In this episode of Missiology Podcast, Martin Rodriguez speaks with David Baer and Nathan Bills of Mesa Scholars, a global network of scholars serving alongside theological institutions and Christian communities. Drawing on their experiences in Colombia and Ghana, they discuss the opportunities and challenges of cross-cultural theological education, including contextualization, power dynamics, humility, and local leadership. Their conversation explores how scholarship can serve God's mission through mutual learning, long-term partnerships, and attentiveness to local contexts.

Our Guests

David Baer is director of Mesa Scholars and professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia in Medellín. A biblical scholar and theological educator who has spent much of his adult life in Latin America, he previously served as president of ESEPA Seminary in Costa Rica and Overseas Council in the United States. His scholarship focuses on Isaiah, Old Testament wisdom literature, the Septuagint, and biblical language pedagogy. He is the author of When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56–66 and is helping develop the Erasmus Academy of Biblical Languages, an initiative announced in 2026 to expand access to biblical language education across the Spanish-speaking world.

Nathan Bills is a Mesa Scholar, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ministry at Heritage Christian University in Accra, Ghana, where he has served since 2019. He works to strengthen theological education, institutional development, and international partnerships. His teaching and research span Old Testament theology, Christian ethics, contextual theology, and theological education in Africa. His recent scholarship explores theological education in the Majority World and leadership development in Ghanaian churches. Bills holds a ThD in Old Testament from Duke University, an MDiv from Harding School of Theology, and a BA in Bible from Harding University.

The Organization

Mesa Scholars is a ministry of Mesa Global that connects missional scholars with theological institutions and other communities engaged in Christian leadership formation, primarily in the Majority World. Rather than offering short-term teaching assignments, Mesa Scholars emphasizes sustained partnerships in which scholars become embedded in local institutions, contributing their expertise while learning from the communities they serve. The network also provides scholarly community, mentoring, and professional support for its members, seeking to strengthen theological education through relationships characterized by mutuality, humility, and shared commitment to God's mission.

Works Referenced

• Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Translated by John W. Doberstein. Harper & Row, 1954.
• Palmer, Parker J. The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life. Jossey-Bass, 1998.
• Pardue, Stephen T. Why Evangelical Theology Needs the Global Church. Baker Academic, 2023.
• Twumasi-Ankrah, Samuel, and Nathan Bills. “We Do Not Come Empty Handed: Gifts the Majority World Church Offer to Western Partners.” Restoration Quarterly 66 (2024). Conference presentation.
• Center for the Study of Global Christianity. Global Christianity Research and Demographic Projections. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Credits

Hosted by Martin Rodriguez

Produced by Martin Rodriguez