ST. PETERSBURG - Brian McLaren, a leading figure in the "emergent church" movement, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 19, in Fox Hall at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg.

A self-described "ecumenical global networker among innovative Christian leaders," McLaren is the founding pastor of the Cedar Ridge Community Church in the Baltimore-Washington area, which earned a reputation as a leader among missional congregations.

"Before becoming a pastor, the best church I was ever part of was an Episcopal congregation, and the best pastor I ever had was an Episcopal priest," McLaren told Christianity Today magazine. "At my best moments of being a pastor, I hope I was reflecting something of that priest's inspiring gift of leadership. As a result of his influence, I strongly considered the possibility of entering the Episcopal ministry back in my 20s, and although I didn't end up taking that path, I've always had great love and respect for the Anglican tradition, going all the way back to the Celtic era."

McLaren was a speaker at the Lambeth Conference in 2008, the once-a-decade gathering in England of bishops from the worldwide Anglican Communion. He preached at the Episcopal Church's General Convention Eucharist on July 16, 2009. In 2010 he received an honorary doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary.

In a 2008 interview, McLaren was asked how can the whole body of Christ effectively keep up with the "hurricane of change" in the world today in the face of so many conflicts and divisions?

He responded: "First, I'd say we need to realize that conflicts and divisions are only one dimension of our challenge in the aftermath of profound cultural change. Another great danger is marginalization, where we only understand and speak to a smaller and smaller segment of the population. Another great danger -- opposite in some ways to marginalization -- is over-accommodation, where we become too embedded with a majority culture or civilization. To me, the great inspiration in change is to focus on Jesus, who incarnated the Word in a way that was at once culturally relevant and counter-culturally potent. Jesus showed up right on time, and addressed the critical issues of his day in ways that were also historically transcendent and universally applicable."

McLaren is the author of many books, including Everything Must Change, A New Kind of Christianity and Naked Spirituality: A Life with God in 12 Simple Words.

Learn more about him at brianmclaren.net.