Dream and Imagine
Dr. Marcus Princeton Robinson is a leader at the intersection of faith, culture, and creativity. A theologian, speaker, educator, and creative, his work centers on the formation of the human person—spirit, soul, and body—through the lens of shalom: the restoration of a world where nothing is broken or missing.
He serves in executive leadership in Christian higher education as Chief Diversity Officer and Chair of Biblical Theology and Ministry at Life Pacific University. He holds a Doctor of Ministry in Discipleship from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, along with graduate training in organizational psychology, shaping his interdisciplinary approach to spiritual formation, leadership, and cultural engagement.
Dr. Robinson’s work has been shaped by global and cross-cultural ministry, including his time serving in Taiwan and years of leadership in diverse church communities. These experiences continue to inform his heart for forming leaders who are deeply rooted in Christ, attentive to culture, and faithful in their creative calling.
Through teaching, writing, speaking, and artistic expression, he creates spaces where faith and culture meet—where ideas are not only explored, but lived, and where individuals are invited to rediscover their identity, purpose, and calling.
This vision finds expression through Dream and Imagine, the movement he founded to cultivate creative leaders who live, create, and lead from a place of spiritual depth, cultural awareness, and a commitment to what God is restoring in the world.
DR. MARCUS PRINCETON ROBINSON
DREAM AND IMAGINE
Dr. Marcus Princeton Robinson was born in Los Angeles and entered life through profound instability—experiencing abandonment and the foster care system at a young age. He was later adopted and raised by his aunt and uncle in a multi-ethnic, interracial household, where questions of identity, belonging, and faith were not theoretical, but lived realities. From an early age, he began to wrestle with deeper questions: What makes a person whole? How do people truly grow? What leads to a life of flourishing?
Those questions would become the foundation of his life’s work.
As a young man, Marcus found healing in unexpected places—on the track, through art, and in the discipline of creative expression. Sports gave him structure and resilience. Art gave him language for what could not yet be spoken. Together, they became early pathways toward restoration—glimpses of what Scripture would later reveal more fully as shalom: a vision of life where nothing is broken and nothing is missing.
His journey deepened during his undergraduate years at Azusa Pacific University, where he began working with international students and engaging in cross-cultural ministry. It was there that a love for global mission was awakened—one that would take him to Taiwan, Cambodia, Singapore, and beyond. After graduating, he moved to Taiwan in 2004 to serve as an English teacher and missionary with Overseas Radio & Television (ORTV), working under the leadership of Doris Brougham.
In Taiwan, Marcus witnessed something that would mark him for life.
He saw a leader who understood her vocation not merely as a career, but as a calling—using media, education, and leadership as a platform for discipleship. Doris did not separate faith from work; she integrated them, forming people by placing them in environments where their gifts could flourish for the glory of God. This model—of formation through vocation, creativity, and mission—became a living blueprint.
Upon returning to the United States, Marcus carried that vision with him.
He began serving as the English Ministry Pastor at The Great Commission Church International in Hacienda Heights, in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley. It was there, between 2006 and 2010, that Dream and Imagine was born—not as an organization, but as a response.
What began as a humble coffeehouse-style gathering quickly became a creative movement. Artists, poets, photographers, musicians, and storytellers—many of them unknown at the time—found a space to express their faith through creativity. Voices like Propaganda, AntBlack, Commoners and Kings, Andrea Hamilton, and Clara Chung were part of a growing community where art, authenticity, and spiritual hunger converged.
But something deeper was unfolding. As the movement grew, Marcus recognized a gap—not in talent, but in formation. There were platforms for creatives, but few spaces shaping the inner life of the artist. Few environments asking not only what are you creating? but who are you becoming?
That realization changed everything.
Dream and Imagine began to shift—from platform to formation, from event to movement.
Teams of artists and athletes were sent across Asia—to Taiwan, China, and Korea—engaging in short-term missions that integrated creativity, sport, and the gospel. These experiences reinforced a central conviction: that creativity is not peripheral to the mission of God, but a vital expression of it.
Today, Dream and Imagine carries that same heartbeat with greater clarity and focus.
It exists to form creative leaders—individuals who are rooted in Christ, shaped by the Spirit, and equipped to engage the world with truth, beauty, and justice. Drawing from theology, cross-cultural experience, and lived ministry, the movement is committed to cultivating wholeness across every dimension of life: spirit, soul, body, family, work, and ministry.
What began as a personal search for healing has become a collective pursuit of shalom.
And what was once a small gathering has grown into a vision for a global community—one that believes the world can be restored, and that through faith, creativity, and formation, we are invited to help create the world God first imagined.