As the park is to the city, so the Word is to life.
Like a park in the midst of a city, God’s word should be a source of refreshment, joy, and inspiration—a place to play, acting out our faith, and a place to connect to community and the rest of creation.
We pray that you will walk through God’s Word with us.
We are a community of over 3,000 readers who seek to cultivate vibrant faith and sharpen cultural insight through curated devotionals and scripture readings. We invite you to start your day off with a short reflection and time in the Scriptures.
Each weekday we provide devotional reflection and daily Bible readings from the M’Cheyne Reading Plan which we modified to cover around two chapters of scripture per day. This allows our community to read through the entire Bible every two years.
John Tillman :: Author and Managing Director
John is a bi-vocational writer, minister, educator, playwright, actor, and director. John first began working with Park Forum in 2015 as Community and Social Media Manager and began writing in 2017.
John received an M.A. in Communication from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and toured the world as part of the theatre arts troupe, The Company, ministering all over the United States, as well as Europe, Canada, and China. John lives with his wife in Fort Worth, TX and has been in ministry for over twenty years.
In that time John has been on staff at a large church, and led worship for small churches, large international conferences and everything in between. He regularly helped produce and has taught at independent and denominational educational conferences for local, state, national, and international audiences.
John co-led the Writing Department for Elevate Kids and Elevate Jr. Curriculum published by Creative Pastors. John has also written curriculum for Orange, Incredible Islands, OneHope, Standard Publishing, and individual churches.
In addition to writing The Park Forum, John has a full-time, secular curriculum writing job and works with Ministry Accelerator to encourage innovation in children’s ministry.
Erin Newton :: Contributing Writer
Erin Newton is a graduate student at B. H. Carroll Theological Institute. She began writing for The Park Forum in 2020 during the Student Writer’s Month. She has presented her academic research to the Society of Biblical Literature. Currently, she serves as the coordinator for the prayer ministry of BHCTI.
Erin hopes to complete her master’s thesis on the Old Testament by the end of 2021 and obtain her MA in Theology. She holds a BA in Biblical Studies from Dallas Baptist University and plans to pursue a PhD. Her current field of research is in Ancient Near Eastern cosmology and the intersection with the Old Testament.
Passionate about learning and teaching, Erin has volunteered in youth and adult ministries leading small groups and writing Bible study material. She has taught high school history classes and participated in women’s discipleship programs. Outside of graduate work and ministry, most of her time has been spent with her husband and four small children, including the youngest child with special needs. Erin and her family live in Denton, TX.
Bethany Jenkins — Founder
The Park Forum was founded by Bethany Jenkins in 2006. Prior to its founding, Bethany worked at the New York Stock Exchange, at the U.S. Department of State, and on Capitol Hill for Jennifer Dunn and Joe Scarborough. Bethany received her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a Stone Scholar and served as the Executive Writing and Research Editor on The Journal of Law and Social Problems. She received her M.A. from George Washington University and her B.A. from Baylor University. Bethany makes her home in Florida.