Chair, Dept. of Missiology and Religion, Professor of Religion (Nyack Campus) |
Dr. Poston began teaching at Nyack in 1989 |
Degrees Earned: |
Ph.D. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
M.A. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
M.A. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL
B.A. Grace College of the Bible, Omaha, NE |
Publications: |
Islamic Da'wah in the West: Muslim Missionary Activity and the Dynamics of Conversion to Islam (Oxford, 1992)
The Changing Face of Islam in America (Horizon Books, 2000).
Numerous Articles
Numerous Presentations |
Ministries: |
Evangelical Missiological Society -- Northeast Regional Vice-President
Pulpit supply |
Personal Questions |
Tell us about your spiritual journey. |
I became a Christian at age 16, due to the influence of my mother, who had become a Christian just a few months previously. During my first two years of college, I was discipled by the Navigators, a parachurch campus organization. Becoming convinced that my spiritual gifts were to be used in the context of Missions, I transferred to a Bible College and completed my undergraduate degree there, in Bible and Christian Education. I married a fellow student in 1975, after which we moved to Illinois where I studied Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Upon completion of my degree there, we were appointed by Greater Europe Mission to the country of Sweden, where I became a professor of Missions and Church History at the Nordic Bible Institute. We returned to the U.S. in 1984, at which time I pursued a Ph.D. in Comparative Religious Studies at Northwestern University in Illinois. Upon completion of that degree, we came to Nyack College in 1989, where I have served in the Department of Missiology and Religion to the present time. |
Tell us about your family |
My wife Linda is Associate Dean of Libraries at Nyack College. She completed a B.S. degree in Music and Christian Education at Grace College of the Bible in Omaha, NE and a Master of Library Science at Long Island University in New York.
We have one daughter, Helena, who will be graduating from Nyack College in December 2004. Helena is interested in journalism and photography. |
Any outside interests or hobbies? |
| I am an avid jogger and hiker, and enjoy building and renovation projects on my house and in my yard. I also like to read, and occasionally take in a good movie. |
How were you led to Nyack and/or why are you here? |
| After returning from Sweden, I was looking for a school where I could begin a missionary training program that would emphasize ministry to adherents of the non-Christian religions as well as work among residents of urban areas. Nyack College offered me the opportunity to develop such a program, and being so close to New York City, it appears to be an ideal training ground for the areas of training that are most important from the standpoint of missions in the world today. |
What does your faith mean in your classroom or discipline? |
| I teach my classes with an essentially Eastern discipler/disciple philosophy, rather than the Western Socratic methodology. I teach students, not a subject. I teach with my life, rather than just impart information. My personal faith finds its way into nearly every class session in some way, shape or form. I meet with students for lunch on every day of the week, I have extensive counseling sessions during my office hours, and my wife and I have students in our home on a regular basis. |
What does your faith mean in relationships (particularly with students)? |
| My faith allows me to be a brother, a friend, a discipler/mentor and a fellow pilgrim with my students, rather than just another "teacher". My faith gives me opportunities to serve my students by praying for and with them, as well as providing the Rock to which all of my counseling is anchored: The Word of God. |
What are your favorite courses to teach? |
| Christian Foundations, the freshman Bible course, is my absolute favorite. Next would come World Religions, followed closely by The Psychology and Sociology of Religion. After that would be the course on Islam, and then New Age and Occult Religion. I also enjoy Alternative Religious Movements in America and my Contemporary Issues in Religion course. |
What is/are your favorite book(s)? |
The most influential books in my life have been the following:
Bambi, by Felix Salten -- the finest book on disciplemaking ever written.
Beyond the Rat Race, by Arthur Gish.
Wisdom Hunter, by Randall Arthur.
Decision Making and the Will of God, by Garry Friesen.
Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, by Jerry Mander.
Snapping, by Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman.
The Gravedigger File, by Os Guinness.
Christian Anarchy, by Vernard Eller.
Christ and Culture, by H. Richard Niebuhr.
The Sovereignty of God, by A.W. Pink. |
Thanks for Coming Home to Nyack!
A big thank you to those who took the time and effort to attend Homecoming 2008—truly a weekend that will long be remembered. And congratulations to the classes of ‘53, ‘58, ‘63, ‘68, ‘73, ‘78, ‘83, ‘88, ‘93, ‘98... 
