Rev. Dr. David Tarus (PhD in Christian Theology, McMaster Divinity College) currently serves as Executive Director of the Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA), a project of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. He is the author of A Different Way of Being: Toward a Reformed Theology of Ethnopolitical Cohesion for the Kenyan Context (Langham), the co-editor of Christian Responses to Terrorism: The Kenyan Experience (Wipf & Stock), the author of many academic articles, and an ordained minister of the Africa Inland Church, Kenya. His research interests include theological anthropology, ecclesiology, and the intersection of faith and social issues.
Dr. John Dyer is Vice President for Enrollment and Educational Technology at Dallas Theological Seminary, where he also serves as assistant professor of theological studies. He enjoys writing, teaching, and creating at the intersection of technology and faith, in books like From the Garden to the City and People of the Screen, open source tools for Apple and WordPress, and faith-themed sites like yallversion.com, bestcommentaries.com, and worship.ai. You can find out more about him at https://j.hn/.
Dr. Robert J. Priest is an anthropologist and former seminary professor. He is retired from full-time teaching but continues to write, consult, speak, and teach part-time. A former president of the EMS, his research and writing have included a focus on the anthropology of religion, race and ethnicity, sexuality and marriage, short-term missions, religious conversion, contextualization, missiology as a field, witchcraft accusations, and the visual image of Jesus in global Christianity.
Dr. Mark Yarhouse is the Dr. Arthur P. and Mrs. Jean May Rech Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College, where he also directs the Sexual & Gender Identity Institute. Mark is author or co-author of several books, including Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture (2nd ed.) and Emerging Sexual Identities: Navigating the Landscape with Today’s Youth.
Rochelle Scheuermann (PhD Intercultural Studies, TEDS), is Assistant Dean of Ministry & Evangelism for the Litfin Divinity School at Wheaton College where she also serves as Doctor of Ministry Program Director and Professor of Evangelism & Leadership. Rochelle has been active in EMS since 2008, serving in a variety of roles from North Central Regional Vice President, to more recently as EMS President (2022-2024) and JEMS editor (2024-2025). She is a global co-catalyst for the Lausanne Movement’s Disability Concerns Network, is an advisory editor for Koinonia Journal and on the advisory boards for Koinonia Inclusion Network and Can Do Kids International. Her areas of research interest include disability and the church and the intersection of preaching and culture. In addition to numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and co-edited volumes, she is author of Disability and Evangelism: The Good News of the Fullness of God’s Kingdom (2026, IVP Academic) and co-author of the textbook, Preaching in the Contemporary World (2006, Global University. In 2022 she received a Knox Fellowship Award for Research in Evangelism for her article "Apologetics and Disability: Reframing Our Response to the Question of Suffering."
NOTE: If you register by Sep 20, your registration will include food. After that, the registration cost will stay the same, but you'll need to find food off campus. We are encouraging on-campus eating as a good opportunity for networking.
Student or Spouse price comes with food for Friday dinner plus Saturday lunch & a take-away box dinner if you register by Sep. 20. Housing must be arranged separately.
For those who cannot join us in person, we welcome your participation via video link. Register by Oct. 1 to receive timely information regarding conference participation. Members of the "Global" region of EMS may use a discount code to receive 75% off their costs ($30 instead of $120).
Regular registration comes with food for Friday dinner plus Saturday lunch & a take-away box dinner if you register by Sep. 20. Housing must be arranged separately.
Does your organization or school want to gather a group in your location and watch the conference together? You can register for one price to cover all participants in the room.
EMS membership results in discounts at both regional and national events. The cost is only $30/year for regular membership or $15/year for student membership. To see if you are a member, or to join/renew, go to https://www.emsweb.org/membership/join/ and click on the category you're interested in. If you're a member, that will show and you may use the appropriate code below to receive your discounted registration.
Element by Westin (Dallas Downtown East) 0.1 miles from DTS Campus; 5-minute walk to the Campbell Academic Center (building in which the conference will take place)
4005 Gaston Ave. Dallas, TX 75246
$189 for a standard king room (per night)
Book early! Last day for guaranteed spots is Sep.7, 2026 (30 days before the conference starts). After that date, the hotel will begin to offer unused rooms held in the EMS block to other customers.
Link: DTS EMS Annual Conference Booking Link
