We have the privilege of welcoming several guest lecturers each year who share their mission experience and expertise with us and our students. To give an impression, a short introduction of some of our regular guest lecturers.

Philip Sumpter – England/Germany (PhD)

Philip did a BA in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Wales, Lampeter, before going on to do an MA and then a PhD in Old Testament at the University of Gloucestershire, UK. He wrote his PhD while living in Bonn, Germany, where he was also able to interact with the German tradition of Biblical scholarship.

Philip has been a missionary with the Vereinigte Deutsche Missionshilfe (VDM) since 2016. He has spent four years altogether serving among Arab Christians in Nazareth, Israel, as both a theological scholar and educator as well as an English teacher in a socially disadvantaged Arab village. Since returning to Germany with his family in 2019 he has continued to serve among Arabs and in theological education.

At Cornerstone he teaches parts of Cultural Anthropology, Prophecy and Fulfilment in Isaiah, and Genesis 1—11.

Birgit Herppich – Germany (PhD, MA ICS)

Birgit studied Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in the USA. She now works at Fuller as Affiliate Assistant Professor of Intercultural Studies teaching Missiology classes.

Since 1992, Birgit has been a missionary with WEC International. Between 1993-2001 she worked in Ghana, predominantly training leaders and organising the children’s ministry with the Evangelical Church.

Since 2015 Birgit is the International Membership Department Coordinator in WEC, guiding and supporting leaders in over 20 countries in their task of preparing new missionaries joining WEC. At Cornerstone, she teaches leadership.

Michael Haller, Switzerland (MTh)

Michael studied Theology at STH Basel, Switzerland, continued with Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Zurich, Switzerland and at an Arabic language school in Amman, Jordan (certificate). He also undertook doctoral studies at ETF Leuven, Belgium.

Michael lectures in World religions and Missions at IGW International, ISTL International and SBT Beatenberg, Switzerland. Having grown up in Cameroon he served as pastor of an international church in the Middle East for seven years and now fills various teaching and leading roles with WEC International. He is married and lives with his wife and three children in Switzerland.

Ron Perschky, UK (MA Missiology)

Ron studied at Fuller, USA, his passion for mission began with Operation Mobilisation in 1961. Ron and Margery prepared for Mission at Birmingham Bible College. In 1972 they joined WEC Thailand and became involved in church planting and leadership training for 18 years, before moving to Singapore to recruit and train Asian Missionaries. Ron later became WEC Regional director for East Asia and Southeast. Asia, for a total of 25 years interspersed with four years as Principal of the Missionary Training College in Australia. Ron has taught Leadership studies, Cultural Anthropology, Buddhism, Evangelism, Church Planting and Theology of the Holy Spirit. At present Ron and Margery work with international university students in the UK.

Uwe Hutter, Germany (Th.M, D.Div.)

Uwe Hutter studied Theology at STH, Basel, Switzerland from 1978-1983. He Worked 2 years for the Geneva Bible Societies translating parts of the NT from Greek to German. Since 1986 he is a missionary with WEC International in Spain working with three church planting projects in and around Madrid.

From 1993 to 2015 he was a professor at SEFOVAN Bible Institute in Madrid, teaching OT, Hebrew (modern and old), Angelology, Christology and Contemporary Theology. Now he is professor at the FTCR (Facultad Teológica Cristiana Reformada) in Madrid and Las Palmas. Uwe is also Director of the Department of Theology at Instituto Bíblico Online, Miami (Florida, USA) and member of the theological committee of the European Evangelical Alliance.

Colin Bearup, UK (MA, BA)

Colin is currently engaged in part-time doctoral research into contemporary Sufi Islam in the West. Colin worked briefly in France and Sudan with OM in the 1980s. For thirty years, he worked with WEC in Chad involved in outreach, disciple-making and Bible translation.

Still with WEC, but located in the UK, he is working amongst Muslims and teaching others to do so. He is the author of five books on the topic of outreach to Muslims. He is married to Jean and they have three children and three grandchildren. 

J.G, Germany (M.Th.)

1. studied theology in Basel (STH) and after a short pastorate in Switzerland continued training at All Nations Christians College (Postgraduate Diploma in Mission). J. was involved in Bible translation (NT, AT) until 2019 and contributed to media related projects. As branch leader for a few years and for Bible translation he often travelled to the Middle East. Now Area Directors for the Middle East and North Africa, he and his wife regularly visit teams across this region. At Cornerstone, he teaches the ‘History of Mission’.

Heike Tiedeck, Germany (MA ICS)

Heike has lived in France and England, and travelled in the Philippines and Egypt. She married Wolfgang (Cornerstone staff member) in 1995 and they served together in Ghana developing the TEE ministry, as well as serving as field treasurer and health advisor. Their son Dominik was born in 1997. At Cornerstone Heike teaches in the area of Intercultural Studies.

Laurens, Netherlands (BA equivalent)

Laurens completed three years of Cornerstone training in 1994 and has obtained teaching certification. He then served with his wife in the Middle East from 1996 – 2010.. Since 2010, he has been ministering to Muslim migrants in Europe in various capacities. Since 2020, he is the director of Training for Al Massira International. In 2021, he graduated as a psychosocial therapist and now offers help in Dutch and Arabic. His passion is to see many Muslims come to faith and he has written the book “‘Rejected’ and Loved-from Ishmael to Hope for the Middle East”.

Alex van Nes, Netherlands

Graduated Bible College with a specialization in Missions. Together with his wife and three sons, they served with the Belgian Evangelical Mission (BEM, Brussels) as full time missionaries doing church planting and evangelism. They were also responsible for one of the evangelical bookstores of the BEM for 7 years. After finishing with BEM, Alex joined Evangelism Explosion International and became responsible for a training course in personal evangelism in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Currently, Alex serves on a daily basis as an independent street evangelist on the university campuses of Leuven, Maastricht and Antwerp, training others in this field as well. He is officially retired since 2021, but continues to come to Cornerstone and inspire students in sharing his evangelism experiences.