Oklahoma Conference of Churches chooses new director
A Guthrie native whose compassion led her to ministry has become the next leader of a broad coalition of denominations.
The Rev. Shannon Fleck, 35, was chosen to become the new executive director of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches in May. Fleck, an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 35, was elected to the position by the organization’s board of directors. She succeeds the Rev. William Tabbernee, who retired from the post in March. Fleck had served as acting executive director after Tabbernee’s retirement and before that had been the organization’s director of community engagement.
“Shannon has a wealth of leadership ability, vision and clerical readiness that will greatly benefit the Oklahoma Conference of Churches,” the Rev. James L. Dunbar, the conference’s board president and senior pastor of Greater Cleaves Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, said in a statement announcing Fleck’s new role.
“We know she brings an energy and knowledge to the team that will prove to be invaluable for moving OCC into a new place of growth in ministry and mission.”
Fleck, who is divorced, and her 4-year-old daughter, Marilyn, live in the Edmond area.
Recently, she discussed her path to the ministry and her hopes for the future of the coalition she leads. The interview has been edited for clarity.
Q: Did you always know you want to be a minister?
A: No. When I got out of college, I went to work for the state of Oklahoma for the Office of Juvenile Affairs. I worked two years in juvenile probation in Logan County in Guthrie. I tell people that working in that job changed everything about my life because going into that particular job, I had never had any exposure to real hurt in the world. I had grown up with a great home life, I had a lot of support and love so I didn’t really ever have to come face to face with so much pain. So that job really popped that bubble I had been living in. I say now I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to see so much hurt because I knew then that I needed to spend the rest of my life working to help this hurt. I didn’t know what that was going to look like, but I knew that that was what I was going
to spend my life doing . ... I never thought about the ministry. I was a lifelong member of First Christian Church in Guthrie, grew up in that church, and when I moved back to Guthrie after college, I got involved as a young adult . ... Our youth pastor at that church had left so I agreed to do the youth group as a volunteer until they hired someone new while I was working for the state. I had considered going and getting a master’s in social work. That was my plan to go and do that and go into counseling, but the associate pastor at the church said that I should consider going to seminary, and when she said it, I laughed because before her, I had never seen a female in ministry in my life .... I never had the opportunity to grow up thinking that that was ever a possibility for me . ... But God is funny and God is relentless, and I knew more and more that that made sense for me. Pieces just fell together in inexplicable ways, and I ended up enrolling in seminary at Phillips Theological Seminary and starting a month later (fall 2007). It happened very quickly. Gosh, it was just the most perfect route my life could have taken, and I never would have dreamed it.
Q: Where did your path take you next?
A: After graduating seminary in 2011, I married a man in the military, and we moved to Abilene, Texas, and I worked in adult mental health. I was there until 2012, and then we moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. While I was there, I worked in the chapel at the Air Force base as the Protestant parish coordinator, coordinating all the programs for the Protestants on base. In 2015, we moved to Enid, where I became associate pastor of Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) before joining the conference. That was kind of my post seminary path, so I have been in work with youths, I have been in ministry in various settings, and find that I draw upon all of that a lot in my work.
Q: What led you to take the position of director of community engagement for the Oklahoma Conference of Churches?
A: It was just a good opportunity that fit me. I have found that God tends to work in my life is that things just tend to work out easily when they’re supposed
to. It’s odd. And this opportunity came to my attention, and it just worked beautifully. It was like the job was made for me. I just knew that I would thrive in the setting, and I was very thankful for the opportunity. I was brought on so that I could take some of the day-to-day operation on so that Dr. Tabbernee could do more things he needed to do as the executive director. That was more of my role. I started here May 1, 2017.
Q: What did you think when the position for the conference’s executive director opened up?
A: I envisioned having more time to work with Dr. Tabbernee, but you know, life happens as it happens, and when he did announce his retirement, I knew that this was an organization that I loved, this was an organization that I could talk about all day, every day and be just thrilled. And I knew that I had to at least apply, to put my name in the hat and say I really feel like I’m here for a reason and this is the role that I can fill. I was thrilled and honored when the board placed its trust in me to lead it. I feel such a great level of support from them and I’m just excited for the what the future holds and what we can do and be.
Q: What do you see as some of your main priorities as the conference’s new leader?
A: My first priority is to increase the visibility of the conference. Some of the ways I’ve been doing that is getting our Communion leaders out there a little more. You will notice that we just put out our statement on the separation of (immigrant) families. I really want leaders in the community to know us better, to know what we’re about and what we’re doing in the community so we can be more effective. That’s one big goal. Another big goal is to continue to expand upon the ministry that we have and to come up with new and innovative ways to do the ministry we’re doing. I really want to connect more with local congregations and houses of worship and learn more about them individually so that we can really have an intimate, one-on-one relationship so that we can do some visioning work together and learn how to do innovative ministry in a world that is changing because the world is always evolving, it is always changing and the church has to be on the cutting edge of that. We want to help churches and congregations do that work.