Dean of Community of Christ Seminary, David and Betty Nipper Dean Chair

Zac Harmon-McLaughlin, DMin

Dean of Community of Christ Seminary, David and Betty Nipper Dean Chair

Education

BA, Religion, Graceland University
MA, Religion, Graceland University Community of Christ Seminary
DMin, Executive Leadership, San Francisco Theological Seminary

Phone Number

Office: 816.423.4693

Location

Independence Campus

Dean of Community of Christ Seminary, David and Betty Nipper Dean Chair

Zac Harmon-McLaughlin, DMin, is dean and faculty member of the Community of Christ Seminary and religious studies at Graceland University.

Harmon-McLaughlin received a Bachelor of Arts in Religion in 2008 from Graceland and Master of Arts in Religion in 2010 from Graceland’s Community of Christ Seminary. He completed his Doctorate of Ministry in Executive Leadership from the San Francisco Theological Seminary. As a Graceland Seminary alumnus, he is uniquely equipped to offer his experience, skills and deep connection to Community of Christ, the University’s sponsoring church.

Harmon-McLaughlin is an ordained minister in the Community of Christ and holds the priesthood office of Seventy. He has served as a full-time pastor, missionary coordinator and Mission Center president in various regions and states in the United States. He currently serves the church as a member of the Interfaith and Ecumenical Team and represents Community of Christ as a member of the Church World Service Member Board. He has had numerous publications for Community of Christ through Daily Bread and the Herald. Most recently, Harmon-McLaughlin was the regional development executive director for Community of Christ in Northern California and Western Nevada.

Harmon-McLaughlin is passionate about peace and justice, environmental justice, and belonging. His research and study focus on post-church ecclesiology and radical ecclesiology. Harmon-McLaughlin considers himself a practitioner scholar. His favorite quote is from theologian Anne Lamott, “The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty.”

Harmon-McLaughlin splits his time between the Independence and Lamoni campuses.

“To be shaped in curiosity, to be shaped and formed in our spirits means we have to engage the question, what does it look like to walk the path of transformation with our whole being, our whole self-needing attention and formation?” – Casey Tygrett