Michael J. Easley, a Virginia pastor and a national lecturer on marriage and family life, was named president of Moody Bible Institute on Tuesday.
He succeeds Joseph M. Stowell, who served in the position for 18 years. Stowell will step down at the end of this month.
The institute was founded by evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886 to train Christians to spread their faith, and has grown to an organization with a $91 million annual budget, encompassing an undergraduate and graduate school, publishing houses and a broadcast network that includes 33 radio stations in 14 states.
Easley, who has more than 20 years' experience in ministry, was most recently the senior pastor at Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Va. He has served as a national speaker for FamilyLife Marriage Conferences, which uses a Bible-based program to help couples strengthen their marriages, and earned his doctorate from Dallas Theological Seminary.