Seminary students need a high-quality foundation in church leadership. The Lewis Center is at the forefront of efforts to make leadership studies a higher priority in theological education, enhancing Wesley Seminary's capacity to provide students with the fundamentals of church leadership.

Dr. Lovett H. Weems, director of the Lewis Center, also serves as distinguished professor of church leadership, teaching master's level and doctor of ministry classes. Since the Lewis Center's inception, Wesley has pioneered two new tracks for doctoral study — one in church leadership and the other in stewardship.

The Lewis Center brings to Wesley's campus some of the most outstanding practitioners and theorists of church leadership. Dr. Scott Cormode of the Claremont School of Theology came to Wesley as an affiliate scholar of the Lewis Center during the 2004-5 academic year. And in October 2005, the Lewis Center arranged for Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, to deliver a series of faculty lectures.