David Goatley, Ph.D.

David Emmanuel Goatley has served in leadership roles in organizations dedicated to justice advocacy, Christian mission, and global ecumenism. He earned his BS in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Louisville and holds two degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary: an MDiv with an emphasis in pastoral care and counseling, and a PhD in Theology. Dr. Goatley assumed the Presidency at Fuller Seminary in January 2023, following administrative and faculty roles at Duke University Divinity School. He led the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society for more than two decades and served as an urban missionary for Baptist associations and a Baptist pastor in Louisville, KY. Dr. Goatley is the author of Were You There? Godforsakenness in Slave Religion and A Divine Assignment: The Missiology of Wendell Clay Somerville, as well as the editor of Black Religion, Black Theology: Collected Essays of J. Deotis Roberts. His current research focuses on flourishing in ministry and thriving congregations, and he has most recently worked on projects funded by the Lilly Endowment and the Duke Endowment.