Durham receives doctorate

Keith Durham, Arizona Southern Baptist Convention church revitalization specialist and pastor of First Baptist Church, Arizona City, received the Doctor of Ministry degree with a specialization in church revitalization at the commencement exercises of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 8.

His doctoral project, conducted with his church, focused on building a spiritual community within the context of a transient church congregation. With a high proportion of winter visitors and people coming and going, the Arizona City church is always changing.

With the project lasting six weeks, Durham concluded that it is very difficult to build a spiritual community with a church population in a short amount of time. However, good things were accomplished during the project, he said.

Durham said his doctoral work “made me familiar with a multitude of resources in the area of church revitalization and also introduced me to pastors and state convention leaders who are practicing in the ministry field of church revitalization.”