Integrate faith into all spheres of life.
Knoxville Fellows earn a Master of Arts in Ethics and Leadership (MAEL) from Johnson University through classes offered at 4MS each Friday. This specialized graduate education is designed to root Fellows in their faith as they are sent out into their places of work, their neighborhoods, and their many areas of influence.
Classes
THE BIBLE AND THE CITY 1 (OT) and 2 (NT)
Explore the narrative arc of the Hebrew Scriptures and the life and teachings of Jesus and his first followers in the light of the professional, spiritual, and political aspects of our lives in a city context.
Dr. Caleb Gilmore
LEADERSHIP AND SPIRITUAL FORMATION and SPIRITUAL OF LEADERS
Delve into the spiritual practices that undergird the character of the genuinely Christlike leader and integrate them into your everyday life.
Dr. Sue Stratton
BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ETHICS and APPLIED ETHICS
Wrestle with the ethical issues facing contemporary leaders through the lens of the ancient wisdom of Scripture and theological reflection.
Dr. Mark Weedman
Capstone Service Project
CAPSTONE SERVICE PROJECT
Seek the peace of Knoxville by volunteering in a non-profit or ministry 1-2 hours per week. Past ministries and non-profits served by Fellows include Knox Area Rescue Ministries, Amachi, Thrive Lonsdale, Emerald Youth Foundation, and YoungLife.
Dr. Mark Weedman
Field Experience I and II
Apply the ethical leadership principles discovered in our classroom discussions and readings to the “real life” of our city in your nine-to-five place of employment.
Dr. Sue Stratton
Dr. Gary David Stratton
Meet the Professors
Caleb Gilmore is the Teaching Pastor at Crossings Knoxville, which shares a building with the Fellows. He is a graduate of Johnson University (BA) and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (MA, PhD). For the last eight years, he has been teaching Old Testament courses for Johnson University and has also instructed seminary students at Methodist Theological School in Ohio. His passion is teaching the Scriptures to bring about greater unity in the church and in the world. He is an avid Cincinnati Reds, Bengals, and Tennessee Volunteer fan. His wife, Kristi, and two daughters, are at the core of everything he does.
Dr. Mark Weedman earned his B.A. in Biblical Studies from Milligan College in 1990, his Master of Divinity in New Testament from Emmanuel Christian Seminary in 1994, and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Marquette University in 2004. He was a lecturer in theology at Marquette University from 1990-2000. He was a professor of Biblical and Historical Theology at Crossroads College from 2000-2013. Mark has been published extensively. In 2007, he was the recipient of the Colin Gunton Memorial Essay Prize from the Society for the Study of Theology. He is a member of the North American Patristics Society, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the American Academy of Religion.
Dr. Sue Stratton is a painter and a lecturer in Spiritual Formation and Old Testament at Johnson University. She holds an M.A. in Old Testament from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a doctorate in Spiritual Formation and Leadership from Portland Seminary. She has served as a missionary, church planter, campus minister, professor, and business leader in the U.S. and China. In the business world, Sue served as Website Moderator forpdfzone.com, and wrote for Publish magazine, where she interviewed Fortune 500 executives and Ivy League business professors to discern cutting-edge technological breakthroughs and marketing strategies. Her forthcoming books—Beloved: An Invitation to Forty Days of Unfailing Love, a guided spiritual formation experience through her biblical meditations and watercolor paintings, and Re-enchanting Faith: Recapturing the Imagination of a Lost Generation through Story and the Art—will be released in 2025.
Dr. Gary David Stratton serves as Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Spiritual Formation and Cultural Leadership at Johnson University. He has taught at eleven universities across the U.S. and China, directed two Hollywood-based nonprofits training screenwriters of faith, and co-founded two Lilly Endowment-funded Knoxville initiatives serving city youth and church leaders. He holds a B.A. from Wheaton College and an M.A./Ph.D. from Talbot School of Theology and currently serves on the Knoxville Fellows Advisory Board. Gary’s latest book, The Jesus Climb: Journeying from Student to Disciple, developed in collaboration with Knoxville Fellows Cohort 16, examines the history and theology of Christ-centered learning communities dedicated to "living everything Jesus taught and teaching everything Jesus lived."
The Master of Arts in Ethics and Leadership (MAEL) consists of the following nine courses (30 credits):
Leadership Ethics, Theology, and Culture (12 credits)
· MAEL 5101 Bible & the City I: Old Testament (3)
· MAEL 5102 Bible & the City II: New Testament (3)
· MAEL 5200 Theological Foundations of Ethics (3)
· MAEL 5201 Applied Ethics (3)
Leadership Character and Practices (18 credits)
· MAEL 5001 Spiritual Formation of Leaders (3)
· MAEL 5002 Spiritual Formation & Leadership (3)
· MAEL 5600 Field Experience I (4.5)
· MAEL 5600 Field Experience II (4.5)
· MAEL 5800 Capstone Project (3)