About the Center for Pastoral Formation
The Center for Pastoral Formation serves as a resource and networking center for conferences, Ministerial Education and Guidance Boards (MEGs), instructors, Free Methodist educational institutions (AFMEI), and John Wesley Seminary Foundation (JWSF) affiliate schools to provide robust theological and practical training platforms to equip the next generation of ministry leaders, track their progress, and uphold standards for ministerial credentialing.
Based at Greenville University in Greenville, Illinois
About US
Our Story
The center’s establishment at Greenville is made possible by the Bastian Family Fund for the Center for Pastoral Formation. The university already has been home to the Donald N. and Kathleen G. Bastian School of Theology, Philosophy and Ministry, which honors the ministry of Bishop Emeritus Donald Bastian and his wife, Kathleen (pictured to the left).
“The Bastian family is deeply committed to both the Free Methodist Church and, with eight Greenville graduates in our extended family, to Greenville University. All of us are deeply interested in a stronger tie and deeper relationship between the FMC and GU/all of the AFMEI institutions,” wrote Dr. Robert W. Bastian, one of the couple’s children and a physician who serves on Greenville’s Board of Trustees, in an email interview with Light + Life. “We have applied funds God has put into our hands to strengthen the FMC-GU relationship in several exploratory directions across at least a decade, looking for a way to accomplish this deeper connection.”
at LightandLife.fm, the digital magazine of the Free Methodist Church USA
STAFF
Our Staff
Director
Rev. Dr. Steve Tungate
Steve began serving as the director of the Center for Pastoral Formation in February of 2021. Before assuming this role, Steve served in full-time pastoral ministry for 23 years in the Free Methodist Church serving in rural, urban, and suburban churches including one multi-lingual/multi-ethnic congregation in the state’s capital city. He taught as an adjunct instructor at Spring Arbor University for ten years and is teaching courses at Greenville University beginning in fall 2022. He has served on MEG Boards under five superintendents in two conferences and has been involved in mentoring several ministerial candidates from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In addition to being an ordained elder, he is endorsed by the FMCUSA as a chaplain to law enforcement.
Steve just completed his Ph.D. studies at the University of South Africa as a Polycarp Fellow at Southern Methodist University and Baylor University under the tutelage of the late Billy Abraham. He holds a D.Min. in Christian Spirituality from Fuller Theological Seminary, an M.Div. from Asbury Theological Seminary, a B.S. in biology from Michigan State University, and is currently completing a Flourishing in Ministry coaching certificate at Azusa Pacific University.
Steve enjoys spending time with his wife, Rachel, and two daughters. He loves learning, painting, traveling, nature, and watching March Madness basketball.
Steve has a passion to raise up the next generation of ministry leaders who are theologically trained, deeply in love with God, and competent ministers of the Good News of Jesus.
Administrator
Rev. Jennifer Wilson
Jennifer Wilson is the administrator for the Center for Pastoral Formation. Since 1993, she has served congregations in Indiana and Michigan as well as nationally for the Church of God movement based in Anderson, Indiana. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Anderson University and Masters of Divinity from Anderson University School of Theology.
Prior to coming to the Center for Pastoral Formation, Jennifer worked for the Greenville University Office of Advancement managing multiple projects, assisting donors, alumni, and students. She and her family reside in Greenville, IL, and attend the Greenville Free Methodist Church. Her husband Scott is Assistant Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Coach at GU.
Jennifer loves God, her family, and the church. She is passionate about creating healthy systems and helping people ask good questions and seek truthful answers as they pursue the call of God.
education coordinator
Craig Hendrickson
Craig is the Education Coordinator for the Center for Pastoral Formation. An ordained Free Methodist elder, Craig brings a diversity of ministry leadership and teaching experience into the role. After retiring from an eleven-year career in the Canadian Football League in 2001, Craig has spent the last twenty-four years in full-time ministry in Long Beach, CA, Brooklyn, NY, and in the Chicago area, where he currently resides with Mary, his wife of twenty-five years, and their daughter, Amaya. More than a decade in church settings includes time as an assistant and lead pastor in multicultural churches and as a district leader in the Free Methodist Church. His service in parachurch and nonprofit settings includes twenty years as a leadership coach and consultant to urban pastors, leaders, and congregations, and most recently, serving as the President of Arrow Leadership.
Craig also brings a passion for educating and training future and current pastors into his role. Between 2011-2016, he served as an adjunct professor for Fuller Theological Seminary and North Park University while serving in pastoral and campus ministry, followed by eight years as Program Head and Associate Professor of Missional Leadership at the Moody Bible Institute. During that time, he published several articles and a monograph on the topics of missional leadership, intercultural ministry, and racial reconciliation.
Craig graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1994 after earning two varsity letters and honorable mention All-Big Ten honors as an offensive lineman for the Golden Gophers. He earned his Master of Divinity from Regent College in 2001 while playing in the Canadian Football League, graduated from the Arrow Leadership Program in 2004, and received a Master of Theology in Missiology (2007) and a PhD in Intercultural Studies (2017) from Fuller Theological Seminary. Craig’s dream is to see a network of leaders working toward spiritual transformation, racial healing, and economic justice in diverse communities across North America.