YTI is excited to welcome two new professors to our faculty! Dr. Derry Long will serve as Professor of Christian Leadership in addition to working as an assistant to the President, and Rev. Jim Keena will serve as Professor of Pastoral Theology and will also be working with church relations. Derry and Jim are both Bozeman residents and bring a wealth of experience in full-time ministry to the institute.
Dr. Derry Long
Professor of Christian Leadership
Hi! My name is Derry Long and I am delighted to be part of the YTI faculty. I grew up on a farm/ranch on the prairie of northwest North Dakota close to the Canadian border and at 17, just after I had graduated from high school, I became a follower of Jesus Christ.
Within months of becoming a Christian, I enrolled in Bible college and after graduating entered the Christian ministry. I served as pastor, church planter (four all together), Chief Strategy Officer, coach of campus pastors, and a regional overseer of churches. The churches I worked with ranged from a rural church of fifty to a larger city church of 2,500. Along the way, I was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Evangelicals, Board of Regents of George Fox Evangelical Seminary (now Portland Seminary), and teacher and academic dean of a small Bible college.
After earning a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, I started a consulting company working with churches, denominations, and businesses. I consulted with businesses of up to forty employees and forty million in gross income.
My Ph.D. research was on how churches, businesses, and non-profits could create and maintain empowering work environments.
I enjoy hiking, camping, writing, reading, antiquarian book collecting, art, movies, travel, and occasional golf. I dislike fixing mechanical things.
Marcy has been my wife for forty-nine years and we have three children and five grandchildren, who all live in the Bozeman, Montana area.
My passion is to honor the Lord by continuing to learn and grow in Him, and help leaders multiply their effectiveness by seeing the potential in and utilizing the giftings of, those with whom they work.
Rev. Jim Keena
Professor of Pastoral Theology
Greetings! My name is Jim Keena. And I am honored to join the faculty of the Yellowstone Theological Institute. I was born and raised in Poplar Bluff, Mo. My father was a pastor and my mother was a homemaker. At the age of seven, at an event sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, I became a Christian. Because of my father’s occupation, our home was immersed in the gospel and revolved around local church ministry. After my freshman year of college, I sensed God’s calling into the pastoral ministry. Soon afterward, I transferred to a Bible college in Springfield, Mo. In November 1980, by happenchance and God’s sovereignty, I met Kim Arnold in the cafeteria. (She looked better than the food tasted!) Truthfully, it was love at first sight. Less than a year after meeting, we married in August 1981. I acted quickly before she changed her mind! We eventually moved to Phoenix, Arizona where I studied at a local Bible college. My major was Biblical Studies with an emphasis in Pastoral Ministry. I graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
A few years later, I was called to pastor a church in Siloam Springs, Ark. In college I studied to be pastor; it was in Siloam Springs that I learned to be a pastor. Thankfully, the church was patient with my inexperience and overlooked my early missteps. While pastoring full-time, I attended Moody Graduate School and in 2000 I graduated with a Master of Arts in Ministry degree.
While pastoring in Arkansas, I was invited to be an adjunct instructor at John Brown University. I taught the Essentials in Evangelical Theology course. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching at the collegiate level. As a result, Kim and I decided I should pursue a career in Christian higher education. After pastoring for thirteen years in Arkansas we took a leap of faith and moved to Chicago. In 2004 I enrolled at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in the Masters of Divinity program. Eventually, I was accepted into the PhD in Educational Studies program. During our time in Chicago, I also served as an Associate Pastor at Long Grove Community Church.
In 2008, I accepted an offer to become the Senior Pastor of the Evangelical Free Church of Bozeman. I was privileged to serve there for twelve years. During my pastorate, I taught a few courses at Montana Bible College. In 2019, I was accepted into the Doctor of Ministry program at Western Seminary in Portland, Ore. My primary area of study is preaching.
My hobbies include hiking, traveling, photography, and cheering for the Montana State Bobcats and the St. Louis Cardinals. Kim and I have been married for nearly 39 years. We have been blessed with seven children and nine grandchildren!
My passion is teaching God’s Word, pastoring God’s people, and equipping the next generation of Christian leaders. My goal is to teach and equip future pastors, teachers, and leaders to thrive in Christian ministry.