob Abegg is director of online and external studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, which started with one online course in 2003 and now has two dozen, with 1,000 students. He is also elder emeritus at Centerpoint Church in Mesquite, Texas. Contact via DTS’ External Studies Office.

Craig Hill is a research professor of theological pedagogy at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C. He oversees several new degree programs that serve distance learners.

Jason Byassee is pastor of Boone United Methodist Church in Boone, N.C., and a research fellow in theology and leadership at Duke Divinity School. He wrote a rebuttal for The United Methodist Reporter of Sky McCracken’s essay for the same publication about the decline in value of a seminary education.

Lugene Schemper is a theological librarian at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Mich. He wrote an article on seminary education for Hispanic pastors.

Sally Peters is director of the Center for Lifelong Learning at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. In July 2011, she led a session on vocation in contemporary life at Princeton Theological Seminary’s conference “Perspectives on Vocation for the 21st Century.”

Moody Theological Seminary was created in January 2010 from the cost-savings merger of two schools, Moody Bible Institute and Michigan Theological Seminary. The school has two campuses, one in Grand Rapids and one in Chicago. Contact Paul Wilson, associate dean of student services.