Keynote Speakers
Rev. Dr. Wayne Gordon
Wayne Gordon is a graduate of Wheaton College and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. He received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 1975 Wayne moved to North Lawndale located on Chicago’s Westside. At that time, North Lawndale was the 15th poorest neighborhood in the U.S. He was a teacher and coach at Farragut High School, also located in North Lawndale. Wayne and his wife Anne have raised their three adult children: Angela, a graduate of Taylor University, Married to Nate George, lives in Chicago and is a school teacher; Andrew a graduate of Baylor University and a trader with the Chicago Board of Trade, married to Stacy, and Austin graduate of Azusa Pacific University, living and working in New York City. Wayne and Anne, along with some local high school students, founded the Lawndale Community Church. Today, LCC has over 1000 worshipping families and Wayne continues as Pastor Emeritus.
Rev. Dr. Don Davis '88, MA '89
Rev. Dr. Don Davis ’88, M.A. ’89, is the founder of World Impact’s Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI), which offers affordable theological training to leaders in urban contexts. He has nearly 50 years of ministry experience, beginning with his early work at World Impact in 1975. Davis grew up in Wichita, Kansas, where he met his wife, Beth, and encountered unique challenges amid the city’s rougher neighborhoods and drug culture. After the couple began following Jesus, Davis saw how difficult it was to access a theological education in marginalized and economically vulnerable urban communities, no matter how passionate he and his peers were about Scripture. Driven by his own upbringing, the rising poverty rate, and his ongoing proximity to urban communities, Davis returned to World Impact in 1995, founding TUMI in his hometown of Wichita. He designed curricula and began teaching theology classes to those who could not afford the kind of training he had received at Wheaton. Today, Davis serves as Senior Executive Advisor to the president of World Impact where he oversees urban training, leads TUMI’s distance learning programs, and works with other churches and organizations to facilitate leadership development.
Rev. Dr. Esther D. Jadhav
Rev. Dr. Esther D. Jadhav is the Associate Dean of Intercultural Life at Asbury University. As a researcher and practitioner, she has focused on developing initiatives and programs that elevate the critical role of theology in activating cultural responsibility as an institutional distinctive. In her current role, Esther provides institutional leadership, and guidance across the university in all areas of cultural responsiveness and spiritual development with primary responsibility for institutional outcomes rooted in Asbury’s commitment to be a Christian Community that practices hospitality, mutuality, redemptive social action, and grace-filled reconciliation. Bringing her academic background in Anthropology, Sociology and Theology, and experiences in diverse settings to this effort, Esther combines her passion for Christian higher education and the Church to help communities thrive.
The Office of Intercultural Engagement invites you to nominate two diversity champions for the Seventh Annual Rodney K. Sisco Diversity Students' Choice Awards from until Friday, January 30th. The honorees of the Award are current Wheaton College staff and faculty members who embody the Kingdom-inclusive traits of the late 