Welcome to The Master's Institute, St. Paul, USA

FACULTY

Rev. Jim Anderson
Pastor Jim Anderson is President and Trainer for Harvest Impact Ministries, and Senior Pastor of The Harbor Church in Hastings, Minnesota. He graduated from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with majors in Business and Sociology. Jim has helped develop a new association for former denominational pastors and churches named The Association of Evangelical Charismatic Ministries (AECM). He previously worked as a youth/young adult pastor at Our Savior's Lutheran in Albany, New York, was a youth pastor at North Heights Lutheran Church in St Paul, Minnesota, and worked for three years in the banking industry.

Rev. Eric Bluhm
Rev. Eric Bluhm is on the senior staff team at North Heights Lutheran Church, supervising several departments and pastoring the Fellowship Hall site on the Roseville campus. Previously he worked as Associate Pastor at Brooklyn Park Lutheran Church and with Lutheran Renewal, among other things coaching churches using the tools of “Natural Church Development”, which is the topic he will be teaching at MI.

Rev. Michael Bradley
Rev. Michael Bradley is the President of The Master's Institute. He graduated from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, MN with a B.A. in Youth and Family Ministries: and from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA with a Masters of Divinity (Mdiv). Mike brings over 20 years of leadership experience in Christian ministry to MI, having served in a variety of ministry positions and functions in both para-church and congregational contexts in the Midwest and on the West Coast. He has authored a book on pursuing God's vision for your life as an individual or as a corporate body entitled, The Ongoing Journey!, and writes and speaks extensively on the topic of "Being a Safe Place and A Dangerous People" and on equipping God's people for ministry. Mike has a passion to see leaders being equipped to faithfully serve the Lord and His Church with vision, daring, and integrity in today's ever changing cultural and world scene.

Rev. Todd Bullock
Rev. Todd Bullock is Associate Pastor at Brooklyn Park Lutheran Church and Dean of Students for the School of Ministry at The Master's Institute. He graduated from Bethel Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota in 1991. He did his undergraduate BS studies at Houghton College in New York. Todd was the young adult pastor at Church of the Open Door and before that he was the youth and interim pastor at Lutheran Church of the Master. Todd also serves on the Character Formation team of The Master’s Institute.

Dr. Guy Chevreau
Dr. Guy Chevreau is the author of Catch the Fire, the first published work to put the "Toronto Blessing" in some theological and historical context. His current book is entitled, Our Eyes Fixed on Jesus. Dr. Chevreau ministers the Father's love, Christ's empowering grace, life in the Spirit, prayer and intercession, evangelism, and compassion for the poor throughout the world.

Dr. Paul Cross
Dr. Paul Cross is serving as Pastor of Saint Mary Magdalene Lutheran Church. He is a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia and also Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary in St. Paul, MN. He also has a Master of Theology degree from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He has been an Associate Pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church in West Virginia, a retreat speaker at Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camp in Iowa. He also worked for ten years in the automobile repair industry.

Rev. Kendra Diehl
Rev. Kendra Diehl, has committed her life to teaching and discipling others to know the Triune God and His Word. She is a Bible teacher, retreat and Bible study leader, and has taught and ministered throughout North America for over 25 years. Kendra is a graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, MN and holds a Master’s of Divinity degree from The Master’s Institute. Kendra is the Spiritual Formation Coordinator at The Master’s Institute where she continues to live out her passion of teaching, discipling and equipping others to lead in the cause of Christ.

Dr. Paul Eddy

Paul R. Eddy (PhD, Marquette University) is Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Bethel College, and Teaching Pastor at Woodland Hills Church. His primary research interests include historical Jesus studies, Christology, and issues related to religious diversity and theology of religions. He is co-editor of Directions in New Testament Methods and Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views, co-author (with Gregory Boyd) of Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology, and author of John Hick's Pluralist Philosophy of World Religions.

Dr. Helmar Heckel
Helmar Heckel, born in Germany during the II World War, was nominally raised in the State Lutheran Church. After his parents divorced and his mother remarried an American soldier, he immigrated to America in 1958. One year later, on a street corner in Topeka , KS, Helmar asked Jesus to come into his life when two faithful disciples from the Navigators shared the gospel with him. From this time on, Jesus has turned Helmar's life upside down and inside out. Changes of huge proportions began to take place in Helmar's life. His intellectual curiosity and creativity caused him by God's grace to earn a BS degree from Washburn University, (1967), a M.Div. from Bethel Seminary, (1971) and eventually a D.Min. from Fuller Seminary, (1994). He and his wife, Judy, have founded three churches in St. Cloud, Little Falls and Orono, Minnesota. He has served as Sr. Pastor, Founding Pastor and Associate Pastor and Dean of Living Faith Training Center, now known as ACTS, Antioch Christian Training School. There he shaped and formed the curriculum that has impacted many students from across America and the world. He loves to teach and built the word of God, by God's power, into people's life for effective and eternal change.

Dr. Mark Herringshaw
Dr. Mark Herringshaw has been a pastor for 17 years. Before ministering in the local church he and his wife Jill were part of Youth With a Mission (YWAM). Currently Mark is a teaching pastor at North Heights Lutheran, in Arden Hills, Minnesota. Mark is a graduate of Azusa Pacific University. He has done graduate work at Regent College and at Luther Seminary. In 2001 Mark completed his Ph.D. in organizational leadership from Regent University.

Rev. Dave Householder

Rev. Dave Householder was raised in an evangelistically oriented Lutheran home, his father was the director of Evangelism for the old ALC (predecessor body of the ELCA). He received his BA from Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma, Washington, majoring in Philosophy and German. Dave received his MDiv from Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, where he graduated Summa cum laude with an emphasis on Bible and Missions. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Bonn, 1988-89, with an emphasis in New Testament. He’s a Centennial Recognized Alumnus from Pacific Lutheran University, 1990 and Ordained in the ELCA 1990. Dave was a Church Planter at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Chimacum, Washington from 1990-1994, Regional Alpha Advisor since 1997, and active in Lutheran Renewal since 1995. He was also a Teaching Pastor at Hosanna! Lutheran in Lakeville, MN from 1994-2002. Currently he is Senior Pastor at Grace Lutheran in Huntington Beach, CA, 2002-present and a Church Planter at Robinwood Church, 2002-present.

Mrs. Sharon Knudson
Mrs. Sharon Knudson is a freelance writer with nearly 200 publications in a variety of newspapers and magazines. She teaches writing courses on the skills required for effective communication/writing and the procedures for getting published. She is President of the 130-member Minnesota Christian Writers Guild, and in August 2000 was chosen “Writer of the Year” by the American Christian Writers Conference. Sharon is on staff with the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement, Inc. (LEM) and is editor of The LifeLines. She also serves as a writing consultant and editor for The Master’s Institute. Sharon holds B.M.E. and M.M. degrees from Michigan State University in East Lansing.

Dr. Thorsten Moritz
Dr. Thorsten Moritz grew up in the Black Forest, Germany, and was an exchange student in the U.S. during high school. Over the past 11 years, he taught at the University of Gloucestershire, England; Leipzig University and the Freie Theologische Akademie, both in Germany; as well as in five Romanian cities. He authored a monograph about hermeneutics in Ephesians, A Profound Mystery, and articles on the gospels, Ephesians, hermeneutics, and consumerism. Moritz is a member of the Scripture and Hermeneutics Project. He is currently writing the Mark commentary for the Two Horizons commentary series as well as another monograph on New Testament ecclesiology. His professional associations include the Tyndale Fellowship (Cambridge, England), the Arbeitskreis fur evangelikale Theologie (Tubingen, Germany), and the Society of Biblical Literature. Thorsten and his family currently live in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Rev. Per Nilsen
Rev. Per Nilsen has been developing Community of Hope Lutheran Church, Rosemount, MN, a rapidly growing mission congregation, for the past three and one-half years. Community of Hope has grown from 150 to 500 + in worship attendance and has developed a culture around the ALPHA course. Prior this mission development work, Per led the Adult Discipleship and Evangelism Team at Prince of Peace, Burnsville, MN and served as an Associate Pastor in Upstate NY. He graduated from Luther Seminary in 1990. Per’s heart for evangelism emerged after meeting Christ “for the first time, again” while in treatment for drug addiction at the age of 17. He believes that Christ’s vision for the church is found in these provocative words from John’s Gospel, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)

Mr. Curt Rosen
Mr. Curt Rosen is President of World Encounter, a short-term missions mobilization ministry launched in 1996. He brings over 25 years of experience in short-term missions, social work and counseling. After graduating from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, MN he worked for ten years in social services in Sioux Falls, SD. Curt moved to the Twin Cities in 1981 to join the staff of a college outreach ministry called InterCollegiate Fellowship Renewal (ICFR). He has trained outreach teams for churches and parachurch ministries and traveled extensively leading outreach teams around the world. Formerly, Curt served as Associate Director of Global Ministries at North Heights Lutheran Church in St. Paul, MN and for two years as missions pastor at The Harbor Church outside of Hastings, MN.

Rev. Graeme Sellers

Graeme Sellers is the lead pastor of Wonderful Mercy Church in Gilbert, Arizona. He serves on the national leadership team of the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC), an emerging national network of kingdom-focused congregations. He is also part of the Pastoral Host Team for PrayerQuake, a national conference focused on raising the level of prayer in the local church. Graeme has a B.A. in History from Arizona State and an M.Div. from Fuller Seminary. Graeme and his wife Jennifer have been married 16 years and have three lovely daughters.

Dr. Paul Spaulding

Dr. Paul Spaulding attended Seattle Lutheran Bible Institute, Concordia College in Moorhead (BA), Luther Seminary (M.Div.), and Fuller Seminary (D.Min.) with a focus on the Christian message in postmodernity. Paul served at Zion Lutheran in Minneapolis, and Community Church of Joy, Glendale, AZ, was Pastor Developer of Living Christ Community Church, Flagstaff, AZ, then Senior Pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Redondo Beach, CA, and most recently a teaching pastor at Morningside Lutheran Church in Sioux City, Iowa. In the summer of 2008 he and his wife, also a pastor, will begin a church plant in the Minneapolis Riverfront area. Their two sons, Nick and Nathan, live in New York City and Seattle, respectively.

Rev. Tom Stover

Tom received his MDiv degree from The Master's Institute in 2006. He is currently on the MI Board and working as the Pastor of Trinity First Lutheran School in Minneapolis.

Dr. Walter Sundberg
Dr. Walter Sundberg is currently professor of Church History at Luther Seminary. He has been there since 1984. Walter has taught Systematic Theology at Luther from 1978-1981 and served as pastor at Como Park Lutheran Church from 1981-1984. He received his B.A. from St. Olaf College in 1969, received a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1973 and his Ph.D. in 1981.

Dr. Stephan Turnbull

He currently serves as a teaching pastor at First Lutheran Church in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. He is a graduate of the College of Wooster (B.A.) and Luther Seminary (M.Div.). He is completing a Ph.D. (A.B.D.) in New Testament at Duke University. His research interests center in the theological interpretation of the New Testament, especially the Pauline epistles, and in the Jewish cultural context of the New Testament period. Stephan Is teaching Greek Language class at MI during the summer.

Rev. Todd Wallace

Rev. Todd R. Wallace is Senior Pastor of Brooklyn Park Lutheran Church in Brooklyn Park, MN. He holds a BA degree in Christian Ministries from Northwestern College, Roseville, MN, a Masters of Divinity from Luther Seminary in St. Paul MN, and has completed Doctoral Courses at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, KY. Prior to serving in his current position he pastored congregations in Maryland and Nebraska as well as serving on several other church staffs.

Rev. Robert Walter

Robert Walter is a New Englander who was lured to West Texas after college in 1977 for a career as a petroleum geologist. Now instead of developing drilling prospects, he's developing leaders in the church at home and abroad. For 15 years he worked with local leaders through the church he pastored in Midland, Texas. Now he is focusing on training key leaders for the church in Asia. It all started 20 years ago with a one year assignment in Asia teaching English. "I like to teach - whether it's the Bible, English, drawing or fencing - it's where God uses me most." Robert, a 1992 graduate of Fuller Seminary, is a member of the ARC leadership team. He is exploring ways to strengthen ministry training and plant "seminaries" in local churches.