Rev. Dr. Mark R. Teasdale Promoted to Full Professor of Evangelism
June 5, 2020
The Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary Board of Trustees unanimously approved the promotion of Rev. Dr. Mark R. Teasdale from associate professor to full professor as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism effective July 1, 2020. Additional information regarding his installation service will come later this year.
Teasdale joined the faculty at Garrett-Evangelical in 2008 and served as the director of the doctor of ministry program from 2009-2018. Within the faculty, he has chaired multiple committees and been a part of redesigning courses and degree programs. In the classroom, Teasdale has excelled in traditional lecture formats and in creating innovative online classroom engagement. Rev. Dr. Ron Anderson, chair of Teasdale’s review committee, said, “By the time the promotion review committee concluded, without reservation, that Mark Teasdale be promoted to full professor, we had noted how Dr. Teasdale has more than shouldered his responsibilities to the seminary. He has demonstrated care for his students as people and care for their well-being, provided leadership in area churches and in the denomination, and been recognized by his colleagues in the field of evangelism as a pivotal figure in their discipline, both for his scholarship and for his leadership within the academy. We congratulate him on this accomplishment.”
“Evangelism is a bias for the good news that God is redeeming creation through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit,” said Teasdale. “It is my privilege to share this message with hundreds of people every year, equipping Christian leaders to train those under their care to present the gospel in a way that is authentic to their unique experiences of Christ, faithful to the apostolic tradition, meaningful to those who hear them, and creative in practice. I am deeply grateful to the many people who have created a way for me to live into this vocation, and I am honored by their gracious affirmation of my ministry through this promotion. I offer particular thanks to the Foundation for Evangelism for its ongoing support and to Garrett-Evangelical for its recognition that evangelism is an essential element of public theology and bringing about social change.”
Jane Wood, president of the Foundation for Evangelism (FFE), which graciously helps financially support Garrett-Evangelical’s E. Stanley Jones Chair in Evangelism, said in response to news of Teasdale’s promotion, “The Foundation for Evangelism joins our partner in ministry, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, in celebrating Dr. Teasdale’s promotion and affirming his commitment to his students and the development of generative gospel leaders for the local church. Teasdale’s research, academic rigor, and commitment to the global church represents all the FFE intended for those who serve in E. Stanley Jones Professors of Evangelism chairs. Teasdale embodies our vision that this program be a catalyst to equip disciples to share the good news.”
Teasdale is president of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education, associate editor of Missiology: An International Review, and served for six years as the editor of Witness: The Journal of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education. He was also named one of the first Fellows of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism. Teasdale has published many articles and book chapters, and is the author of Methodist Evangelism, American Salvation: The Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1860-1920 (Pickwick, 2014), Evangelism for Non-Evangelists: Sharing the Gospel Authentically (InterVarsity Press, 2016), and Go! How to Become A Great Commission Church (Wesley’s Foundry Books, 2017). Among his research interests, Teasdale hopes to expand on his signature “evangelism equation” by publishing on the intersection of salvation and working for the public good.
Active in the church, Teasdale is an ordained elder in the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church (UMC). He is a highly sought keynote speaker and has led numerous workshops on evangelism. Teasdale has also been a consultant with several local churches and denominational bodies, including the cabinet of the Methodist Church (Lower Myanmar) and the Connectional Table of the UMC. For the past several years, Teasdale has offered a popular online “Evangelism for Non-Evangelists” course through Garrett-Evangelical’s Connectional Learning program, offering both clergy and laity the opportunity grow in their understanding and practice of evangelism within their local context. He is also a faculty member for the United Methodist Course of Study programs at Garrett-Evangelical and Wesley Theological Seminary.
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, a graduate school of theology related to The United Methodist Church, was founded in 1853. Located on the campus of Northwestern University, the seminary serves more than 450 students from various denominations and cultural backgrounds, fostering an atmosphere of ecumenical interaction. Garrett-Evangelical creates bold leaders through master of divinity, master of arts, master of theological studies, doctor of philosophy, and doctor of ministry degrees. Its 4,500 living alumni serve church and society around the world.