Gary S. Selby

Gary Selby is Professor of Ministerial Formation at Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan, where he teaches courses in spiritual formation, preaching, leadership, and ministry. Before coming to Emmanuel in 2017, he was the Carl P. Miller Chair of Communication at Pepperdine University and Director of Pepperdine’s Center for Faith and Learning. While at Pepperdine, he established a summer cross-cultural study abroad program in East Africa, developed the COMMUNITAS Early Career Pastoral Leadership Program, and helped launch Pepperdine University’s Spiritual Life Committee.

Before coming to Pepperdine in 2005, Gary spent 22 years in local ministry, first with the Silver Spring, Maryland Church of Christ, and then, beginning in 1985, with the Church of Christ in Columbia, Maryland, a congregation he helped to plant, serving as their minister for 19 years. For the last nine of those years, he was also a faculty member at The George Washington University, teaching in their communication program. Gary holds a PhD in Public Communication from the University of Maryland and a Master of Theology from the Harding University Graduate School of Religion.

Although his writing ranges widely, from the civil rights movement to early Christian rhetoric, his heart is in the study of Christian spirituality. His most recent book, The Everyday Mysticism of C. S. Lewis: Spirituality for Daily Life (InterVarsity Academic Press, 2026, forthcoming) explores the spiritual wisdom of the mystics in Christian history through the eyes of one of the most beloved authors of the last century, C. S. Lewis. This book builds on his earlier work, Pursuing an Earthy Spirituality: C. S. Lewis and Incarnational Faith (InterVarsity Academic Press, 2019). He is also the author of Martin Luther King and the Rhetoric of Freedom: The Exodus in America’s Struggle for Civil Rights (Baylor University Press, 2008), and Not With Wisdom of Words: Nonrational Persuasion in the New Testament (Eerdmans Press, 2016), as well as numerous essays, book chapters, and book reviews.

Gary has been married for over 45 years to his wife, Tammy, and is the proud father of two married sons and five grandchildren. He loves music, gardening, hiking, traveling, reading good novels, singing in his church choir and, especially, playing video games with his grandkids. For all the different things he’s gotten to do, his heart is in ministry, and his passion is for helping people experience the joyful presence of God.