A UCC minister has been named a co-host of Chicago's "30 Good Minutes," a popular weekly TV program that examines leading contemporary voices in religion.

The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel, senior minister of First Congregational UCC in Glen Ellyn, Ill., will join the program on Sunday, October 14, and will rotate duty with co-hosts Lydia Talbot and Daniel Pawlus, according to Executive Producer Robert. D. Black.

"30 Good Minutes" is broadcast each Sunday at 5:00 p.m. (CT) on WTTW/Ch.11, a PBS station.

Daniel has taught preaching at Yale Divinity School and UCC-related Chicago Theological Seminary, and is a writer for the Biblical Preaching Journal and the Christian Century Magazine. In 2006, she was the featured spirituality columnist for United Church News.

She is the author of Tell It Like It Is: Reclaiming the Practice of Testimony.

"My ministry has always had a wide focus," says Daniel. "I am fortunate to serve a congregation whose ministry extends past the church walls to reaching those outside. But this opportunity at '30 Good Minutes' is like nothing I have done before. I will be thoroughly challenged to live up to the history of the program, and I am honored to be a part of its future."

Daniel says she's most excited about working with the program's diverse guests.

"Many I already know, and it will be fun to work with them in this new way," she says. "But, there are so many others I look forward to meeting for the first time. I can't think of a better way to spend time – meeting with brilliant, thoughtful people to talk about God and real life. What a privilege!"

A native of Anderson, S.C., she received a B.A.  from Bryn Mawr College (A.B.), an M.Div. from Yale University and a D.Min. from UCC-related Hartford Seminary.

She served as senior minister of the Church of the Redeemer UCC in New Haven, Conn., from 1997 to 2004.