Lakeside is honored to welcome Rev. Dr. Willie James Jennings as the Preacher of Christian Imagination Week, June 28-July 2. A gifted preacher, theologian, teacher and writer, Jennings brings a powerful theological vision shaped by Scripture, Christian doctrine, race, creation and the deep human longing for life together. This week’s preacher is generously supported by the Knobel Family Endowment.
Jennings will help the community consider what it means to have a renewed Christian imagination: one capable of seeing neighbors, land, history and creation itself as places where God is calling us into deeper belonging.
On Sunday, June 28, Jennings will preach at the 10:30 a.m. Hoover Worship Service. Musical leadership will be provided by Michael Shirtz and the Chautauqua Choir, with liturgy led by Rev. Kimberly Orr, Lakeside’s Director of Religion.
Following the opening prayer, children ages 5–11 are invited to proceed to Bradley Temple for Children’s Church with Chip Richter, where they’ll enjoy a kid-friendly message, songs, crafts, lemonade and cookies. Preschoolers are welcome if accompanied by an adult.
Immediately following the Hoover Worship Service, guests have an opportunity to receive Holy Communion. Communion will be served to those seated in the front rows of the center section.
Jennings serves as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale Divinity School. An ordained Baptist minister, he has also served congregations as an interim pastor, bringing together the worlds of academy, church and public witness.
He is the author of several books, including The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, which received the American Academy of Religion Award of Excellence in the Study of Religion and the Grawemeyer Award in Religion. His other notable works include Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible and After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. Jennings has been developing a major theological project on the doctrine of creation, including the forthcoming Reframing the World: A Christian Doctrine of Creation and Jesus and the Displaced: Christology and the Redemption of Habitation.
In March 2026, he delivered Princeton Theological Seminary’s Annie Kinkead Warfield Lectures under the title, “Only Then Will We Build: Forming a Real Doctrine of Creation.” These lectures explored how Christians might recover a doctrine of creation that speaks not only about origins, but about how we live together on the ground — with God, one another, land, creatures and the built world. Jennings’s recent podcast appearances have extended these themes to wider audiences.
At Yale, Jennings’s teaching has included courses such as Systematic Theology, Christian Identity and the Racial World, Natural Theology and Animism, Slavery and Obedience and the Decolonial Theological Method.
Guests are welcome to attend Hoover Worship Services free of charge by requesting a complimentary Church Pass between 7:30-10:30 a.m. Sunday; valid until 1 p.m. The pass includes admittance for guests and auto and must be presented to the gate attendant upon departure. If allotted hours are exceeded, guests will be required to purchase a Daily Chautauqua Pass. The pass does not include access to the pool or wellness center. Complimentary passes are available for all worship services and Faith for Living Hour.
