Join the NC Conference Media Center’s Study Harder Challenge! Your group is invited to expand your circle of influence and try something new by studying resources that apply any of 12 characteristics that will help you think outside the box. Read more about the Study Harder Challenge and download your worksheet.
Challenge: North Carolina-based Teacher
Keep it local by learning from one of North Carolina’s own Christian authors. These are teachers that are currently living in North Carolina.
Carl Frazier. Rev. Frazier is Lead Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Cary. He created the Table Talk series. This series of six-week programs for the whole church family is designed to bring all ages together for dinner, fellowship, study, and engage with the Pastor in conversation about key stories of the Bible. The kits include separate leader’s guides for youth and children.
William H. Willimon. A bishop in the United Methodist Church, Professor Willimon served as the dean of Duke Chapel and professor of Christian ministry at Duke University for 20 years. He returned to Duke after serving as the bishop of the North Alabama Conference from 2004 to 2012 and currently serves as Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry. He has written over 70 books and taught several small group studies.
- Fear of the Other: No Fear in Love
- Incarnation: The Surprising Overlap of Heaven & Earth
- Animate: Bible
- This We Believe: The Core of Wesleyan Faith and Practice
- Invitation to the New Testament
F. Belton Joyner Jr. Rev. Joyner retired from the North Carolina Conference and resides in Bahama, NC. He has written several books and remains active in the church. Every three months, he publishes Belton Joyner’s Bible Study based on the scripture lessons of Cokesbury’s Adult Bible Study Series. This study is available for free online through the NC Conference. Several of his books on United Methodism would also make great group studies.
- Belton Joyner’s Bible Study
- United Methodist Questions, United Methodist Answers
- Being Methodist in the Bible Belt
Gayle Carlton Felton. Although Felton passed away in 2014, she left her legacy in writing many denominational resources that are widely used today. Her books on baptism and communion remain the official resources used to study these topics among United Methodists.
- By Water and the Spirit: Making Connections for Identity and Ministry
- This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion
- United Methodists and the Sacraments
Talbot Davis. Rev. Davis is pastor of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina with over 1,800 members. He is the author of a book-based bible study series for small groups.
- Head Scratchers: When the Words of Jesus Don’t Make Sense
- Solve: Finding God’s Solutions in a World of Problems
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. Wilson-Hartgrove is a North Carolina native and graduate of Eastern University and Duke Divinity School. He serves as an Associate Minister at St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in Durham. He is also the founder of Rutba House and the non-profit School for Conversion. We have one DVD study and several books by him that would make for excellent group discussion. He is also the co-author of a modern book of liturgy.
- The Awakening of Hope: Why We Practice a Common Faith
- Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion
- The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement
- Strangers at My Door: A True Story of Finding Jesus in Unexpected Guests
- Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
Request These Resources
These resources can be borrowed by anyone associated with the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church, free of charge. We can even mail them to you! All you need to do is fill out the Resource Request Form.