President
Professor of Christian History and Culture
D’Elia Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION:
- B.A., University of California Los Angeles
- M.Div. and Th.M., Fuller Seminary
- Ph.D., University of Stirling, Scotland
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
President John D’Elia works collaboratively with the Board of Trustees to accomplish the mission and objectives of NTS West. His primary responsibilities include the communication of our vision for theological education, oversight of the faculty and curriculum, and management of our financial resources and internal operations. John is an experienced pastor, historian, and nonprofit leader, who served as the senior pastor of the American International Church in London, Glendale Presbyterian Church, and now First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo. He has also worked at Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles, Fuller Theological Seminary, and the Presbyterian Foundation. He studied at UCLA and Fuller Seminary, and earned his Ph.D. in History at the University of Stirling in Scotland. His dissertation project, a biography of evangelical New Testament scholar George Eldon Ladd, was completed under the supervision of noted historian David Bebbington, and published by Oxford University Press as A Place at the Table: George Eldon Ladd and the Rehabilitation of Evangelical Scholarship in America (2008). John has worked in partnership with various Palestinian Christian groups and serves on the board of Musalaha (Arabic for reconciliation), an NGO in Jerusalem that provides camping ministries and peacemaking courses for Israeli and Palestinian youth. In addition to his duties as President, D’Elia plans to maintain a program of research, writing and speaking, alongside his passionate support of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the UCLA Bruins, and the English soccer club, Arsenal.