[9][10] Cunningham is the elder brother of Christian romance novelist Janice Ethel Elder (born August 19, 1959), author of Manila Marriage App (Pelican Press, 2015),[11][12] (inspired by her brother's life as a single missionary),[13] and also customer service manager for Christian publisher, The Word Among Us;[14] and Rev.
[21] Soon after their wedding on May 9, 1953, Cunningham's parents moved into a newly constructed three-bedroom house at 715 Crabb Avenue, in the Maryvale section of Rockville, Maryland.
[26] In the summer of 1965 the Cunningham family attended the Church of the Nazarene's annual Washington-Philadelphia District Camp Meeting in North East, Maryland, and after reading children's books about pioneer Nazarenes H. Orton Wiley, R.T. Williams, and Reuben "Uncle Bud" Robinson, Cunningham was converted at the age of 10 during that camp meeting.
At the age of 16, While a student at Gaithersburg High School (1968–1972), where he had perfect attendance, Cunningham felt a call to Christian ministry.
[28] After graduation from Gaithersburg High School on June 12, 1972,[29][30] Cunningham attended Eastern Nazarene College, where he was awarded "Most Quiet for the Freshman Class of 1973",[31] and where he was the pianist accompanying the Crossmen Quartet (Don Arey, Dennis Cushing, Barry Compton, and Dale L. Binkley) on their tour of churches and on their 1972 LP "Sweeter Gets the Journey".
Cunningham studied at Johns Hopkins University in his native Maryland, where he studied under Timothy L. Smith and received the Master of Arts degree in history in 1981, and a PhD in History in 1984[33] for his dissertation "The Christian Faith Personally Given: Divergent Trends in Twentieth-Century American Methodist Thought", which included chapters on Methodists Edwin Lewis (1881–1959); Social Gospel liberal Ernest Fremont Tittle (October 21, 1885 – August 3, 1949); conservative Harold Paul Sloan (1881–1961); and evangelical humanist Lynn Harold Hough (September 10, 1877 – July 14, 1971).
For three days from May 29, 1989, Cunningham and Pattee visited the old Nazarene mission field in Hebei, that had been abandoned more than forty years earlier.
[52] In outlining his philosophy and priorities as president, Cunningham asserted: Consistent with that philosophy, Cunningham was responsible for advocating the creation of the Holistic Child Development (HCD) program at APNTS, the opening of extension centers in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, the construction of the New Life Mission Center and the establishment of the Bresee Institute East on the campus of APNTS.
In his annual presidential report in April 2011, Cunningham reaffirmed his desire to see students "demonstrate an aggressive kind of love for the people who are in their midst.
[58] As the pioneer director,[59] Cunningham was instrumental in APNTS inaugurating the HCD program in partnership with both Compassion International and Nazarene Compassionate Ministries in April 2008.
[60] Since its inception in November 2009,[61] Cunningham has been the program director of the Ph.D. in HCD offered by the Asia Graduate School of Theology (AGST) Philippines hosted by APNTS.
"[63] After the Philippines Commission of Higher Education (CHED) approved, APNTS began offering its own PhD in HCD in the 2011–2012 academic year, while continuing to co-operate with the AGST program.
It has been tasked to provide teaching and administrative support for a proposed accredited PhD program in urban and compassion ministries to be offered by APNTS.
[85] After the Education Conference, Cunningham indicated: As REC Cunningham also presented a paper, "Holiness Embodied in the Asia-Pacific Context" at the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the Church of the Nazarene in Bangkok, Thailand on October 25, 2003;[87] spoke at the graduation of Southeast Asia Nazarene Bible College's extension center in Yangon, Myanmar in March 2004,[88] and presented a paper at the meeting of the International Course of Study Committee (ICOSAC) meetings in Perth, Western Australia in October 2005.
[92] Cunningham is the author of Holiness Abroad: Nazarene Missions in Asia (Scarecrow Press, 2003),[93] which won the Smith-Wynkoop Award from the Wesleyan Theological Society in March 2004.
[106] Additionally, Cunningham is a member of the Visitation Evaluation Team (VET) of the Asia Theological Association (ATA), who was involved in evaluating Asian Seminary of Christian Ministries (ASCM) in Makati, Metro Manila, in early 2010;[107] and the Asian Theological Seminary in Quezon City, Philippines in September 2011.