College of Ministry Graduate Team

Education:                  B.A. Houghton College, 2002 M.Div. Princeton Theological Seminary, 2005 Ph.D. Princeton Theological Seminary, 2011 Contact: Email: joshua.ziefle@northwestu.edu Phone: 425.889.5211

Joshua R. Ziefle is Dean of the College of Ministry at Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington. Originally from New Jersey, he completed a BA in History from Houghton College before matriculating in the MDiv program at Princeton Theological Seminary. His academic interests in religious history culminated in a PhD in American Church History from Princeton Seminary.  During his doctoral studies he served for six years as the youth pastor of Nassau Christian Center (A/G).

Dr. Ziefle has taught numerous courses in the College of Ministry and the Department of History. During his time at Northwest, he has been blessed to help educate numerous young ministers and church leaders. Dr. Ziefle is also Director of the Center for Calling and Theological Formation (www.northwestu.edu/cctf), overseeing both a yearly Youth Forum and a theology program for high school students called the Summer Journey. He is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God and serves as an appointed presbyter for the Northwest Ministry Network. Together with Don Ross, Dr. Ziefle is the author of the recently published A Tale of Two Churches: Why Being Both Missional & Pentecostal Matters (2018).

Graduate Studies Co-Director – Dr. Bill Oliverio

Education:                  B.A. North Central University, 1999 M.A. Bethel Theological Seminary (MN), 2003 Ph.D. Marquette University, 2009 Contact: Email: bill.oliverio@northwestu.edu Phone: 425.889.6236

Dr. Bill Oliverio teaches faith integration courses for Northwest’s graduate programs beyond the College of Ministry. He is a philosophical theologian that specializes in hermeneutic or interpretation theory, theories of knowledge, and the relationship of Christian faith to the modern world.

He is co-editor of Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, the author of Theological Hermeneutics in the Classical Pentecostal Tradition: A Typological Account (Brill, 2012/2014), which was a finalist for the Pneuma Book Award (best new book in Pentecostal studies). He co-edited Constructive Pneumatological Hermeneutics in Pentecostal Christianity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), and is the author of other articles, book chapters, and reviews. He is a member and on the executive committee of The Society for Pentecostal Studies, and he is a member of the American Academy of Religion.

An Assemblies of God minister, prior to coming to Northwest in 2020, he was Associate Academic Dean at The School of Urban Missions in El Dorado Hills, California (2017-2020), Pastor of Immanuel Church (Assemblies of God) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2011-2017), and Lecturer in Theology at Marquette University (2007-2017).

He resides in Kirkland, Washington with his wife and their two sons. He enjoys sports, especially soccer, reading, and spending time with family and friends.