Asbury Theological Seminary will host two special visitors to the Kentucky Campus this week.  Bishop Paulo de Tarso Oliveira Lockmann will be accompanied by former Asbury professor and longtime friend, Dr. Burrell Dinkins. Lockmann, who is Bishop of the First Ecclesiastical Region (Rio de Janeiro) in Brazil, expressed a desire to visit the Seminary after hearing about its new Church Planting Initiative. The Bishop has experience in church planting in his own country, which includes planting a church nearly every 15 days in a variety of settings using many different methods.

Bishop Lockmann and Dr. Dinkins will visit the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism, where they will attend Dr. Gregg Okesson’s “Christian Leadership Identity” class on Tuesday morning and attend Chapel.  Dr. Tennent will accompany the visitors to a lunch and Vespers at Wesley Village, and then tour campus in the afternoon.

On Wednesday, Bishop Lockmann will meet students at the ESJ School, and then hold a seminar for students that morning.

Bishop Lockmann has been a member of the Presbyter Order of the Methodist Church in Brazil since 1978 and was elected Bishop of the First Ecclesiastical Region (Rio de Janeiro) in 1987.  He has been re-elected four times.  Bishop Lockmann was the former Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church in Brazil from January 1988-December 2001.  He also has served as the President of the Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches in Latin American and Caribbean (CIEMAL).  He has authored several books and Bible studies.  His experience with the World Methodist Council includes his service as a member of the Presidium of the World Methodist Council for the period of 1996-2001, service as Vice-President 2006-2011 and a member of the Committee on Evangelism since 1990.  Bishop Lockmann has a deep evangelistic passion and the Rio Ecclesiastical Region has grown from 25,000 members to 100,000 in 2010.

Born in the south of Brazil, Lockmann speaks both Portuguese and German and obtained his Ph.D at both the Marbourg Theological School in Germany and the Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro. He is married to Gloucia and they have four children, two grandchildren and are expecting two more in the near future.

Dr. Burrell Dinkins served as the E. A. Seamands professor of pastoral leadership on the Seminary’s Kentucky Campus from 1992 – 1999, and served another seven years on the Florida Dunnam Campus. Prior to coming to Asbury, Dr. Dinkins served as the minister of pastoral care and counseling at Roswell (Ga.) United Methodist Church, professor of pastoral care and counseling at Oral Roberts University School of Theology, and director of pastoral care and counseling of the Atlanta-Emory District of The United Methodist Church. In addition to his extensive experience in the United States, Dr. Dinkins spent several years working in Brazil, South America. While in Brazil, he served as the interim president of Instituto Philadelphia De Londrina in Parana, professor of pastoral care and counseling at Faculdade de Teologia, Universidade Methodist Rudge Ramos in Sao Paulo, and pastored several churches. Dr. Dinkins was also Brazil’s first full-time Protestant hospital chaplain, developing a pioneer program of a clinical team of doctors, nurses and chaplain. He and his wife, Phyllis, have five adult children: Randy, Ruth, Walter, Susana and Paul.

For more information, contact Jo Brosius at 859.858.2309.