Seminary Faculty & Staff

Freddy Cardoza, is the Dean of the School of Ministry Studies at Grace College and Vice President of Grace Theological Seminary. Freddy oversees the faithful execution of the mission and vision for the School of Ministry Studies. He is committed to advancing the Kingdom of God by expanding the size, reach, and impact of the school, faculty, staff, and the dynamic programs they offer. Freddy also serves as Professor of Christian Ministry and Leadership. In this capacity, he equips Christian leaders for ministry impact, and trains disciples to wield the Word of God and the power of God, for the glory of God.

Dr. Cardoza’s most recent scholarship includes the primary textbook entitled Christian Education: A Guide to the Foundations of Ministry (2019, Baker Academic).

Tiberius Rata, Associate Dean of the School of Ministry Studies and Professor of Old Testament Studies, focuses on instilling in students a love for God and His inerrant Word, remembering the words of Ezra 7:10: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Rata wants his ministry students to become pastors who can preach and teach God’s word passionately and accurately, with a strong foundation on the principles of Scripture so they can be pillars in their churches, leaders in their workplaces, and model citizens in their communities.

Alumnus of Grace College, earning a B.Sc. with a double major in Business Administration and Psychology in 1990. Earned an M.Div. at Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary and a Th.M. and Ph.D. in Theology at Wycliffe College in Toronto.  20+ years of experience teaching theology, advising and mentoring students at both undergraduate and seminary levels. Past Lecturer of Ministry and Spiritual Formation at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto and Theologian in Residence at St. James Church in Paris, Ontario. Previously, he taught for 11 years as Associate Professor of Theology at Redeemer University College in Ontario, Canada also serving as department chair. He serves as Canon Theologian and Examining Chaplain for the Diocese of the Great Lakes in the Anglican Church of North America.

Anthony Casey is Associate Professor and director of the Doctor of Intercultural Studies program at Grace College and Seminary.  He has worked with refugees and other immigrants in the U.S. and overseas for fifteen years, conducted cultural and linguistic research on four continents, and previously served as professor of anthropology at a university in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Dr. Casey is author of Peoples on the Move: Community Research for Ministry and Missions (Wipf and Stock, 2020) and Church Planting among Immigrants in U.S. Urban Centers: The Where, Why, and How of Diaspora Missiology in Action (Institute for Diaspora Studies, 2016) in addition to a number of book chapters and journal articles. He currently serves as Vice President for Publications and is a member of the executive board of the Evangelical Missiological Society.  Dr. Casey is married to his wife Beth and has four sons.

Matthew S. Harmon, Professor of New Testament studies, loves to help people understand the beauty of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, seeing it as the key to life transformation (2 Corinthians 3:18). As a result, the focus of his ministry is teaching and preaching God’s word in various contexts. He has a passion for research and writing, specializing in the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament, biblical theology, commentary writing and the Pauline epistles. He is an active member of Christ’s Covenant Church, where he serves on the preaching team and regularly teaches Sunday School.

CV – Matthew S Harmon

Christy Hill, Professor of Spiritual Formation and Women’s Ministries, has a passion for facilitating the holistic development of men and women into mature disciples of Jesus Christ, who are transformed by the experience of God’s love and truth. Saddened by the discrepancy between accurate theology and a living faith, she seeks to help her learners acknowledge that their operant belief system (behaviors, values, attitudes, motives) reveals their true beliefs. She then seeks to aid spiritual formation by resolving the gap between one’s professed belief system (correct theology) and actual beliefs.

Rock LaGioia, Professor of Pastoral Studies and Director of Doctoral Programs, is passionate about building up the body of Christ by training the next generation of effective church leaders. Rock has many years of pastoral experience and enjoys preaching and teaching sound doctrine regularly at worship services, conferences, and seminars.

Brent Mencarelli is the Program Director and Professor of Youth Ministries at Grace College and Theological Seminary. He also serves as the college’s Chaplain overseeing Chapel and Discipleship programming for our students as well as providing pastoral counseling for our campus. Brent has spent over 15 years leading and serving the next generation of Christians. His passion is to see students trust and follow after Jesus. In his seminary work he excelled in Old Testament studies earning the John J. Davis Award for Excellence in Old Testament Studies. Brent also thoroughly enjoys studying and teaching biblical theology, as well as discipleship/spiritual formation. He grew up in Pure Michigan and is happily married to his high school sweetheart Amy. Together they love spending time with their dog Timber, all things outdoors, cooking, and spending time with friends.

Rachel Park is the Associate Director of Korean Online Doctoral Program and professor of Center for Korean Studies. Rachel has a passion for cross-cultural leadership training and missionary care.  She has been focusing on women’s leadership as well as mentorship and teaches to the cross-cultural leaders and next generation leaders. Rachel’s cross-cultural ministry experience began in 1983 as a missionary, professor at Moscow Theological Seminary, Russia as well as professor to missionary candidates at Global Missionary Training Institute in Seoul, Korea.

Stephen Park is the Director of the Korean Online Doctoral Program and a professor of the Center for Korean Studies.  With the initial calling to spread the gospel in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, he started his cross-cultural ministry from 1983 and planted the first Korean church in Budapest, Hungary. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, he collaborated with a Russian Baptist Church to plant local Russian churches. Stephen also established the Russian Theological Seminary for local leadership training and served as the dean of the seminary. In addition, during his tenure in Russia, he served as the president of the Korean Missionary Association in Moscow, Russia. After departing Russia, Stephen worked many years as the Director of Missionary Training Institute (Global Missionary Training Institute: GMTI) in Seoul, Korea before he joined Grace Theological Seminary.

Dr. Trent Lambert is an alumnus of The Ohio State University, earning a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Church Administration in 1995. He earned a M.A. in Ministerial Leadership at Indiana Wesleyan University and a M.Div. and D.Min at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Trent has 20+ years of experience teaching and writing Bible, ministry, and leadership related courses, as well as advising and mentoring students at both undergraduate and seminary levels. Trent also has 20+ years of pastoring and planting churches on the West Coast and in the Midwest, in addition to 15+ years working in college administration. Currently, Trent is the Director of the Center for Thriving Leaders and the Director of the Master of Arts in Ministry Studies for Grace College and Seminary.

Karla McGehee is the Director of Digital Learning and Director of Accreditation and Assessment at Grace Theological Seminary. Dr. McGehee also directs the Online Master of Divinity and Online Master of Arts in Christian Ministry programs and the non-credit-bearing, on-demand MicroLearning platform at the Seminary. She serves as a professor at Grace, teaching three core undergraduate courses and focusing on the disciplines of Christian education, age-graded/church ministry, discipleship, and spiritual formation at the Seminary level (masters level and Deploy, our competency-based theological education program). Dr. McGehee is passionate about investing in students in ways that guide them toward a deeper walk with God and strengthens their effectiveness in ministry. She has been serving as a professor in Christian higher education since January 2011.

Dr. McGehee’s most recent scholarship includes a peer-reviewed article entitled “Re-tooling: Building a Bridge to Today’s Student,” published by Jossey-Bass in their special edition of New Directions for Teaching and Learning (2023).

Gabe is the Director of Deploy, a Competency-Based Theological Education program. He gives oversight to the operations and student support of the Deploy program.

Isaac is the Coordinator for the Proclamation Project, a program empowered by the Center for Thriving Leaders.

Christian Cardoza is the Media Director for the Center for Thriving Leaders. He has a passion for visual storytelling and building up God’s kingdom. “I’m blessed to be able to create compelling and visually stunning media as a resource to thousands of aspiring pastors and church planters to help them thrive in their ministry.”

Dr. Thomas Clothier is a Student Support Manager with the Deploy Program. Tom has over forty years of ministry experience including pastoral, writing, teaching, radio, youth ministry and children’s ministry, both in Indiana and Michigan. Tom has also served as a Part-Time Instructor with Grace College and Purdue University, Fort Wayne, IN. Tom presently serves in various volunteer capacities at Headwaters Church, Fort Wayne, IN. He also blogs daily at  hiswordtoday.org. The His Word Today Podcast will begin in September, 2022. Tom has been married to his wife Diana since 1976. They have two grown children, Timothy & wife Carrie, and Elizabeth & husband Dylan. They also have four grandchildren: Allegra, Adelaide, Toban and Tucker. Together, Tom and Diana enjoy working around their home, their family and friends, their church participation, University of Michigan Football (Go Blue!), traveling, and ministering to others.

Gary Colledge works for the Grace Theological Seminary program in Akron, OH.

Bob Fetterhoff serves as the Director of Ministry Partnerships & Mentor Coordinator for the Deploy program. In this capacity, Bob assists with onboarding new ministry partners and provides touch-and-go support to Deploy’s ministry and formation mentors. Bob has over forty years of pastoral ministry experience–36 as senior pastor of Wooster Grace in Wooster, Ohio, and has hosted weekday radio broadcasts and led semi-annual trips to Israel. Bob served two terms as the Executive Director of the Charis Fellowship, and now serves as the Executive Director and Board Chair of an educational entity called Walk the Bible. Bob has been married to Roxanne since 1980 and has two married daughters and sons-in-law, Kristen and Jon Ekhoff and Kara and Adam Kasper, and six grandchildren who provide unlimited sources of joy and love. Bob is passionate about helping pastors and loves to introduce people to a fresh understanding of the Bible through visits to the holy land.

Olivia is the Program Support Manager for Deploy, a Competency-Based Theological Education Program. She provides administrative support for the Deploy program and assists with project management for the Seminary. 

Adriana Klein is the Digital Media Coordinator for the Proclamation Project and Pathways.

Lane is the Director of the School of Ministry Accelerated Program, an accelerated Bachelors/Masters program. He gives oversight to the operations and student support of the program. He is also a Program Support Manager for Deploy.  He has taught a variety of courses within the school of ministry studies since 2020. He has served as a pastor since 2016. Throughout his ministry, he desires to continually exalt Jesus Christ and to point others to Him (Jn 3:30). His passion is to help students grow in Christ, by connecting their profession and practice (Jam 2:14-26). He is passionate about leading others to worship the Lord and to see His magnificent worth and beauty, because in Christ we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3). Previously, Lane has over twenty-five years of business leadership experience in a variety of management and ownership capacities. His research interests include New Testament, Pauline studies, the epistle to the Ephesians, warfare, early Christian worship, the Psalms, intertextuality, and the reliability of the Scriptures. He enjoys traveling and spending time with his family.

Rob gives oversight to Seminary Admissions for all seminary programs.

Julia is the Coordinator for the Center for Thriving Leaders; Student Support Manager: Online MA Ministry Studies, Online Master of Divinity, and Online MA in Christian Ministry

Laura Sanders is the Administrative Assistant for the Proclamation Project within the Center for Thriving Leaders.

Chad serves as a student support manager for the Deploy program and teaches Hebrew grammar across Grace’s seminary and undergrad programs. He is passionate about equipping Christ’s Church with knowledge of God’s Word and the surrounding culture(s) to which it was originally written. He has served in various levels of ministry leadership in Indiana and Slovakia.

Jane is the Office Manager and Assistant to the V.P. and Dean of Grace Theological Seminary.