Alumni Spotlight

Carlton Harris (ThM, 1983) currently serves as the Acting President of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). If you visit his office, you will find his study wallpapered with books—every academic seminarian’s dream. Better than the books, you will find Carlton sitting at his desk, his smile cozy, and his words warm and deliberate. […]

Ministry leaders pour themselves out for others. They nurture their churches and their larger communities while building up the Kingdom. But who pours into the ministry leaders? Who shepherds the shepherds? That question turned personal for Mike (DMin, 2011) and Lori McDaniel in 2020. With decades of church planting, pastoral ministry, and global missions under

When children connect the dots, zigzagging their markers from point to point, they follow ever-increasing numbers to reveal hidden images. Sometimes the dots connect to make shapes. Sometimes, more intricate masterpieces like a bumblebee or a daisy appear. The dots are always on the page, but someone needs to connect them to expose the beauty.

J. Carl (Carl) Laney (ThD, 1978) taught biblical literature for forty years at Western Seminary before retiring in 2018. He preferred to think of retirement as repositioning for his next ministry phase, and it has truly proved to be the next iteration of his ministry. Carl spends his mornings studying, reading, and writing and the

Daniel Moore (DMin, 2016) serves as the solo pastor at a midsized church in rural Pennsylvania. God has allowed Daniel to preach at that same church for twenty-one years. With God’s blessing, Daniel hopes to spend another twenty-one years preaching and building deep, lasting relationships with the people God has placed under his care. Daniel,

Erin Duerr (MACM, 2020) works with City Ministries, a faith-based farming ministry that meets the needs of more than 350 children in Nigeria. Through her role as an agricultural consultant, Erin blends her love for children’s ministry with her passion for the land. She works with the ministry’s various centers and the children who live

            Jill Lamar (MABC, 2016) lives in Philadelphia where she practices counseling at Thriveworks. While she lives in The City of Brotherly Love, Jill’s heart belongs to a different metropolis: New York City. What attracts her so to The City that Never Sleeps? Jill enjoys movement. She loves stepping onto the platform at Penn Station,

In May of 1998, Bill Arvan (ThM, 1976) traveled to Ukraine with a one-hundred-dollar bill tucked away in his pocket. Little did Bill know that the Lord would turn his souvenir money into venture capital to finance famine relief, specifically theological famine relief. How did this Midwest pastor turn up in Ukraine, you ask? During

Things change, and in big cities like Chicago or New York, things change even faster. The faster the pace, the more we become unsettled. Like a yellow highlighter, transience underscores our need for permanence. We cry out for something steady, something that remains through the change. Sometimes, after frequent exposure to change, we crave calm,