Thirdmill Seminary Faculty
Our faculty is comprised of Christian leaders who not only have studied deeply, they have also practiced ministry over many years in a variety of cultural contexts. They remain as curious about applying the Scriptures as they are about understanding God’s truth.
Gregory R. Perry, Ph.D.
Prior to becoming a full-time member of the Third Millennium family and President of Thirdmill Seminary, Greg was on the Third Millennium Board of Directors for 20 years. Thirdmill is an evangelical ministry that provides Biblical Education. For the World. For Free. Established in 1997 to respond to the overwhelming scarcity of theological education around the world, Thirdmill has been creating and distributing multimedia, seminary-level curriculum in multiple languages worldwide, with no cost to those who need it. In 2018, the need for accredited degree pathways led to the establishment of Thirdmill Seminary.
Greg taught at Christ College Sydney before teaching New Testament and missions at Covenant Theological Seminary from 2003 to 2017. He continues to serve on the adjunct faculty of the Missional Training Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Greg is an ordained minister and earned his M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary, his Th.M. from Columbia Seminary, and his Ph.D. in New Testament from Union Seminary in Virginia. He has published several journal articles and reviews. He has been a featured professor on multiple Thirdmill lessons and serves as Thirdmill Seminary’s faculty advisor.
Ben Chen, Ph.D.
Dr. Ben Chen has been the Director of Chinese Language at Third Millennium Ministries since 2002. He was a founding Pastor of Orlando Chinese Evangelical Christian Church from 2004 to 2015. Rev. Chen is an ordained minister of the PCA, and has extensive ministries in the US and East Asia Pacific by preaching in various gatherings in Chinese churches and by training generation church leaders in various seminaries. Dr. Chen received a B.S. and a M.S. in China and holds his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from Texas A&M University. He obtained his M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary and is presently enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry program there. Prior to his ministry, he worked as a university teacher in China, a research fellow at Ohio State, and a telecommunication engineer at Lucent Technologies.
Jeffery E. David, D.Min.
Jeff David and his wife Barbi have been missionaries to Latin America for more than 27 years. Dr. David worked with a church planting team in Mexico City and Tapachula, Chiapas, and from 1992 to 1995 he was the director of the Centro de Estudios Bíblicos de Monterrey, in the city of Monterrey, Mexico. From 1996 to 2010, he served as professor of New Testament at Seminario ESEPA in San Jose, Costa Rica. From 2011 to 2013 he was a course writer for an online M.A. program called ProMETA (Programa de Maestría de Educación Teológica Accesible). In 2013, Dr. David help develop a theological extension program in Cuba using Third Millennium materials. Jeff is an ordained minister and has served local congregations in Washington State. He earned his M.Div. from Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia and his D.Min. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. His interests include Christian leadership, mentoring and discipleship.
Ra McLaughlin, M. Div.
Ra McLaughlin began serving with Third Millennium Ministries in 1998. He currently oversees Third Millennium's operations, finances, and content delivery technologies.
Ra is a native of Los Angeles, California, where he earned his B.A. in English at UCLA. He also holds an M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. Ra's publications include the New Living Translation Discover God Study Bible (Tyndale, 2007; ECPA Christian Book Award winner), for which he was both a contributor and an editor; and the NIV Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible (Zondervan, 2003; ECPA Gold Medallion nominee), for which he served as Associate General Editor. He has also written or co-written many courses for Thirdmill, and provided ghostwriting for Bible commentaries.
Andrew D. Parlee, Ph.D.
Before Drew joined Third Millennium’s Faculty Board of Approval in 2014, he spent 3 years with Greater Europe Mission training Europeans to evangelize, make disciples, and plant churches. From 2006-2011, he served with Greater Europe Mission teaching Systematic Theology and New Testament Greek at the Protestant Theological Seminary in Novi Sad, Serbia. Prior to that, he taught short intensive courses in the Ukraine and Czech Republic. From 1986-1992, he was a campus pastor with the Navigators at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. There he discipled American students and evangelized atheists from the US and Asia. In 1990, Dr. David was a missionary in Asia. He earned his M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, where he completed a pastoral internship. He earned a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. His research interests include Eastern Orthodox theology, Roman Catholic theology, epistemology, apologetics, evangelism, disciple-making, church-planting, and theological education.
Richard Pratt, Jr., Th.D.
As President of Third Millennium Ministries, Thirdmill Seminary’s parent company, Dr. Pratt is actively involved in all aspects of the ministry. Dr. Pratt travels extensively throughout the world to evangelize and teach, including Australia, China, Czech Republic, Columbia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and throughout the United States. Dr. Pratt taught at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS, and Orlando, FL, for 21 years. He also chaired the Old Testament Department in Orlando. He received a BA from Roanoke College, his M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary, and his Th.D. from Harvard University.
Dr. Pratt served as the General Editor for the NIV Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible. Dr. Pratt's books include Every Thought Captive, Pray With Your Eyes Open, Designed for Dignity, and He Gave Us Stories, as well as two commentaries: one on I and II Chronicles and the other on I and II Corinthians. His books have been translated into several languages including Chinese (Mandarin), Russian and Spanish. Dr. Pratt is also a contributor to the Complete Literary Guide to the Bible and has authored numerous journal articles.
Richard Ramsay, D.Min.
Richard and his wife Angélica are missionaries with Mission to the World. Richard served as associate pastor for two years in Maryland, and served as a missionary in Chile for 21 years, where he met Angélica. He taught in a seminary, served as the director for two years, and planted three churches. In 1999, the Ramsays relocated to Miami, where he has been working internationally in distance theological education, first 10 years with FLET (overlapping for two years working also with MINTS), and now with Thirdmill for the last 10 years. Richard has developed numerous online and offline courses for these organizations. Richard received his M.Div. and D.Min. from Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia, PA, and his Th.M. from Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. He has published 10 books in Spanish: ¿Cuán Bueno Debo Ser?, A Su Imagen, Católicos y Protestantes, Exploremos Génesis, Certeza de la Fe, Griego y Exégesis, Integridad Intelectual, Fortalece Tu Fe, Sinopsis de la Biblia, and Orientación para Líderes. Three have also been published in English as: Am I Good Enough?, Basic Greek and Exegesis, and The Certainty of the Faith.
Scott Simmons, M.Div.
Scott serves as Director of Instructional Design for Thirdmill Seminary and Third Millennium Ministries, overseeing the development of online courses for our Learning Management System (LMS) from the video lesson series covering biblical and theological studies. Scott has been an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America since 2001. Before coming to Thirdmill, Scott was the Pastor of Missions and Spiritual Formation at Chapelgate Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, MD from 2001 to 2009. While serving in Maryland, Scott also taught several courses at Chesapeake Reformed Theological Seminary (Old Testament Foundations, New Testament Foundations, Systematic Theology, and Biblical Ethics). Scott has earned a M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary and a B.S. from James Madison University in Geology. Scott’s theological interests include hermeneutics, literary approaches to Scripture, and Biblical perspectives on creational stewardship.