Presenters

We are pleased to introduce you to our 2024 presenters. These individuals represent those with numerous years experience in CBTE, who are passionate to share both their knowledge of, and the things they have learned along the journey,  of offering CBTE.

Kent Anderson
President
Providence University College and Theological Seminary
Dr. Kent Anderson serves as president of Providence. He is a leader in CBTE and co-authored “Theological Education: Principles and Practices of a Competency-Based Approach” with Greg Henson. Kent has also written numerous books on preaching, and holds a PhD from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Wilbert Baker
Program Director
Pace Academy
Dr. Wilbert Baker is the founding pastor of Lakeland Missionary Baptist Church. He also is the Director of the PACE Academy of Grace School of Theology in the Woodlands, Texas. Dr. Baker also serves as the president of the minister's conference of Lincoln District Association, a mentor for ministers and pastors for Texas Baptist. Dr. Baker received his D.Min. and M.Div. degrees and a Certificate in Biblical Counseling from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ft.Worth, TX. He also earned a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Texas College. He worked in corporate America for 20 years before entering the ministry full time.
Greg Henson
President
Kairos Universitry
Dr. Greg Henson serves as President of Kairos University, one of the largest and most diverse communities of competency-based theological education in the world. His work on innovation, theological education, organizational transformation, and governance has been used by seminaries, universities, churches, and nonprofits on six continents. Greg is co-author of "Theological Education: Principles and Practices of a Competency-Based Approach." He is a father of four amazing kids and married to Heather. She is his favorite theologian and preacher.
Nathan Hitchcock
Founder
Sevensided Consulting
Dr. Nathan Hitchcock serves as CBTE consultant with Sevensided Consulting. He works with seminaries, denominations, and other Christian organizations to implement competency-based systems that use distributed supervision. He has designed new tools that help organizations doing CBTE, including guides for character assessment, a values indicator for teams, training for faculty mentors, and CBTE rubrics. Hitchcock was a member of the ATS Peer Group on Competency-based Education and is currently part of the CBTE Lead Team. He received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh.
Julie Lytle
Faculty
Bexley Seabury Seminary
Dr. Julie Lytle is an award-winning innovator and successful leader in efforts to blend on-site, off-site, and on-line interaction, particularly in theological education. Best known for her mantra, “Message, Method, then Media,” Julie matches individual and institutional mission with appropriate pedagogical practices and technology to inform, form, and often transform individuals and communities. Her perspective, skills, processes, and practices are anchored in decades of experience in ministry and media production in parish, diocesan, national, international, and academic contexts.
Ruth McGillivrayRuth McGillivray has been designing competency-based learning programs, assessment tools, and supporting systems for over 30 years. She began her educational career in wireless digital communications, serving clients throughout North America, Southeast Asia and Europe, and then moved into Canadian trades certification at the provincial and national level. She joined Northwest Seminary & College in 2017 to help strengthen and scale their new competency-based theological education (CBTE) programs, with particular emphasis on assessment of competencies related to character and dispositions. She currently serves as Northwest’s Executive Vice-President, and has been organizing the annual CBTE track at CBExchange since 2019.
Susan Reese
Faculty Mentor/Professor
Kairos University
Dr. Susan Reese is professor of spiritual formation and direction at KAIROS University. Her experiences in higher education have been in competency-based education, traditional models of education and administration. Susan is a certified CliftonStrengths coach and has been integrating “signature themes” into competency-based education for 12 years.
Tom Sweeney
Faculty Mentor
Kairos University
Dr. Tom Sweeney has been mentoring students in a CBE environment since 2017, first for WGU and later for theological students at 4 different CBTE seminaries. He is currently a faculty mentor at Kairos University and runs a talent development consultancy for software professionals called Teleios Mentoring. Tom lives in southwestern Ontario and enjoys long walks with his family and their faithful canine companion Dogmatix.