Covenant Seminary Names Dr. Richard Joe to Paul D. Kooistra Chair of World Missions
Covenant Theological Seminary is pleased to announce that Dr. Richard Joe will be joining the faculty in August 2025 as Associate Professor of World Missions and the first occupant of the Paul D. Kooistra Chair of World Missions. Dr. Joe comes to Covenant from the Presbyterian Church in America’s Mission to the World (MTW), where he has served for several years as Persian World Regional Coordinator. He also was the Persian World Director for Mosaix Multiply.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Dr. Joe has had a calling to serve Persians ever since his first trip to the Middle East in 1993. After pastoring a PCA church in California for several years, he and his wife, Hyeyoung, and their son moved to Europe in 2006, where he pastored a Persian church. The Joes then returned to the US for further study and then moved to the Middle East where Dr. Joe taught and trained international church leaders. In 2017 they returned to the US for his PhD studies while continuing his ministry to Persians overseas. He holds a PhD in Intercultural Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, a Master of Professional Studies in Persian from the University of Maryland, a Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a BA in International Studies from Muhlenberg College.
Covenant Seminary President Dr. Thomas C. Gibbs commented, “Dr. Joe’s many years of experience in global missions and his heart for reaching the unreached with the message of the gospel make him an ideal choice to be the first to fill the Kooistra Chair and carry on the legacy of Dr. Paul D. Kooistra, whose influence on our institution and on the PCA and beyond has been enormous. Dr. Joe’s appointment gives the Seminary our first full-time missiology professor in more than a decade. We are immensely grateful to have him with us. We are grateful as well for the input and guidance of MTW Coordinator Dr. Lloyd Kim and his staff as we sought the right person for this position.”
Named in honor of Dr. Paul D. Kooistra, third President of Covenant Seminary (1985–1994), former Coordinator of Mission to the World (1994–2014), former President of Erskine College (2014–2016), and a former Moderator of the PCA General Assembly (2008–2009), the endowed Paul D. Kooistra Chair of World Missions was completed in 2022 with funds raised as part of the Seminary’s $43 million Hope for the Future capital campaign and in partnership with MTW. Dr. Kooistra’s emphasis on the doctrines of grace and desire to train future church leaders to share the Reformed faith in a warm and gracious way profoundly shaped the culture of Covenant Seminary. The establishment of the Kooistra Chair ensured that Dr. Kooistra’s legacy of training gospel-centered, mission-minded pastors and ministry leaders will continue for generations to come.
MTW Coordinator Dr. Lloyd Kim noted, “We are thrilled for Covenant Seminary to name Dr. Joe as its Paul D. Kooistra Chair of World Missions. Richard and his wife, Hyeyoung, have served faithfully as missionaries with Mission to the World for many years in some challenging contexts. He will bring not only academic expertise to this role, but also invaluable field experience. We are excited for the seminary and the many students Dr. Joe will equip, train, and inspire for global missions.”
Of his new position, Dr. Joe said, “I remember receiving Dr. Kooistra’s invaluable training in MTW as he laid a foundation of gospel-centered grace for every missionary. For the past twenty years, it has been my privilege and joy to serve as a missionary with MTW. I believe this new position will be very strategic in raising up and equipping many new missionaries, church leaders, and scholars to engage in God’s mission. God has used Covenant Theological Seminary to train generations of Christian leaders to make an impact for his Kingdom, and the creation of the Paul D. Kooistra Chair of World Missions reflects Covenant’s ongoing commitment to take that impact to all the nations and to the ends of the earth. I am deeply honored, and I humbly ask for many prayers, as I serve in this new position.”
Please pray with us for the Lord’s continued blessing on Dr. Joe and his ministry as he helps prepare a new generation of mission-minded pastors, church planters, and missionaries.
