About
The Thriving in Ministry Coordination Program
about thriving in ministry
We are building a learning community.
Funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., Thriving in Ministry awarded 129 grants to colleges, seminaries, denominations, congregations, and other non-profits to support pastors and the congregations they serve. These organizations serve pastors in a wide array of denominational and ecumenical contexts, geographic settings and regions, racial and cultural backgrounds, and contextual or transitional challenges.
Leadership Education at Duke Divinity serves as the coordination program for this initiative, providing resources and support to these projects, curating learning opportunities for project staff, and sharing the wisdom gleaned from the work with others who care about pastors. This learning community is cultivated through an annual meeting, regular online educational opportunities, site visits and resource collection. This initiative was featured in the Lilly Endowment Inc. 2018 Annual Report.
Leadership Education aims to create lasting change by strengthening the ecology of Christian institutions that enable U.S. congregations and pastors to flourish. We do this through designing educational services, developing intellectual resources and facilitating networks of institutions. We publish Faith & Leadership, a free online learning resource.
who we are
Staff
Alaina Kleinbeck
Associate Executive Director for Coordination Programs
akleinbeck@div.duke.edu
Alaina Kleinbeck is the Associate Executive Director for Coordination Programs at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity. She and her team support more than 300 grantees in the Thriving in Ministry and Thriving Congregations Coordination Programs.
She has served ministries and organizations in suburban St. Louis, urban Houston, Central America and Norway. She holds degrees from Concordia University Nebraska and Duke Divinity School. From 2013 to 2018, she was director of the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation. Before that, she was a director of Christian education working with middle school students. She is committed to developing faithful Christian practices within communities, eliminating barriers to resources for Christian communities and pastors at the margins, and including young people in all aspects of life in the church.
Wanda White
Associate Director,
Thriving in Ministry Coordination Program
wwhite@div.duke.edu
Wanda White started as the Assistant Director for the Thriving in Ministry Coordination Program in March 2020 and became Associate Director in September 2023. She has worked with Leadership Education at Duke Divinity since 2015 as a Staff Assistant, maintaining finances, managing day-to-day office operations, and processing mini grant applications for grants issued to cohort participants. Wanda received her Bachelor of Arts degree from North Carolina A&T State University, Master of Arts degree from Strayer University, and a few certifications from Duke University. Wanda believes her purpose in life is to use her God-given gifts to listen, give, and help others in various capacities of their lives.
Averee Gentry
Program Coordinator,
Thriving Coordination Programs
agentry@div.duke.edu
Averee Gentry joined Leadership Education at Duke Divinity as a program coordinator for Thriving Congregations and Thriving in Ministry in February 2024. She holds a bachelor’s degree in social entrepreneurship from Carson-Newman University and a master of divinity from McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, where she did administrative work as a teacher’s assistant. She has previous experience coordinating events and doing customer service as a co-owner and store manager of her family’s donut shop in Knoxville, Tennessee.
David L. Odom
Executive Director,
Leadership Education at Duke Divinity
dodom@div.duke.edu
David L. Odom joined Duke Divinity School in August 2007 to launch Leadership Education at Duke Divinity and now oversees all of its programs and publications, including Faith & Leadership. He regularly teaches and facilitates events and both writes and solicits content for Faith & Leadership. In addition, Odom develops and supervises select initiatives at Duke Divinity School, where he serves as an associate dean. Before coming to Duke, Odom was the founder and president of the Center for Congregational Health in Winston-Salem, N.C., which supported healthy communities of faith through consultation, leadership development, interim ministry training and vocational discernment. Odom, who was an adjunct professor at Wake Forest Divinity School, has extensive experience in program development and evaluation, staff and adjunct faculty development, and strategic organizational management. He also plays a leadership role in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. He is a graduate of Furman University, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary.
our commitment
Thriving in Ministry projects are committed to helping pastoral leaders cultivate tools and community to develop a sustainable and hopeful vision of what it means to be a pastor.
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