Our Leaders

Our firm, led by Dr. Barbara O. Ragland and Rev. Dr. Alan V. Ragland, has been providing services to congregations, religious conventions, seminaries, and other faith-based organizations across the country for more than two decades. After a number of years in the Greater Chicago Area, our organization is now based in the Greater Memphis Area, continuing this important work in in-person, virtual, and hybrid capacities.

Our unique methodology, F-Change, denotes faith-based strategic change and provides a framework for consulting, training and development, and process improvement across a broad spectrum of challenges facing congregations. These methodologies address real ministries, with real problems, in a church environment.

* In the authority of scripture to provide guidance and insight into process development

* In the inherent capability of a Christ-called church to live out its best capacity

* In our distinctive call to build capacity and effectiveness in congregations and faith-based institutions

In 2003, Dr. Barbara O. Ragland established The Lydia Group Institute (TLGI) to provide leadership development, process improvement, and capacity building services to faith-based organizations. She traces her first memory of analyzing church activity to age 10 at Greater New Salem Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn. As she reflects on her life, she is certain of the Lord’s guiding and connecting all movements to bring her to her current positions as TLGI President, and she is grateful.

At the time she founded TLGI , Dr. Ragland  also served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Transitions at Northern Trust Bank, which required her to manage annual operating budgets of more than $15 million, direct project implementations that reached into the billions of dollars for more than 1,500 corporate clients, and to oversee staff of approximately 150 professionals in Chicago and London. In 2007, she resigned her Northern Trust senior vice presidency to devote herself to the work of TLGI. 

She received a BA Degree in Business Administration from LeMoyne-Owen College and an MBA from the University of Memphis. She is a graduate of Leadership Memphis and holds the Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. Also, she earned a PhD in Organization Development at Benedictine University, where she successfully defended her theory of F-Change® using the self-designed Faith-Based Engagement Model. Her congregation-based doctoral research was conducted at Third Baptist Church of Chicago (TBCoC).  The dissertation summary was awarded Best Paper by the Management Consulting Division of the Academy of Management in 2014. In addition to confirming her theories with academic rigor, the research resulted in a dozen congregational projects implemented by TBCoC-member teams. The most notable of the TBCoC projects were the remodeling of the sanctuary pulpit/choir stand into a flexible space and the introduction of video projection capability. 

Since childhood, Dr. Barbara Ragland has maintained an active church life. At TBCoC, she wrote and submitted a proposal to the Retirement Research Foundation that was instrumental in establishing the Sociable Seniors and Retirees auxiliary, which today has more than 200 active members from more than 50 churches in Chicago. To capture member needs and visions for congregation-based training, she designed and directed five concurrent focus groups on Christian Education . Mrs. Ragland also conducted the focus group that led to the creation of the Daughters of Eve Women’s Ministry and served for several years as its president.  She worked as trainer for a number of congregational leadership development programs, as well, and to undergird her own Christian development, she completed all four levels of the Disciple Bible Study Program and was a Lead Learner for Disciple II, III, and IV. 

Other clients have included the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the Michigan Conference of the AME Zion Church, Heritage Development Corporation, Chicago Theological Seminary, McCormick Theological Seminary, and other congregations in Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi, Minnesota, and California. As an independent consultant, Dr. Ragland has served in capacity-building roles for Rust College in Mississippi, Payne Seminary in Ohio, and The Retirement Research Foundation in Illinois.  

Rev. Dr. Alan V. Ragland works alongside his wife, Dr. Barbara O. Ragland, as vice president of The Lydia Group Institute. 

Rev. Dr. Ragland is recognized as a local, national and international theologian, scholar and preacher.  In November of 2018, he became Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church of Chicago (TBCoC), having retired after 26 years as the TBCoC Sr. Pastor. In addition to his work with The Lydia Group Institute, Dr. Ragland is Interim Instructor at Memphis Theological Seminary.  

He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Memphis, received his Master of Divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, and earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from McCormick Theological Seminary.  He served as pastor of New Fellowship Baptist Church in Memphis, TN, prior to becoming pastor of Third Baptist Church of Chicago.

Rev Dr. Ragland is an ordained clergyman of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. and the American Baptist Churches, USA. He served as the first full-time African-American faculty member at Memphis Theological Seminary and as a theological educator at McCormick Theological Seminary and University of Chicago Divinity School. During his term as chairperson of the Mission Partnership Committee of American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago, he spearheaded a partnership with the Ghana Baptist Convention in West Africa, to which he traveled several times and led a group of TBCoC members on a mission trip. Also, Pastor Emeritus Ragland has served as a board member of several theological institutions, including McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL; Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury, NC; and Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, NY. Locally, Dr. Ragland was a founding member of United Power for Action and Justice.

He possesses a true calling for developing and supporting clergy growth. During his tenure as senior pastor, more than 25 persons  responded to the call to ministry and  participated in the TBCoC Ministers-in-Training Program, which he developed.  He is father-in-ministry to men and women in various clergy roles in Chicago and nationally. He has worked extensively for lay and ministerial development. The first female ministers and deacons at TBCoC were ordained under his leadership. Currently, female deacons and clergy are active across all aspects of service. 

Rev. Dr. Ragland is a contributing author of Living in Hell: The Dilemma of African-American Survival, and he wrote the meditation for Psalm 95 in the African-American Devotional Bible.