Home - Center for Innovation in Ministry

Thank you for the hundreds of people who have been a part of the educational experiences of the Center. Through your feedback and our experiences, we have grown into an interfaith and interdisciplinary platform that creates a unique space for exploring faith, wisdom and discovering the power in each other’s practical and spiritual experiences in changing the world. We call this the Applied Wisdom Institute.

Please follow this link and check out the next phase of our ministry. We would not be the center for innovation if we remained stagnant. Change is kinda what we do. Thanks again, I hope to see you in a seminar or online commenting on our blog or facebook.

Visit the New Site

Pathways to Possibility

San Francisco Theological Seminary, University of Redlands / Initiate Process Toward a Transformative Partnership

Learn More

We have a new site we’d like you to see at AppliedWisdomInstitute.org

Visit The Site

MINISTRY IN MOTION

Discovering, creating, and incubating community collaborations that address pervasive social challenges.

LATEST NEWS

Reynolds Grant Awarded to the Center for Innovation in Ministry

Jun 7, 2018

The directors of the Richard S. Reynolds Foundation have awarded a $3,500 grant to support the Wisdom Seed program of the Center for Innovation in Ministry at SFTS. This is the second year that the Center has received this grant from the Richard S....

Spirituality & Bereavement Seminar Transforms and Enlightens

May 9, 2018

“An extraordinary and moving event” is the only way to describe the Spirituality and Bereavement seminar held at IONS in Petaluma, CA. Terri Daniel and Austyn Wells led a group of 19 people through a journey of discovery and enlightenment about...

Project Trust Advances

May 9, 2018

CIM's Research and Results for Mental Health and the African American Church relationship with the African Americans and African American Gender and Sexual Minorities Two dozen African American Church leaders and influential parishioners gathered at Yoshi’s in...

UPCOMING EVENTS

OUR INITIATIVES

Smith-King Program

Together with The Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute at Stanford University and J. Alfred Smith, Sr., we are expanding Dr. King’s passionate ministry of peace to solve community challenges.

Spahr Reconciliation

With the creation of the Jane Adams Spahr Reconciling Church Project, we are creating a more diverse and inclusive Presbyterian Church (USA). All are welcome.

This We Affirm

In partnership with Rev. Eric Elnes and the Convergence Network, we are creating an open collaboration based on the Phoenix Affirmations to breathe new life and relevance in congregations across the U.S.

STAY CONNECTED

GET INVOLVED

Shifts Happen Lectures

We are constantly bringing together some of the brightest innovators to inspire, equip and connect you with like minded leaders. Check out our Events page to register for upcoming activities, including our free Shifts Happen lectures, a lecture and discussion series featuring leading scholars and activists.

Online Collaborative Seminars

Our Collaborative Seminars are a unique combination of academic coursework, on the ground activism, and cohort based dialogue that will help you foster justice, peace and thriving community in your local context. Plus, to make the seminars available to leaders around the world, we offer all of them in an interactive online format.

Community Blog

Our community blog, A Fabulous Place, seeks to bring together those who feel marginalized, but refuse to be bullied. It is a forum where LGBTQ individuals, people of color, immigrant communities, women, those with differing levels of ability and countless others who have been targeted by hateful rhetoric, action and policy can resist through written and spoken word, art and music.

OUR PARTNERS

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR INNOVATION IN MINISTRY AT SFTS

The Center for Innovation in Ministry is an expression of San Francisco Theological Seminary’s commitment to remain on the growing edge of the ever-changing spiritual, social and economic challenges facing society.

We seek to stimulate collaborations and ignite positive breakthroughs. We link up individual innovators and partner with congregations, educational organizations, and groups seeking to act positively in the world. Together we create, discover, incubate and disseminate effective responses to our common challenges.

People of goodwill everywhere can engage through partnerships, online courses, on-campus and off-campus seminars, and various social media platforms to find the deep wisdom that can make the world a better place for us all.

Rev. Floyd Thompkins

Director of The Center for Innovation in Ministry at SFTS

Floyd Thompkins is an extraordinary communicator, and his dynamic leadership is marked by his gift for connecting to all people. He is particularly skilled at facilitating sensitive real-world subject material, implementing meaningful and relevant community initiatives to make a positive difference. His ministry is one of ethical and compassionate action.

Rev. Thompkins served as a dean and chaplain at two world-class institutions, Stanford and Princeton universities. He developed unique, highly effective programs to empower underserved teenage youth and young adults in urban and rural areas—in East Palo Alto, CA and rural South Georgia. He led Antioch Baptist Church, the oldest African American Church in San Jose, CA, and was the Education and Administrative Pastor of Covenant Christian Church in Douglas, GA.

As Associate Dean of Memorial Church at Stanford University, Rev. Thompkins founded Black Church, the largest multi-cultural religious gathering on the Stanford campus. He also implemented a special freshman support system still being used as a base academic support program. In Georgia, he was executive director of the Bower Fund and with Youth Empowerment Today, organizations dedicated to mentoring at-risk youth through middle school, high school, and into college. He is a curriculum writer and a published author with several books to his credit.

His awards include the Presidential Award for Community Service from President Bill Clinton, The Benjamin E. Mays Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Edward G. Howel Preaching Award from Princeton Theological Seminary.