Robert (Bob) Tipton, Ph.D.

Priest and Scholar in Residence (Don’t change any titles on the staff page)

Dr. Robert (Bob) Tipton moved to El Paso in 1999 after his marriage to Patricia Resler, a long-time resident of El Paso.  Although he was an ordained minister of the Church of Christ, he attended St. Francis with his wife.  He was immediately recruited to teach the Men’s Bible Class and to teach in the Logos (youth) program.  Later he was selected by Bishop Terrence Kelshaw to represent the Diocese of the Rio Grande in their affiliation with their sister Diocese of Chile, thus beginning a close tie to the Anglican community there.  A series of events led to his ordination in the Anglican Church.

Tipton’s education includes the B.A. at Abilene Christian with a triple major in Bible, Spanish, and English; an M.A. from Texas A & I University in English and Spanish; and a Ph.D. in Sociolinguistics from the University of Texas at Austin.  He has taught English, Spanish, and Sociolinguistics at Harding, Texas A&I, Pan American, St. Edwards, and Abilene Christian universities.  While at Pan American, he and three associates designed and developed the Bilingual Education program adopted by the State of Texas.  As a result, he was recruited by the Texas Education Agency to oversee the implementation of the bilingual program in Texas public schools and teacher education institutions.

Before his commitment to academia, he was a missionary in Argentina where he established five churches and trained pastors.  As a sixth generation pastor, throughout his professional career, he has been active in church planting and preaching on a non-stipendiary basis.  He was invited by Archbishop Hector Zavala to design a training program in Chile to prepare young Mapuche men for the ministry, and to teach the curriculum the first year.  During this time, he also preached in numerious churches in southern Chile

He was appointed as Assisting Priest and Scholar in Residence at St. Francis by Bishop Felix Orji.  The latter position carries the responsiblity for developing curriculum for Bible classes and other assignments as assigned by the Bishop.