Sam Allberry to be Cedarville Visiting Professor

by Sam Charpentier

Global writer and speaker Sam Allberry will return to Cedarville this year as a visiting professor. Allberry pastors a church in Maidenhead, UK; speaks for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries; writes for The Gospel Coalition; and is the founding editor of Living Out, a ministry to those affected by same-sex attraction.

As a visiting professor, Allberry will be a guest speaker in a variety of classes and spend time in the Student Life area meeting with students. He will also join Dr. Dan DeWitt, director of Cedarville’s Center for Biblical Apologetics and Public Christianity, and other guest speakers in upcoming apologetics seminars, and speak in chapel November 1-2.

“He’s so pastoral,” DeWitt, who befriended Allberry at Boyce College, Kentucky, said. “Sam has such a busy itinerant speaking ministry, he is literally all over the world. That’s not going to slow

Sam Allberry serves with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries’ Zacharias Trust in Oxford. ]Photo courtesy of RZIM]

down once he comes here, it’s just that he will be based out of here.”

A large part of Allberry’s ministry aims to provide Gospel truth and Biblical theology to those who struggle with sexuality and identity. As a theologically trained pastor who struggles with same-sex attraction, Allberry is able to personally relate to these issues. Although much of Allberry’s speaking involves issues of biblical sexuality, Allberry is a multifaceted theologian.

“He actually loves to just preach the Bible and not have to speak on same-sex attraction,” DeWitt said. “Often, we can become defined by a particular gift set or a particular life story, but at the end of the day, Sam’s just a great Christian guy who loves the Lord and loves preaching His Word. What’s great about having him here is that he’s speaking often enough that we don’t need him to speak on the same topic every time.”

Allberry first visited our corner of the cornfields to speak in chapel at Cedarville in April 2016. After that visit, Allberry said that he knew he would return to Cedarville. In an introduction video shown in chapel October 6, Allberry said that he looks forward to spending more time on campus teaching students and learning from them in return.

“I love the ethos here,” Allberry said. “I love the sense of Gospel culture and community.”

DeWitt said that Allberry intends to act as a kind of pastor-in-residence at Cedarville.

“He loves Cedarville,” Dewitt said. “He really loves the atmosphere here, and Cedarville gives him a different environment from a seminary or a hostile university.”

Dewitt also said that Sam Allberry saw Cedarville University as an opportunity and ministry.

“There have been a lot of students who have been really receptive to Sam, and have had an opportunity to talk to Sam about challenges they’ve never been able to talk to anyone else about,” he said.

Sarah Moore, a junior early education major, said that she has appreciated Allberry’s wisdom since he first spoke in chapel at Cedarville in 2016.

“He’s a good example of how to come alongside someone no matter what they’re going through,” Sarah said. “Sam Allberry is one of my favorite speakers that has ever come to Cedarville, and he has a great accent- that also helps.”

Sam Charpentier is an environmental science major and campus reporter for Cedars. He enjoys wildflowers, longboarding trips to Yellow Springs, and artisanal baking.