J. D. Payne (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is Thomas Welby Bozeman Chair of Christian Ministry at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He has published sixteen books, including Apostolic Imagination: Recovering a Biblical Vision for the Church's Mission Today and Theology of Mission: A Concise Biblical Theology. He has served for more than twenty-five years in theological education and has nineteen years of experience in pastoral ministry.