Center for Continuous Learning

Carmichael D. Crutchfield is the Interim Vice-President of Academic Affairs/Dean and Chair of Church and Ministry Professor of Christian Education, Spiritual Formation and Youth Ministry at Memphis Theological Seminary (MTS) General Secretary of Department of Christian Education and Formation for the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church. Also, he is pastor of Mother Liberty CME Church in Jackson, TN. He holds the B.S. Degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Tennessee Martin and the Master of Science Degree in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas Fayetteville. He earned his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from MTS and a Ph.D. in Christian Education and Congregational Studies from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary (GETS). Crutchfield is an ordained elder in the CME Church and has served in church ministry for over 30 years in the denomination. Aside from teaching youth ministry, Spiritual Formation and Christian education, pastoring, preaching and teaching nationally and internationally; being a community and a national leader, including serving on several College Boards of Trustees, he has written many articles and books on youth, discipleship, spiritual formation, faith formation, and Christian education. His newest literary contributions are, Forming A People: African American Christian Education and Pressing Forward: Faith, Culture, and African American Youth. Because of this work, he has been recognized with numerous awards including being recognized as one of GETS’s forty-five outstanding African-American Alumni and received that Seminary’s Distinguished Alumnus Award May 2017. He is a life member of Omega Psi Fraternity, Inc. and the NAACP. He was recently married to the Rev. Freda Hall Crutchfield. He is the father of two adult children and three grandchildren.

Rev. Dr. Denise Janssen (PhD Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary) is a Christian educator, author, and scholar presently serving as Associate Research Professor of Christian Education and Assistant Dean for Academics at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. She is an ordained American Baptist pastor who has also served United Methodist congregations in Northern Illinois and Virginia full-time and part-time in a number of roles over the last 17 years. She is the author of five books with three more forthcoming in 2024. Her research focuses on faith transitions in life, particularly the transition from adolescence into young adulthood, using ethnographic research as a primary tool of inquiry. She also designs, writes, and consults in the area of curriculum development and best practices in faith formation in communities of faith. Her 30+ years in youth ministry and pastoral ministry equip her well as a scholar-practitioner with a passion for student learning. Prior to completing the PhD, she enjoyed a successful career in fundraising as a bivocation with ministry, including five years in major gifts for Garrett. She has written and manages a portfolio of grant projects totaling nearly $5 million for the School of Theology.