Rev. Dr. Benjamin Haupt was recently chosen to join PLI as Global Executive Director. Ben is coming to PLI from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, where he served as associate provost and associate professor of Practical Theology. There, he oversaw the Seminary’s recruitment and admissions teams and liaised with the Board of Regents, the Executive Management Team, faculty and staff to accomplish the Seminary’s enrollment goals related to its residential, distance, and multiethnic Ministerial Formation programs and Advanced Studies programs. He has also been a faculty member since 2013.
Ben’s areas of interest and expertise include the history of the text of the New Testament, early Christianity prior to Constantine, the intersection of church and society, 19th-century Lutheran missiology, the theology and practice of preaching, and pastoral/congregational leadership.
He earned a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Birmingham, U.K. (2019), and both a Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.) and a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (2011, 2005). He received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon (2000).
During his M.Div. program, he studied for a year at Lutherische Theologische Hochschule in Oberursel, Germany. After graduation, he was installed as an associate pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church, a large congregation in Boca Raton, Fla., and served there until 2008. From 2008-13, he was the sole pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, a small congregation in Gainesville, GA.
Ben is married to Celina, who works at Captain Elementary School. They have two teenage sons. He and his family are avid travelers, comics readers, theater fans, Lego-maniacs, and video gamers. Ben enjoys running, lifting and has led the Concordia Seminary Wine Society for the last 8 years.
