Education

• Ph.D., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1999
• M.Div., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, 1976
• M.S., Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1972
• B.S., The University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 1968

Teaching Experience

• Professor of Evangelism and Church Health, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007-Present
• Associate Professor of Evangelism and Church Health, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2001-2007
• Adjunct Professor, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1999-2001

Teaching Specializations

• Church Health
• Evangelism and Church Growth
• Quantitative and Qualitative Research
• Demographics and Denominational Studies
• Case Study Research

Ministry Experience

• Served as Pastor or Associate Pastor for over 30 years
• Served in churches in Kentucky, Florida, and Louisiana

Publications

Articles/Dissertation

• "The State of Membership Growth, Sunday School, and Evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention," The Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry, Vol. 1, no. 2 (Fall, 2003).
• "The Relationship of Selected Contextual and Institutional Factors to the Evangelism of Senior Adults in Churches of the Southern Baptist Convention." Ph.D. diss., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1999.

Reviews

• Thomas Hohstadt, Dying to Live: The 21st Century Church in Strategies for Today's Leader 39, no. 1 (Spring, 2002).
• Joseph Phelps, More Light, Less Heat: How Dialogue Can Transform Christian Conflicts into Growth in Strategies for Today's Leader 38, no. 2 (Second Quarter, 2001), 37.

Presentations (Recent)

• “Using ScanUS to Analyze the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Churches of the Greater New Orleans Area,” presentation at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Data Consortium, Hickory, NV, April 18-20, 2007.
• “The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Churches in the Greater New Orleans Area,” a presentation at the Social Justice Biennial Conference of the Presbyterian Health, Education, and Welfare Association,, January 14, 2007.
• “Reviving ‘No Hope’ Churches,” a presentation at the 2007 Louisiana Baptist Evangelism Conference, New Orleans, LA, January 23, 2007.
• “A Preliminary Study of the Impact of Hurricane Katrina in the Churches of the Greater New Orleans Area,” a presentation made at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Portland, OR, October 20, 2006.
• “A Case Study of a Growing, Rural Southern Baptist Church,” a presentation given a the Conference on Church Revitalization,” New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, LA, September 29, 2006 .
• “A Preliminary Report on the Number of Churches Operating in the Greater New Orleans Area,” a presentation made at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Research Fellowship, New Orleans, LA, September 21, 2006.
• “SPSS - An Aid to Ministry in the Churches of New Orleans,” a presentation given to the staff of the Church Nurse Program of the McFarland Institute, New Orleans, LA, August 18, 2006.
• “How the Southern Baptist Convention Can Help the Churches in Louisiana after Katrina Using Ministry Zones,” a presentation prepared for the NAMB State Leadership Meeting, Ridgecrest, NC, July 30-August 3, 2006.
• “Case Studies in the Utilization of Demographics to Study Churches in the Southern Baptist Convention” a presentation at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Data Consortium meeting in Hickory, NC, April 26-8, 2006.
• “A Preliminary Report on the Number of Churches Operating in the Greater New Orleans Area,” a presentation to the Board of Baptist Community Ministries, New Orleans, LA, April 20, 2006
• “A New Definition for Growing, Plateaued, and Declining Churches in the SBC” a presentation made at the annual meeting of the Mississippi Baptist Ministers of Religious Education, Jackson, MS, October 31, 2005.
• “Growth of a Southern Baptist Church in a Small Missouri Town” a presentation at the Church Revitalization Conference at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, October 8, 2004.
• “Proposed New Definitions for Growing, Plateaued, and Declining Churches in the SBC” a presentation at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Research Fellowship in Atlanta, GA, September 23, 2004.
• “The Use of Demographics in Understanding Church Context” a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society for Church Growth in New Orleans, LA, November 7, 2003.
• "Important Factors in the Evangelism of Senior Adults," Southern Baptist Research Fellowship Annual Meeting (New Orleans, LA), September, 2001.
• "Leading Churches in Senior Adults Evangelism," National Senior Adult Evangelism Conference, North American Mission Board (Branson, MO), March, 2001.

Honors

• The Ola Farmer Lenaz Lecture, "The Development of a Comprehensive Definition of Church Health," an invited lecture given at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, December 19, 2002.
• Researcher of the Year Award, Southern Baptist Research Fellowship, September 2000.

Elected Positions (Selected)

• Chairman, Steering Committee, The Southern Baptist Data Consortiun, 2006-present
• Vice President, The Southern Baptist Research Fellowship, 2003-present
• Moderator, Halifax Baptist Association, 1991-2
• President, North Miami-Broward ACTS, Inc., 1984-5
• Member, State Board of Missions (Executive Board), Florida Baptist Convention, 1982-5
• Member, Board of Trustees, Baptist Hospital, Miami, Florida, 1980-2
• President, Pastor's Conference, Miami Baptist Association, 1980-2

Professional Organizations

• Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education
• American Educational Research Association
• American Mathematical Society
• American Sociological Association
• American Society for Church Growth
• American Statistical Association
• Association for the Sociology of Religion
• Association for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Culture
• Evangelical Theological Society
• Institute of Mathematical Statistics
• Louisiana Educational Research Association
• Mid South Educational Research Association
• North America Case Research Association
• Population Association of America
• Religious Research Society
• Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
• Southern Baptist Data Consortium
• Southern Baptist Research Fellowship
• Southern Sociological Association
• World Association for Case Method Research and Application

Courses

• Master's Degree Program
• Doctoral Seminars (D.Min.)
• Doctoral Seminars (Ph.D.)

Family

• Married in 1970 to the former Peggy Shannon
• Children: Richard (b.1974) and Warren (b. 1977)