BCM Commissions New President

The BCM global family and International Board of Directors (IBOD) are delighted to welcome incoming BCM president Dr. Rick Rhoads. An answer to much prayer over the past year of BCM’s presidential search, Rick receives the baton of leadership from Dr. Marty Windle, who has served as president for the past seventeen years. Rick comes to BCM with a wealth of life and ministry experience, including twenty-nine years in church, Christian higher education, and health care ministry settings. Rick holds a Doctor of Ministry in Global Leadership from George Fox Evangelical Seminary and a Master of Arts in Leadership for Evangelism and Discipleship from Columbia Biblical Seminary & School of Missions. He is a licensed minister in Pennsylvania, USA. Over his years of ministry, Rick’s heart has been in serving both the local and global mission of God. Unique to his doctoral studies was an immersive research experience with church leaders in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America, centering on burnout among ministry leaders in the digital age and seeking a corrective through Christian spiritual formation for healthy integration soul development. Rick has served in leadership ministry at Lancaster Bible College/Capital Seminary & Graduate School since 2005 in a variety of projects, positions, and programs, most recently as chair of the Church and Ministry Leadership Department. He has also taught leadership, spiritual formation, and related missional courses on the global church at both undergraduate and graduate levels. An emphasis over his last decade of ministry has been on creating global networks, contextualized educational offerings on four continents, and partnering with individuals and multinational organizations to further the mission of God. Specific leadership initiatives during this time period have included:  

• Providing key leadership/networking of pastors to the Pastor’s Discipleship Network (PDN) centered in Uganda, which includes pastors from Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
• Partnering to create a new educational site for theological and leadership training of pastors and church workers within the Pacific Rim region with a focus on South East Asia.
• Partnering and leading the creation of a new educational site for theological and leadership training of pastors and church workers in the global south, particularly Brazil.
• Helping sponsor and host at Lancaster Bible College such global children’s ministry events as the Second Lausanne Forum on Children at Risk (May 2017).