Donald W. Sweeting, Ph.D.
Donald W. Sweeting, Ph.D., is the president of Colorado Christian University. He was a long-time member of the University’s Board of Trustees prior to being named to his current position in August 2016.
Dr. Sweeting is a noted academic, minister, and author. From 2010-2016, Dr. Sweeting served as the president of Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Fla., where he also served as the James Woodrow Hassell Professor of Church History and regularly taught core and elective courses in church history, pastoral theology, and ministry leadership.
An ordained minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), Dr. Sweeting served as senior pastor of Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church in Greenwood Village (a Denver suburb) for 12 years. His ministry culminated with Cherry Creek Presbyterian hosting the denomination’s annual general assembly in 2010. In addition to pastoring, Dr. Sweeting taught as an adjunct faculty member at Denver Seminary. Before moving to Colorado, he served for 11 years as the first full-time pastor and as a church planter of Chain of Lakes Community Bible Church in northern Illinois.
Prior to entering into pastoral ministry, Dr. Sweeting served as an assistant to Chuck Colson and staff at Prison Fellowship in Washington, D.C., and completed internships with Congressman John B. Anderson (R-Illinois) in Washington, D.C., and John MacArthur at Grace Community Church in California.
Dr. Sweeting’s college education began at Moody Bible Institute (MBI) where he majored in Bible-Theology. In 2016, Dr. Sweeting received the Alumnus of the Year award from MBI. Dr. Sweeting earned a B.A. in History from Lawrence University, as well as a B.A./M.A. from Oxford University in England. During his time at Oxford, Dr. Sweeting led the Theological Students Fellowship (affiliated with Inter Varsity). Dr. Sweeting also spent a year of graduate work at Regent College in British Columbia, Canada. He then went on to receive his doctorate in Church History and Historical Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois while serving as pastor at Chain of Lakes. At Trinity Evengelical Divinity School he worked under the supervision of Dr. John Woodbridge. Dr. Sweeting’s dissertation was on the relationship between Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States from 1960 to 2000.
In addition to a diverse professional background, Dr. Sweeting has served with many ministries and organizations. Today, he serves on the board of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). Dr. Sweeting has served on the executive committee of the Fellowship of Evangelical Seminary Presidents (FESP), as the chairman of the Theology Committee for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and on the board of John Stott Ministries in the United States. He also served on the board of the Langham Partnership International, a London-based global ministry that aims to equip and train upcoming leaders in Two-Thirds World churches by providing scholarships, building seminaries, and training preachers.
Dr. Sweeting speaks and preaches around the country and has published numerous articles for well-known magazines and scholarly journals. He has co-authored several books, including How to Finish the Christian Life: Following Jesus in the Second Half of Life, (Moody Press) which he wrote with his 88-year-old father.
Dr. Sweeting and his wife, Christina, have three adult sons and a college-aged daughter. His son, Joshua, graduated from Colorado Christian University in 2014.
Dr. Sweeting writes a regular blog post at donsweeting.com and can be followed on Twitter @dsweeting.