Rev. Dr. B. Kathleen Fannin
Mission
The Office of the Chaplain exists to nurture
religious and spiritual life and foster the healthy religious and spiritual development of the
college community and its individual members.
Vision
The Office of the Chaplain creates opportunities for religious and spiritual exploration,
discussion, and development which provide openings for individuals and groups on campus to
share in religious and spiritual growth, expand mutual understanding, and engage with members
of the community at large through programming and service activities.
Follow this link for the Chaplain's Homepage!
 The
Chaplain's Office is located on the first floor of the
Weeks House
at 1002 E. Broadway, across 9th St. from Wells Theater.
Visitors are always welcome. You'll find
Kathleen in the office on the southwest corner.
If you wish to schedule an appointment, you may call 309-457-2380 or
e-mail Kathleen at
kfannin@monm.edu
Monmouth Christian Fellowship
- Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m.
The Weeks House
Ecumenical Christian Worship
- Mondays at
12:10 in the
Dahl Chapel
Hillel Foundation
- Selected activities throughout the year to encourage the
exploration of Judaism and its traditions
Student Chaplains
Homepage
One of the explicit purposes of Monmouth College is to
provide opportunities to "explore the spiritual dimension of human existence and the
relationship between faith and knowledge."
Everyone in our campus community is at a different stage of
faith development and there are many different faiths represented.
Student Chaplains are students who have been recognized by their peers as persons who have
gifts that nurture the spiritual life of the campus community.
Called to serve, these students have agreed to help create
opportunities for the intersection of faith and knowledge and to help cultivate spiritual life
experiences on our campus.
Courtney Condon
Jennifer Erbes
Jim Fry
Sanju Gautam
Paige Halpin
Erin Jamison
Cami Johnson
Eva Kainer |
Annie Lane
Melissa Lindsay
Ben Morrow
Lucas Pauley
Alicia Phillips
Noelle Templeton
Matt Travnik
Ashley Trueblood |
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MC chaplain’s latest book discusses spiritual life retreats for young
adults
Release Date:
September 3, 2007
 The Rev. Dr. B. Kathleen Fannin, Monmouth College chaplain, has authored
her latest book, "Wonder and Other Life Skills: Spiritual Life Retreats
for Young Adults Using the Creative Arts."
Published by Cowley Publications, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield,
the 144-page paperback is now available for $16.95 through Amazon,
Barnes & Noble and the publisher.
The book’s target audience is readers who work in a religious setting
with older youth. "Fannin provides everything that one needs in order to
plan and lead an engaging and transformative retreat," said one
reviewer.
The book also presents research that explores, among other things,
the human need for community, non-threatening ways to create community
in multi-faith environments and the implications of the statement that
human beings are created in the image of God.
"When I first started our retreats at Monmouth almost ten years ago,
I was only doing one a year in the spring, but the students asked for
one in the fall, too," said Fannin, who added a second event to the
annual schedule in 2002. "It’s important to get students off campus into
a place where they can just kick back."
Although many of the activities that students do on a retreat
– experiencing
nature, staying up all night playing games and preparing their own food
– are things
they can do on campus, Fannin said a retreat offers "a different
environment." She also noted that retreats provide important spiritual
support for those who find it "scary" to talk about God. Finally, she
said, the unique nature of retreats allow a generation with increasingly
shorter "commitment spans" to get involved in a one-time opportunity,
when they might shy away from activities that require more regular,
long-term engagement.
Originally, Fannin’s groups headed to Horn Lodge outside of Macomb
for their retreats, but they’ve outgrown that site. Last year, Fannin
twice took more than 30 members of the campus community to Camp Summit,
which is located 25 miles northeast of Monmouth and is run by Christian
Friendliness, an organization based in the Quad Cities.
Fannin was delighted to learn that "Wonder and Other Life Skills" is
a required text this year at Wesley Theological Seminary, and she was
also happy to contribute the book’s cover art, which features a bright
"mandala," a geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically
or symbolically. The mandala was created by the author on the fall 2002
retreat and is an example, she says, of "coloring outside the lines."
"A number of our students say, ‘I’m not artistic. I can’t do that.’
But when these activities are presented to them in a non-threatening
way, they find out they can," said Fannin, adding, "Any of these ideas
could be adapted for an intergenerational event within a congregation.
Using the creative arts opens all of us up to inspiration and revelation
in ways that nothing else does."
Ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Fannin was
installed as the seventh chaplain of Monmouth College in 1998. A
graduate of the University of Texas, the Eden Theological Seminary and
Wesley Theological Seminary, she is the author of three previous
religious books –
"In Search of the River: A Spiritual Journal in Scripture and Verse,"
Fairway Press, 1992; "Cows in Church: 80 Biblically Based Children’s
Sermons," CSS Publishing, 1999; and "God at the Center: Lenten Devotions
for College Students 2002," HEMA, 2002 – as well as "The
Language of Economic Development," Missouri Dept. of Economic
Development, 1982.
In 2001, Fannin was the recipient of the National Campus Ministry
Assocation (NCMA) Rookie of the Year Award. The following year, she was
instrumental in Monmouth College receiving the NCMA 2002 Campus Ministry
of the Year Award for the Great Lakes Region.
Wrote another reviewer, "A gifted college chaplain and guide for
young adults, Kathleen Fannin provides a vital resource for those who
work not only with young adults but for any who are called to offer
guidance and nurture to those on a spiritual journey."
|
| MC Awarded 2002 Campus Ministry of the
Year Release Date: July 9, 2002
 Monmouth
College was named the recipient of the 2002 Campus Ministry of the Year Award for the
Great Lakes Region from the National Campus Ministry Association at its annual
convention held in Chicago June 28-July 2.
The Great Lakes Region includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North
Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and all of Central Canada. The award recognizes
one "effective and innovative" ministry in the region each year. Monmouth's ministry was
recognized for its service to the college community and various area agencies and
churches, as well as its contribution to nurturing the spiritual life of college
students throughout the country.
Launched in 1999 by MC's chaplain, the Rev. B. Kathleen Fannin, the student chaplain
program was one of the key factors leading to the award, according to the NCMA. Student
chaplains sponsor a number of programs on and off campus to nurture the spiritual life
of the campus community and to serve persons in need in Warren, and Knox counties.
The experience participants receive in the program sometimes leads them to pursue
careers in ministry. A former student chaplain, Jennifer Rund '00 of Decatur, Ill., is
now in her third year of study at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. A current
student chaplain, John Huxtable of Viola, Ill., is the licensed lay pastor of the
Knoxville (Ill.) United Presbyterian Church, where he has served since July 2001.
Other campus ministry programs have included sponsoring an "angel tree" for clients of
Monmouth's Warren Achievement Center each December, volunteering in various after-school
programs sponsored by Jamieson Community Center and area churches, the college's annual
Christmas convocation, Monmouth Christian Fellowship, Bible studies and "Wonder and
Other Survival Skills," a special series of spiritual life retreats begun in 2000.
In April, students from Monmouth College wrote the liturgy for and led the closing
worship service at the Midwest Student Christian Gathering at Lake Geneva, Wis. As a
result of this service, Monmouth College's campus ministry was asked to serve on the
worship planning team for the NCMA conference in Chicago.
Fannin and four of the college's student chaplains also authored God at the Center: A
Lenten Devotion Guide for College Students, which was published by the Higher Education
Ministries Arena in January and distributed to college students around the world.
Fannin is Monmouth College's seventh chaplain, having served in the position since 1998. |
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