Leon Carroll

R. Leon Carroll Jr. (born 1942, McComb, Mississippi) is an ordained minister of the and Professor Emeritus of Supervised Ministry at Columbia Theological Seminary. Also known as "Lee" Carroll, his work at Columbia was in practical theology. He focused specifically on the related areas of theological field education, congregational studies, and cross cultural education.
Career
Carroll received a B.S. from the University of Southern Mississippi (1965) and a M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary (1968). He was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1968). Prior to joining the faculty of Columbia Seminary, he served as a pastor with Whitehaven Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee (1968-1970), Highland Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky (1970-1975), and First Presbyterian Church in Charleston, West Virginia (1975-1983). In 1983 he became Associate Professor of Supervised Ministry at Columbia Theological Seminary, a position he held for 26 years. He retired in 2009 and was granted the status of Associate Professor Emeritus of Supervised Ministry. In 2009 he also became an honorably retired member of the Presbytery of West Virginia, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Work
Carroll's career in theological education was devoted to helping students learn through doing ministry in congregations, hospitals, prisons and other contexts for ministry, and engaging in theological reflection about their experiences. As a part of his work in Supervised Ministry, he also trained supervising pastors and others leaders who were selected to work with theological students in local contexts.
Carroll was an active member of the Association for Theological Field Education throughout his time at Columbia and served as an officer in that bi-national professional organization. He was also one of the founders of Presbyterian/Reformed Theological Field Educators, a peer group of contextual educators serving in Presbyterian and Reformed theological schools. He participated with this latter organization in publishing numerous materials such as Guidelines for Theological Field Education in PC (USA) Theological Schools which have helped shape the nature and quality of theological field education in many seminaries.
Another major part of Carroll's work in theological education was with Columbia Seminary's "Alternative Context" program which exposed M.Div. students to the work of the church in cultures very different from their own. While the seminary worked with a partner organization in each setting, Carroll was particularly involved with students in the local context of inner-city Atlanta, the rural context of Appalachia, and the island nation of Jamaica. These involvements led him to serve on the boards of two partner organizations: the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center (AMERC) based in Berea KY where he chaired the AMERC Board in 2002-2006; and the former Urban Training Organization of Atlanta (UTOA) where he chaired the UTOA Board in 1996-2000.
Carroll has also been involved with various community based, non-profit organizations which serve those experiencing homelessness in Atlanta, Georgia. He was a member of Board of Our House, Inc, which serves homeless children and their parents, and served as the board chair of Our House in 2007-2010. He is also a long-time member of the Board of Central Outreach and Advocacy Center and served as Board Vice-Chair (2005-2009) and Board Chair (2011-2015).
Publications
*Welcome to Theological Field Education! (2011: Alban Institute, Herndon VA),edited by Matthew Floding. Chapter 6, “The Forming Work of Congregations,” pp75 ff.
*Supervised Ministry in the Congregation—A Manual for Supervising Pastors and Pastoral Interns, Columbia Theological Seminary, 1990; revised 1997.
*Supervised Ministry in the Congregation—A Manual for Supervised Ministry Committees, Columbia Theological Seminary, 1987; revised 1997.
*Supervised Ministry: The Doctor of Ministry Practicum, Columbia Theological Seminary, 1996; revised 2000.
*Guidelines for Theological Field Education in PC (USA) Theological Schools, coauthored in cooperation with other PC (USA) Theological Field Educators and endorsed by PC (USA) Committee on Theological Education, 1989; revised, 2005.
*Guidelines for Assessment in Theological Field Education, co-authored with other PC (USA) Theological Field Educators, 1993.
*Legal Issues for Theological Field Education, co-authored with other PC (USA) Theological Field Educators, 2001.

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