Respondent Biographies for Faith and Film at Film Alley
Current Series
Dr. Jacob Youmans has served as the Director of the DCE (Director of Christian Education) program at Concordia University Texas, since 2009. Prior to that, has served as a Youth and Family Minister in Hawaii and California. He has authored four books, including Talking Pictures, which demonstrates how one can use movies to teach the faith to teenagers. He also was a contributor to Movies From the Mountaintop, an anthology on faith and films that also featured insights from Rob Lowe and Mark Wahlberg.
Rev. Dr. David Kluth will be responding for the fifth consecutive season. Previously, he helped unpack Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Leap of Faith, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Dr. Kluth has a degree in Communication and has been a professor and administrator at several universities. Currently, he is known as a popular Bible class leader at Zion Lutheran.
Inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame, Homer Drew is a legionary coach from Valparaiso University. Now retired, he enjoys watching his three children: Scott Drew, head Basketball Coach at Baylor University, Bryce Drew head basketball coach at Grand Canyon University, and Dana Drew Shaw, Vice President of GCU.
Ryan Pennington is the pastor of Fortress Lutheran Church in Harker Heights, TX and has served as a church worker for more than 15 years. A lifelong lover of music and movies, he enjoys helping people see how good storytelling points to our need for redemption – and the God who provided it. He lives in Killeen with his wife, Corrie, and their two kids.
The Faith and Film Series is led by Dr. Philip J. Hohle, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in Radio-Television-Film from The University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Arts in Speech Communication from Texas State University, and a Ph.D. from Regent University in Communication Studies. A member of the Society for the Cognitive Study of the Moving Image, he has presented how audiences interpret the movies they watch in the U.S., Finland, and Spain. He has also published two books and several articles on viewer response theory. Currently, he teaches at The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Southeastern University.
