Our Story
Our Campus Ministry 
What is the Church of Christ?  
What to Expect in Our Worship 
Ministers 
Elders
W. David Baird
Ron Highfield
Stuart Love
Steve Parmelee
Tim Perrin
Milt Shatzer
John Wilson

W. David Baird is a native of Edmond, Oklahoma, where he graduated from high school as well as the University of Central Oklahoma. He took an A.A. degree from George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Before coming to teach history at Pepperdine University, Seaver College in 1988, he taught at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (1968-1978) and at Oklahoma State University (1978-1988). He is a life-long member of the Church of Christ, having been baptized at the age of twelve years by Horace Busby. He served as a deacon of the church in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and, since 1992, as an elder in the Malibu Church, an office held elsewhere by his father, grandfather, great grandfather and great, great grandfather.

Ron Highfield is a native of Alabama. He is a graduate of Harding University, Harding Graduate School of Religion and Rice University. Ron served churches in West Virginia, Arkansas, and Texas as a campus minister and a youth minister. Ron, Marty and their two sons Nathanael and Matthew moved to California in 1989. Ron has taught in the Religion Division at Pepperdine since 1989. They have attended the University Church of Christ since their move to California. Ron has served as an elder since 1994.

Stuart Love and his wife, D’Esta, have been at Pepperdine since 1979. Stuart first served as Dean of Students for two years having come to Pepperdine University from the University Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas where he served as pulpit minister and adjunct professor of ministry at Abilene Christian University. In 1981 he was appointed to a full-time position in the Religion Division. Presently, he serves as Professor of Religion with specialties in Christian ministry and New Testament. He and D'Esta have been married nearly 47 years and have two sons, Mark and Jon, and five grandsons, Zachary, Joshua, Nick, Noah, and Andrzej (the spelling is correct—a Polish version of Andrew). Mark is professor of Christian ministry at Abilene Christian University and director of ministry events. Jon is chief of pediatric cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. Our two wonderful daughters-in-law are Nancy and Eva.

Steve Parmelee was born in Milford, Connecticut, in 1953. His family moved to Southern California in 1960, and in 1970 he enrolled at what was then Pepperdine College in Los Angeles, where he was baptized in his freshman year. He graduated from the Malibu campus of Pepperdine in 1974 and shortly thereafter married Corleen Sisk. For the next year, he and Corleen served as missionaries in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, returning to Pepperdine in the fall of 1975. He served in a number of administrative roles at Pepperdine over the next several years, including director of student housing, assistant to the vice president for student affairs, and assistant to the provost. Holding a Ph.D. in literature, he is a faculty member in the Humanities Division at Seaver College of Pepperdine, teaching English and composition courses with a special emphasis in film and in Southern California literature. He and Corleen have three sons--Sam, Jay, and Jack--all of whom are former Pepperdine students. He has been a member of the University Church of Christ since 1972.

Milt Shatzer is originally from Toledo, Ohio.  He graduated from the University of Toledo with the B.S. degree in biology and subsequently served as a missionary in Israel from 1970-1974. He attended Abilene Christian University from 1974 until 1976 where he received the Masters of Missiology degree. He returned to the mission field in Israel from 1976 until 1980 serving as superintendent of Galilee Christian High School. Upon returning to the U.S., he entered Michigan State University and earned the Ph.D. in communication in 1987. He taught at Michigan State University (1980-1984) and the University of Kentucky (1984-1990) before coming to Pepperdine. Milt served as the chairperson of the communication division in Seaver College at Pepperdine from 1996-2003. He previously served as a deacon at the Conejo Valley Church of Christ in Thousand Oaks, CA. Milt has been married to the former Nancy Sweet from Whittier, CA for 30 years and they have two children: Christin and Jeremy.

John Wilson was born in 1937 in Springfield, Missouri. He grew up as a part of the North National Church of Christ in that city. After high school there he attended Harding University, receiving degrees in Religion and Music. During the summers he worked as director of a Christian camp. In his senior year at Harding he served as President of the student body. As a teenager he appeared regularly on television in southwest Missouri as a performer. In the 1970’s he wrote scripts and appeared frequently on the national television program Herald of Truth. He received graduate degrees (Religion and Ancient History) from Harding Graduate School and the University of Iowa. He was for many years a member of the staff of the South National Church of Christ in Springfield, serving as a campus minister at Southwest Missouri State University, and then as a professor in the Department of Religious Studies there until 1983, when he came to Pepperdine as the Dean of Seaver College. For twenty years he was involved in archaeological expeditions in the Middle East. John has been married to Claudette since 1961. They have three daughters (all Pepperdine alumae) and seven grandchildren. The Wilson’s have been a part of the Malibu church since 1983. Both are now retired.