Adjunct Associate Professor of Ministry and Biblical Studies
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. Intercultural Studies, E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, KY
M.A.R. Christian Doctrine, Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Johnson City, TN
B.A. Bible/Ministry and Fine Arts, Milligan College, TN
CREDENTIALS/CERTIFICATIONS:
Ordained Minister in the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ
COURSES TAUGHT::
ICS2100 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
ICS2400 Strategies for Mission
ICS3100 World Christian Movements
ICS3200 Intercultural Communication
ICS4320 Methods of Discovering Culture
ICS4325 Race and Ethnicity
ICS4330 The Church in Context
ICS5113 Cross-Cultural Communication
ICS6350 Anthropology for Mission
CHM3400 Ministry in the Urban Setting
CHM3600 World Religions
CHM3610 New Religious Movements
LAN3500 Language Acquisition
SSC3405 Community in the Urban Context
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
American Academy of Religion
American Society of Missiology
American Professor of Mission (Board of Advisors 2013 - 2016)
International Association of Mission Studies
KEY AWARDS:
Rose B. and Edgar B. McReynolds Faculty Excellence Award (2014)
Theta Phi, National Theological Honor Society, Asbury Branch (2010)
E. Stanley Jones Trust Ph.D. Scholarship Recipient, Asbury Theological Seminary (2008-2012)
Hebrew Language Studies Award- Emmanuel Christian Seminary (1998)
Outstanding Fine Arts Senior Award, Milligan College (1995)
ACADEMIC INTERESTS:
African Traditional Religious Specialists in the Southern Nilotic Context
World Religions and World Christianities
Christian Witness to Other Faiths
Dependency and Development in Mission and the Mission Moratorium (1970’s)
Anthropology of Religion and Anthropology of Christianity
Intercontextual Biblical Hermeneutics
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS:
Who do the Ngimurok say that they are? A Phenomenological Study of Turkana Traditional Religious Specialists in Turkana, Kenya. American Society of Missiology Monograph Series. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications. 2017 (forthcoming).
“Labor (Work).” Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Academic Press. 2017 (forthcoming).
Lines, Kevin P. and Carl Tony. “A Commentary on Matthew: An Urban Perspective.” Portland, OR: Urban Loft Publishers. 2017 (forthcoming).
"Missional Justice." The Christian Standard. November 2016: 20-22.
“From McGavran’s Church Growth to Taber’s Kingdom Of God: Tracing Distinct Missiological Trajectories in Undergraduate and Graduate Mission and Intercultural Studies Programs in Christian Churches/Churches of Christ Institutions.” In What’s In a Name: Assessing Mission Studies Program Titles, p.101-137. Wilmore, KY: First Fruits Press. 2016.
“Mission and World Evangelism.” In Hope for the Future: Contemporary Values of the Restoration Movement, 2nd ed., p.43–52. Fullerton, CA: Hope International University Press. 2014.
“From Creative Destruction Toward Creative Transformation: Mission Beyond Critical Contextualization in a Complex Global Era.” In Essays of Hope, ed. by Joseph Grana, p.59–76. Fullerton, CA: Hope International University Press. 2012.
“Exegetical and Extispicic Readings of the Bible in Turkana, Kenya and North America,” The Asbury Journal, (66:1) Spring 2011: 65-94.
The Continued Importance of a Mission Moratorium, MAR Thesis, Johnson City, TN: Emmanuel School of Religion, 1998.
ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS:
An Evangelical Missiological Theology of Religions, a paper presented at the Stone Campbell Journal Conference, Johnson University, April 1, 2016.
Using Local Words Leads to Greater Missiological Understanding: A Call For More Phenomenological Research in Mission, a paper presented at the American Society of Missiology Meetings, Wheaton College, June 20, 2015.
From McGavran’s Church Growth to Taber’s Kingdom Of God: Tracing Distinct Missiological Trajectories in Undergraduate and Graduate Mission and Intercultural Studies Programs in Christian Churches/Churches of Christ Institutions, a paper presented at the association of Professors of Mission Annual Meeting, Wheaton College, June 19, 2015.
Variety and Current Trends in Mission and Intercultural Studies Academic Programs in Christian Church Undergraduate and Graduate Institutions, a paper presented at the Stone-Campbell Journal Conference, Indianapolis, IN, April 10, 2015.
Ethnography for Christian Witness: Testing Monolithic Stereotypes in a Complex Muslim Community, a paper presented at the Stone-Campbell Journal Conference, Lincoln, IL, April 14, 2012.
Neo-liberal Witches, Christian Diviners, and Neo-colonial Big Men: Globalized African Interpretations of Missionary Identity, a paper presented at the Evangelical Missiological Society Regional Meeting, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Feb 26, 2011.
Toward a Stone-Campbell Theology of Religions: Interacting with the Proximate Other, a paper presented at the Stone-Campbell Journal Conference, Cincinnati, OH, April 10, 2010.
RECENT MINISTRY/MISSION PRESENTATIONS:
Undergraduate and Graduate Mission Degre Programs in the Christian Churches. Mission Trainers Forum, ICOM, Lexington, KY. November 2016.
Theology of Ministry for Church Leaders. Lakeview Bible College and Seminary Extension Program. Visakhapatnam, India. March 2016.
What Does it Mean to Be a Missionary in the 21st Century? All Asia Missionary Retreat, CMF International. Chiang Mai, Thailand. Feb 2016.
Missions and Migration: What’s Our Role? CMF International Board Meeting, Nov 2015.
Conflict in Mission. International Conference on Missions. Nov 2015.
God’s Alien Mission: Mission and Migration. International Conference on Missions. 2012, 2013, 2014.
Environmental Missionaries: Creation Care and Missions. International Conference on Missions. 2013, 2014.
MINISTRY AND TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Interim Preaching Minister, Hill-n-Dale Christian Church, Lexington, KY (2012)
Founding Dean and Instructor, Turkana Bible Training Institute, Lodwar, Kenya (2004-2008)
Team Leader, CMF International, Turkana, Kenya (2003-2008)
Missionary, Church Planting and Leadership Development, CMF International, Turkana, Kenya (1999-2008)
Associate Minister, Hopwood Memorial Christian Church, Milligan College, TN (1995-1999)
HOBBIES/INTERESTS:
Being a Husband and Father, Photography, Theater, Hiking.
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION:
Intercultural Studies is about people and taking the time and effort to understand the distinctiveness of persons in order to better share God’s love with them. My goal in the classroom is to instill students with a desire for lifelong learning about, and engagement with, people of other faiths and cultures no matter what a student’s vocation might be in the future. Today this means not only learning about people who are far away, but learning how to live as followers of Jesus among people of very different faiths and cultures who now live nearby, as our neighbors. I approach this task with reflexivity: seeking to understand better our own identities; epistemic humility: recognizing that even people of other faiths have valuable lessons for us to learn; and with global gaze: looking to see what God is doing all over the world.
