John Seel is a cultural-renewal entrepreneur and social-impact consultant and the author of The New Copernicans: Understanding the Millennial Contribution to the Church (to be released in January 2018). He works with people and projects that promote human flourishing and the common good. His expertise is in the dynamics of cultural change. He was the former director of cultural engagement at the John Templeton Foundation and is the founder of John Seel Consulting LLC. He has a PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland (College Park), an MDiv from Covenant Theological Seminary, and a BA from Austin College.
John’s interest in culture and cultural change came from his being the son of Presbyterian medical missionaries in South Korea. He lived overseas for seventeen years. He is a “third-culture-kid.”
John has had a successful career in nonprofit and educational management. He worked for many years with evangelical author Os Guinness on The Williamsburg Charter as well as founding, with Guinness, The Trinity Forum. Later he served as administrative director for the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and research assistant professor at the University of Virginia, where he worked closely with sociologist James Davison Hunter. He also served as the founding headmaster of The Cambridge School of Dallas. More recently he has worked in entertainment and technology working with Walden Media, Scarlett City Studio, and nCore Media. He is active in Evangelicals for Social Action at Eastern University and is a senior advisor to the New Canaan Society and the Wedgwood Circle.
Though John attended a Presbyterian seminary, he has spent most of his adult life as an Anglican. The major spiritual influences in his life are C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, and Dallas Willard.
He is the father of three millennial children, Annie, David, and Alex, and the grandfather to four grandchildren. He is married to Kathryn and lives on a 450-acre historic farm in Philadelphia with their “four-legged child,” an English-cream golden retriever named Malibu. He is active in Cresheim Valley Church (PCA). He enjoys writing, sailing, and sculling. He blogs three times per week on issues pertaining to millennials at www.ncconversations.com.