(RNS) New York’s venerable Marble Collegiate Church, founded nearly 400 years ago and made famous by its longtime leader, the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, named a new senior minister on Sunday (Feb 1).
The Rev. Michael Brown, a United Methodist pastor from North Carolina, succeeds the Rev. Arthur Caliandro, who retired Sunday after heading the church for 25 years.
Caliandro, 75, had followed Peale, whose best-selling book “The Power of Positive Thinking,” put Marble Collegiate, and the self-help genre, on the map.
“I am thrilled to be joining Marble Collegiate Church,” Brown said in a statement, “one of the most historic, diverse, and renowned ministries in the country.”
An active United Methodist known for his preaching prowess, Brown previously served as senior minister of Centenary United Methodist Church, a 3,900-member congregation in Winston-Salem, N.C., according to the statement.
Founded by Dutch Reformists in the early 1600s, Marble Collegiate calls itself the “oldest Protestant organization in North America.” It remains part of the Reformed Church in America, a small denomination with headquarters in New York City and Grand Rapids, Mich.
