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Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst

Dr Padilla DeBorst yearns to see peace and justice embrace in the beautiful and broken world we call home. A wife of one and mother of many, theologian, missiologist, educator, and storyteller, she has been involved in leadership development and theological education for integral mission in her native Latin America for several decades.

In addition to teaching at WTS, she serves with the Comunidad de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios (CETI, a learning community with students across Latin America), and the Networking Team of INFEMIT (International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation).

She currently contributes to the boards of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and the American Society of Missiology. Past board service includes A Rocha International and the International Justice Mission.

She lives with her husband, James, in Costa Rica as a member of Casa Adobe, an intentional Christian Community with deep concern for right living in relation to the whole of creation.

Areas of Expertise
Dr. Padilla DeBorst is passionate about justice, both social and ecological. and has written numerous articles and chapters in these realms. As a narrative theologian, she seeks to creatively bring together Word and World for the integral witness of the Good News in diverse contexts.

Habeeb Awad

Habeeb G. Awad is a Palestinian-American from Beit Sahour, Palestine. He is currently the International Student Advisor at Hope College. He teaches Arabic and Model Arab League at Hope as well. Habeeb received his Masters of Divinity degree from Western Theological Seminary and is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Reformed Church of America. He has a passion to teach and so went back to school to earn a Masters degree in Arabic Language pedagogy from Middlebury College. His area of focus is Arabic language and culture of the Levant with special interest in Palestine, Jordan, and Syria. As a Palestinian-American, Habeeb offers a personal and informed perspective to the discussion of the Middle East.

Josh Vis

Josh has spent his whole life learning and teaching. His formal education is in Christian religion, with an emphasis on biblical interpretation. After finishing his PhD in Old Testament in 2012, Josh’s curiosity expanded far beyond Christianity and the Bible. Josh continues to be acutely interested in the concept and possible reality of God. For Josh, the question of God insists on being asked and explored. It refuses to let him be, so he has stopped trying to be free of it. But now the possibilities are wide open, which has given Josh great hope and energy. Josh’s current interests Include, but are not limited to: consciousness, neuroscience, behavioral psychology, psychoanalytic theory, “death of God” philosophy, existentialism, spiritual development, mind-body connection, psychedelic research, and gender and sexuality.
Josh works as peace activist and thought leader. His focus is on educating people on the injustice of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and Palestinian people. And this injustice is reminiscent with so many injustices in the U.S. and throughout the world. He brings groups on tours of Israel/Palestine. These tours show people the brutal realities of the Israeli occupation. The tours also teach folks about the difficulties of understanding the history of ancient Israel and the life of Jesus as illumined by history, archaeology, and the Bible. He also leads online courses on the questions of God, the good life, and spirituality. Josh recently finished a documentary, entitled “The Law and the Prophets,” detailing the mechanisms of oppression utilized by Israel to oppress and silence Palestinians.

Josh lives in Holland, MI with his wife, Nicoly, two daughters, Mahalia and Luciana, and dog, George.

Marlin Vis

Throughout his life, Marlin has had many roles. He has been a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a student, a teacher, a coach, a salesman, a pastor, a campus minister, a mission co-worker in Israel/Palestine, a care pastor. But in all and about all, he is simply a human being. His faith tradition has been and will most likely continue to be Christianity.
Marlin’s quest for being human involves an openness to truth from many sources. He longs to be in community with a group of people who believe that truth, while illusive, is a necessary endeavor, the endeavor of a lifetime. Truth is best sought in community with others who share a desire to grow and evolve.

Marlin is curious by nature. He has many questions and many doubts. He wants others to help him to become better person, and he wants to be affirmed in this process. He desires to be guided by a variety of people who have expertise in a variety of areas: philosophy, psychology, archeology, theology, astronomy, and all the other “ologies” that both inform and inspire us.
Most importantly, Marlin is a learner, a teacher, and a storyteller. He is confident that anyone reading this and feeling some pull toward what we are trying to develop here, is both learner and teacher as well. Join us and we’ll learn together from an abundance of guides. Transformation is not only possible, it is essential.

Marlin lives in Holland, MI, with his wife, Sally.