Vita Of

 

DR. HERBERT V. KLEM

 

Professor of Missions

 

Bethel Theological Seminary

St. Paul, Minnesota

 

 

Herbert V. Klem was born and reared in New York City.  At an early age he came to know the Lord as Savior and was called to Christian service.  His ordination to the Gospel ministry was recognized by the Bellerose Baptist Church of New York in 1971.

 

His education includes a B.A. from Gordon College, Massachusetts; a Masters of Science degree in Education from Hofstra University; a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; and special studies at the International Institute of Christian Communications in Nairobi, Kenya.  He received a Doctorate of Missiology from the School of World Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary, California in 1977.

 

From 1966 to 1973 he worked with the Sudan Interior Mission primarily working with Igbaja Seminary in Nigeria, West Africa.  He contributed in the areas of Evangelism, Islamic Studies, African Traditional Religion, and relating Bible concepts to Nigerian patterns of perception and expression.

 

In 1973 he became Project Director with Daystar Communications of Nairobi, Kenya and was Africa Administrator for Living Bibles International supervising translation projects across the continent.  During this same period his doctoral dissertation was completed and in 1982 it was published under the title Oral Communication of the Scripture. Many of his journal and magazine articles have also been published.  He served as Daystar's Theological Education Consultant; a Communications Consultant to the Pattaya Conference on World Evangelism in 1981; spoke at the Pan-African Christian Leadership Conference in 1976; and has conducted workshops on African Oral Art and Evangelism in Africa and America.  He has been listed in the Marquis Who's Who in Religion.

 

For the academic years 1978 to 1980 he was Visiting Professor of Cross-Cultural Communications for the  Billy Graham Program in Communications at Wheaton Graduate School and has been a Professor at Bethel Theological Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota since 1980.  He has been a consultant to the Baptist General Conference Board of World Missions, a member of the board and a consultant to its Mexico missionaries. He served on the Board of Directors for Mission: Moving Mountains, a local development agency from 1990 to 2001.  He helped found Global Horizons Inc., an evangelism and reconciliation educational ministry working in the USA,  Africa, Asia, and has been its Executive Director since 1994. He is listed in five bibliographical works such as Who's Who in Religion in America and the International Directory of Distinguished Leaders.

 

His wife, Barbara, is actively involved in some day care for their grand children. They reside at 1730 Skiles Lane, Arden Hills, Minnesota and are members of Central Baptist Church in Roseville, Minnesota.