Staff Bios & Email- Disciples Seminary Foundation

Meet our staff

The Rev. Dr. Jon L. Berquist is President of the Disciples Seminary Foundation. He is a native Californian from First Jon Berquist Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Ventura, and is an ordained minister with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He received a bachelor’s degree from Northwest Christian University, in Eugene, Oregon, and a Ph.D. in Old Testament from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He has taught at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as New Brunswick Theological Seminary and several other seminaries. He is also the author or editor of more than ten books, including Ancient Wine, New Wineskins: The Lord’s Supper in Old Testament Perspective, Reclaiming Her Story: The Witness of Women in the Old Testament, and Judaism in Persia’s Shadow: A Social and Historical Approach.

Mark David Parsons is DSF's Dean in Claremont,and is Vice Dean for Academic Programs at Claremont School of Theology where he also serves as Assistant Professor of Religion and Music. He teaches in the areas of music and worship, theology and the arts, and religion and popular culture. He holds a Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and brings a strong background in music ministries, with 10 years of experience as a church music director and numerous publications in the field.

Mary Donovan Turner is Dean of Disciples Seminary Foundation in Berkeley and the Carl Patton Professor of Preaching at Pacific School of Religion. Previously, she was Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs at PSR, where she has taught since 1992. Well-known as one of the greatest preachers in the United States and as a leader within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Mary has pastored Disciples congregations both before and during her teaching career. She is the author of The God We Seek: Portraits of God in the Old Testament (2010), Old Testament Words: Reflections for Preaching (2003), and The Storyteller’s Companion to the Bible: Prophets I, vol. 6 (1996). With Mary Lin Hudson, she is co-author of Saved from Silence: Finding Women’s Voice in Preaching (1999).

Xosé Escamilla is Director of DSF's certificate in ministry studies program. This program is offered in San Diego in Spanish for the training of pastors and other church leaders. Xosé is pastor of Casa de Oración Iglesia Cristiana (Discipulos de Cristo) in San Diego and serves the Pacific Southwest Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as deployed staff for Hispanic Ministries. He holds an M.Div. from San Francisco Theological Seminary.

David Coatsworth is Director of Development for Disciples Seminary Foundation.He was a member of the DSF board until 2010, and his service included chairing the Development Committee and a serving as a member of DSF's successful 50th Anniversary scholarship capital campaign. His roots are in Arizona, with a strong record of service in local churches in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), including volunteer leadership in the region focused on issues of stewardship. In Arizona, he chaired a capital campaign of $1.2 million. Dave also holds an MBA from the University of Utah. Before joining DSF's staff, Dave served as Executive for Financial Development for the United Church of Christ's Wider Church Ministries in Cleveland, Ohio.

Aaron W. Park is Director of Korean Studies for DSF. Dr. Park serves as one of the co-pastors of Saegil Christian Church Aaron Park (Disciples of Christ) in Burbank, California. His extensive experience in the larger church includes service as moderator of the Korean Disciples Convocation in the Pacific Southwest Region, and as a member of the regional Committee on Ministry as well as the board of Church Extension. He earned the Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Claremont Graduate University in 1999, and is the author of The Book of Amos as Composed and Read in Antiquity (2001). Dr. Park has taught extensively at San Francisco Theological Seminary/Southern California and at Korean seminaries in the Los Angeles area.

JoAnn Bynum is DSF's Director of Student Life in Claremont. She also serves the Pacific Southwest Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as Director of African American Ministries. She was founding pastor of Sierra Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Executive Pastor of Abundant Life Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Los Angeles. At the Southern California School of Ministry, she was assistant professor as well as dean of the Doctor of Ministry degree. She holds an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from the Southern California School of Ministry.

Christina Hutchins is the DSF Administrator in Berkeley, teaches Intro to Theology, ProcessTheology, and Poetry & the Theological Imagination at Pacific School of Religion, and is a poet. She has also worked as a biochemist and has served congregations in Massachusetts and California as an ordained United Church of Christ minister. She holds degrees from University of California, Harvard University, where she twice won the Billings Preaching Prize and was named the Thayer Scholar of Divinity, and the Graduate Theological Union, where her PhD dissertation drew on Alfred North Whitehead and Judith Butler to explore the radiance of time. She has academic essays in volumes by Ashgate, Columbia UP, and SUNY, and her poems appear in periodicals including Antioch Review, The Missouri Review, The New Republic, and Women’s Review of Books. Her books of poetry are The Stranger Dissolves (2011), Radiantly We Inhabit the Air (winner of the 2010 Becker Prize), and Collecting Light (1999), and she serves as the first Poet Laureate of Albany, CA.

Nini Mejia is DSF's bookkeeper in Claremont. As a staff member of C Business services, owned by her brother, she worked on the conversion of DSF's accounting system. When DSF's transition plan dictated the need for an in-house bookkeeper, her expertise fit the bill. Prior to joining her brother, Nini worked as an accounting manager and a realtor. Nini and her husband Tony live in Orange County, and they have 7 children and 15 grandchildren.

Jean Makunga is our librarian in Claremont. Born in Zaire and trained in economics and banking, he later lived in South America and returned to enter Claremont School of Theology. He has served as a pastor of an Hispanic UCC congregation in Pomona and as Head of Library Support Services for CST. He has four grown daughters raised in First Christian Church, Pomona, with their mother. He is now married to Nancy and has a young son.

Carolyn Patterson is Administrative Assistant at DSF, Claremont. She is working on a PhD in Hebrew Bible at Claremont Graduate University, with an emphasis in Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology. She holds degrees in History and in Anthropology from Sonoma State University, with an emphasis in Archaeology and in Radical Feminist Scholarship. Carolyn spends her summers on archaeological digs in Israel, at Akko (Acre), Ramat Rahel, Khirbet Er-Ras, and Azekah.

Joseph Driskill is Dean Emeritus for DSF Berkeley and is also Professor Emeritus of Christian Spirituality at PSR. He served as DSF's dean in Berkeley from 1993 to his retirement in 2011. He holds a Ph.D. from Graduate Theological Union as well as degrees from Culver-Stockton College and the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University. He has been a pastor and college chaplain. His books include Protestant Spirituality Exercises: Theology, History and Practice published in 1999, and in 2002 he published the well received Spiritually Informed Pastoral Care: The Elder's Ministry of Care-giving in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). More recently he co-authored and published with Karen Lebacqz Ethics and Spiritual Care: A Guide for Pastors, Chaplains and Spiritual Directors. Joe's wife is Dr. Leslie Bryant, a staff psychologist and administrator for Kaiser Permanente.