2022-23 Fall Academic Newsletter
MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
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God has entrusted the Church to spread His Word and bring glory to His name. The School of Divinity is passionate about empowering the Church to make a difference in the world. Everything we offer is designed to work in conjunction with local churches to help them carry out the Great Commission.
Our degree programs and academic centers continue to develop new and innovative approaches to accomplish this mission. We have launched five new degree programs this year, including the M.A. in Church Planting and the M.A. in Humanitarian Action and Human Rights, designed to equip students passionate about helping people experiencing times of crisis and need. In addition, we launched two new Ph.D. programs. The Ph.D. in Applied Apologetics and the Ph.D. in Practical Theology are offered in 100% online formats, providing flexibility and high-level training for students interested in pursuing a research doctorate.
Our faculty members have been working to increase engagement within the online classroom. Many of these enhancements come through a regular review of our courses, which includes feedback from professors and students on content and effectiveness. This allows us to remain strategically relevant to the needs of church leaders and faithfully prepared for our ministry calling.
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Dr. Troy W. Temple DEAN
5 New Faculty 6 Alumni Spotlight Doctoral Program in Biblical Studies 7 Alumni Spotlight Experiential Learning 8 Israel Trip 9 IMB Pipeline 10-11 Global Studies Program Highlights 12 Alumni Spotlight 13 Church Advancement Week The Rawlings Ministry Loan Repayment Program Keesee Fund 14 Faculty 15 Contributing Authors Accreditations TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
NEW FACULTY JOIN THE TEAM!
God continues to grow our faculty and send us the right people to further our mission to Train Champions for Christ who come alongside the local church in its quest to fulfill the Great Commission. In Fall 2023, we will add three new full-time faculty members.
Professor Chung has a unique gift for leading students into faithful theological understanding of all matters of faith and practice. She brings local church ministry experience to our team, which shows in her teaching and mentoring of our students.
Matt brings solid biblical scholarship and a commitment to the local church to our team. He has already demonstrated a passionate commitment to seeing Liberty students not only know the Old Testament but also fall in love with God’s Word.
Dr. Litfin joins our faculty as a scholar, educational leader, and prolific published author. He is also a Liberty parent and loves Liberty.
Center for Apologetics Sees a New Director
The Center for Apologetics & Cultural Engagement was launched in 2014 to equip Christians in all fields to impact the culture with the Gospel faithfully and has been instrumental in developing cultural engagement and apologetics courses. Last August, we introduced Jack Carson as the third director of the center. Jack is the
executive director of the Center for Apologetics & Cultural Engagement, overseeing itsvarious operations. Jack earned his B.A. and M.Div. from Liberty University. He has a forthcoming coauthored book, Surprised by Doubt, slated for release through Brazos Press in the coming months.
EUNICE CHUNG Assistant Professor of Theological Studies
MATT BOVARD Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies
BRIAN LITFIN Professor of Theological Studies
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Alumni Spotlight: Emily Page
Emily Page began her Liberty journey ten years ago with a B.A. in English. She is now pursuing a Ph.D. at St. Andrews in Scotland, where she is writing a dissertation on Proverbs and its ancient Near Eastern context.
While in her undergraduate studies, Emily took biblical Hebrew for her language electives. She fell in love with the language and became a graduate student assistant (GSA) for her professor of Hebrew studies, Dr. Donald Fowler. While earning her M.A. in English, Emily started pursuing an M.A. in Biblical Studies at the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity (SOD).
In the SOD, Emily discovered her vocational calling: teaching. Her professors modeled quality teaching by using various tools to make learning fun, engaging, and spiritually rich. They helped her develop her skills, providing opportunities through her GSA position.
Since then, Emily has attended two other institutions but finds the community here “unique.” Despite their divergent paths, her classmates have become lifelong friends who still “help in [her] spiritual walk and journey.” Unparalleled, however, is the student-faculty relationship. “The teachers are there not just as informers but are there to shape the lives of their students and their spiritual growth. And so, in that sense, learning becomes a spiritual journey.”
DIVINITY WELCOMES NEW DOCTORAL PROGRAM in BIBLICAL STUDIES
Liberty University’s John W. Rawlings School of Divinity is excited about our new Ph.D. in Biblical Studies. With major and minor focus areas — Old Testament, New Testament, and Biblical Theology — students dive into the original languages, learn advanced hermeneutical techniques, and develop research skills in the biblical disciplines. Moreover, students in the Ph.D. in Biblical Studies are challenged to seriously engage current scholarship in their respective major and minor areas of focus. The Ph.D. in Biblical Studies has a block-rate tuition for full-time students and is eligible for the Keesee scholarship to qualifying students.
FROM SHAKESPEARE TO SOLOMON
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Alumni Spotlight: Jamie Otto
Jamie serves on staff at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. In her role, she primarily oversees Bellevue’s internship/residency program. Jamie also participates in their staff’s overall leadership development vision, strategies, and efforts. When asked what she enjoys most about her position, she said, “My favorite responsibilities include shepherding ministry leaders to keep the ‘why’ before them at all times and developing female leaders to find and use their leadership voices.”
Q: How has your degree helped prepare you for ministry leadership?
A: My Christian leadership and church ministries degree has helped prepare me for ministry leadership in a variety of ways. Some of the most impactful lessons during my time at Liberty came in considering the biblical and theological implications of leadership in the Church. As mentioned previously, the “why” behind what we do is very important to me, and my degree helped lay the foundation for this clarity of focus as I serve at Bellevue. It was in my CLED classes that God sparked a passion for healthy and effective team dynamics and for the integrity of both heart and mind in ministry leadership.
Q: How would you describe Bellevue’s connection with Liberty interns/residents?
A: The mission and vision of Bellevue and Liberty align so closely that Liberty students tend to understand and fit our culture right out of college. It’s a special thing to partner in ministry work with Liberty; we get to see students’ academic foundation come alive with hands-on experience and significant leadership through our internship program. We believe the Gospel’s impact on our church, our city, and beyond is heavily influenced by the Liberty students He sends our way — trust me, I get to watch it daily! Lastly, it is worth mentioning that we are starting to see Liberty rise as a top choice for many of our students here at Bellevue. We are seeing the Lord call many to ministry through the influence of Liberty interns/residents who have served with us. God is working mightily through this connection.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
The Church Leadership & Church Ministries department is proactive in helping students step into full-time positions after graduation. Our students utilize summer internships to gain job insight, experience, professional résumé help, and coaching. These efforts culminate during their senior year with interview preparation, ministry networking, and job opportunity access. We position students to step into a fulltime ministry role before walking the aisle at graduation.
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John W. Rawlings School of Divinity
ISRAEL TRIP
Dr. Troy Temple and Dr. Adam McClendon, the dean and associate dean of the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity, accompanied a group of 56 students and faculty on a study trip to Israel. We had many first-time visitors to Israel, and seeing and hearing their perspectives is always exciting.
Aside from experiencing sites that included the Sea of Galilee, Megiddo, Mount of Olives, the Garden Tomb, and the Old City of Jerusalem, we served alongside Leket Israel. Leket Israel addresses food insecurity in the region, and on the day that we arrived, we had over 16,000 lbs. of food that needed to be sorted. Our team jumped in and sorted the food, completing
a typically 4-hour task in about 2 hours. It was a great time of service and team building.
It is a privilege to walk and study in Israel. The Bible really came alive as we walked where the patriarchs, the apostles, and, of course, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ walked. Our time was enriched during those ten days with Liberty family who gathered from around the world to focus on the foundations of our faith.
We are already planning a trip for January 2024, so be on the lookout for those announcements.
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John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Partners with Local and Global Churches
This spring break, students and faculty joined Coastal Community Church (Yorktown, Virginia) to partner with churches in the Middle East. The group ministered to refugee women and children, participated in youth and young adult leadership training, partnered with a local school, and visited Mt. Nebo and Jesus’s baptism site.
Arabic, global studies, and women’s leadership students served together. A global studies student, Lily, said, “It was a privilege to serve with the local church as they steward every resource to impact their community. God is alive in the Middle East, and His Kingdom is at work through His local church.”
Dr. Sherene Khouri, professor of Arabic and global studies, said, “As we Train Champions for Christ, we should expose students to a region unfamiliar to them. Immersing them in that region’s language and culture and allowing them to meet the real heroes on the ground is a necessity to learn how to practice ministry in times of persecution and freedom.”
IMB Pipeline
The mission of the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity is to Train Champions for Christ who will come alongside the local church in its quest to fulfill the Great Commission. As part of this mission, the School of Divinity is partnering with the International Mission Board (IMB) to host a Pipeline Group for those who are pursuing mid-term or long-term service with the IMB (four months to long-term career service). The Pipeline Group hosts monthly meetings and allows participants to learn about the mission, vision, and ministry of the IMB while also benefiting from training and experiential opportunities that assist in the preparation process.
The application process can take a few months for the short-term options or more than a year for the longer-term opportunities, so this group provides additional encouragement and equipping throughout the process. Participants benefit from the training and community with others who desire to serve as they discern God’s call, apply, and prepare to serve internationally. The group includes current students and recent graduates representing
majors from across the university but is also open to anyone from area churches interested in serving with the IMB.
As of Dec. 2022, this group has already sent five people to the field. Thirteen others are in the application process, and 14 are in the pre-application phase. We are excited to be partnering with the IMB in this way and are grateful to the many IMB leaders who have traveled to Lynchburg to facilitate this group.
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Divinity
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W. Rawlings School of
GLOBAL STUDIES PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
The fall semester is a busy time as the Global Studies Department welcomes back students who completed their required global internship the previous spring while also preparing to send out the next group of interns. Global Stories Night in September brought over 500 students together as the Spring 2022 interns returned and shared stories of how God is working around the world. The Thanksgiving Commissioning Service in November also saw hundreds of students and family members gather to pray for and send out the Spring 2023 interns.
As Global Studies interns serve with different organizations in various locations around the world, join us in remembering and praying their theme verse, John 17:23, that they may be unified so that others would see His love.
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John W. Rawlings School of Divinity
Alumni Spotlight: Dean Inserra
Dean Inserra is the founding pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, Florida, which he leads by preaching and providing vision. Dean is married to Krissie, and they have two sons, Tommy and Ty, and a daughter, Sally Ashlyn.
Dean was called to start a church in his hometown of Tallahassee when he was the student body president at Leon High School. He left Tallahassee to come to Liberty University because he “saw Liberty as a great place to prepare to plant a church.” Dean served as an RA and graduated from Liberty in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies. He now holds an M.A. in Theological Studies from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a D.Min. at Southern Seminary.
Dean also serves as an advisory member on the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission’s Leadership Council with the Southern Baptist Convention. He has written four books, including “The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel.”
CHURCH
City Church started with 20 people in Dean’s parents’ living room in 2007 and has now grown to be one of the largest evangelical churches in the area. Dean describes the area as “over-churched and under-reached,” and so they are utilizing strategic partnerships to reach their context in amazing ways. One such partnership is with the SALT Network, which plants churches in major college towns. As a result, they have helped to start the SALT Company as an on-campus organization at Florida State University in Tallahassee and have a large college ministry within the church. This past year, they held an Easter service with over 4,000 people in the FSU basketball arena.
FUTURE
As Dean leads the church forward, they are putting together a church planting residency program as well as some summer internship positions that our current Liberty students can participate in through the Center for Church Advancement. They are already working on planting a church on the campus of the University of Central Florida in Orlando and praying for a church at the University of West Florida in Pensacola.
PRAYER
Dean has asked us to join him in prayer as they engage in spiritual warfare and advance the Kingdom of God through proclaiming the Gospel on college campuses and communities all over the state of Florida.
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Church Advancement Week was a great way for Liberty Students to connect with different church multiplication organizations from around the country. We hosted 18 organizations from California, Montana, New York, Florida, Texas, and everywhere in between. Over 50 leaders set up booths in the Montview Student Center. They spoke in classrooms and shared their ministries and heartbeat to mobilize students to multiply disciples and see churches planted. Liberty students were challenged with questions about “life after Liberty” and encouraged to look at opportunities through great organizations like GenSend and the SALT Network.
For more information about these opportunities and more, contact the Center for Church Advancement at churchadvancement@liberty.edu.
THE RAWLINGS MINISTRY LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM
The Rawlings Ministry Loan Repayment Program was established to support graduates of Liberty University who have entered full-time ministry. The program will pay up to $30,000 over a 5-year period with a maximum annual payment of $6,000. Only federal student loans obtained while enrolled in a Liberty University School of Divinity undergraduate program are eligible. There will be at least one application cycle per year.
KEESEE FUND
The Charles B. Keesee Educational Fund Inc. was established in 1941 by Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Keesee of Martinsville, Virginia, to aid worthy men and women in obtaining an education. The Fund is administered by a board of trustees who consider requests for aid and determine an applicant’s eligibility. This scholarship is ideal for students involved in the residential Monday-only classes program.
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Dr. Troy Temple – Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Gabriel Etzel – Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Adam McClendon – Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Gary Bredfeldt – Ph.D. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Dr. John Cartwright – Ed.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Claudia Dempsey – D.Min. Regent University
Dr. Lucas Farmer – Ed.D. Liberty University School of Divinity
Dr. Jonathan Geukgeuzian – D.Ed.Min. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Melody Harper – Ph.D. Clemson University
Dr. Mary Lowe – Ed.D.
Nova Southeastern University
Dr. Brian Pinzer – Ph.D. Lancaster Bible College
Dr. Chad Thornhill – Ph.D.
Liberty University School of Divinity
Dr. Mark Allen – Ph.D. University of Notre Dame
Professor Matthew Bovard – M.Div.
Liberty University School of Divinity
Dr. Alan Fuhr – Ph.D.
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Faculty Listing
Dr. Chris Hulshof – Ed.D. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Benjamin Laird – Ph.D. University of Aberdeen
Dr. Leo Percer – Ph.D. Baylor University
Dr. Jillian Ross – Ph.D. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Dr. Rusty Small – Ph.D. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Michael Smith – Ph.D. Dallas Theological Seminary
Dr. Gary Yates – Ph.D. Dallas Theological Seminary
Dr. David Adams – D.Min. Liberty University School of Divinity
Dr. Monica Brennan – D.Min. Liberty University School of Divinity
Dr. Rod Dempsey – D.Min.
Liberty University School of Divinity
Dr. Allen Hollie Jr. – D.Min. Wesley Theological Seminary
Dr. Derik Idol – Ed.D.
Liberty University School of Divinity
Dr. Steve Keith – D.Min. Denver Seminary
Dr. Kevin King – Ph.D. University of Pretoria
Dr. Steve Lowe – Ph.D. Michigan University
Dr. Keith Oglesby – Ed.D. Liberty University School of Divinity
Dr. David Wheeler – Ph.D.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Tim Chang – Ph.D. Fuller Graduate Schools
Dr. Ronnie Campbell – Ph.D.
Liberty University School of Divinity
Professor Eunice Chung – Th.M. Liberty University School of Divinity
Dr. Chris Gnanakan – Ph.D. University of Leeds
Dr. Gary Habermas – Ph.D. Michigan State University
Dr. Gaylen Leverett – Ph.D. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Brian Litfin – Ph.D. University of Virginia
Dr. Troy Matthews – Ed.D.
Argosy University
Dr. Robert Talley – Ph.D. Liberty University School of Divinity
Dr. Robert Van Engen – Ph.D. Regent University
Dr. Lew Weider – Ed.D.
Argosy University
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COMING ALONGSIDE THE LOCAL CHURCH IN ITS QUEST TO FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION
Contributing Authors
JOHN ARMSTRONG
DR. RONNIE CAMPBELL
DR. CHRISTOPHER DOWD
DR. JONATHAN GEUKGEUZIAN
DR. MELODY HARPER
DR. KEVIN KING
DR. TROY TEMPLE
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