Guest Lecturers

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.

Dennis W. Bakke

• BA, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA
• MBA, Harvard University, Boston, MA

Professional Experience: Dennis Bakke is the primary instructor as well as founder and CEO Emeritus of AES, the largest independent power producer in the world. In February, 2004, the documentary entitled “The Power Trip,” was released and is considered for an Academy Award. This documentary demonstrates the complexity that AES faced in impoverished places like Georgia, in the former Soviet Union, as they attempted to be a business with the purpose of stewarding God’s creation by creating safe, clean, reliable electricity. Mr. Bakke is a regular lecturer at Kellogg, Duke, Stanford and Harvard Schools of Business. He is also President of Imagine Schools, a national charter school movement in eight states.

Luis Carlo

Urban Ministry

• BA, Southeastern University
• MA, Logos Bible College and Graduate School
• MDiv, Alliance Theological Seminary
• EdD, Union Theological Seminary, Affiliate of Columbia University

Professional Experience: Luis Carlo has been a pastor for thirteen years as well as serving as a Board member and Director of Holistic Education and Cultural Development for Full Circle Health, Bronx, NY. He is also the Associate Dean at ATS Seminary in Manhattan, NY.

Damian O. Emetuche

Immigrants

• PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky (US campus)
• MTh, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky (Nigeria campus)
• BTh, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky (Nigeria campus)

Professional Experience: Damian has been involved in several church planting endeavors with the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and served with the Southwestern Baptist Association in Ohio from 2004 to 2007. He initiated and started a Hispanic ministry in Hamilton, Ohio and helped in the development of the House of Hope, a house church model for the inner-city Hamilton. Damian also started an outreach program for international students and immigrants in the Southwestern part of Ohio State. The outreach resulted in planting a new International Church. He is currently planting churches in the Seattle area.

Robert Lupton

Urban/Global Leadership

• PhD, University of Georgia
• MEd, Georgia State University
• BA, God’s Bible College, Cincinnati, Ohio

Professional Experience: Robert Lupton is a Christian community developer, an entrepreneur who brings together communities of resource with communities of need. Through FCS Urban Ministries, a non-profit organization which he founded, he has developed three mixed-income subdivisions, organized two multi-racial congregations, started a number of businesses, created housing for hundreds of families and initiated a wide range of human services in his community. Publications include: Theirs is the Kingdom, Return Flight, and Urban Perspectives.

Ollie Malone

Leadership

• PhD, Texas A&M University
• PhD Study, University of Missouri, Kansas City
• MBA, Amberton University, Garland, TX
• MS, University of Kansas

Professional Experience: In addition to more than 25 years as a corporate executive and consultant, Dr. Malone is an ordained minister who has worked as worship leader, small group consultant, and executive pastor in various churches and ministry settings. As chairman of Developing Strategic Ministry, he provides support to churches and parachurch ministries in developing and maintaining effective strategies. In addition to leading DSM, he is the president and principal consultant of Olive Tree Associates, a consulting firm that he founded in 1993 whose clients include Shell, The Boeing Company, Texas Instruments and American Airlines.

Michael Mata

Urban Studies

• BA, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego
• MDiv, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego
• MA, University of California, Berkeley
• PhD candidate, University of Southern California

Professional Experience: Michael Mata has extensive experience in urban-related programs on the congregational level, as well as ecumenical and interfaith levels. His skills and expertise lie in developing practical approaches to faith-based community development, congregational redevelopment, trans-cultural ministry, and community conflict transformation. His research interests include social-cultural analysis of the urban landscape and assessing the social ecology of religious institutions in urban communities. Michael is Transformational Development Specialist for World Vision US, is adjunct assistant professor of Urban Ministries at Claremont School of Theology, and also serves on the Board of Regents at Bakke Graduate University.

William O'Brien (Regent Emeritus)

World Christian Missions/Board of Regents

• DD, Hardin-Simmons University (honorary doctorate)
• MA, Southwestern Baptist Seminary
• BA, Hardin-Simmons University

Professional Experience: Bill O’Brien holds a liberal arts degree from Hardin-Simmons University and a Master of Church Music from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His alma mater conferred a Doctor of Divinity degree on him in 1981. His missions career spans 41 years, including field service in Indonesia, executive vice president of the Foreign Mission Board, SBC in Richmond, VA, and director of the Global Center at Samford University in Birmingham, AL. O’Brien is the first vice-president of the board of The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, an international adjunct with the Plowshares Institute working in conflict transformation, and is Senior Associate for the Evangelical Fellowship of Missions Agencies. He currently serves as president of the American Society of Missiology.