NACCC 2010 Annual Meeting Speakers
BIBLE LECTURER
Reverend Dr. Kah-Jin Jeffrey Kuan
The Rev. Dr. Kah-Jin Jeffrey Kuan is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Pacific School of Religion and a member of the Core Doctoral Faculty at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. A native of Malaysia, he began his theological education at Trinity Theological College, Singapore, obtaining a B.Th. degree in 1980. Upon graduation from seminary, he was appointed as an Associate Pastor of a Methodist Church in Malaysia where he served for 3 ½ years. Dr. Kuan and his family moved to the USA in 1984 where he continued his theological studies at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, receiving his M.T.S. degree in 1986. He then proceeded to Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia to pursue his doctoral studies in Old Testament, obtaining his Ph.D. degree in 1994.
As a seminary professor, he is most concerned about bridging the gap between the seminary and the church and thus, he is a strong proponent of lay theological education and speaks regularly in churches. His current research and teaching interests include contextual biblical interpretation, ancient Near Eastern history, the Books of Job and Joshua, pedagogies for teaching the Bible in the local church, and Asian and Asian-American Biblical Hermeneutics.
He is the author and editor of several books, periodicals, and essays on Biblical studies.
Dr. Kuan is an ordained elder in the California-Nevada Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, where he serves on several committees on higher education and ministry. He and his wife, Valentine Toh, are active members of the Chinese Community United Methodist Church, Oakland, California.
CONGREGATIONAL LECTURER
Reverend Wayne Riggs
Our Congregational Lecturer, Wayne Riggs, is the pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in the North Park community in San Diego. He was called there in 1990 and after three years, fully retired the church's indebtedness. He was instrumental in having the church reunite with its Congregational roots, leaving the UCC and become solely aligned with the NACCC and Cal West. In the Congregational way, the church adopted as their Mission Statement: To Serve God by Serving the People of our Community.
Rev. Riggs received his advanced education from Phillips Theological Seminary, Enid, Oklahoma majoring in Pastoral Ministry and New Testament in Greek. In 1966-67 he did Post-Graduate Studies at Harvard University. Rev. Riggs was ordained on May 10, 1953 by the Virginia Association of Christian Churches.
From 1957 to 1988 Rev. Riggs served in the U.S. Navy as a stellar officer and at the time of retirement held the rank of Captain. The members of Cal West benefited greatly by his disciplined leadership in 1998 when Rev. Riggs stepped up to fill the position of Chairman of the Program Committee for that year's meeting in San Diego.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Reverend Dr. Elizabeth Bingham
Elizabeth Bingham is the senior minister at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Pomona, California, and has served the church since 1993. Before that she was the minister at First Congregational Church in Anchorage Alaska, and assistant minister at the Congregational Church of the Chimes. She served as a hospital chaplain at Columbia Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was ordained by North Shore Congregational Church in Fox Point, Wisconsin where she served as Director of Christian Education.
Beth did her undergraduate work at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and then attended Yale Divinity School on a Rockefeller Fellowship. She received her M.A.R. degree from Yale, and then her Doctor of Ministry degree from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. She lives in Claremont, California with her husband Paul. Her son Teddy is a junior at Pomona College. She is an elected member of the Claremont Unified School District Board of Trustees