Announcing New Education and Media Departments at DTS

The end of the school year marks the start of two brand new departments at DTS designed to better equip students for the kinds of ministries God is working through today: Media Arts & Worship and Educational Ministries & Leadership. 

Media Arts & Worship

The first new department, Media Arts and Worship, comes in response to the increased popularity and enrollment in the media arts program. Dr. Reg Grant, Professor of Pastoral Ministries, will serve as chair.

The department's Media and Communication degree is also in the process of adopting a new name to match the new department: MA in Media Arts and Worship. 

“The change reflects students' growing interest in worship studies and fulfills the original design of the program to provide training in worship as one of three emphases, along with presentation and writing,” Dr. Grant noted.

Dr. Tim Basselin (PhD in Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, 2010) will join the faculty of the newly formed department as Assistant Professor in Media Arts and Worship. You can see a list of MW courses offered on the DTS fall schedule, and new courses will be added as additional faculty members are hired.

Educational Ministries & Leadership

The second new department, Educational Ministries & Leadership, merges the former Spiritual Formation & Leadership and Christian Education departments. The new department will be chaired by Dr. George Hillman, who currently serves as Associate Professor of SFL and Director of Servant Leadership Internships.

“The new department (alongside the other wonderful departments on campus) becomes a virtual “one stop shop” for training servant leaders for the diverse demands in churches and parachurch ministries of the 21st century throughout the country and around the world.”

—Dr. George Hillman, Chair of Educational Ministries and Leadership

Two hallmarks of the SFL department— the Spiritual Formation program required of all students in all programs, and the popular Servant Leader Internships—move to the new department.

Dr. Hillman added that both of the old departments developed from the legacy of “Prof” Howard Hendricks: “Building off of DTS's solid biblical and theological foundation, both departments have focused on how our students are to take this foundation to impact the lives of others in various ministry contexts.”

The MA in Christian Education, currently housed in CE, and the MA in Christian Leadership, currently housed in SFL, will remain unchanged and will both be under the supervision of the new EML department. 

Dr. Michael Lawson, Senior Professor of Christian Education, also lauded the decision to house the MA in Biblical Studies — which is now available in a fully online format — in the new EML department. “Absorbing the MA(BS) into this new department is long overdue!” he commented. “These 'homeless orphans' now have a true home. I am genuinely happy for this significant group of DTS students.”

Additional Faculty Moves

Finally several other faculty moves will take place this summer to strengthen departments and create bridges between academic and staff departments:

• Dr. Lin McLaughlin – fomerly Chair of Christian Education, he will now serve as Professor of Educational Ministries and Leadership as well as Assistant to the Dean for Academic Assessment.
• Dr. Mark Heinemann – in addition to his role as Professor of Educational Ministries and Leadership. Dr. Heinemann will become the Assistant to the Academic Dean for Online Faculty Development where he will utilize his expertise in online pedagogy to help form DTS's online education courses.
• Dr. Barry Jones – formerly Chair and Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation & Leadership, Dr. Jones who was awarded the Faculty Excellence in Teaching award at the 2013 Commencement ceremony will bring his classroom expertise and pastoral experience to a new role as Associate Professor in a Pastoral Ministries. 

The DTS Board approved the merger at its meeting on May 9, with the reorganization set to take effect July 1. Students who have questions about the new departments can contact the Student Advising Center.