Conversatio Divina

An initiative of The Martin Institute with Westmont College

About

We pursue spiritual formation through learning, application, and communion with Christ and others.

Our resources span the teachings of Dallas Willard, Ignatius of Loyola, and Ancient Christianity, as we seek to engage a ‘divine conversation’ on what it means to follow Christ. By this process, we become active participants in our spiritual lives.

Willard is renowned for his teachings on spiritual formation, and his presence has rippled through the lives of Christians worldwide. In seeking Christ through the spiritual disciplines, he has brought simplicity to a range of complex ideas, inspiring not only knowledge, but action.

Timeline

1919

1921

September 4, 1935

1935-36

1936

1938

1938-39

1939-40

1940

1941

1944

1946-51

1952

1952-53

1953

1954-56

1955

1956

1957

1958-59

1959-64

1962

1963-64

1964-65

1965

1964-65

1965

1965-69

1967

1969

1970

1971

1977

1969-84

1980

1981

1982

1982-85

1984

1984-2012

1985

1988

1989

1990

1996

1997

1998

1999

2002

2003

2004

2006

2009

2010

2013

May 8, 2013

2018

2019

2020

1919

Maymie

1921

AA and Maymie

September 4, 1935

Birth: Buffalo, Missouri

1935-36

Lived in rented house close to downtown, Buffalo, MO

1936

Moved to a small farm on “Greasy Creek,” near Buffalo.

1938

Mom dies when Dallas was two and a half years old.

1938-39

Lives with Uncle Author and Aunt Bessie in Dora, MO

1939-40

Moves back to Greasy Creek and then to Wood Hill (“Myrtle’s farm”) after Albert marries Myrtle Green Fair.

1940

Starts school early to be with his brother Duane and his sister Fran. School is in Woodhill, MO.

1941

Moves in with JI and Bertha Willard in Rover, MO, and attends Bales Elementary

1944

Conversion under the ministry of Ross C. Carter at Buffalo Baptist Church

1946-51

Moves back to Rover, MO with JI and Bertha primarily, and also with his paternal grandparents Joseph and Susan Rhoda Spurlock Willard

1946-51

Dallas in Elementary School

1946-51

Dallas and classmates at Bales School

1952

Graduates from Thomasville High School at age 16.

1952-53

Migrant worker in Nebraska, Colorado and Idaho.

1953

Student at William Jewell College, Liberty, MO.

1954-56

Student at Tennessee Temple College, Chattanooga, TN; graduated in 1956 with BA in Psychology

1954-56

Tennessee Temple Basketball

1954-56

Dallas and Duane

1955

Marries Jane Lakes, Avondale Baptist Church in Macon Georgia

1956

Taught School and Pastored Thomasville Baptist Church, in Thomasville, MO

1956

Ordained

1957

Birth of John Willard

1957

Baylor University, Waco TX; BA in Philosophy and Religion in 1958 and completed some graduate classes.

1958-59

Warner Robbins, GA. Taught High School Literature and served as music director and associate pastor at Avondale Baptist Church.

1959-64

University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

1962

Birth of Becky Willard

1963-64

Advanced Knapp Fellow

1964-65

Instructor in Philosophy at UW

1965

Received PhD from UW

1964-65

Served as the pastor of Arena Wisconsin Congregational Church and for a second smaller congregation

1965

Began career at the University of Southern California

1965-69

Assistant Professor USC

1967

Publication of first philosophy article: A Crucial Error in Epistemology

1969

Visiting Professor, UCLA

1970

Meets Richard J. Foster

1971

Studies in the Book of Apostolic Acts: Journey in the Spiritual Unknown

1977

USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching

1969-84

Associate Professor USC

1980

First major Christian Publication, “Discipleship: For Super-Christians Only?”

1981

The Disciple, the Disciplines, the Triumphant Life

1982

Dallas teaches a series on knowing the will of God at Woodland Hills Presbyterian Church which becomes his first book in religion In Search of Guidance, later retitled Hearing God.

1982-85

Department Chair, Philosophy, USC

1984

Metaphysics

1984

Visiting Professor, University of Colorad

1984

Publication of In Search of Guidance and Logic and the Objectivity of Knowledge

1984-2012

Full Professor

1985

Spirituality and Mission

1985

Deliverance from the Law of Sin and Death is a series given at Eastern Mennonite College that is directly related Dallas's new book on the theology of the disciplines of which he is in the middle of writing. It was later published as The Spirit of the Disciplines.

1988

Publication of The Spirit of the Disciplines

1989

Life Without Lack

1989

First Renovaré Conference in Wichita

1990

Apologetics in the Manner of Jesus

1990

A Series on What Jesus Believed . . . is the biggest catalyst for Dallas writing a companion volume to his commercially successful book The Spirit of the Disciplines which focused on Jesus' practices. By contrast, this new book will focus on Jesus' beliefs. It was eventually published as The Divine Conspiracy.

1996

Spiritual Formation is a series of talks Dallas gave as a member of a think tank (later called TACT) composed of evangelical pastors, authors and ministry leaders who had gathered at The Navigators' Glen Eyrie conference center to discuss spiritual formation. Though not exclusively, the material is an initial formulation of the ideas which NavPress published as Renovation of the Heart.

1996

From Forgiveness to Blessing

1997

The Ontology of Knowledge

1998

Publication of The Divine Conspiracy & Began Disappearance of Moral Knowledge research

1998

The Redemption of Reason

1999

Science and Our Knowledge of the Human Soul

2002

Publication of Renovation of the Heart

2002

Spirituality and Ministry

2002

Staley Lecture Series

2003

The Knowledge of Christ in the Contemporary World is a series which represents Dallas's increasing concern that followers of Christ did not know how to present their unique position to the Western world. It became the basis of Dallas' new book Knowing Christ Today.

2003

Publication of Dallas’s translation of Edmund Husserl’s Philosophy of Arithmetic

2003

The Contemporary Belief System as Prison, and Jesus as Savior

2004

The Divine Conspiracy

2006

Publication of The Great Omission

2009

Publication of Knowing Christ Today

2009

Launch of the Renovaré Institute, a two-year immersive experience of training people in Christlikeness.

Denver Cohort
Atlanta Cohort

2010

Spiritual Formation and Soul Care

2010

Dallas and Family

2013

Living in the Presence Conference

May 8, 2013

Death

2018

Experiencing Life with God Conference, built around the work of Dallas Willard.

2019

Publication of Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

2020

Publication of The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge

Board

Gayle Beebe

Gayle D. Beebe became Westmont’s eighth president in 2007 after serving as president of Spring Arbor University in Michigan for seven years. Envisioning an institute for each of Westmont’s five planks (liberal arts, Christian, global, residential and undergraduate), Gayle helped established the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture and the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation. He has developed a proposal for the Westmont Institute for Global Learning and Leadership and is seeking funding for this innovative program and facility.

An active scholar, Gayle has published numerous articles and edited several publications. His latest book is The Shaping of an Effective Leader: Eight Formative Principles of Leadership (InterVarsity Press, 2011). He co-authored Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion with Richard Foster (InterVarsity Press, 2009), and spent five years working with Foster, Dallas Willard, Lynda Graybeal and Thomas Oden to produce the acclaimed Life with God Bible.

Gayle attended Westmont for a semester in 1980 while earning his bachelor’s degree at George Fox University in Oregon. He received master’s degrees in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, in philosophy of religion and theology from Claremont Graduate University, and in business administration in strategic management from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University. He completed his doctorate in philosophy of religion and theology at Claremont Graduate University in 1997. Prior to leading Spring Arbor University, he served as dean of the school of theology at Azusa Pacific University. Under his leadership, Spring Arbor was named a top-tier university by U.S. News & World Report.

Gayle serves on the boards of Santa Barbara’s United Way, the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, and the Christian College Consortium. He and his wife, Pam, have three children.

Eff Martin

Eff Martin is a private investor and a founding partner of Anthos Capital. He is a former General Partner and Managing Director of Goldman, Sachs & Co. He spent 32 years in the investment banking industry, the last 22 at Goldman Sachs. He was one of the founders of the firm’s High Technology business and became a partner in 1988. He led Goldman Sachs’ coverage and notable transactions for many of the most prominent technology companies including Apple Computer, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Juniper Networks and Microsoft.

He is deeply engaged in several areas of Christian spiritual formation ministries: discipling, teaching and leading retreats for men’s groups. He and his wife, Patty, are both involved with various aspects of Renovare, the Renovare Institute, the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation, Wellspring and Conversations Journal. He is also an elder at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.

Eff is active in a broad array of other community affairs. He currently serves on the governing or advisory boards of Pepperdine University; the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; the San Francisco Symphony; Music@Menlo; the Greater Ravalli Foundation and the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation. He is a past Chairman of the Board of Menlo School and has also served on the boards of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Hoover Institution, Stanford Athletics, Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Phillips Brooks School.

His interests include biblical studies, music, golf, fly fishing and the outdoors. Eff and his wife Patty reside in Woodside, California. They have three children.

Patty Martin

Patty Martin is a trained counselor and spiritual director and is engaged in promoting spiritual growth through meeting with individuals and groups in the Menlo Park area. She has served on the Board and is a small group leader for the WellSpring organization, which offers various spiritual formation opportunities as well as SoulCare retreats for Bay Area pastors in 9-month cohorts. She has also trained as a leader in the Ignatian Practices, and has facilitated several groups in the introduction or full 30-week retreats.

As an elder and leader at Menlo Park Presbyterian church she has taught numerous courses in spiritual formation based on the works of Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, and other writers. Her participation as a student in the Renovare Institute has enriched her knowledge in the areas of understanding life with God in his kingdom, the history of Christian spirituality, personal spiritual transformation, as well as contemplative prayer and other spiritual disciplines.

Patty is dedicated to Christian higher education, and she has served as a trustee for 7 years at Westmont College. She is currently vice president of the board and serves on the academic, student life, and trusteeship committees. Another area of education she is involved in is the under-funded and under-resourced children at the elementary level in Redwood City, California.

Her interests include reading, golf, chamber music, cooking, interior design and travel. She lives in Woodside, California with her husband, Eff. They have 3 grown children and a grandchild.

Gary Moon

Gary W. Moon, M.Div. Ph.D. has served as the founding Executive Director of the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture and the Dallas Willard Center for Christian Spiritual Formation at Westmont College, the founding director of the Renovaré International Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation and as a Founding Editor of the Conversations Journal. He presently directs resource development for the Martin Institute through Conversatio Divina; directs the DMIN program in spiritual direction at Fuller Theological Seminary and writes in areas such as the theoretical and practical integration of psychology and theology and has published and presented over 300 professional and popular papers.

He recently completed a biography of Dallas Willard, Becoming Dallas Willard: The Formation of a Philosopher, Teacher and Christ Follower. His recent books include: Eternal Living: Reflections on Dallas Willard’s Teaching on Faith & Formation (IVP, 2015) and Apprenticeship with Jesus (Baker Books, 2009). Other books include: Falling for God (Shaw/RandomHouse, 2004), and Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls (IVP, 2004). Homesick for Eden (Servant, 1997) and a four-volume family devotion series, The Bible Ride (Servant and LifeSprings).

Gary and his wife Regina reside in Atlanta. They have two grown children.

Mark Nelson

Mark Nelson grew up near Chicago, graduated from Wheaton College (B.A., Philosophy) and the University of Notre Dame (M.A., Ph.D., Philosophy). Before coming to Westmont in August, 2006, he taught at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the University of Leeds in England. Mark is married to Pauline, and they have three daughters, two dachshund puppies and one cat. He has opposable thumbs.

Mark’s research interests include ethics, epistemology and the philosophy of religion. Publications include “Y and Z are not off the Hook: the Survival Lottery made Fairer,” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy (2012); Guest editor, special issue on “The Problem of the Criterion,” Philosophical Papers (2011); “We Have No Positive Epistemic Duties,” Mind (2010); “A Problem for Conservatism,” Analysis (2009); “More Bad News for the Logical Autonomy of Ethics,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy (2007); “What the Problem with Aquinas Isn’t,” New Blackfriars (2006); “Moral Realism and Program Explanation,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy (2006); “The Possibility of Inductive Moral Arguments,” Philosophical Papers (2006); “Telling it Like it Is: Philosophy as Descriptive Manifestation,” American Philosophical Quarterly (2005).

James Catford

James Catford currently serves as group chief executive of British and Foreign Bible Society of England and Wales and as Chairman of Renovaré Britain and Ireland. He is also a trustee of InterVarsity Press and vice chair of Amity Printing Company in Nanjing. James previously worked as publishing director at Hodder Headline and HarperCollins UK. He and his wife Sue live in London.

Internal Senior Fellows

Charlie Farhadian

Charles Farhadian is professor of world religions and Christian mission, with research interests on the relationship between religions and cultures, particularly Christianity in non-Western contexts, world Christianity, comparative missiology, and religion and globalization. His fieldwork is in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, where he has investigated themes of worship, social history, and nation making.

Charlie’s books include Christianity, Islam, and Nationalism in Indonesia (Routledge), Christian Worship Worldwide: Expanding Horizons, Deepening Practices (Eerdmans), The Testimony Project: Papua (Deiyai, Papua), Introducing World Christianity (Wiley-Blackwell) and Introducing World Religions: A Christian Engagement (Baker Academic).

He studied at Seattle Pacific University (B.A.), Yale University (M.Div.), and Boston University (Ph.D.).

Andrea Gurney

What is Andrea working on now?
Andrea Gurney is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Westmont College. She earned a B.A. in Psychology at Wheaton College (IL), an M.S.Ed. in Psychological Services at University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in Clinical, Counseling, and School Psychology at Northeastern University. In addition to teaching upper-division psychology courses at Westmont, she has a private practice in the community where she works with individuals, couples, and families. (More information: www.DrAndreaGurney.com)

Before coming to Westmont in August, 2005, Andrea trained for three years at Harvard Medical School, completing her post-doctoral fellowship in Couples and Family Therapy. She spent eight years working at Boston Children’s Hospital Developmental Medicine Center and the Brazelton Touchpoints Center. Both her clinical and research interests focus on resiliency in children, marriages, and families. Andrea speaks frequently in the greater Santa Barbara area, and her most recent talks include: Wired for Love: The Importance of early Attachment; Raising Emotionally Intelligent Children; And the Beat Goes On: Nurturing our Marriages amidst the Parenting Years; Growing Gratitude in our Homes and Community; And Now there are Three: Maintaining Healthy Marital Relationships; Storm and Stress:Ten Tips for Navigating the Teen Years; From External to Internal: Setting Boundaries with Children; Timely Reminders for Parents of all ages and Stages.

Andrea is married to Thomas and they have two daughters, Kate and Madeline. They love to be outdoors as a family — whether that’s hiking, biking, playing at the beach, or traveling.

Tremper Longman III

Tremper Longman III is the Distinguished Scholar of Biblical Studies at Westmont College. He earned a B.A. in Religion at Ohio Wesleyan University, an M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in ancient Near Eastern studies from Yale University.

Tremper has authored or co-authored over twenty books and written numerous articles. A number of these works are interdisciplinary. His Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation (Zondervan, 1987); Complete Literary Guide to the Bible (contributor and co-editor along with Leland Ryken; Zondervan, 1993) and numerous articles approach the study of the Bible through literary criticism.

He also co-authors books with the psychologist Dan Allender (Bold Love [NavPress, 1991]; Cry of the Soul [NavPress, 1994], Intimate Allies [Tyndale House Publishers, 1995], Bold Purpose (Tyndale House Publishers, 1997]), a church curriculum called The Intimate Mystery of Marriage (InterVarsity Press, 2005), and most recently Breaking the Idols of Your Heart: How to Navigate the Temptations of Life (IVP, 2007).

Tremper and Alice have three sons. Tremper IV works for the Carrier Division of United Technologies as a marketing analyst and has two daughters, Gabrielle and Mia. Timothy is an antitrust lawyer working for Paul Hastings in Washington D.C. Andrew is a financial advisor with Citigroup Gold in Washington, D.C. He is married to Tiffany (Love) Longman, and they are both graduates of Pepperdine. For fun, Tremper watches movies to relax and for exercise, he plays squash.

Mark Nelson

Helen Rhee

Helen Rhee is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA. She earned her B.A. in History at UC Berkeley and her M.Div. and Ph.D. at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. Prior to coming to Westmont in 2004, she served as pastor of Hana Church (Buena Park, CA) for a number of years.

Helen specializes in early Christian history, especially the second and third century Christian literature, focusing on the diverging Christian self- identities in relation to Greco-Roman culture and society. Her first book, Early Christian Literature: Christ and Culture in the Second and Third Centuries (Routledge, 2005), explores this issue. Her scholarly interest, however, extends to the New Testament (minor) and other periods and aspects of Christian history as well.

Helen’s most recent book, Loving the Poor, Saving the Rich: Wealth, Poverty, and Early Christian Formation (Baker Academic, 2012), examines and analyzes early Christian attitudes toward and practices involving wealth and poverty and how these contributed to shaping Christian identities within larger Greco-Roman and Jewish contexts. She received the Bruce and Adaline Bare Teacher of the Year Award in Humanities, 2010.

Jesse Covington

Jesse Covington is Professor of Political Science at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, where he teaches and writes in the fields of political theory and constitutional law and directs the Augustinian Scholars honors program. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, an M.A. in Religion at Westminster Theological Seminary, and a B.A. in Political Science from Pepperdine University. Dr. Covington’s research interests focus on the interrelation of religion and government, particularly as regards First Amendment law, natural law, and the foundations of political liberalism. His has published on John Locke, Saint Augustine, Natural Law, the First Amendment, and liberal arts education, and co-edited Natural Law and Evangelical Political Thought (Lexington, 2012). Dr. Covington’s current book projects include Taken on Faith: The Concept of Religion in First Amendment Jurisprudence and a collaborative project on Protestant political morality. Dr. Covington resides in Santa Barbara, CA with his wife and four children. He has taught at Westmont since 2007 and has also held appointments at Princeton University and Wheaton College.

External Senior Fellows

Ken Boa

Kenneth Boa is engaged in a ministry of relational evangelism and discipleship, teaching, writing, and speaking. He holds a B.S. from Case Institute of Technology, a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. from New York University, and a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in England.

Ken is the President of Reflections Ministries, an organization that seeks to encourage, teach, and equip people to know Christ, follow Him, become progressively conformed to His image, and reproduce His life in others. He is also President of Trinity House Publishers, a publishing company that is dedicated to the creation of tools that will help people manifest eternal values in a temporal arena by drawing them to intimacy with God and a better understanding of the culture in which they live.

Recent publications by Dr. Boa include Conformed to His Image; 20 Compelling Evidences that God Exists; Face to Face; Augustine to Freud; Faith Has its Reasons; Handbook to Leadership; God, I Don’t Understand, and A Taste of the Classics. He is a contributing editor to The Open Bible and the consulting editor of the Zondervan NASB Study Bible.

Kenneth Boa also writes a free monthly teaching letter called Reflections. If you would like to be on the mailing list, visit KenBoa.org or call (800) DRAW NEAR (800-372-9632).

James Catford

Rebecca DeYoung

Rebecca DeYoung (Ph.D. University of Notre Dame) has enjoyed teaching ethics and the history of ancient and medieval philosophy at Calvin University (formerly, Calvin College) for the past 20 years. Her research focuses on the seven deadly sins, as well as Thomas Aquinas’s work on virtue. Her books include Glittering Vices (Brazos), Vainglory (Eerdmans), and a co-authored volume entitled Aquinas’s Ethics (University of Notre Dame Press).

Recent essays about various vices and virtues—hope, despair, sloth, courage, magnanimity, and vainglory—appear in Virtues and Their Vices (Oxford), Being Good (Eerdmans), and Cambridge Critical Guide to Aquinas’s De Malo, and the journals Res Philosophica, ACPQ, the Thomist, the, and Faith and Philosophy. Awards for her work include the Book and Essay Prize from the Character Project and the C.S. Lewis prize for Glittering Vices. She speaks widely, including opportunities to teach in prison.

She and her husband live in Grand Rapids, near the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline. They have four children ages 14-21.

Chris Hall

Chris Hall currently serves as President of Renovare. Previously, Chris was Director of Academic Spiritual Formation and Distinguished Professor of Theology at Eastern University, where he also served as Chancellor, Provost, Dean of Palmer Theological Seminary, and Dean of the Templeton Honors College.

Chris is the author of a number of books, including The Mystery of God: Theology for Knowing the Unknowable (with Steven D. Boyer; Baker Academic), Does God Have a Future?: A Debate on Divine Providence (with John Sanders, Baker Academic), Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers (IVP Academic), Learning Theology with the Church Fathers (IVP Academic), Worshiping with the Church Fathers (IVP Academic), and The Trinity (with Roger Olson; Eerdmans). Chris also served as the associate editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (IVP).

Chris and his wife Debbie reside in Philadelphia. They have three grown children.

Trevor Hudson

Trevor Hudson has been part of the Methodist movement in Southern Africa for the past 40 years. Presently serving primarily around Johannesburg, he is deeply committed to the work and ministry of the local congregation. His pastoral leadership has been shaped in the crucible of the South African experience. In the post- apartheid era, he has given himself to the work of reconciliation and restoration in the Christian community and society at large.

Much of his time at the moment in South Africa is given to the ministries of teaching, spiritual formation and spiritual direction. Besides his work in a number of local congregations, he works with the Jesuit Institute in Johannesburg in training both spiritual directors and givers of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. He also teaches on the Masters Program in Missional Spirituality at Stellenbosch University.

Over the past 15 years he has travelled internationally, leading conferences, retreats and workshops in a number of ecumenical settings. Presently, he is part of the faculty for the D.Ministry program in Spiritual Direction at Fuller Seminary and lectures annually at the Renovare Institute for Spiritual Formation.

He has written 18 books focusing mainly on spiritual formation and discipleship, including Discovering Our Spiritual Identity ( IVP) and Beyond Loneliness ( Upper Room Books). At the moment, he is engaged in exploring the connections between the central ideas of Dallas Willard and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Trevor has been married to Debbie for 38 years and together they are the parents of Joni and Mark.

Steve Porter

Dr. Steve L. Porter is Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Biola University (La Mirada, CA). He completed his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Southern California under Dallas Willard and M.Phil. in philosophical theology at the University of Oxford under Richard Swinburne. Steve teaches and does research on the dynamics of human change from psychological, philosophical, and theological perspectives. Steve has authored or edited various books and articles. Recent edited books include: "Neuroscience and the Soul: The Human Person in Philosophy, Science, and Theology and Psychology" and "Spiritual Formation in Dialogue: Moral and Spiritual Change in Christian Perspective." Alongside two others, Steve edited and completed Willard’s posthumous publication "The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge." Steve is cofounder of the Intellectual Virtues Academy of Long Beach, which is a grade 6–12 charter school committed to an intellectual virtues model of education. Steve and his wife Alicia live with their son Luke and daughter Siena in Long Beach, CA.

James K.A. Smith

James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin University and serves as editor in chief of Image journal, a quarterly devoted to “art, mystery, and faith.” Trained as a philosopher with a focus on contemporary French thought, Smith has expanded on that scholarly platform to become an engaged public intellectual and cultural critic. An award-winning author and widely traveled speaker, he has emerged as a thought leader with a unique gift of translation, building bridges between the academy, society, and the church.

Staff

Gary Moon

Gary and his wife Regina reside in Atlanta. They have two grown children.

Mariah Velásquez

Mariah is the Program Coordinator for the Martin Institute and Dallas Willard Center. She especially enjoys cultivating spaces for students, faculty and staff to encounter the Trinity.

Mariah earned her B.A. in Religious Studies from Westmont College in 2010. She grew up in the mountains of Colorado and smiles whenever she smells pine trees or sees hummingbirds. She is married to Eduardo.

Joel Patterson

Joel Patterson has been Westmont College’s Director of Music and Worship since 2003 and is excited to add to those duties the role of Liaison to the Campus Pastor’s Office for the Dallas Willard Center. One of his main roles with the DWC is the administration of the Capax Dei small groups.

He is an alumnus of Hope College and is working on an MA in Theology from Fuller Seminary. He is married to Erin and is the father of Josephine James.

Mark Nelson

Content Development Team

Gary Moon

Gary and his wife Regina reside in Atlanta. They have two grown children.

Lacy Finn Borgo

Lacy Finn Borgo, DMin, teaches and provides spiritual direction for the Renovaré Institute, for the DMin. in Spiritual Direction at Fuller Theological Seminary, Portland Seminary, and the Companioning Center. Lacy has a spiritual direction and supervision of spiritual directors ministry, and provides spiritual direction for children at Haven House, a transitional housing facility for homeless families. She is the author of Life with God for Children, A Curriculum for the Spiritual Formation of Children, Good Dirt: A Devotional for the Spiritual Formation of Families and the forthcoming Spiritual Direction with Children to be published by IVP. Lacy also blogs at GoodDirtMinistries.org. She is a member of the Renovaré ministry team. Lacy holds a DMin. from George Fox Evangelical Seminary and is a graduate of the Renovaré Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation. She has a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from Portland Seminary. Her supervision training is from the Mercy Center in Burlingame, CA. Lacy lives on a small farm on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains. The rhythms of the earth have formed and shaped her. She currently worships with an Anglican community, but finds something of God in many spaces and places.

Jean Nevills

Jean Nevills has been a Spiritual Director for more than 20 years. An occasional adjunct in the Master of Arts in Spiritual Direction at Portland Seminary, she is an instructor at the Companioning Center (companioningcenter.org), and serves on the board of Her Worth International, a women’s economic empowerment ministry.

Jean earned her M.A. in Christian Education from Western Evangelical Seminary, completed Supervisor Training through Together in the Mystery, and is a graduate of the Renovaré Institute for Spiritual Formation, and can now play 6 chords on her ukulele.

Northwest trees and terrain ground her in God’s creation; marriage and mothering, business, and community life are her arenas of spiritual formation for living with God in a Jesus way

Regina Moon

Regina Moon lives in Atlanta, Georgia. For the past 7 years she has assisted her husband Gary with the operation and ministries of the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation. Her career has primarily been spent at Emmanuel College as Director of Counseling, Director of Service Learning and Vice President for Student Life. She has also served as adjunct faculty in Old Testament and Spiritual Formation and spent a large portion of her time journeying with students, faculty and staff as they walked with God.
Her work with the Willard Center includes leading spiritual formation small groups, recruitment, training and support of group leaders, assisting with retreats, serving as spiritual director for students and staff, and serving as a staff spiritual companion with the Fuller D.Min. in Spiritual Direction. She holds an M.Ed. in Counseling and an M.S. in Practical Theology. Their two daughters, Jesse and Jenna, and their son-in-law, Tom currently live in Athens, GA.

Michael Stewart Robb

Michael Stewart Robb is a writer and researcher, living with his family in Munich, Germany. His life’s first academic interest concerned how churches can holistically educate and edify the people in their midst. This interest led him to Dallas Willard’s pentalogy, his five theological books, but also to long-term ministry in European churches where questions of formation are often not discussed. An avid reader, he went on to study systematic theology at Aberdeen, where he later finished his doctoral research on Dallas Willard. Though a theologian by training, he holds that Willard’s philosophy is more valuable and more worthy of attention than his theology.

As of 2022, he has authored two books The Kingdom Among Us: The Gospel according to Dallas Willard (Fortress Press) and Something to Say: A Comprehensive Bibliography of Dallas Willard (Sanctus Press). He is the director of Sanctus, a European institute for theology and spiritual formation and the host of the institute’s video channel and podcast, the so-called Sanctus Forum. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he dreams of playing the guitar really well and touring the world, not necessarily at the same time.

Avo Adourian

Avo Adourian picked up his first copy of The Divine Conspiracy when he was twenty-one and has devoured everything Dallas since then. For him, it was a reawakening to Christianity.

Avo is a graduate of the Renovaré Institue: London Cohort.

His roles for conversatio.org include creative direction, branding, UI/UX, and content development.

Avo is a creative director who lives in Orange, California with his wife, Nathalie, daughter, Ella, and son, Paul.

Pam Stewart

Pam Stewart is in a part-time research assistant role for Conversatio Divina, working with the organization of audio/text files and transcription efforts for the website. Before this, she served a similar role for the Martin Institute and was the Research Assistant for two years and then Program Coordinator for the Renovare Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation for 8 years. Pam was raised in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in a Pastor’s home and is a graduate of Emmanuel College with an A.A. in Business. She has worked in ministry as a Pastor’s wife, a College President’s wife, and also in the areas of Accounting and Administrative Support over the past thirty-five years while raising two boys. In her spare time she enjoys reading, cooking and traveling with her husband, Mike.

Ville Kavilo

An ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Ville is a pastor in the Kronoby municipality in Ostrobothnia. While a theology student at Åbo Akademi University, Ville tested many formational practices while living an intentional Christian community (“Palace of Humility”) and while co-pastoring a church in the Evangelical Free Church of Finland. His master’s dissertation was on Dallas Willard & the Formation of the Body by Love.
He is a graduate of the Renovaré Institute (Santa Barbara Cohort) and has a vocation qualification in entrepreneurship. In addition to working as a parish priest, he works as a photographer (Kavilo Photography), brewer (Kalakka Brewery) and business coach (Grow Business Coaching). He is the creator of the photography magazine WNDRNGS, focusing on pilgrimage and aphoristic art.

About

Timeline

Board

Gayle Beebe

Eff Martin

Patty Martin

Gary Moon

Mark Nelson

James Catford

Internal Senior Fellows

Charlie Farhadian

Andrea Gurney

Tremper Longman III

Mark Nelson

Helen Rhee

Jesse Covington

External Senior Fellows

Ken Boa

James Catford

Rebecca DeYoung

Chris Hall

Trevor Hudson

Steve Porter

James K.A. Smith

Staff

Gary Moon

Mariah Velásquez

Joel Patterson

Mark Nelson

Content Development Team

Gary Moon

Lacy Finn Borgo

Jean Nevills

Regina Moon

Michael Stewart Robb

Avo Adourian

Pam Stewart

Ville Kavilo

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