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Speakers bring a multicultural message to Milligan


MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (Sept. 15, 2011) — Chad Brennan and Richard Johnson of ReNew Partnerships, an organization that provides multicultural training resources for Christian leaders and ministries, will speak at Milligan College on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 11 a.m. in Milligan’s Mary B. Martin Auditorium in Seeger Memorial Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.

Brennan, the director of ReNew, and Johnson, a ReNew training facilitator, will speak again that evening at a diversity forum at 7 p.m. in Milligan’s McMahan Student Union Building.

“Chad and Richard have spent their lives working in diverse communities and learning firsthand about the joys and challenges of sharing life and ministry with Christians of other ethnicities,” said Ernesto Villarreal, Milligan’s director of diversity. “As Milligan continues to become more diverse, we are always looking for ways to learn how we can use our cultural differences to better serve others and share the hope of Christ with the world.”

ReNew Partnerships is a Christian non-profit organization that was founded in 2005 to help Christians have a biblical and effective approach to ethnic relations. The organization has facilitated on-site training programs for church leadership teams, youth groups, college ministries, Christian universities, church plant teams, conferences, boards of directors and more.

ReNew was founded by Chad Brennan and his wife, Lauren. The Brennans worked with college students as staff members with Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC). While in New York City in 2001, they began to work with other leaders in the community to facilitate “ReNew activities,” designed to bring together Christians of different ethnicities.

In 2005, the Brennans left the CCC staff and launched ReNew Partnerships, where they are currently helping thousands of Christian leaders to build biblical, multi-ethnic community through on-site training programs and resources.

Johnson is a multi-ethnic training facilitator with ReNew Partnerships. His life has been filled with ethnic diversity. His father was the pastor of a predominantly black church while their family lived in a diverse neighborhood in Alexandria, Va.  He earned a bachelor’s degree at Morehouse College, a historically black college, and then a Master of Education from William & Mary, a predominantly white college. He spent seven years serving on the staff of large, mostly-white suburban church before planting Sanctuary Columbus, a multi-ethnic church plant with the Evangelical Covenant denomination.

For more information about diversity events at Milligan, contact Ernesto Villarreal at 423.461.8492. To learn more about Milligan, visit www.milligan.edu.


Posted by on September 15, 2011.