Story: Academics and Storytellers

Elizabeth Rodriguez, otherwise known as ‘Liz-rod-on-the-pod’ from “Honest Conversations” podcast, is a Dallas girl living a Tulsa life. She serves as the Group Coordinator at BattleCreek church and serves the local church by helping people find freedom through community groups. She spends her afternoons writing and her evenings with friends, challenging the definition of community to become something much deeper. If you need her, she is most likely exploring through grand adventures or watching a dancing show. To find out more about Liz visit www.LizAnn.life.

Dr. Reg Grant has recently retired (July 1, 2024) as Chair and Senior Professor of the Department of Media Arts and Worship at Dallas Theological Seminary. He also served as Director of the Master of Arts in Media Arts and Worship degree program at the seminary since its inception in 2011. He has been teaching courses in preaching, drama, oral interpretation, and creative writing since 1977.  He serves on the board of directors for Insight for Living.  He has authored novels, textbooks, and articles and has written, produced, and acted for radio, television, theater, and film. His films have garnered several Emmy award nominations and two Emmys, as well as numerous film festival awards, including Booklist Starred Reviews, multiple Telly Awards, and the prestigious Golden Apple Award for best educational film in America. Reg and Lauren have three grown children and are the proud “Lolly” & “PoP!” to their three grandchildren, Johnny, Evan, and Sweet Charlott Grace, whom we call “Charlie.” 

In addition to teaching on-campus classes, Dr. Glahn teaches immersive courses in Italy and Great Britain, as well as immersive courses in writing and in worship. Dr. Glahn is a multi-published author of both fiction and non-fiction, a journalist, and a speaker who advocates for thinking that transforms, especially on topics relating to art, gender, sexual intimacy in marriage, and first-century backgrounds as they relate to gender. Dr. Glahn’s more than twenty books reveal her interests in bioethics, sexuality, and biblical women. She has also written eleven Bible studies in the Coffee Cup Bible Study series. A regular blogger at Engage, bible.org’s site for women in Christian leadership, she is the owner of Aspire Productions, and served as editor-in-chief for Kindred Spirit from 1999 to 2016. She and her husband have one adult daughter.

Dr. Basselin taught at multiple colleges throughout the Chicago area before coming to DTS in 2013. With research interests in theology of disability and weakness, as well as the interaction between theology, culture, and literature, he served as the Assistant Professor role in the Department of Media Arts and Worship and was also the director of the Media Arts apprenticeship program at DTS. He is on the editorial board for Christian Scholar’s Review. He and his wife, Robin, have four children and enjoy road trips and camping.

Along with joining DTS as an instructor, Todd Agnew is currently serving as a worship pastor in a Dallas area church and completing a PhD in Theological Studies. Mr. Agnew has spent three decades as a worship leader, songwriter, pastor, artist, and teacher. He hopes to help students connect the academic and the practical, especially at the intersection of theology and worship. He married his high school sweetheart and they are helping their two children grow into adulthood.