wfn.org | Lexington Theological Seminary welcomes fifteenth

["Communication Ministries" <wshuffit@cm.disciples.org>]

president
Date: March 28, 2002
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
E-mail: news@cm.disciples.org
Web: http://www.disciples.org

02a-24

                LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Rev. R. Robert Cueni
will become the fifteenth president of Lexington
Theological Seminary, April 1.

	The former senior minister of Country Club Christian
Church, Kansas City, Mo., Cueni will take the reins from
Interim President the Rev. Harold R. Watkins, Indianapolis,
who has held the position since May 2001.

	A formal inauguration is being planned for the fall
semester.

	Before being called to Country Club Christian Church in
1991, Cueni served churches in Texas, Illinois, Indiana and
Michigan. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1964
from Kent State University, a master of divinity degree
from Christian Theological Seminary in 1971, and a doctor
of ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary
in 1979. Cueni received an honorary doctorate from Bethany
College in 2001.

	Cueni is the author of eight books on congregational
ministry including Questions of Faith for Inquiring
Believers (C.S.S. Publishing, Spring 2002), and Dinosaur
Heart Transplants: Keys to Renewing a Mainline Church
(Abingdon Press, 2000). Another book, The Transforming
Power of a Changed Perspective will be published by C.S.S.
Publishing in Spring 2003.

	Cueni is a leader in the larger church arena, having
served on the General Board of the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ); as chair of the Feasibility Study
Committee of Embrace the Future Capital Campaign; and on
the Task Force on Funding of New Church Establishment in
the 21st Century. 

The work of the Task Force resulted in an organization
called Vision Builders, which is committed to raising funds
for new congregations. He has been a member of the
Christian Theological Seminary Board of Trustees; the
Disciples Ministers Association in Kansas City; National
City Christian Church Corporation, Washington, D.C.; and a
member of the Board of Consultants of Mid-West Bio-Ethics.
He also has served on the boards of the National
Evangelistic Association, the Christian Church in
Illinois/Wisconsin, and the Christian Church in Indiana.

	Cueni succeeds the Rev. Richard L. Harrison, Jr., who
resigned in December 2000, to be pastor of Seventh Street
Christian Church, Richmond, Va. 

	Lexington Theological Seminary, established in 1865, is a
graduate theological institution affiliated with the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

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