Meet the Authors
Authors for our OTD Expedition Series devotionals are hand-selected for their high level of experience and effectiveness in using ministry events as a key component of their disciple-making strategy. All of them are seasoned ministry professionals that use missions trips, wilderness adventures, Christian camps and other targeted events. Want to meet them? Here they are.
Dr. Dennis M. Wilhite
Role(s)
Founder of Pilgrimage Educational Resources
Dean of Global Ministries at Baptist Bible College (PA)
Bio
Dr. Dennis Wilhite began his career as an educator in 1991 after 20 years of local church ministry. He currently serves as the Dean of the School of Global Ministries and teaches a range of student ministry, discipleship, and leadership courses for Baptist Bible College (PA). He also instructs graduate courses for Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary’s online program and is an academic mentor for other distance program professors.
Dr. Wilhite served as the student ministries pastor, then interim lead pastor at First Baptist Church (North Tonawanda, NY) from 1971 to 1980, then accepted the call to fill the student ministries position at Calvary Baptist Church (Grand Rapids, MI) where he served until 1990. His focus has been discipling people for the work of the ministry both in his years in the local church and in his ministry at BBC.
In 1972, Dr. Wilhite took his first wilderness trip to Algonquin Provincal Park (Ontario, Canada) as a youth pastor. Twelve years later, he launched Pilgrimage to help grow other ministry leaders in their capacity to leverage the wilderness environment for ministry outcomes. Over a quarter century later, Pilgrimage is a leading provider of ministry wilderness programming, including the addition of accredited college and graduate courses through several Christian colleges and universities.
Dwight E. Peterson
Role(s)
Wilderness Institute Director at Pilgrimage Educational Resources
Author of OnTrack Devotions
Student Ministries Professor at Baptist Bible College of PA
Bio
Since 1985, Dwight Peterson has been an integral part of the mission and ministry of Pilgrimage Educational Resources. After serving for three years as Youth Pastor at Brookdale Baptist Church (Bloomfield, NJ), Dwight accepted the Youth Pastor role at First Baptist Church (Elkhart, IN), where he served for 14 years. His area of responsibility included junior high, senior high and college ministry along with oversight of the Bible curriculum and discipleship functions at the Christian school operated by the church. In Elkhart, Dwight developed training courses for his youth ministry teams while also making them available in workshop and written formats as curriculum to other youth ministries. Out of this, he created and has continuously developed OnTrack Devotions.
Currently, Dwight serves on the faculty of Baptist Bible College (Clarks Summit, PA) as well as carrying various responsibilities at PER. Dwight’s goal at BBC, with Pilgrimage, or in everyday life is to disciple students. Whether that be in his Youth Ministry classes, leading a wilderness trip, coaching, or hanging out with the guys in the dorm, where he serves as Resident Director, growth is the end goal. For the past several years, Dwight has also been directing the TLC Youth Workers Conference.
Joshua Wilhite
Role(s)
Pastor of Student Ministries at Solid Rock Bible Church (Plymouth, MI)
Bio
Joshua Wilhite grew up in a wilderness ministry environment. He spent 10 summers working with Pilgrimage in a variety of roles and loving every minute of it. After graduating from Baptist Bible College he spent two years working as the Therapeutic Activities Coordinator at a school for troubled youth. He then spent two years working as the outfitting director for Pilgrimage. From there he transitioned to a role as a representative for Baptist Bible College visiting and speaking at over 200 churches and schools. While traveling he earned an MA in Organizational Leadership from Baptist Bible Seminary.
Since 2006 he has been serving as the Pastor of Student Ministries at Solid Rock Bible Church in Plymouth, Michigan. He oversees children’s ministry, middle school, high school, and college. Josh is married with three daughters.
Josh has a real passion for authentic growth through discipleship and teaching. He believes that there’s nothing more powerful for the teaching of God’s word than real life, long-term relationships in a local church. To that end, you’ll find him doing his best to help people interact with the Living God one conversation at a time.
