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.

Duane Kelderman is vice president for administration and an associate professor of preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Mich. In 2003, he participated in the school’s forum on seminary education and contributed an article, “Is Seminary Education for Pastors Still Necessary,” to its journal.

Rockbridge Seminary is the nation’s first online-only seminary. Its offices are in Springfield, Mo. It reports an enrollment rate growing at 29 percent. Contact through President Daryl Eldridge.

John Bolt is a professor of systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Mich. In 2003, he participated in a Calvin forum on seminary education and contributed an article titled “Warning! Seminary Education May Be Hazardous to Your Spiritual Health” to its journal.

Douglas Groothuis, associate professor of philosophy at the interdenominational, graduate-level Denver Seminary, is critical of the Harry Potter series.

Pulpit & Pew: Research on Pastoral Leadership is a research project at Duke Divinity School between the years of 2001-2005 in the U.S. This study was the largest such survey ever conducted of U.S. pastoral leaders.