Dr. David Robert Osborn, DMin, went home to be with the Lord on Thursday, December 14, 2023, in Lone Tree, Colorado. David was born on March 30, 1941 to John Robert Osborn and Margaret Ethel Stout Osborn, in Windfall, Tipton County, Indiana.

David completed a Master of Divinity at Denver Seminary, went on to earn a Doctor of Ministry degree, became a member of the faculty and eventually the Director of the Doctor of Ministry program. After retirement he retained a position as Professor Emeritus of Christian Leadership. Please read the full tribute to David here and read tributes from David’s friends and colleagues below.

The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, gifts be made to Denver Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry Scholarship. Please note in the comment section that your gift is in memory of Dr. David Osborn.

If you would like to share a tribute, please email it to webmaster@denverseminary.edu.

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I first got to know David Osborn when he was a student in our DMin program at Denver Seminary in the mid-1990s. Not long after his graduation he was appointed our DMin director, a position he filled with distinction over the ensuing 17 years. I was blessed to teach in his program during that time and am forever grateful for his generosity towards me. David was a truly godly man, always concerned to honor the LORD and help his students in any way he could. He was also a man of prayer who could be found regularly meeting with various faculty and staff and praying for their needs. His example of faithful service to Christ, his family, and so many others over the decades is a precious reminder of a life well lived.

Dr. Scott Wenig
Professor of Applied Theology; Haddon Robinson Chair of Biblical Preaching

In addition to his relentlessly creative thinking about ministry and our Doctor of Ministry program, Dr. David Osborn was ever the attentive, pastoral presence in our community. He routinely sought to come alongside us with encouragement in our personal lives and our ministries, often stopping in the hallway with us to pray together. He never seemed to stop learning and seeking opportunities to use what he was learning to enrich others.
Dr. Don J. Payne
Vice President of Academic Affairs/Academic Dean; Professor of Theology

After a significant period of pastoral ministry in the independent Christian church movement, in places as diverse as Mississippi and New Zealand, Dr. David Osborn earned his DMin from Denver Seminary, and shortly thereafter was hired to direct the Seminary’s DMin program, which he did from 1993-2013. David devoted long hours to helping as many students complete the program as possible, without relaxing its standards in the slightest, and could regularly be found encouraging his colleagues in their work and with his latest insights in his own studies. He was just as active at Southeast Christian Church, especially leading its older singles ministry for many years, and he was a dear, personal friend to many of us on the Seminary faculty.

Dr. Craig L. Blomberg
Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament

Dr David Osborn recruited me to join the DMIn committee in 2004 upon my graduation with my PhD. His confidence in me spoke volumes about his character as he believed in me as well as all of his doctoral students. Whenever I met with him about a challenge, he always moved toward grace with the student as much as possible. Even in our most recent correspondence in 2023, he was more interested in how I was doing! A good man who will be missed until we meet again.

Dr. Jim Howard
Senior Pastor, Dillon Community Church; Adjunct Instructor, DMin Program

We will remember David Osborn for his great kindness to us when we arrived in Denver. He and Jane connected with us with hospitality, giving of their time, and of course, prayer. We will remember David for his engagement with the early morning Bible studies and prayer meetings that faculty attended. They were a special time of peace and preparation before the concerns of the day began. Rick served on the DMin committee and remembers how David always had a deep concern for the students in the process.  The meeting times together were both pastoral and business. Jean appreciated the manner in which David guided the program as she went through it. Often with prayer and always with a vision of the product he wanted, David was there to advise. In later years it was a special blessing to see David on his visits to the seminary and to catch up on his life and ministry. May God bless David in his presence and with his Holy Spirit. 

Rick and Jean Hess

Dr. Osborn and I served together at Denver Seminary from 1993 until his retirement. Although I did not know him well, I respected him and appreciated his warmth and willingness to pray on the spot for concerns that people shared with him. When a faculty member went south many years ago, David was one of the only faculty member to continue to try to help him. Certainly, David Osborn received a rich welcome into the presence of God and I look forward to seeing him again on that great day.

Dr. Douglas Groothuis
Professor of Philosophy

Dr. Osborn and I were in the same graduating class at Windfall High School. We are distantly related as small town folk often are, and I am indebted to the Osborn family for many benefits of growing up in their sphere. While I did not pay enough attention to David’s younger year’s accomplishments to take inspiration, I never hesitated to play a bit of basketball in his back yard when invited. If we kept any score, it was forgone that I would lose, but he never implied that I was a loser, merely that I lost. His father gave me one of my first paying jobs as gas jockey at his Station. His mother included me in birthday celebrations. High School graduation sent us on our separate ways. After David’s career brought him to the Denver Seminary, we were again in occasional communication. His Ministry bridged years as easily as the miles between us.

Continued blessings to the family.

Godspeed Dr. Osborn

Dave Stitt