BIO:

Robin is passionate about teaching and empowering a generation for redemptive influence in the global marketplace, and is uniquely placed as an experienced international banking leader, and a frequent Australian preacher and speaker. Most recently he was an industry leader in mortgages as Global Head of Home Lending products at one of the world’s largest banks. He has held various corporate leadership roles over 16 years, including strategy, product and markets, and digital, and has held various board directorships including at Australia’s largest wholesale lender. In 2012, Robin was elected as one of five young leaders internationally to be a council member on the World Methodist Council.

He is a founding director of MATES for Change, an Australian organization that champions multicultural social entrepreneurship. Robin is a pastor in the Chinese Methodist Church of Australia. He serves on the board of various global organizations including the media group, Half Crown Media, and was President of the Asbury Theological Seminary Honors society, Theta Phi.

Robin holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Information Technology from The Australian National University, and a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary (2023). Born in Sydney, Australia, Robin is married to Ruth and has four sons: Jared, Noah and twins Jude and Benji.

BIO:

Paulo Lopes is originally from Brazil and he believed his calling was to become a diplomat. He and God just disagreed on what kind of diplomat he would become.

He and his wife Juliana came to the US shortly after marrying in 2007. They now have three Brazilian-American daughters, Carolina, Sofia, and Olivia.

Outside of WME, Paulo has been on staff in the local church and denominational levels, most recently as Director of Next Generation Ministries for the Virginia Conference (UMC). Additionally, he currently serves as a leadership coach through Spiritual Leadership, Inc (SLI). Paulo is passionate about helping people and ministries become clearer and better at what they do, and he loves getting to preach or teach.

BIO:

Dr. Luther Oconner recently joined the faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary as Associate Professor of Global Wesleyan Theology at its Florida Dunnam Campus in Orlando, Florida. He teaches on the area of United Methodist history, doctrine and polity, church history, and Christian theology. He completed his Ph.D. in Wesleyan/Methodist Studies from Drew University in 2009. He is currently the First Vice President of the Wesleyan Theological Society, and editor of the Wesleyan Journal for Religious Studies, an academic journal of the Wesleyan University-Philippines. He is an ordained elder from the Pampango Philippines Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

He has written several book chapters and journal articles on the history of global Methodism, the intersection between revival and missions, and Wesleyan theology. In 2017, he published his book, Spirit-Filled Protestantism: Holiness-Pentecostal Revivals and the Making of Filipino Methodist Identity. Dr. Oconer has also served churches in the Pampanga, New Jersey, and Alaska. He is married to the former Marion Padang, and they have two children, Ilana and Wesley.

BIO:

Kim Reisman is an author, pastor, teacher, and theologian, focusing her work in the areas of evangelism, spiritual formation, leadership development, and the intersection between faith and culture. Ordained in the United Methodist Church, she was appointed Executive Director of WME in 2014. She is a frequent speaker and has written numerous books, most recently, ”Embrace: Showing and Sharing the love of Jesus.” Also, ”Public Witness,” in E. Stanley Jones & Sharing the Good News in a Pluralistic Society (Wesley’s Foundry Books, 2018), “Before all Else” in Holy Contradictions: What’s Next for the People Called United Methodists (Abingdon Press, 2018), and “The Church’s Global DNA,” in A Firm Foundation: Hope and Vision for a New Methodist Future (Seedbed, 2017).

Born in Gulfport, Mississippi, Kim lived in California, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, and Connecticut before moving to Indiana in 1993. She received a Bachelor’s Degree from Emory University, a Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in theology from Durham University in the United Kingdom. Kim is a senior Harry Denman Fellow, a senior John Wesley Fellow, an Adjunct Professor at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington, and Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and a Visiting Fellow at St. John’s College, Durham University in the UK.

In all her work, Kim seeks to serve God by awakening, strengthening, and enlivening the faith commitment of individuals as well as empowering communities of faith to become visible witnesses to the love of Christ for the world. Kim lives with her husband, John in West Lafayette, Indiana where she enjoys music, sports, reading, and jewelry making. They have three adult children, Nathan, Maggie, and Hannah.