Welcome to a new season of Center Conversations! The next few months we will dive deep into a theological perspective on several contemporary hot topics: Wealth / Poverty, Technology, Human sexuality, Family, Life, Justice, and Beauty. This interview begins with beauty! And is one worth savoring and sharing. We are excited to interview Dr. Johnathan King: Dr. Jonathan King serves as the International Pastoral Training Director at Family Discipleship Ministries and Executive Director of FDM Institute. A Graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary (CA), JK has a PhD in Systematic Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). Before joining FDM, King served as a missionary in Indonesia and a Lecturer in Theology at the Universitas Pelita Harapan. Dr. King is married to Sharm and they have two young children, Liam and Eleanor. Dr. King’s book The Beauty of the Lord, a Theology of Aesthetics ( https://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Lord-Theology-Aesthetics-Systematic/dp/1683590589 ) and several of his articles (including this one https://shorturl.at/dhmP3 ) are worth reading!

Christopher J. H. Wright was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and taught high school there for some years after graduating from Cambridge in 1969. After obtaining a Cambridge doctorate in Old Testament economic ethics, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1977 and served a curacy in an Anglican parish. In 1983 he went with his family to India and taught a variety of Old Testament courses at the BD and MTh levels at the Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, for five years. He also contributed in other ways to theological education in India. In September 2001 he was appointed to be International Ministry Director of the Langham Partnership International (https://us.langham.org/), a consortium of trusts founded by John Stott, committed to the strengthening of the church in the developing world through fostering leadership development, biblical preaching, literature and scholarship. Now Chris is the “Global Ambassador” for Langham partnership. Chris’ own podcast, “On Mission” (https://au.langham.org/global-resources/podcast/), features conversations with Christian leaders around the Majority World. Chris is a scholar with multiple publications, most of which can be found here (https://langhamliterature.org/online_resources/chriswright/index.html).

Dr. Richard Pratt is the pioneer and president of ThirdMill Ministries, an organization providing Biblical education to the world- for free. ThirdMill Ministries offers world-class seminary class content to the world, now with more than 1.8 million students in 176 (of 196) nations. Their content was translated into 25 languages! Dr. Pratt taught at Reformed Theological Seminary for 21 years before beginning ThirdMill. He has authored several books and we recommend you begin with Designed for Dignity or He Gave Us Stories. This interview was recorded during a community Reformation celebration that included six congregations. We hope you enjoy the show!

Rev. Dr. Mehrdad Fatehi is the Founder and Executive Director of Pars Theological Center, a pastor, professor, and prolific writer. After fleeing Iran in the 1980’s, Mehrdad has given his life for the education and equipping of Iranian Christian leaders through innovative and creative methods. Mehrdad has authored three books, more than 35 articles, translated 7 theological textbooks, and has countless other contributions to education and equipping Iranian Christians around the world. For more about PARS Theological Center: https://parstheology.org To support a PARS Student specifically or the ministry generally: https://parstheology.org/region-selector/

Dr. N. Gray Sutanto helped plant Covenant City Church in Jakarta, Indonesia, through a theology study group. Gray now serves as the assistant professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, Washington D.C. campus. Gray focused his PhD work on the 19thcentury Dutch Reformed theologian, Herman Bavinck and you will discover in this interview that his research interests are broad. Gray’s article we discuss from The Keller Center can be found HERE (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/jakarta-western-judgments/) and a more full Bio can be found HERE (https://rts.edu/people/dr-n-gray-sutanto/), including a list of his publications. You will be inspired by this episode!

Dr. Ligon Duncan is celebrating his 10th year as Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS). God has given tremendous fruitfulness to his leadership, extending the campus of RTS beyond Jackson, Orlando, and Charlette to New York City, Dallas, Atlanta, and Washington DC. Dr. Duncan served as a pastor at FPC Jackson for years before joining RTS as Chancellor, continuing to stay in touch with pastors through teaching systematic and historical theology. Pastor Izzy and Pastor Mitchell may have had too much fun doing this interview! And we hope you enjoy learning from a global best practice leader like Dr. Duncan as much as they enjoyed interviewing him. For more on RTS: https://rts.edu For more from Dr. Duncan on Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives.

In this episode Pastor Izzy and Pastor Mitchell interview Dr. Greg Perry, President of Thirdmill Seminary and author of the book: The Drama of Discipleship. Settle in to enjoy this spirited discussion celebrating innovative theological training around the world and how the American Church must adapt to cultivate an innovative culture of theological and leadership development and deployment for a thriving future. Dr. Gregory R. Perry is a scholar with a pastor heart, gifted by God to lead and communicate. President of Thirdmill Seminary and Vice President of Strategic Projects at Third Millennium Ministries, Greg recently published The Drama of Discipleship [https://a.co/d/5AeEkSj], a book to equip people to follow the ways of Christ and His Kingdom in our homes, workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and churches- making disciples in the everyday tasks of being human. For more on ThirdMill Seminary: https://www.thirdmillseminary.org