Bio
James P. Wind is a distinguished visiting professor and director of the Large Church Leadership Project, based at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. Prior to this position, he was president of the Alban Institute. Reverend Dr. Wind is a prominent voice in the wider conversation about the role of religion in America and the value of congregations. An ordained minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, he served as a pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest, Illinois from 1978 to 1990. Reverend Wind also served as program director, religion division, at Lilly Endowment.
From 1985 to 1990, he served as director of research and publications and senior associate of the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith, and Ethics in Chicago, Illinois. From 1981 to 1984, Reverend Wind was a research associate at the Divinity School’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion, where he was director of the Evaluation of the Study of Congregations.
He has written two books, The Bible and the University: The Messianic Vision of William Rainey Harper and Places of Worship: Exploring Their History, and coedited five others, Carriers of Faith: Lessons from Congregational Studies, Clergy Ethics in a Changing Society, New Dimensions in American Religious History, and American Congregations, volumes 1 and 2.