Collin Packer: Scholar in Residence

Collin Packer joins the Siburt Institute as our first scholar in residence

The Siburt Institute has existed with ACU and the College of Biblical Studies since 2012, and this year, for the first time, we have appointed a scholar in residence! The Siburt Institute embodies ACU’s deep commitment to serve the church, offering a wide array of programs and services, while also conducting research and publishing at both academic and general interest levels to support the health and vitality of congregational life. In extension of that commitment and our mission to equip church leaders and help churches thrive, we have launched a Scholar-in-Residence program, and Collin Packer will serve in that capacity during the 2024-25 academic year.

Collin Packer received his Bachelor of Arts in Christian Ministry and Master of Divinity from Abilene Christian University. He then served as the Lead Minister for prominent Churches of Christ in Littleton, Colorado, and Allen, Texas, for the next 13 years. As his calling evolved, Collin transitioned out of full-time church ministry in 2021. Since that time, Collin has served as the Director of Faith-Based Partnerships at CitySquare, the most effective poverty-fighting nonprofit in North Texas, and as the Communications Director for State Representative Carl Sherman during Texas’s 88th Legislative Session. Collin also serves as the Co-Chair for MARCH (Ministry for Awareness, Relationships, Change & Healing), a Dallas-based, multiracial group of Christians who work to manifest the gospel through love, peace, and justice. He and his wife, Holly, are high school sweethearts. They were married in 2004 and have three children: Maddox, Addison, and Brooklyn. Though his family and passion for justice are his first loves, Collin enjoys golfing, reading, and avidly following Dallas’s Big 4 teams: the Rangers, Cowboys, Stars, and Mavericks.

The Siburt Institute’s Scholar-in-Residence program will support practitioner-scholars doing significant applied research that meets the rigor of the academy and that serves the life and mission of the church. The goal of this work is to provide solutions to identified challenges or needs through 1) evaluation of existing solutions, 2) research and development of new possible solutions, or 3) action research—investigating an identified problem while simultaneously engaging in an intervention that seeks to attend to the problem. The research work coming out of the program will concretely attend to the life and practice of local congregational life and mission, and Collin’s particular focus is a theology of public witness for Churches of Christ in the 21st century. We look forward to working with Collin as he produces artifacts that will serve the academy and the church.