Rev. Dr. John F. Baggett is a graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan College and Vanderbilt Divinity School. He holds a Masters in the Anthropology of Religion and a Ph.D. in Psychiatric Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has served United Methodist pastorates in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Chicago. and has been a frequent lecturer in Theology, Biblical Studies, and Anthropology. In mid-life he was called to a new ministry on behalf of mentally ill persons and their families. Dr. Baggett has served as the Executive Director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of North Carolina and as the Director of The North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services.
John is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, the Association of Christian Therapists, Word Weavers Space Coast, and The Space Coast Writers Guild. In addition to numerous mental health and religious articles, he contributed a chapter on ethics to the Handbook of Mental Health Administration and Management, edited by William H. Reid and Stuart B. Silver, (Brunner-Routledge 2003). He is the author of Seeing Through the Eyes of Jesus: His Revolutionary View of Reality and His Transcendent Significance for Faith, published in 2008 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing, and Finding the Good in Grief: Recover Joy after a Life Changing Loss scheduled to be released April 1, 2013 by Kregel Publications.
John and his wife Diane C Baggett, RN, MSN, CG-C, a professional grief counselor and life coach, reside in Melbourne Florida where they currently share a ministry dedicated to helping persons rediscover joy after a life changing loss. They have five adult children and seven grandchildren. John dedicates much of his time to serving his church and community, to Christian writing, and to oil painting.
To read a news article about John from the Raleigh News and Observer, September 24, 2009 click here.
