BGU Faculty

We believe strong Christian leaders are the most qualified instructors to teach others to lead. Therefore, our faculty members have proven track records in leading successful churches and Christian organizations, as well as excellent academic credentials.

The following full-time faculty members have been assigned administrative duties, are salaried, teach a full load (minimum of two courses or course equivalent of eight hours), and have been appointed by the Academic Affairs Committee as faculty.

Brad Smith

Leadership/BGU President

• BA, Texas A&M University
• STM, Dallas Theological Seminary
• DMin, Bakke Graduate University, Seattle, WA

Professional Experience: Brad Smith is currently serving as the President of BGU and as a consultant and facilitator to several new non-profits. He served as a legislative assistant to US Senator John Tower and was co-founder of the Center for Christian Leadership at Dallas Seminary in 1986, where he spent seven years developing spiritual formation and leadership programs. President Smith also served as the first pastor of Kessler Community Church in Dallas, Texas, founded in 1992, which continues to thrive." He joined the Leadership Network in 1993 and became President and CEO.

Raymond J. Bakke

Professor of Urban/Global Leadership; Chancellor

• Diploma, Moody Bible Institute
• BA, Seattle Pacific College, Seattle, WA
• MDiv, Trinity International University
• STM, DMin, McCormick Theological Seminar

Professional Experience: Ray Bakke founded International Urban Associates (IUA) in 1989. IUA animated a network of more than 100 urban-based church and mission leaders in many of the largest cities of the world. Currently Dr. Bakke is Chancellor and distinguished professor of global urban ministry at BGU. From 1959 through 1979 Ray pastored inner-city churches in Seattle and Chicago. During that time he also co-founded the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE) and taught Bible at Trinity College and Church History at McCormick Theological Seminary. He was a professor at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary and Professor of Global Urban Ministry at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as Senior Associate for Large Cities with the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism from 1979 to 1995. Since 1979 Dr. Bakke has personally led or served as a major resource leader for urban ministry consultations in more than 200 large cities on six continents. He is author of several books, including The Urban Christian and A Theology as Big as the City.

Grace Preedy Barnes

Professor of Leadership Studies; Academic Dean

• BA, Wheaton College, IL
• MA, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA
• MDiv, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA
• PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA

Professional Experience: Grace Barnes is the Academic Dean for BGU, prior to which she worked for over 25 years at Azusa Pacific University as the overall administrator and developer of the Operation Impact Program, which was the delivery system for the global version of the MA in Organization Leadership. She initiated the creation of the Leadership Minor, the Forum for International and Intercultural Program (FIIP), the Cuurent Issues in Leadership Seminar Series (CILSS), the Development Program (W.I.L.D.), the OI Advisory Board, and the Leadership Advisory Council for the on-campus program.

Lowell Bakke

Professor of Pastoral Studies; Director of Student Development

• Diploma, Moody Bible School, Chicago, Illinois
• BA, Gordon College, Hamilton, Massachutsetts
• MA, Denver Seminary, Denver, Colorado
• DMin, Bakke Graduate University, Seattle, WA

Professional Experience: Lowell Bakke is the Director of both Student Development and the Theology of Work Grant Program at BGU. He has served as a pastor for 35 years where he integrated both the missional and urban focus of his brother Ray and the international business calling of his brother Dennis in the churches he served. There are few pastors who have given as much thought to the topic of the intersection of the God-ordained role of the Church with the God-ordained role of business.

Gwendolyn J. Dewey

Director of Doctoral Dissertations & Professor of Theology of Work

• BS, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• MEd, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• EdD, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• Masters classes, Fuller Theological Seminary, Seattle, WA
• DMin, Eastern Theological Seminary, Wynnewood, PA

Professional Experience: Gwendolyn Dewey, past President of BGU, was the Senior Associate for Academic Affairs at International Urban Associates, administering the Trans Pacific Alliance DMin in Transformational Leadership for Ministry in the Global City. Currently, in addition to her role as BGU Professor, Dr. Dewey serves on the BGU Board of Regents and independently as “Global Professor-at-large” --teaching, networking, recruiting students and fundraising with ministries and seminaries around the world. Her previous experience includes serving as Director of Community Ministry for her local church, public school educator and administrator, professor of courses for school administrators and principals and educational consulting.

C. Neal Johnson

Dean, School of Business, Professor of International Business

• PhD, School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA
• JD, School of Law, University of New Mexico
• MAICS (Intercultural Studies), School of World Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA
• MPA (Public Administration), University of Oklahoma
• Graduate Banking Degree, Southwestern School of Banking at SMU, Dallas, TX
• Graduate, ABA School of International Banking, Boulder, CO
• BA (Political Science), University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

Professional Experience: Neal Johnson has an extensive and unique 35-year background as an attorney, banker, educator, businessman and entrepreneur, both internationally and domestically. He has served in such widely diverse positions as a bank president, president of his state’s bankers association, District Governor of Rotary International, co-founder of the first western style bank in the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan and one of the negotiators on the Panama Canal Treaty. He has traveled in over 70 countries, lived in 12, pastored a church in northern Italy, planted a church in Kazakhstan, served on the mission field in Latin America and on the Boards of Directors for missions in Armenia, Moscow and Latin America. His passion is for Christ in the marketplace and Business as Mission (BAM)—seeking to transform communities globally through Christian business and entrepreneurial education.

Randy White

Associate Director of DMin Program and Professor of Urban Studies

• BA, Child Development, Calif. State Univ., Sacramento
• MCS, New College Berkeley
• MA, Fresno Pacific University (IMAP)
• DMin, Bakke Graduate University, Seattle, WA

Professional Experience: Randy White currently serves as the National Coordinator for Urban Projects for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in the US. Before this he was the Founder and Executive Director of InterVarsity’s Fresno Institute for Urban Leadership. His publications include Journey to the Center of the City: Making a Difference in an Urban Neighborhood and Encounter God in the City: Onramps to Personal and Community Transformation.