Ray Buckley will preach for 2012 Annual Conference

Noted Native American storyteller, author/illustrator, and United Methodist leader, Ray Buckley, will preach for Opening Worship on May 17.  Ray is the interim Director of the Center for Native American Spirituality and Christian Study.   Buckley has served The United Methodist Church as a staff member of The United Methodist Publishing House, Director of the Native People’s Communication Office (UMCom) for nine years, and Director of Connectional Ministries for the Alaska Missionary Conference.  Buckley is the author /illustrator of five books:  

God’s Love is Like…(1998,Abingdon Press), The Give-Away:  A Christmas Story in the Native American Tradition (1999, Abingdon Press), The Wing (2002, Abingdon Press), Christmas Moccasins (2003, Abingdon Press),  andDancing with Words:  Storytelling as Legacy, Culture, and Faith(Discipleship Resources, 2003).  He is also the author of Creator Sang a Welcoming Song (2007), and Walking in These White Man Shoes (2007), children and youth resources for the Women’s Dvision School of Missions.  The Give-Away was selected to appear on the CBS Christmas Eve special, An American Christmas, produced by the National Council of Churches.  His stories, poetry, and art have appeared in numerous journals, periodicals, books, and museums.  Buckley has taught in Nigeria, and Ghana, and served as a lecturer in Native American studies for several universities.  Ray Buckley is one of several Native leaders profiled in As Long As the Waters Flow: Native Americans in the South and East, by Frye Gillard, and The Power of Eagles:  Natures Way to Individual Accomplishment, by Twyman L. Towery.