Our Executive Director
Dr. Stephen Blakemore
G. Stephen (Steve) Blakemore, Ph. D. is the president and the executive director of Third Millennium Faith. He is a philosopher who deeply loves the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. These two descriptions are directly related for him. As Dr. Blakemore says: "Philosophy is a passionate search for truth that, followed to its conclusion, must bring us to God by grace. The ministry of a the church is to enable people to encounter the One who is the Truth."
Steve is deeply interested in "ideas," because he knows that "ideas have consequences" (as Dostoyevsky teaches us in his novels.) He knows that his calling as a Christian philosopher is to think long and deeply about both the "Faith delivered once to all the saints," as well as the ideologies that shape contemporary culture. The purpose of it all: to help the Church more fully understand, embrace, live, and proclaim the Gospel of our Lord.
Alongside his work as the President and Executive Directory of Third Millennium Faith, Steve is Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Moral Theology at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. As a scholar, his areas of expertise is in medieval philosophy and theology, the early modern period of philosophy, metaphysics, and moral theology. He teaches courses in the area of philosophical theology, apologetics, moral theology (Christian ethics), and practical theology. As a professor, his courses are much sought out by students. Beyond his teaching, each year he speaks in a wde variety of settings --pastors' schools, youth conferences, college retreats and conferences, local church retreats and conferences, as well as scholarly gatherings. He is a member of the Society of Christian Philosophers and the Evangelical Philosophical Society.
In 2000 Steve and his family moved to Jackson, MS to join the faculty of Wesley Biblical Seminary. As a result of his experiences in ministry and in the academy, interacting with pastors and scholars, the a burden began to grow in his mind and heart to see theological reflection and the practice of ministry wedded in the life of the Church. This burden led to the development and launch of The Institute for Third Millennium Faith, as a signature program of Wesley Biblical Seminary.
His educational background is rich and varied: Asbury College (A.B., Religious Studies); Asbury Theological Seminary (M.Div.); Wake Forest University (M.A., Theology and Ethics); and The University of Tennessee (Ph.D. Philosophy). Steve is author of many published articles and scholarly papers, he has written both for the Church and its laity and pastoral leadership, as well as the Academy and its professors. Some of these articles are posted on this website. As a part of his own scholarly work, he is currently working now on two book-length manuscripts, one that explores the doctrine of the Church (ecclesiology). The other is a treatment of the doctrine of the atonement and suggests how in the 21st century we must reclaim the Church's embrace of this mystery in order to help people understand how the death of one person 2000 years ago -- Jesus -- affects the entire cosmos.
Over the course of his ministry Steve has served as a pastor for eighteen years, as well as being a college chaplain, college instructor and seminary professor. Over the years he has committed a large amount of his creative energy to beginning and developing ministries that are focused on reaching young people and serving the economically disadvantaged. These endeavors reveal two of the great passions of his life: bringing youth and young adults to life-changing faith in Christ; and serving the poor in the name of Christ. He is co-founder of Resurrection Youth Ministry, a ministry to teenagers which has as its signature event an annual winter youth convention that bears the name RESURRECTION. This convention is held each January in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Every year over 10,000 young people and their counselors from the southeastern United States attend this convention, which is focused on evangelism and the call to radical discipleship. He was also one of the developers and organizers of a ministry to young adults called Divine Rythym, which features an annual retreat for young adults geard toward calling them to a life of radical discipleship in the 21st century. In 1995 he launched a ministry known as "W.O.W. Week", a ministry of Worship, Outreach, and Witness with youth from the Eastern United States to the poor of Monroe County, Tennessee.
Most importantly, Steve married Carolyn Berg-Blakemore in 1982, who has an Master of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary, as well. Professionally, she is a teacher at a classical school in Jackson, Mississippi, The Veritas School, where she teaches Humanities and Spanish. Carolyn and Steve have four wonderful young men for sons: Isaac, Jonathan, Jesse and Ian.