Our Ruben L. Speaks lecturer for October 4-5, 2007 is Dr. Dale P. Andrews, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology at Boston University School of Theology. Previously he served on the faculty of Louisville Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Andrews earned his M.A. and Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University and an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He was a visiting research fellow at Oxford University and has conducted two international study tours in Guatemala and Brazil. An ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Dr. Andrews has served AME Zion churches in Connecticut and New Jersey.

Dr. Andrews has received numerous fellowships and awards for his studies. In addition to many journal articles and chapters in several edited volumes, he is the author of Practical Theology for Black Churches: Bridging Black Theology and African American Folk Religion, published by Westminster John Knox Press, 2002. He co-authored Listening to Listeners: Homiletical Case Studies (Chalice Press, 2004) and New Proclamation: Advent through Holy Week, Year A, 2004-2005 (Augsburg Fortress Press, 2004). Dr. Andrews also serves as co-editor of the journal Family Ministry.