Covenant Theological Seminary has selected Dr. Richard Joe to join the faculty as associate professor of world missions and the first occupant of the Paul D. Kooistra Chair of World Missions. He will begin his position in August 2025. Joe has been serving with Mission to the World for several years as the Persian World regional director. He also served as the Persian World director for Mosaix Multiply.
With this appointment, Covenant has become one of the only Reformed seminaries with a full-time missiologist and endowed chair for missiology. MTW helped Covenant to find the right candidate to fill the position, and in announcing Joe’s appointment, Covenant President Tom Gibbs thanked MTW Coordinator Lloyd Kim and his staff for their guidance and assistance.
Kim praised Joe as an excellent choice for both his academic qualifications and years of field work.
“Richard and his wife, Hyeyoung, have served faithfully as missionaries with Mission to the World for many years in some challenging contexts,” said Kim. “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.”
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Joe first traveled to the Middle East in 1993 and sensed a calling to serve Persians. After pastoring a PCA church in California for several years, he moved with his wife and son to Europe in 2006, where he pastored a Persian church. The Joes then returned to the U.S. for further study and then moved to the Middle East where Joe taught and trained international church leaders. In 2017 they returned to the U.S. for his doctoral studies while continuing his ministry to Persians overseas.
He holds a Ph.D. in intercultural studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, a master’s degree in professional studies in Persian from the University of Maryland, a master of divinity degree from Westminster Theological Seminary, and an undergraduate degree in international studies from Muhlenberg College.
The position is named in honor of Covenant’s third president, Paul Kooistra. After leading the seminary from 1985-1994, Kooistra went on to work as coordinator of Mission to the World from 1994-2004, and president of Erskine College from 2014-2016. He was also elected moderator of the PCA General Assembly in 2008.
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. 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.
Joe said that as coordinator for MTW, Kooistra laid “a foundation of gospel-centered grace for every missionary.” He hopes 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.”