A Day with the Beeson Preaching Faculty

Join Beeson's preaching faculty for a day-long preaching workshop. Breakfast refreshments and lunch are included. All participants will receive three books--one by each participating faculty member.

Robert Smith Jr. serves as professor of Christian preaching and holds the Charles T. Carter Baptist Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School. Previously he served as the Carl E. Bates Associate Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Smith is the 2017 E. K. Bailey Expository Preaching Conference Living Legend. A popular teacher and preacher, he received Southern’s 1996 Findley B. Edge Award for Teaching Excellence.

An ordained Baptist minister, he served as pastor of the New Mission Missionary Baptist Church in Cincinnati, OH for twenty years. He earned his PhD while serving as a pastor. He is a contributing editor for a study of Christian ministry in the African American church, Preparing for Christian Ministry, and is co-editor of A Mighty Long Journey. Additionally, he has served as an editor of Our Sufficiency Is of God: Essays on Preaching in Honor of Gardner C. Taylor (Mercer University Press, Macon Georgia: 2010) and Worship, Tradition, and Engagement: Essays in Honor of Timothy George (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2018). He has written the book, Doctrine That Dances: Bringing Doctrinal Preaching and Teaching to Life (B&H Publishing Group, Nashville: 2008), which was selected as the winner of the 2008 Preaching Book of the Year Award by Preaching magazine and the 2009 Preaching Book of the Year Award by Christianity Today’s preaching.com. In 2010, Preaching magazine named Doctrine That Dances one of the 25 most influential books in preaching for the last 25 years. He also has written, The Oasis of God: From Mourning to Morning—Biblical Insights from Psalms 42 and 43, and has a forthcoming book called, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Exalting Jesus in Joshua (B&H Publishing Group, Nashville).

Smith has spoken at more than 135 universities, colleges, and seminaries in the United States, Great Britain, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean. He has taught congregations in several countries including Greece, Turkey, Rome, the Holy Land and Switzerland. Smith brought the closing message of the 22nd Baptist World Congress/Baptist World Alliance, which was scheduled to be held in 2020 in Rio de Janeiro and transformed into a fully virtual event held on July 7-10, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His research interests include the place of passion in preaching, the literary history of African American preaching, Christological preaching and theologies of preaching. Smith has contributed essays and articles to various books, magazines and commentaries.

At Beeson, Smith teaches Christian preaching and other electives in homiletics. He received Beeson Divinity School’s “Teacher of the Year Award” in 2005. He and his wife, Wanda Taylor-Smith, Ph.D., are the parents of four adult children (one in heaven).

Douglas Webster joined the faculty in 2007 as professor of Pastoral Theology and Christian Preaching. Before coming to Beeson Divinity School, he was the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church of San Diego (1993-2007). He has taught at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Canada and served churches in Toronto, Bloomington, Denver, and New York City. He has authored several books including, A Passion for Christ: An Evangelical Christology, Selling Jesus: What’s Wrong with Marketing the Church, Soulcraft: How God Shapes Us Through Relationships, Discipline of Surrender: Biblical Images of Discipleship, Under the Radar: A Conversation on Spiritual Leadership, A Christmas Journey: Filled with Wonder, Marked by the Cross, Jeremiah: A Parable of Jesus, Text Messaging: A Conversation on Preaching, Table Grace: The Role of Hospitality in the Christian Life, Living in Tension: A Theology of Ministry, The Christ Letter, Follow the Lamb, and Outposts of Hope. He and his wife, Virginia, have three adult children and five grandchildren. Webster is ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (1991-present) and a teaching pastor at the Church of the Cross in Birmingham. He is currently working on a pastoral commentary on the Psalms. In addition, he is researching and writing in three main areas: Christ and culture, pastoral identity, and preaching the whole counsel of God.

Dr. Michael Pasquarello began his professional career as a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps before moving out of military life to answer the call to pastoral ministry. After graduation from Duke Divinity School, he was ordained in the United Methodist Church, serving in pastoral ministry for 18 years in North Carolina with congregations in urban, suburban and small town settings that were small to large in size and diverse in missional vision and commitment. He completed his PhD with a focus on the history of preaching in relation to biblical interpretation, doctrine, worship, pastoral ministry, spirituality and the moral life. Prior to joining the faculty of Beeson Divinity School, Pasquarello was Granger E. and Anna A. Fisher Professor of Preaching at Asbury Theological Seminary (2001 - 2015) and Lloyd J. Ogilvie Professor of Preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary (2015 – 2018). From 2007-2010, he directed a John Templeton Foundation grant, “Science for Ministry,” which hosted three yearly conferences for assisting pastors to understand better how to address matters related to faith and science in ministry. His most recent publications include Dietrich: Bonhoeffer and a Theology of the Preaching Life (Baylor University Press, 2017) and The Beauty of Preaching (Eerdmans, forthcoming), which provides a vision of preaching from the perspective of theological aesthetics. Mike and his wife, Patti, a nurse educator, have four grown children, an exuberant Boston Terrier named Bella and a laid back King Charles Cavalier Spaniel/Border Collie mix named Bonnie.