Process Director

Rev. Luke Lingle is an ordained United Methodist minister in the Western North Carolina Conference (WNCC) on extension ministry with the Ormond Center, where he serves as Process Director. In this role, Luke provides structured and systematic approaches to achieving specific goals and outcomes.  He leverages his practical ministry experience to walk alongside United Methodist Churches in North Carolina, seeking processes for obtaining sustainable social impact in the communities that they share. Luke also oversees Ormond’s Church and Community Placemaking Lab (CCPL), a process that helps local churches and pastoral leaders grow their impact through proper stewardship of underutilized buildings, property and contextual partnerships. In addition, Luke helps to develop case studies that tell the stories of the great work that these local churches do in their communities, to teach and train new pastors on the art of evangelism through Christian social innovation.

Luke’s areas of theological study include the intersection of economic and community development and the role of leadership development in local communities. He uses his education, training, and experience in the local church to help other practitioners follow their calls.

Luke is a Faculty Lead for The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation, where he teaches undergraduate fellows how to integrate social entrepreneurship into their lives through cultivating relationships. Previously Luke served as the Executive Pastor at Central UMC in Asheville, NC; as one of the Managing Directors at Missional Wisdom Foundation, a United Methodist Extension Ministry; a Church Vitality Strategist of the Western North Carolina Conference; and an Associate Pastor at Etowah UMC and Union Grove UMC. When he graduated from seminary in 2007, he received a three-year grant from the Duke Endowment with his mentor Rev. Rich Greenway to develop Christian Education curriculum based on the power of storytelling.