Join Grace Farms on Tues., Dec. 17 from 2-3pm for “the role of Faith in a Time of Division,” an intimate and insightful conversation with Reverend Lisa Lynne Kirkpatrick and Dr. Matthew Croasmun, Associate Research Scholar and the Director of the Life Worth Living program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School, who will explore how faith can play a pivotal role in mending divides in our communities. Reverend Kirkpatrick, who was Grace Farms’ Founding Community Initiative Director, will share her experiences and perspectives on using spiritual principles to foster understanding, empathy, and reconciliation in times of societal division.
Reverend Lisa Lynne Kirkpatrick was our Founding Community Initiative Director from 2015 to 2019. During her time, she greatly contributed to the community with her wide areas of expertise and gracious spirit, empowering and supporting hundreds of not-for-profit organizations along the way. The State of Connecticut’s General Assembly recognized her community contributions through Grace Farms Foundation noting her leadership, kindness, humor and enthusiasm. Also an accomplished singer, songwriter, and pianist, Reverend Kirkpatrick will perform with Broadway Inspirational Voices for their 30th anniversary in New York City on December 16, 2024. Broadway International Voices performed at Grace Farms in 2015.
Rev. Lisa Lynne Kirkpatrick currently serves as Minister of Word and Sacrament/Head of Staff at Linn Presbyterian Church in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Raised in Washington, D.C., Lisa Lynne received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music and Theatre from Carnegie-Mellon University. After years in New York City and Los Angeles, she left behind “the industry” for music ministry. She and her husband, Gil Kirkpatrick, affirmed their baptismal vows together at the English Reformed Church of Scotland, Presbyterian in Amsterdam, the Netherlands where she studied classical voice. After singing professionally for 4th Presbyterian Church in Chicago, the Riverside Church in New York, and as a Minister of Music for ten years, Lisa Lynne felt the call to pastoral ministry and advanced theological study in 2010. She obtained a Masters Degree in Biblical Literature from Alliance Theological Seminary in New York in 2017 and taught Worship at Nyack College. Lisa Lynne served the Broadway community of her peers in pastoral care and leadership, and helped launch the globally renown Grace Farms Foundation as their Community Initiative Director and Faith Program Manager. In the Spring of 2021, Lisa Lynne completed her Masters of Divinity at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Matthew Croasmun is the author of five books including the New York Times bestseller, Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most (with Miroslav Volf and Ryan McAnnally-Linz), Hunger for Home: Food and Meals in the Gospel of Luke (with Miroslav Volf) and Let Me Ask You a Question: Conversations with Jesus. He serves as Senior Lecturer of Divinity and Humanities and director of the Life Worth Living program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School. He is an ordained Vineyard pastor, having served as the founding pastor of the Elm City Vineyard Church in New Haven, CT. Rooted in the Christian church, much of Matthew’s work operates at the boundaries of religious and ideological identity, helping diverse communities ask the big questions of life across important and enduring lines of difference.
The program is free. Grace Farms is at 365 Lukes Wood Road, New Canaan. Gracefarms.org