Our essayists for the 103rd District Convention are Rev. Dr. John Nunes and Rev. Dr. Chad Lakies.
 |
Rev. Dr. John Arthur Nunes is a Lutheran pastor and Senior Fellow at the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy. He has served as the President of Concordia College New York, President and CEO of Lutheran World Relief, and as a professor at Valparaiso University. Recent books Nunes has authored are Reimagining the Reformation from the Margins (2017, co-authored with Alberto Garcia) and Meant for More: In, With, and Under the Ordinary (2020). Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Nunes is a graduate of Concordia College, Ann Arbor (BA), Concordia Seminary, St. Catharines, ON, Canada (MDiv), and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (ThM and PhD).
John is married to Monique Nunes, M.A., Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Concordia University Irvine, Calif. They have six children and thirteen grandchildren. |
|
 |
Rev. Dr. Chad D. Lakies is the regional director for North America at Lutheran Hour Ministries and provides leadership and operational management for the North America region. He regularly speaks at national and international conferences for pastors and church professionals and has published in several journals on the topic of faith and culture. His former life as a non-believer provides exceedingly relevant experience for thinking about how to engage with our friends and neighbors outside the Kingdom of God.
Lakies most recently served as department chair and associate professor of religion at Concordia University, Portland Before that, he was involved in church planting in St. Louis. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology from the University of Michigan and an M.Div. and Ph.D. in systematic theology from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. Lakies and his wife Bethany have two daughters, Anabel and Daphne. |