Lead Facilitator: Brandon Knight, Assistant Professor of Speech Communication, William Carey University
Additional Presenters: Kevin J. Vanhoozer; Rick Langer, Biola University; Tim Muehlhoff, Biola University; Jim Beitler, Wheaton College; Andy Baker, Lead Pastor, FBC Oloh
Date/Time: Monday, June 23, 2025 | 11:30 am – 3:00 pm EDT
Description: How can pastors be better equipped to challenge the ever-increasing ideologies that seek to take captive the imaginations of faithful lay members? Even more, the public perception of the pastor is in question both by the public and those in the pastorate. What is the true role and task of the pastor? Theologian Kevin Vanhoozer recaptures the lost vision of the pastorate through the Pastor Theologian
whose “special role is to edify or build people up: in particular, to build them into the house of God, the body of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (p. 22). That is not to say, however, that the pastor theologian’s role is only one of constructing. His task is also one of deconstructing, or tearing down, the rival social imaginaries vying for supremacy in the lives of believers. The 2025 Pastor, Pew, and Public
virtual workshop, hosted by the Christianity and Communication Studies Network, will emphasize the “Pastor Theologian as Communicator.” All participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in small group discussions throughout our time together.
Kevin J. Vanhoozer (PhD, Cambridge University) is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Previously he served as Blanchard Professor of Theology at the Wheaton College Graduate School (2009-2012) and Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (1990-98). He obtained his BA from Westmont College, his M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia), and his PhD from Cambridge University.
He is the author of twelve books, including The Drama of Doctrine, Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine and Biblical Authority after Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianityand, most recently, Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What it Means to Read the Bible Theologically – all four named Christianity Today Theology Books of the Year (2006, 2015, 2017).
In 1999 he was featured on the cover of Christianity Today, and in 2015 was the subject of a feature article by Wesley Hill in the same magazine. He has lectured in various countries on four continents. In 2017, he was on the steering committee that drafted A Reforming Catholic Confession, a document that celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. He is the theological mentor of the Augustine Fellowship, one of four groups associated with the Center for Pastor Theologians, and served as a member of the Theology Working Group that produced a paper on hermeneutics for the Lausanne 2024 Seoul Statement.
He is married and has two adult daughters, one son-in-law, and fourteen doctoral students. He is an amateur classical pianist and serious reader, and finds that music and literature help him integrate academic theology, imagination, and spiritual formation. Connect with Kevin here.
Rick Langer (PhD, University of California, Riverside) is a professor at Biola University, the Director of the Office of Faith and Learning, and co-director of the Winsome Conviction Project which seeks to help depolarize our discourse in the church, in Christian universities, and in the public square. He has authored three books and numerous journal articles applying theology to a wide variety of disciplines including business leadership, disability, suffering, bioethics, and vocation. He served as a pastor of a large evangelical church for 20 years before joining the faculty of Biola University in 2005. He has served on many boards and other leadership roles that have given him wide-ranging experience in conflict resolution within Christian churches, boards, universities and organizations. Connect with Rick here.
Tim Muehlhoff (PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is a Professor of Communication at Biola University in La Mirada, California where he teaches classes in conflict resolution, apologetics, gender, and family communication. He is co-director of Biola’s Winsome Conviction Project that seeks to reintroduce compassion and civility into our disagreements. He’s the co-host of the Winsome Conviction Podcast where people with differing viewpoints are brought on for engaging dialogue. For more, check out Winsome Conviction Project. Tim has written extensively in the area of cultural engagement and conflict resolution including Winsome Conviction: Disagreeing without Dividing the Church and Winsome Persuasion: Christian Influence in a Post Christian World (with Biola professor Rick Langer) each having received a merit award from Christianity Today’s Book of the Year Awards. Tim’s newest book (co-written with Sean McDowell) is End the Stalemate: Moving Past Cancel Culture to Meaningful Conversations (Tyndale). Connect with Tim here.
Brandon Knight (PhD, University of Southern Mississippi) is Assistant Professor of Speech Communication and Director of Forensics at William Carey University. Brandon also earned an MDiv with an emphasis in Biblical Studies from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Prior to teaching in the Academy, Brandon served as a youth pastor for five years at two locations in the local Hub City area and, more recently, served as an interim at Leaf River Baptist Church in Collins, Mississippi. Brandon’s research is featured in the Journal of Communication and Religion, Management Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Christian Teaching Practice (in Communication Studies), the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, and, most recently, the Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society. Connect with Brandon here.
Jim Beitler (PhD, University of Michigan) is Director of the Marion E. Wade Center and Professor of English at Wheaton College, where he holds the Marion E. Wade Chair of Christian Thought. His scholarship focuses on the rhetoric of Christian witness and writing as a spiritual activity, looking to C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, Desmond Tutu, and other exemplary communicators as guides for faithful practice. Beitler is the author of three books—Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words (with Richard Hughes Gibson, 2020), Seasoned Speech: Rhetoric in the Life of the Church (2019), and Remaking Transitional Justice in the United States (2013)—and he teaches undergraduate courses on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien and Environmental Stewardship, and Christianity and Fantasy. With Aaron Hill, he hosts the Wade Center Podcast. Connect with Jim here.
Andy Baker (PhD, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary) serves as the Lead Pastor at FBC Oloh, where he has served for sixteen years. Andy holds a Bachelor’s degree from William Carey University, as well as a Master of Divinity (MDiv), Master of Theology (ThM), and PhD in Theology from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he also serves as an Adjunct Professor. Andy is married to Elizabeth, and together they have three children. Connect with Andy here.
Registration Fee: $45.00