Marsha Foster Boyd

Chicago Theological Seminary

The Board of Trustees of Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) appointed the Rev. Dr. Marsha Foster Boyd as interim president of the seminary, which was founded in 1855. She began her tenure on Sept. 1, and succeeds retiring President Rev. Dr. Stephen G. Ray, Jr., the 13th president of CTS. Dr. Ray retired at the end of August after serving since 2018.

Dr. Boyd is president emerita of Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit, Michigan, a recognition she received after serving as president of Ecumenical from 2006 to 2013. Her career includes serving on the pastoral care and counseling faculty at United Theological Seminary and academic dean at Payne Theological Seminary, both in Ohio. She also has served as director of accreditation and leadership education for the Association of Theological Schools and on the In Trust Center Board of Directors.

She is a graduate of Tufts University, the Interdenominational Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.

A search for a new president at CTS is underway, according to Brian Clarke, chair of the seminary’s board.

Samuel Liu

China Evangelical Seminary in North America

Samuel Liu, Ph.D., was installed as the second president of China Evangelical Seminary North America (CESNA) on Aug. 7, returning to the institution where he previously had served as academic dean from 2008 to 2014.

Dr. Liu was president of China Lutheran Seminary in Taiwan from 2014 through 2021, where he earned his M.Div. degree in 1995. He is an ordained minister in the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church and holds the S.T.M from Concordia Seminary of St. Louis, Missouri (1999), and his Ph.D. in Biblical Theology, also from Concordia (2008).

Appointed by the Board of Directors, Dr. Liu succeeds Katheryn Leung, Ph.D., who served as CESNA’s founding president from 2007 to 2021; Dr. Leung will continue serving the seminary as president emerita and on the faculty as professor of Old Testament.

CESNA originally was an education center for the China Evangelical Seminary in Taiwan, and became independent in 2008.

John Guns

Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology

Dr. John Guns has been named dean of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University (STVU). He is an alumnus of the DeWitt School, having earned both M.Div. and D.Min. degrees. He earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology, cum laude, from Norfolk State University.

Dr. Guns comes to STVU after having served as senior pastor of the St. Paul Church in Jacksonville, Florida, a hub of social ministry that feeds over 5,000 families each year and has vital ministry partnerships with schools, prisons, and other agencies to meet local, state, and global needs. He also established the groundbreaking foundation, Operation Save Our Sons, a national effort to work with young African-American men by equipping them with the tools and education to for full and healthy participation in the communities in which they live.

John H. Young

Emmanuel College of Victoria University

Rev. Dr. John H. Young has been appointed by the Victoria University Board of Regents to serve as interim principal of Emmanuel College, effective Aug. 15, 2021, through June 30, 2022. He succeeds Michelle Voss Roberts, who served as principal since 2018; she will continue to serve as a member of the faculty.

Prior to joining the Toronto seminary, Rev. Dr. Young served as Executive Minister, Theological Leadership, in the United Church of Canada’s General Council Office, and has been a member of Emmanuel College’s Advisory Committee. He previously served on the faculty of Queen’s Theological College at Queen’s University.

He earned his B.A. from Mount Allison University and his M.Div. from the Atlantic School of Theology, before completing a Ph.D. in the History of Christianity at Southern Methodist University. He was ordained by the United Church of Canada’s Maritime Conference in 1978.

Mike Rakes

Evangel University

Mike Rakes, D.Min., a longstanding pastor and educator, has been named the fifth president of Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. He begins his duties this fall, succeeding interim President George O. Wood and former President Carol Taylor, Ph.D., who retired in November 2020 as Evangel’s fourth president

For the past 15 years Dr. Rakes has been the lead pastor of Winston-Salem First, a thriving Assemblies of God church. In 2009, he founded Bridges Christian College in New Orleans and served as its president through 2012, following service as vice president for student development at Southeastern University. He previously served as chair of the board for Oral Roberts University.

He is a graduate of Central Bible College and Assemblies of God Theological Seminary with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and earned the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Biola University.

Nathan Willowby

Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry

Nathan Willowby, Ph.D., a theology and ethics scholar who has been a member of the faculty at Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry since 2016, has been named dean of the school, President John Pistole announced. He succeeds Mary Ann Hawkins, Ph.D.

Dr. Willowby, who completed his undergraduate studies at Anderson, earned the M.Div. from Duke Divinity School before completing his doctorate in theology and ethics at Marquette University. He is an ordained minister in the Church of God and served as pastor of a church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for seven years. He also served as president of the Wisconsin Assembly of the Church of God from 2013-2016.

New Chairs